Unit Outline

This unit introduces students to foundational knowledge and skills required for physiotherapists to perform their roles as resilient, confident, and autonomous practitioners in the delivery of safe, quality, person-centered, evidence-based practice. The scope of physiotherapy practice is examined, and students learn how the biopsychosocial model, International Classification on Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework, physiotherapy specific clinical decision-making models and person-centered care approaches are applied in physiotherapy practice. The types of injuries, trauma, pathologies, and physiological processes involved in different tissues healing and pain are introduced. The physiological basis and role of protected loading and electrophysical agents in facilitating the healing and reducing pain are studied as the basis for developing knowledge and skills to plan, prescribe and practice therapeutic exercise and electrotherapy treatments as a part of rehabilitative interventions to facilitate functional recovery in musculoskeletal injuries, both in post-operative and conservative management settings. Students will develop physiotherapy clinical skills and knowledge of the etiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, and clinical presentation of the common lower limb, neuro-musculoskeletal conditions including common rheumatological and metabolic bone disorders, and trauma affecting lower limb.

Intended Learning Outcomes

As per the Assessment and Results Policy 1.3, your results will reflect your achievement against specified learning outcomes.

On completion of this unit, you will be able to:


1.	Analyse the scope and principles of current and future physiotherapy practice in Australia
2.	Evaluate the aetiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, of common neuro-musculoskeletal disorders affecting the lower limb.
3.	Justify the safe and effective surgical, and post-surgical management of people with neuro-musculoskeletal conditions of the lower limb
4.	Justify the safe, culturally responsive, and effective physiotherapy assessment and management of people with neuro-musculoskeletal conditions of the lower limb.

Requisites


REQUISITE TYPE	REQUISITES
Co-requisite	CXA737 Physiotherapy Practice

Alterations as a result of student feedback

In addition to the update considered to 2023 offering, as reflected in the second cohort student feedback, further updates are considered to include more face-to-face and/or online interactive and clinical application focused discussions on online asynchronous contents.

How will I be Assessed?

For more detailed assessment information please see MyLO.

Assessment schedule


ASSESSMENT TASK #	ASSESSMENT TASK NAME	DATE DUE	WEIGHT	LINKS TO INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Assessment Task 1:	Four quizzes	See the MyLO site for the due date	40 %	LO2, LO3, LO4
Assessment Task 2:	Oral presentation	Week 9	30 %	LO1, LO2, LO4
Assessment Task 3:	Evidence Based Paradigm Shifts in Physiotherapy.	Week 10	30 %	LO1, LO3, LO4

Assessment details

Assessment Task 1: Four quizzes

Task Description:

Four Quizzes – Neuro-musculoskeletal conditions, 10% each.

These online quizzes will assess the knowledge related to applied musculoskeletal anatomy and physiology, and clinical and radiological presentation of the common neuro-musculoskeletal conditions affecting the hip, thigh and knee, leg, foot and ankle.

Task Length:

Four quizzes 30 minutes each

Due Date:

See the MyLO site for the due date

Weight:

40 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Select Identify the correct aetiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, imaging findings and conservative and/or surgical management of common neuro-musculoskeletal disorders affecting the lower limb	LO2, LO3, LO4

Assessment Task 2: Oral presentation

Task Description:

Oral presentation – Load reduction and/or electrophysical agents in lower limb neuro-musculoskeletal conditions
In this assessment, you are required to take an evidence-based approach to present a current update on the aetiology, epidemiology, pathoanatomy and pathophysiology, and clinical features (as applicable) of the given neuro-musculoskeletal condition of the lower extremity. You are required to discuss the evidence-based approach to protected tissue loading and/or electrophysical agents in facilitating healing response, pain reduction, and functional recovery of a given condition, considering the relevant complications and side effects associated with the given clinical conditions. You will need to justify the use of reduced or controlled loading and/or electrophysical agents on the short-term and long-term prognostic features of the pain and movement system impairment of the given condition. Your unit coordinator will assign you with a neuro-musculoskeletal condition for the presentation. You are required to perform this oral presentation to the teaching team and peer group, which includes a 3-min question and answer session.

Task Length:

15 minutes

Due Date:

Week 9

Weight:

30 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Describe the aetiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, of the common neuro-musculoskeletal disorders affecting the lower limb.	LO2
2	Justify the safe and effective physiotherapy management of people with neuro-musculoskeletal conditions of the lower limb using load reduction and/or electrophysical agents.	LO4
3	Apply evidence based and reflective clinical practice approach within the biopsychosocial model and person-centered care approach	LO1

Assessment Task 3: Evidence Based Paradigm Shifts in Physiotherapy.

Task Description:

The Evidence Based Practice movement and/or the scientific research field has brought a number of paradigm shifts in the field of physiotherapy and its practice. You are required to pick one of the topics from the MyLO site:

In this task you are required to take an evidence-based approach to:

define principles of evidenced based practice, and its relevance to holistic, person-center clinical practice
• describe the prevalence, common etiology, pathophysiology, and clinical problems associated with chosen health condition
• describe the accepted historical practice approaches to the clinical management related to your chosen health condition
• examine the evidence-based arguments and justify the inevitable changes required in the clinical management of the chosen health condition
• describe the resultant paradigm shifts related to your chosen health condition and its impact on the clinical outcome and/or health care burden
• discover the common barriers and strategies used to facilitate the translation of the paradigm shift in real world clinical practice
• critically analyse and summarise each information source you located to ascertain the degree of its quality (using table format)
• discuss strategies for facilitating the translation of the sourced evidence into
your physiotherapy practice
• discuss how you might manage a situation of conflicting evidence.

