Identifying Candidates for Manual Therapy Care

1. Manual Therapy Safety: Absolute and Relative Contraindications

The goal of this chapter is to outline absolute and relative contraindications for treating patients with a manual therapy approach. The instructor will list and describe indications and contraindications and discuss differences between absolute and relative contraindications so learners are equipped to identify suitable patients.

2. Screening Tools and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures

The goal of this chapter is to identify and describe screening tools and patient-reported outcome measures to assist in identifying patients appropriate for manual therapy care. Learners will become familiar with evidence-based tools that should be utilized in clinical practice to assist with screening patients and tracking outcomes.

3. Influences on Patient Prognosis

The goal of this chapter is to define and describe various influences on patient management. It is important for the learner to consider how contextual factors, including social and psychological factors, influence patient prognosis and management. The instructor will define social determinants of health and describe how the learner may use this information to make patient management decisions.

4. How Pain Mechanisms Influence Care

The goal of this chapter is to increase learner familiarity with pain phenotyping using the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) model. The instructor will describe differences between phenotypes and draw from clinical experience to provide examples of how pain behaviors influence management decisions.

5. Screening Procedures for Manual Therapy Appropriateness

The goal of this chapter is to discuss and demonstrate screening procedures to provide the learner with the tools needed to identify patients appropriate for manual therapy care. Learners will understand how to use observation to screen patients and will appreciate differences between a review of systems and systems review. The instructor will demonstrate an example of a musculoskeletal screen utilized prior to proceeding with a full examination.

6. Why Within-Session Change Matters

The goal of this chapter is to introduce the learner to the concept of within-session change as a tenet of manual therapy care. Learners will understand how to use a concordant sign and functional task, and the instructor will demonstrate how these are used clinically to determine treatment response.