Differential Diagnosis and Musculoskeletal Management of the Thoracic Spine and Ribs

Course overview

This course offers live lecture and extensive hands-on lab demonstrating and modeling techniques. PowerPoint presentations are used, and participants receive a manual with all course materials printed. The region of the thoracic spine and ribs are not well understood in medical literature and in the clinical setting. This course provides a detailed description of the thoracic spine and rib anatomy and biomechanics. Differential diagnosis is taught from the most common to the lease common pathologies: 1) acute disc, 2) ribs (4 to 10), and 3) facet arthropathy. Management suggestions start with care for acute discogenic pathologies, addressing soft tissue and spinal techniques. Treatment then progresses to the ribs, and lastly to the vertical kinetic chain of T4 to T12 spinal column. The course ends with case studies, and questions and answers. The hands-on experience at the two-day live courses emphasizes teaching and practicing clinical examination, differential diagnosis, management development, and orthopedic manual therapy. This experience focuses on techniques and problem solving, as well as clinical analysis, synthesis and application via case studies.