Sports Medicine Workshop Offers Skills to Practitioners

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A three-day conference this month will provide physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, physical therapists, athletic trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, coaches and students with skills that they can begin to use immediately.

Physicians' Specialty Hospital will present the Razor Fitness Spring Sports Medicine Workshop in conjunction with the University of Arkansas graduate athletic training education program on May 20-22.

"These courses will allow the health-care professional to identify and rehabilitate the injured physically active person's physical movement," said Jeff Bonacci, program coordinator of athletic training education. "The courses also address preventive measures in non-injured people by assessing lack of movement that could be a precursor to injury. This system is truly the cutting edge of techniques to isolate and correct foundational human movement."

Steve Smith, manager of performance physical therapy services at the Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze, Fla., will present information for certification in functional movement screening and selective functional movement assessment. The workshop will feature both lectures and hands-on laboratory sessions. Smith, who holds a doctor of physical therapy degree from the University of Maryland at Baltimore, is a certified instructor for functional movement screening under the direction of Gray Cook, founder of the functional movement screen system.

See more cost and registration information. Registration is under way and will continue through May 19. It includes 24 continuing education units for both courses. Participants will gain access to an exclusive community of certified practitioners, a wealth of constantly updated professional resources, and the database of diagnostic tools and exercises that are vital to the functional movement screen system.

The Selective Functional Movement Assessment course and the Functional Movement Screen course are different courses and intended for different purposes. 

The Selective Functional Movement Assessment course is designed to allow the health-care professional to evaluate painful movement, determine the source of the pain and perform manual therapy and neuromuscular exercise techniques to treat the painful condition. Because it deals with painful (pathological movement) and manual therapy techniques, the course is limited to the following licensed health-care providers: physical therapist, physical therapist assistant, certified athletic trainer, medical doctor and chiropractor.

The SFMA Level 1 course introduces the material for the foundation of the selective functional movement assessment, "The Big 7" movements and a basic introduction to the breakout sections for each of these seven movements, as well as initial interventions directed toward the findings.

The SFMA Level 2 course provides greater breadth and depth of the breakouts, as well as interventions.

 The time between levels 1 and 2 allows for the clinician to integrate the selective functional movement assessment into clinic practice on patients, setting up a better working knowledge of application in patient care situations. This also facilitates greater discussion in the Level 2 course. Attendance at the Level 1 course is required prior to attending Level 2.

 The Functional Movement Screen course may be taken at any time. It allows athletic trainers, strength and conditioning specialists, personal trainers and physical therapists to identify current injury trends and statistics as they relate to the prevention of non-contact injuries, provide a standard for baseline screening prior to training program implementation and identify functional movement asymmetries in non-painful athletes and clients.

Attendance at a Functional Movement Screen certification course is required for sitting for the certification exam.