Neurofitness & Neuroathletics - Brain, Pain and Stability
If you are a therapist who treats musculoskeletal injuries, teaches exercise, or are interested in improving the overall well-being and health of your clients using a combination of brain training, balance and cognitive skills – this course is for you!
The course is also suitable for therapists who assist with school sports, treat children, or work in the general community looking after client’s health and fitness, including aged care. You will learn a lot of new innovative skills and drills that you can easily integrate into your current regime of therapies.
The Course has been created by a Physiotherapist who has a wealth of experience working with clients with a wide range of musculoskeletal injuries of all fitness levels ranging from unfit, recreationally fit to the elite. Traditionally Physio has treated musculoskeletal injuries in a specific way, neuro skills is often a different discipline and working with elite athletes is often inaccessible to a general practitioner Physio. While this Course will be easily understood by Physiotherapists, as it integrates all these disciplines, other Practitioners who are keen to take their rehabilitation skills to the next level will learn a lot of new information. This may include (but is not exclusive to) Exercise Physiologists, Exercise and Sports Graduates and personal trainers who are interested in incorporating cognitive skills and drills into their current exercise regimes.
If you are a personal trainer and do not specifically treat injuries, you will still learn a lot of new information that you will be able to use daily. Alternatively, you are most welcome to join us in our half day Sydney Workshop. This Workshop covers the Neurofitness and Neuroathletics concepts but does not focus on specific exercises related to the treatment of neck and back pain.
While the course content and clips run for approximately 3.5hours, we recommend you allow longer than this to complete the entire course. It is self-paced so you can stop and restart when you choose. You will want to do this quite often as you practice a new skill, while it is being introduced and taught.
There is a list of Abstracts that allow you to do Pre-reading prior to the Course. It also includes the Research Articles that are referenced within the Course. Each of these Abstracts will lead you to other relevant articles that will allow you to explore the topic to a greater extent, if you choose to.
There are course notes that are accessible and downloadable once you have enrolled. They provide all the Theory that is presented in Module 1 and then a summary including pictures of the exercises that are taught in all the other 5 Modules. Included in the notes are brief snippets of helpful information that summarises what is being taught in the videos. We suggest you print the course notes, and this will allow you to add your own comments as you run through the course.
Yes, you receive Certification. At the end of each Module there is a brief Quiz. You are required to get 60% of the answers correct and once this is achieved in each Module you will receive a Certificate of Completion. This can be used for CPD points.
At the completion of the Course, you may be keen to run through some of the content with a PCAA Teacher. This will usually be Francine; please do send us an email for further details.
We have a PCAA private Facebook page where you are welcome to share your experiences of integrating Neurofitness and Neuroathletics into your current work. We are keen to hear from you!
This course was designed specifically for practitioners who are unable to join a Sydney Workshop Course. The Online Course requires you to run through the skills and information you learn either by yourself – or with a colleague. The structure and content of our Sydney Workshop Courses is the same as the online course, the difference is that in the latter you have time to practice the skills, drills and specific stability exercises with supervision and refine your teaching with personal instructions and helpful tips from Francine.
Additional FAQ’s for Physiotherapists
Brain-first approach vs only stability, flexibility and strength.
Acute or chronic pain, recovery from concussion after concussion protocols have been addressed, balance, ageing and athletes.
Each session can fit into a standard 30–45min appointment session.
You will set a different goal for each client depending on their pain, age and overall fitness or rehab goals. Pain should never be aggravated by any of the exercises covered in Neurofitness & Neuroathletics.
Yes, with careful progression. No exercise should bring on a client’s symptoms.
These exercises look after your brain health, as well as allowing you to move more freely and not be ‘fearful’ to move, because of your pain.
Neurofitness establishes guidelines and exercises for the clinical setting, rehabilitation and exercise programming while Neuroathletics progresses these baseline exercises and modifies them so that they are applicable to performance goals and skill demands of a specific sport.
Research supports balance plus cognitive work is essential for resolving pain as well as improving overall brain agility and health for all ages.
