Two of the most valuable skills a rehab professional needs are assessments and exercise prescription.
Unfortunately, new treatment techniques get people more excited. They spend hours (and usually a ton of money) trying to learn these techniques, all the while failing to understand where they fit in with the rest of them. Treatment techniques are valuable tools, don’t get me wrong— but to be successful with them, you need to have direction in your treatment. A sound assessment will give you that. Precise exercise prescription will help maintain your treatment progress. Otherwise, the effects of your treatment will be short-lived.
I know, because I wasted my first 3 years and thousands of dollars learning new treatment techniques myself.
But, my loss is your gain.
Here are 17 courses/books that will save you dozens of painful hours learning the latest treatment technique with no real direction:
1 – Global Movement Screen
Using a systematic assessment tool has completely changed my assessments. If you don’t have a global screen to look at how people move, you’re missing a huge part of your assessment.
Here are some of my favourites that I use:
FMS/SFMA
Champion Performance Specialist (C-PS)
ReconditioningHQ Level 1
2 – Joint Assessment
The hip joint can be tricky, here are some of my go-to hip assessment courses
Hip Evaulation and Rehab – Mike Reiman
Recent Advances in the Evidenced Based Evaluation and Treatment of Lower Extremity Injuries in Gymnasts – Dave Tilley
The McGill Method – Stuart McGill (Lower back – very important in hip pain)
3 – Exercise Prescription
Most PTs struggle in this area so I’m gonna go extra with some of my go-to’s.
New Functional Training for Sports – Mike Boyle
Maximum Strength – Eric Cressey
Athletic Development – Vern Gambetta
Advanced Strength and Conditioning – Anthony Turner & Paul Comfort
Ultimate MMA Conditioning – Joel Jamieson
Applied Sprint Training – James Smith
The Poliquin Principles – Charles Poliquin
The Charlie Francis Training System – Charlie Francis
Routledge Handbook of Strength and Conditioning – Anthony Turner
Strength and Conditioning for Young Athletes – Rhodri Lloyd & Jon Oliver
The Warm-Up – Ian Jeffreys
These 17 courses/books completely changed the way I thought about my assessment and exercise prescription.
If only I had discovered them sooner…