Course Description:

This interactive lab based course is focused on enhancing the clinical reasoning and post-operative management skills of the orthopedic clinician and will enable the participant to make decisions as it relates to clinical presentations, differential diagnosis, and care coordination of the dynamic foot and ankle. The course will allow participants to develop a safe, effective, and efficient screening examination that 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 to guide an evaluation, c) and to initiate a treatment plan that promotes a patient centered care approach. The course will provide participants with an evidence-informed approach to evaluation and management through consideration of key foot, ankle, and lower leg musculoskeletal and neural anatomy, physiology, pathology, and movement science. Various lab breakout sessions are offered to encourage participants to refine their palpation and evaluation skills, as well as their execution of manual therapy techniques and enhance their exercise prescription as it relates to best evidence. Several case studies will be presented to progress the application of learned techniques in patient situations. An examination of the gait cycle will allow participants to delve into the necessary kinematics required of the foot/ankle for optimal locomotion. The participant will examine management strategies that include education, manual therapy techniques, neural mobilizations and individualized neuromuscular rehabilitation prescription, and functional activity modifications with the goal of restoring optimal function while fostering patient independence and preventing future health conditions and impairments.