Balance times can be recorded and what occurs with COR/VOR testing. The enthusiasm of a client to be actively engaged in their pain recovery or fitness is an excellent outcome measure of assessing their progress!
A Muscle, Joint and Exercise Approach for the Treatment of TMJ
The course is for anyone who doesn’t currently treat TMJ and is a must for any new Graduate. You will not only learn new exercises and techniques to broaden your clinical assessment, management, and treatment of the TMJ, but will also be able to streamline how you assess and treat any cervical or lumbar spine pain.
Identifying drivers, using neural testing to determine if the TMJ is contributing to pain distal to this joint (Module 6), is highly recommended for any Health Practitioner, independent of one’s current clinical experience.
The course is taught by a Physiotherapist and specifically covers techniques, topics and terminology that are familiar to Physios.
Other Health Professionals, including Osteopaths, Chiropractors, Massage, Myotherapists, Dentists and Prosthodontists will also learn techniques that may be integrated into their current repertoire and daily practice in managing and treating TMJ dysfunction and pain.
This Course is aimed at Health Practitioners of all levels of experience.
This Course is not intended for anyone that is not a Health Practitioner.
Allow 3.5 – 4 hours at a minimum to complete all six modules. Each module is approximately 30 mins duration.
In addition, there is an optional Quiz at the completion of each Module.
There are also 4 TMJ Anatomy video clips, approximately 5 minutes in duration in total. It is essential to view these prior to commencing Module 2 as they are referenced and discussed within this section.
Once you have enrolled to do the Course, pre-reading on the topics that are discussed will be accessible.
Comprehensive Course notes will be provided as part of the course fee, supporting, and correlating, with each Module’s video presentation.
The PDF is accessible once you have enrolled. You may prefer to print the notes as this will allow you to write your own comments and questions as you run through the clips.
To receive certification for the course, the quiz at the end of each six modules must be completed and a score of 80% must be obtained to pass each quiz.
The Quiz consists of a combination of True/False and Multiple Choice questions. You will receive an automated score once each Quiz is submitted. You have the option of completing the Quiz after each module, or at the completion of all six Modules.
You will have 3 opportunities to complete each quiz.
If you choose the TMJ101: Muscle, Joint and Exercise approach for the Treatment of TMJ Plus Practical package, once you have completed the Six Modules and the quiz, you can then book a 2 Hour Practical Session at our Clinic in Randwick, Sydney. You will have the opportunity to run through all the practical TMJ techniques that have been covered in the Course. You will find this invaluable to refine your skills and build your confidence.
Clinic Group Packages Discounts are available.
All PCAA Physios are experienced TMJ Practitioners and teachers will be selected based on availability and your preferred time. Sessions are offered on Wednesday and Thursday between 12.30 – 2.30pm. Should your preferred day and time differ to the nominated session times, please contact us directly at info@physiocoachingacademy.com.
If you have a specific question regarding information that is in the clips or relating to the course material, please send your enquiry to info@physiocoachingacademy.com
Your question and answer will be published on our PCAA website in the Blog/Case History Section. This will provide further helpful information for other Practitioners who complete this TMJ Online Training.
Both the TMJ Online and the Workshop Courses cover how to assess and treat the TMJ using a neural drivers, exercise and manual therapy techniques approach to treatment.
TMJ Online takes approx. 3.5 – 4 hours with some anatomy review and pre-reading prior to commencing each of the 6 x 30mins modules.
After each module, there is a very brief quiz to help reinforce your learning, and a Certificate is automatically generated for you at the completion of the Course.
You can take this course at any time.
The advantage of the Workshop is that there is a lot of focus on the Practical Sessions of what’s covered in the Online Training.
The Workshop also goes through an Introduction to Cranial Techniques using neural testing to assess their effectiveness.
Here are some short clips of Francine teaching TMJ:
Assessment of Thoracic spine mobility and its influence on the TMJ by Francine St George
Assessment of Alignment & Opening of the TMJ by Francine St George
Eye Neck Stability Exercises by Francine St George
Treatment of the TMJ by Francine St George
Neural Testing for the TMJ, Cervical and Lumbar Pain by Francine St George
