This two-part course will review the theoretical knowledge and background learning related to manual therapy and manipulation of the Lumbar Spine and Sacrum with a 4- week online distance-learning program. The focus of the online courses are safety and theoretical preparation for the practical component. Then the participant will attend a practical, in-person course that will help them gain psycho-motor skill competency in the practice of manipulation of the Lumbar Spine and Sacrum. This course contains content that addresses the requirements (theory, practice and final evaluation) that enable participants to SEEK authorization for the spinal manipulation roster in Alberta.

You will be given access to 8 on-line units that will cover the theory and background necessary to safely and effectively utilize manipulation. These units will include:
1) An Introduction to Manipulation
2) The Risks Associated with Manipulation
3) Discussion of the Application of Manipulation
4) Chronic Pain Management in the Lumbar/Pelvic Region
5) Management of Hypermobility
6) The SIJ
7) Overview of Objective Exam Screen Tests
8) Discussion of the Legislation, Rostering and Informed Consent related to Lumbar/Sacral Manipulation
There will be quizzes to assess your knowledge acquisition following every two or three units.
An additional 2 units on anatomy and pathology are included as well.

Following completion of the online module, participants will attend a two-day weekend intensive course. On this course, screening and assessment of the lumbar/sacral region will be reviewed. The evidence-based assessment of the lumbar/sacral region will be illustrated and practiced by participants to help classify patients into a treatment based category. These categories include Directional Preference, Stabilization (hypermobility), Chronic Pain and Manipulation. The focus of the course will be on effective and safe assessment of patients to identify those patients who would most likely benefit from manipulation. Participants will have the opportunity to practice lumbar/sacral area manipulations including supine, side-lying and prone techniques. The techniques covered include but are not restricted to the lumbar side-lying gap manipulation, the Chicago technique, Thoraco-lumbar techniques and Sacral manipulations. Once students have been guided in the refinement of the motor strategies for manipulation, they will be asked to demonstrate competency for each manipulation covered in the course prior to having their skills checklist marked as competent. Audio-visual, demonstration, instructor guided application, peer-review feed-back and case studies will be employed to promote learning prior to assessment of competency. This course will provide 14 hours of direct contact teaching related to the skill acquisition of manipulation.

The techniques covered include:
1) Lumbar side-lying gap manipulation
2) Chicago technique (which is a lumbar sacral technique)
3) Thoraco-lumbar side-lying gap technique
4) Long leg sacral thrust

**Please use your username and password that you created to register for this course to access the online material