PT 471A Patient/Client Management: Musculoskeletal I

This course is the first in a series of three courses on management by the physical therapist for patients with orthopedic dysfunction for all body regions.  Each element of patient/client management will be considered throughout the course, including examination, evaluation, diagnosis, prognosis, intervention, and outcomes.  This first course consists of lecture and laboratory components, and focuses on introduction to foundational concepts with application to lower quarter body regions.  Course content is presented within a clinical reasoning framework, and concepts of hypothesis generation and testing and differential diagnosis with selective tissue tension are utilized to facilitate development of efficient strategies for:  obtaining a history, performing relevant systems reviews, selecting and administering specific tests and measures, evaluation, diagnosis, and intervention planning and implementation.  Development of realistic prognoses and outcomes hypotheses is also covered.  Students are introduced to manual therapy and neurodynamics concepts as forms of examination and intervention, as well as procedures for testing joint integrity and other special diagnostic orthopedic tests.  Skills and concepts introduced in previous and concurrent coursework will be integrated and applied to orthopedic patient case scenarios and problem-solving exercises throughout the course.  This integration will include an expansion of clinical reasoning principles with an introduction to clinical patterns.  Also integrated will be previous and concurrent course content including manual muscle testing, goniometry, postural, gait and other movement analysis, orthopedic pathology, pharmacology and diagnostic technologies, therapeutic exercise, therapeutic modalities, tissue healing, pain mechanisms, and documentation principles.  The course includes extensive application of the concepts presented within the disablement model, with identification of impairments and functional limitations/disability as the basis for establishment of intervention strategies and functional goals.

Credits

3

Distribution

PTH