A Manual Therapy Approach to Treatment of Headaches

Course Description

Headaches can be very overwhelming because they are multi-faceted, involve many systems, and affect up to 75% of people. This course will provide information and treatments allowing you to give more patients headache free days.

This 1-day course focuses on taking a very common condition that is not commonly treated by therapists and shows clinicians how to become comfortable treating it. Treatment approaches include Muscle Energy Technique (MET) to the cervical spine, myofascial release to the neck and head, posture retraining and review of other causes/treatments in a comprehensive approach. This course is evidence-based and every technique is repeated multiple times so each participant has the chance to learn them well. When you leave this course, you'll walk away with a comprehensive and strong foundation for treatment of the head and neck.

As with all of our manual therapy courses, this course is at least 75% hands-on lab, and will give the clinician hands-on skills they use immediately upon their return to the clinical setting.

 

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What people are saying!

Loved the scope of techniques taught to specifically target headaches. Also loved the classification of headaches as this was new information to me. Will help guide my treatments of these patients better.
Toledo, OH
The repetitiveness of the manual interventions was very helpful in facilitating learning in order to feel more comfortable about implementing these techniques. All of the manual interventions were very helpful and applicable to the clinic.
Medford, NJ
The fact that 75% of the course was hands on was the most useful aspect of this course. We got ample feedback and time to practice with the instructor.
Minneapolis, MN

Top Takeaways

  • Learn where to start when a patient reports head and face pain.
  • Understand why we get headaches and what to do about it.
  • Learn the most common headache types and differentiate the headaches we can treat.

What makes this course great?

Headaches can severely impact daily life. This course gives you tools that you can confidently use to help your headache patients.

Course Objectives

At the completion of this seminar, the participant will be able to:

  • Correctly differentiate 4 characteristics of musculoskeletal headaches from other causes 
  • Identify 4 different referral patterns by vertebral level 
  • Identify 5 different referral patterns by muscle 
  • Demonstrate the ability to complete 6 mobilizations of the cervical spine 
  • Demonstrate the ability to treat 5 myofascial dysfunctions in muscles most commonly causing headache 
  • Demonstrate the ability to correct 4 mechanical dysfunctions leading to muscle and joint dysfunctions 

Course Instructors

Stacy Wozniak

PT, DPT, CIMT

Stacy received her doctorate of physical therapy degree from Grand Valley State University. Participating in lifelong learning, Stacy has become a Certified Integrated Manual Therapist (CIMT) and continues her education throughout different areas of manual therapy. Stacy uses a variety of techniques such as manual therapy, joint and soft tissue mobilization, muscle energy and functional exercise to help return her patients to the highest level of function. Stacy is also the Center Coordinator of Clinical Education for Probility. Stacy also has assisted with teaching continuing education classes across the nation. She enjoys working with a variety of patients including athletes and children. Stacy’s interests include spending time with family and friends, playing tennis and volleyball, and traveling.

Stacy Wozniak

Course Outline

Saturday

7:30am

Doors Open

8:00am

Lecture: HA classification, cause of musculoskeletal HA, subjective data, muscle referral patterns, nerve patterns, objective measures

10:30am

Lab: Myofascial release to the head and neck

12:00pm

Lunch (on your own)

1:00pm

Lab: Myofascial release to the head and neck cont.

2:00pm

Lab: Muscle energy technique for mobilizations of the neck

4:00pm

Lab: Re-educate/exercise

4:30pm

Lab: Hands-on review of each MFR and MET technique learned

5:30pm

Adjourn

Course PDF

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