Level I (511 & 516)
Level 500 courses are focused on enhancing the physical therapists’ ability to make decisions about clinical presentations that may indicate serious pathology. Course participants will develop a safe, effective, and efficient screening examinations that have three (3) primary aims; a) to ensure that the patient/client is within the scope of physical therapy practice and suitable for management, b) to provide a provisional diagnosis, and c) to guide the remainder of the evaluation and management.
Course participants will identify an all-source evidence-informed approach to evaluation and management through consideration of normal, abnormal and applied anatomy, physiology, pathology, and movement science. Course participants will apply the concepts of total patient health, function, life-participation, pain behaviors and their manifestations, and their role in the total patient/client management.
Management strategies will include education, activity modification, manual therapy techniques, and individualized neuromuscular rehabilitation prescription, with the goal of restoring optimal function and preventing future health conditions and impairments. Most 500 level courses are offered in a 2-day onsite/1-day online format. Selected sites offer a 3-day onsite format.
Level II (611, 613, 616, 621, 626)
Level 600 courses build on the work begun in the 500 level courses with each course being aimed at a specific region of the body. These courses are predominantly lab-based and are focused on the evaluation and management of human movement. Firstly, each course builds a detailed evaluation plan for the individual spinal and/or peripheral joint being studied. In depth joint biomechanics provide the basis for analyzing movement and determining its relationship to the presenting patient's health condition and impairments. Specifically, the mobility, stability, and integrity of each joint is studied, along with the central and spinal neurophysiological factors that determine normal and abnormal movement patterns.
Assessment techniques for each of these components will be demonstrated, practiced, and applied to various case scenarios. Secondly, a significant portion of these courses will be spent demonstrating, practicing, and applying specific, directional, and focused manual therapy techniques to the spine and extremities. Locking/focusing techniques will be taught in order to develop participants' skills in localizing and minimizing the forces used during mobilization and manipulation.
At the conclusion of the Level 600 courses, participants have all the skills required to evaluate and manage any individual joint in the body and are eligible to sit for the CMPT (Certified Manual Physical Therapist) Certification Exam (C-630).
