Sarah Key Masterclasses

The Biomechanical Treatment of Back Pain

Experienced manual therapists know that a 'stiff spinal segment' can often be painful - a probable cause of 'non-specific back pain'. Levels 1 and 2 Masterclasses are about physically restoring movement to spinal segments where it has been lost. Skill is required to determine the lost degrees of freedom of a segment and the best techniques for restoring it. The Level 3 Masterclass explores in greater detail challenges faced with managing complex lumbar spinal problems. Where manual therapists have traditionally used their hands (thumbs or pisiform - heel of the hand) to mobilise spinal segments, presenter Sarah Key uses her heel. She finds it more effective, easier to do, and is preferred by patients.

Includes: Online materials, certification, BackBlock, book, 2-Day Practical Adjunct

Common Reasons for Graduate Physios Wanting to Do Sarah Key’s Masterclasses:

1. Get my mojo back with Physiotherapy 
2. Find some new techniques
3. Be more confident diagnosing/treating back problems
4. Improve my manual skills
5. Learn how to use my feet to treat
6. Some more effective tools in the tool-kit
7. Take time with patients and to set my fees accordingly
8. Not to groan when ‘another back’ walks through the door 
9. Understand MRIs and radiology reporting
10. Sick of other people (health funds, WCC, corporatised medicine) setting my professional agenda

Learning Outcomes from Sarah Key’s Masterclasses

1. Refined manual palpation skills, including surface anatomy of lumbar spine and pelvis
2. A new appreciation of degrees of freedom of each lumbar segment, including cephalad (decompression)
3. Understanding the roles of the IVD, facet joints, global and local spinal muscles, the 3 abdominal muscle layers, the posterior ligamentous lock
4. The significance between sustained spinal compression (catabolic) and on-off spinal loading (anabolic)
5. A new understanding of the five stages of breakdown of a lumbar segment
6. A new appreciation of central segment mobilisation (spinous process) and facet mobilisation
7. The difference in ’feel’ between leathery, rubbery, thickened, tense, bloated
8. A simple and effective home treatment regime
9. How to run an effective spinal decompression class 
10. Effectively using the feet to mobilise the lumbar spine and pelvis

Testimonial Excerpts

1. Why didn’t we learn this as undergrads?
2. Sarah is such a passionate and enlightened communicator. It makes sense
3. I’m really looking forward to getting back home and putting it into practice 
4. Understanding the sequence breakdown will make it so much easier to explain to patients
5. Great to learn from someone with Sarah’s passion and experience
6. I’ll definitely be using my feet
7. To be in such an intimate learning experience with ‘the master’ was a real privilege
8. I used my Dad as a guinea-pig last night and he was stoked
9. I can’t wait for Level 3!
10. We didn’t want to leave at the end of the course, but Sarah got out the vacuum cleaner!

Added Value from The Sarah Key Courses

1. Progressive program consisting of 3 training courses
2. Attend residential Refresher and Up-skilling Getaways
3. Join the Sarah Key worldwide network and have patients referred
4. Lifetime access to Sarah Key for advice/refer difficult patients
5. To use single-line drawings from Sarah's books
6. To get updates about Sarah’s new web pages, YouTube channel and downloadable Video library
7. After completing Level 3 become an Accredited Specialist of the Sarah Key Method (APSKM)
8. After Level 3 become an APSKM Tutor in the SKM
9. To advertise as an APSKM and use SKM logo
10. Sell Sarah Key products and books in your practice and website