👋🏻 Welcome to my first blog, this is about introducing the key learning principles of mskphysio101 to you all. No matter whether you are feeling frustrated or wanting to specialise in musculoskeletal physiotherapy, there is always a key question to be answered: How can I learn MSK physio more effectively and efficiently? I guess we all had the same experience of getting tired of memorising all the anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology knowledge. However, at the end of the day, are we really getting a better picture of MSK physio by spending hours and hours reading all the textbooks and lecture notes? Here at MSKphysio101, we are aspired to reshape your learning experience of musculoskeletal physiotherapy. Believe me! Learning MSK physio can actually be very systematic, smart, and strategic!
Below are 3 key learning principles that may change your learning experience!
1️⃣ Be specific 🎯
Many universities and insituitions tend to break down musculoskeletal physiotherapy into very individual modules. It is not uncommon to see modules like anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, physiotherapy practice being separated from each other to facilitate teaching and student learning. While this approach would certainly help some of you to get a good foundation of every aspect underpinning MSK physio, the isolation of the modules at the same time would make the integration of knowledge become more challenging at a later stage. (For those who have had MSK placement, you will know what I am talking about!)
The first principle is to be specific. This principle has a number of dimensions regarding the specificity of learning in MSK physio. It is very important to have a specific approach to learn and make sense of MSK physio. For example, to learn anatomy, you will need to be pretty much joint-specific in the way you learn it. This is the simplest example of being specific. However, when you move towards the later stage of your training. The focus of your learning should gradually shift to condition-specific with the integration of an appropriate clinical reasoning framework. Here at MSKphysio101, we will try our best to help you to increase the specificity of your learning by using different conceptual frameworks to learn MSK physio.
2️⃣ Be selective 🤔
We are all humans and there is a limitation of how much we can remember and learn. In the field of medicine and health care, there is just too much to learn and digest. Most of the experienced clinicians would agree and probably some of you will start to realise the saying “the more you know, the more you don’t know!” Therefore, we will need to be very selective in choosing “what should be learnt” and “how it should be learnt” for each important concept in MSK physio.
OH WAIT! Am I supposed to know all the bits and pieces to be a competent physio? YES, but we can make it more selective by identifying the transferability of the concept and knowledge. For example, the underlying pathophysiology of osteoarthritic conditions around the body is pretty much the same and transferable. Even though we cannot really be “selective” in choosing what concepts should be important in MSK physio practice, we can perhaps make sure we don’t waste time to re-learn the same concept in other body parts when the concept is transferable.
Meanwhile, it is also important to know how a concept should be learnt. Take osteoarthritis as an example again, from the framework of MSKphysio101, it will be best learnt with the hip joint. Given the prevalence of hip OA in clinical practice and the closed connection with other key concepts and knowledge (such as total hip replacement), knowing how a concept should be learnt will definitely save your time and make your learning more well-linked. Here at MSKphysio101, we will guide you through the best approach to learn all those transferable skills and identify all those theoretical connection of different MSK concepts to aid your learning.
3️⃣ Be structural 📚
Here we are not talking about structural as in body structure (even though this also makes perfect sense for physiotherapy!!). It means being structural in the way that you learn MSK physio. The most difficult part, from an educational standpoint, of physiotherapy practice, is to link the established theory with your own practice. While we are all learning the theoretical bits in universities, the teaching sometimes is lacking in a clear structure to be applied in the clinical practice.
No matter whether it is a subjective or an objective assessment flow in MSK, the understanding of pain or the clinical reasoning underpinning physio practice. They all actually have a structure to follow. By adhering to the structural framework with the way you learn MSK physio, you can be better prepared to demonstrate a more logical and structural in your future practice. Here at MSKphysio101, we are aspired to make your learning more structural and more applicable to your clinical practice.
What’s next? 🚩
MSKphysio101 will share learning tips and materials on our Instagram and website to aid your learning in MSK physio by applying the 3 key principles listed above. Stay tuned and be prepared to reshape your learning experience with our learning approach and framework!!!!! Don’t forget to share our Instagram and website with your physio colleagues and friends if you find this inspiring. Together we will build the greatest physiotherapy learning community. 👩🏼🤝👩🏿👨🏻🤝👨🏾
Your MSK learning support team ❤️,
Instagram: @mskphysio101
Website: www.mskphysio101.com
Email: mskphysio101@gamil.com