Assess -Plan - Implement - Evaluate
Working on-site at sporting events means professional athletes demand a quick and effective treatment, you may only have a few minutes. Assess - Diagnose -Treat.
Once you rule out the red flags of injury you need to get straight to the primary cause(s) of Neuro -Musculo-Skeletal dysfunction. These techniques allow you to deliver effective and targeted treatment with confidence allowing your client to get back to the sporting arena safely and quickly with function restored.
As a PT, ( or other 'manual' therapist), you will have more time, less urgency and will develop more confidence and better results.
Dynamic Motion Palpation
Dynamic Motion Palpation of the spine is the single most useful tool in the box. Without it, you will not be able to specifically identify the primary joint misalignment and angle of movement required to correct it along with the associated muscle dysfunction patterns.
For Personal Trainers, you can use this as an assessment of movement patterns, asymmetrical functioning and apparent unilateral weakness - or to flag the potential for injury in training.
Derived from the motion palpation institute in Ohio (USA) and used with Olympic teams, mechanical assessment of the spinal joints and associated movement patterns are easily and clearly identified. This is an assessment technique not commonly known or used in the UK but in my 20 years of working with top flight sports professionals it has been the most valuable and effective.
It provides a very quick and accurate diagnostic assessment allowing specific, targeted spinal corrections and post-treatment evaluation. A sports therapist is often required deliver a speedy yet effective treatment allowing a prompt return to the sporting arena .
This form of dynamic motion palpation is the ideal method.
It is used again during your evaluation of treatment - results are very clear and your patients can see the change- as well as feel it.
ActiMotion™ Instrument Technique
What is an instrument? Otherwise known as an adjusting tool or activator, an instrument is used to deliver a pinpoint, quick, yet gentle, movement to a fixated spinal joint.
ActiMotion Instrument technique allows the use of instrument correction without stretching, rotating, or extending body parts - incredibly useful if pain or physical dynamics restrict the use of more conventional manipulative techniques.
A targeted 'adjustment' using an instrument without any major soft tissue tension allows more effective treatment evaluation - it helps identify if the problem is joint or soft tissue in origin.
NB: this instrument technique is not the same as the 'activator method', which can only be used by suitably trained chiropractors. It also differs from PIM (Physiotherapy Instrument Mobilisation) eg. There is a clear pre and post Dynamic Motion Palpation assessment; The delivery is combined with active movement; Only 1 or 2 'clicks' (rather than 3-6) are required, which reduces any aggravation of inflammation.
​
Using smartphone technology, your patients can see the before, watch the treatment, and see the after-effects. This will greatly enhance your effectiveness and reputation - patients talk about it !!
The original CAT instrument is my recommended tool. It is by far the best for it's value, precision engineering and performance. I have teamed up with the team at JTech medical and can offer students a special discount.
One to one online training is available using your own 'practise patients' with your phone as a chest camera.
​
​
​
​
​
​
