Featured Specialty Courses

Click to Register for the following Online Specialty Courses:



S-901 - Manip Like a Girl: Work Smarter not Harder

Physical therapists have played a leadership role in developing manipulation. It is essential that it remain a mainstay of physical therapy patient/client management. This two-day course is designed to increase the physical therapists’ knowledge and skills with spinal manipulation. The course will emphasize ergonomically efficient manipulation such that physical therapists with smaller stature can safely and effectively deliver thrust techniques regardless of the size of the patient without causing themselves injury.

NAIOMT teaching faculty Stacy Soappman demonstrating manipulation techniques


S-903 Manual Therapy and Pregnancy:
An Integrative Approach

This hybrid 3-day course (8 hours online) will focus on the physical and physiological changes of pregnancy, with the goal of equipping orthopedic manual therapists of varying backgrounds to skillfully and confidently work with pregnant women. The course will cover relevant anatomy, physiology, and medical precautions necessary for working with an obstetric population, a population that exceeds 3.7 million US women per year.

Specific neurologic and orthopedic topics will be addressed as they relate to the obstetric population including modifications for examination and intervention and common regional dysfunctions. Contemporary exercise guidelines for pregnancy will be outlined and discussed with particular attention to the role of the physical therapist in rehabilitative and general exercise programming, as well as with respect to factors such as bed rest and obesity. Special topics in obstetrics will also be presented to provide participants with requisite knowledge on specialty populations, physical issues, and use of braces and supports within obstetrics.

NAIOMT faculty Jessica McKinney and Susan Clinton demonstrating techniques taught in the class Manual Therapy and Pregnancy

S-910  & S-911 Dry Needling - LQ and UQ

Dry Needling (DN) is a powerful, adjunctive tool for the orthopaedic manual physical therapist. Understanding the genesis of myofascial pain, applicable pain science, the mechanisms of DN, application to orthopaedic diagnoses, and the proper historical context is crucial to understanding the theory of DN. However, when not placed in the context of a thorough subjective history, a comprehensive neuromusculoskeletal examination, and appropriate differential diagnosis, it can be challenging to accurately identify the most appropriate patients and achieve optimal patient outcomes.

This course is designed to bridge the gap between DN theory to how this tool can be integrated into clinical practice seamlessly by presenting a case based clinical reasoning approach to DN in order to provide first time exposure and education to clinicians on DN as well as review and improve effective technique with clinicians currently utilizing DN. With concerns about complications from the invasive nature of dry needling, ample amount of lab time will be spent on surface anatomy and palpation to ensure accurate location of relevant regional anatomy and safety of technique.


S-921 Advanced Concepts for the Overhead Athlete

Overhead athletes require special characteristics to allow them the mobility and stability to perform their sport. There are considerable anatomical and biomechanical kinetic chain concepts that the physical therapist must understand to treat these athletes appropriately. Normal upper quarter function is dependent upon controlled and sequenced motion of all component parts; the lower quarter also plays a major role in setting up the upper quarter to perform properly.

During this course, these anatomical and biomechanical considerations of the entire kinetic chain will be covered in detail, along with extensive lab time for mastering examination and intervention skills. A range of overhead sports will be covered with a review of the differences between each. Advanced techniques such as video analysis, scrutiny of the pitcher’s mechanics, and live demonstration of an overhead athlete evaluation will be incorporated into this course.

 NAIOMT teaching faculty demonstrating techniques taught in the class Advanced Concepts for the Overhead Athletes