Task Length:

2500 words

Due Date:

Week 10

Weight:

30 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Use an evidence-based practice approach and identify effective strategies for translating evidence into practice	LO4
2	Analyse paradigmatic shifts in physiotherapy interventions and practice in light of current and future scope of practice	LO1
3	Determine the quality of information sources used to inform clinical decision making.	LO3, LO4

How your final result is determined

To pass this unit, you need to demonstrate your attainment of each of the Intended Learning Outcomes, achieve a final unit grade of 50% or greater, and pass any hurdle tasks.

Submission of assignments

Where practicable, assignments should be submitted to an assignment submission folder in MYLO. You must submit assignments by the due date or receive a penalty (unless an extension of time has been approved by the Unit Coordinator). Students submitting any assignment in hard copy, or because of a practicum finalisation, must attach a student cover sheet and signed declaration for the submission to be accepted for marking.

Academic integrity

Academic integrity is about acting responsibly, honestly, ethically, and collegially when using, producing, and communicating information with other students and staff members.

In written work, you must correctly reference the work of others to maintain academic integrity. To find out the referencing style for this unit, see the assessment information in the MyLO site, or contact your teaching staff. For more detail about Academic Integrity, see Important Guidelines & Support.

Requests for extensions

If you are unable to submit an assessment task by the due date, you should apply for an extension.

A request for an extension should first be discussed with your Unit Coordinator or teaching support team where possible. A request for an extension must be submitted by the assessment due date, except where you can provide evidence it was not possible to do so. Typically, an application for an extension will be supported by documentary evidence: however, where it is not possible for you to provide evidence please contact your Unit Coordinator.

The Unit Coordinator must notify you of the outcome of an extension request within 3 working days of receiving the request.

Late penalties

Assignments submitted after the deadline will receive a late penalty of 5% of the original available mark for each calendar day (or part day) that the assignment is late. Late submissions will not be accepted more than 10 calendar days after the due date, or after assignments have been returned to other students on a scheduled date, whichever occurs first. Further information on Late Penalties can be found on the Assessments and Results Procedure.

Review of results and appeals

You are entitled to ask for a review of the marking and grading of your assessment task if there is an irregularity in the marking standards or an error in the process for determining the outcome of an assessment. Details on how to request a review of a mark for an assignment are outlined in the Review and Appeal of Academic Decisions Procedure.

Required Resources

Required reading materials

You will be able to access the topic-specific reading list via the Readings List section on the Mylo homepage. You will be directed to topic-specific readings to complete related activities on each topic.

Recommended reading materials

In addition to the topic specific reading lists, you will have access to the following books that will be useful developing your knowledge and understanding of the contents in this unit. When seeking sources of evidence to support your assignments you will find these textbooks as a useful starting point. These textbooks are available for a limited loan period from the University Library collections.
•   David, M., James, Z., William, Q., Robert, M., 2016. Pathology and Intervention in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation. 2nd Ed. Elsevier.
•   Jull, G., Moore, A., Falla, D., Lewis, J., McCarthy, C. and Sterling, M., 2015. Grieve's Modern Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy, 4th edition. Elsevier.
•   Elly H. and Kevin A., 2013. Maitland’s Peripheral Manipulations. Management of Musculoskeletal disorders – Vol 2. 5th Ed. Elsevier.
•   David, M. and Robert, M., 2018. Orthopedic Physical Assessment. 7th Ed. Elsevier.
•   Brukner, P., Clarsen, B., Cook, J., Cools, A., Crossley, K., Hutchinson, M., McCrory, P., Bhar, R. and Khan, K., 2017. Brukner & Khan’s Clinical Sports Medicine: Injuries, Volume 1. 5th Ed. McGraw Hill.
•   Biel, A. and Dorn, R., 2014. Trail guide to the body: How to locate muscles, bones, and more, 5th Ed. Andrew Biel.
•   Butler, D.S. and Moseley, G.L., 2013. Explain Pain. 2nd Ed. Noigroup publications.
•   Kisner, C., Colby, L. and Borstad, JC., 2018. Therapeutic Exercise: Foundation and Techniques. 7th Ed. McGraw Hill.
•   Kim D. and Amy K.S., 2018. Therapeutic Exercise Prescription. 1st Ed. Elsevier.
•   Kate Woolf-May., 2006. Exercise Prescription – The Physiological Foundation: A guide for health, sports, and exercise professionals. 1st Ed. Elsevier.
•   John, D., Stanley, M., Erwin, G., 2013. The Physiological Basis of Rehabilitation Medicine. 2nd Ed. Butterworth-Heinemann.
•   Leon, C. and Judith, D., 2011. Clinical Application of Neuromuscular Techniques: Volume 2 The Lower Body, 2nd Ed. Churchill Livingstone. Elsevier.
•   Thuy, B. and Clint, B. Length, Strength, and Kinesio Tape., 2016. Muscle testing and Taping interventions, 1st Ed. Elsevier.
•   Tim Watson., 2008. Electrotherapy: Evidence-based practice. 12th Ed. Churchill Livingstone. Elsevier

Other required resources

UTAS students are eligible to use Office 365 free of charge. It is a software package built around the Microsoft Office platform that includes Outlook (email and calendars), Word (word processor), Excel (spreadsheet), and PowerPoint (presentation). These are available on and off campus. For further information and instructions to install Office 365 on your desktop and/or mobile device, please visit http://www.utas.edu.au/students/starting-uni/first-steps/prepare
Zoom is available for video conference. Visit https://www.utas.edu.au/zoom/getting-started to find tutorials and help getting started.