Breakfast program

Chronic oedema/lymphoedema is a very common but often overlooked condition that leads to increased morbidity and higher healthcare expenditure and predisposes patients to cellulitis. Chronic oedema disproportionately affects the elderly, and those with chronic diseases or a history of cancer.

This workshop will provide an overview of the literature and practical clinical tips on chronic oedema identification, assessment, and management, and on cellulitis prevention.

Ultrasound (including lung and sternal) is an imaging tool which can complement and guide physiotherapy assessment and management. This session will outline the rationale, clinical indications and bedside application in adult and paediatric populations with acute and chronic conditions. The role as a point-of-care resource with real time interpretation to guide clinical decision making will be described using case examples. A discussion will outline implementation within physiotherapy practice, including the requirements for acquiring competency and governance.

Reference will be made to the use of electrical impedance tomography (EIT) currently in cardiorespiratory research and its future use in the clinical setting.

Hear from Nick as to how the creation of an inclusive surf lifesaving Nippers programme not only created a safe space for learning and swimming for children living with a disability, but how it better educated and engaged an entire community. Nick will talk about the lessons learned, the mistakes made and the difference we can make with our physio skills and knowledge. Hear from families with lived disability experience and discuss what your community and sport can look like with ‘inclusion’.

An interactive session where you can hear about APA’s advocacy in aged care and participate in shaping our future in aged care.

The Aged Care industry has been through an extra-ordinary period of changes following the Royal Commission into aged care. Jo and Rik will present the APA’s advocacy activities in aged care through their engagement with government, industry, and researcher leaders. Learn about the way APA interacts with members, medical and nursing peak bodies, Allied Health Professionals Australia, and the National Aged Care Alliance (NACA).

Physiotherapy continues to have a vital role in supporting people as they age working with clients in hospital, clinics in the community, in their own home and residential care. Jo and Rik will explore some of the emerging evidence that highlights the value of physiotherapy. A question-and-answer sessions will enable participants to discuss the impact of funding and policy changes to the scope of physiotherapy practice in aged care following the introduction to AN-ACC in residential aged care., the new In-Home Aged Care Program that will commence July 2024 and opportunities for advanced practice roles that the APA Career pathway offers.

The interactive session will ask participants to consider what does our APA future advocacy for gerontological physiotherapy look like and what physiotherapists could do differently to promote their value proposition in their workplace.

This will be a round table forum with audience participation exploring emerging technological innovations in healthcare and their impact on the future of clinical practice in l Physiotherapy.

Topics to be covered during the session will include:

• Telehealth
• Smartphone apps
• Artificial intelligence
• Emerging equipment and robotics
• Therapy gamification
• Biomarkers and medical imaging for understanding recovery

This will be an opportunity to engage with content experts in these fields to have questions answered and gain insights into research and development directions in these areas.

This presentation will provide participants with an overview of A Participative Hazard Identification and Risk Management (APHIRM) toolkit, an intervention to address work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Participants will be provided with in-depth insight into the steps taken and the resources used to facilitate the use of the toolkit in an ambulance service, a dynamic, 24/7 pre-hospital healthcare service.  Effective, context specific planning for any participative ergonomics intervention is a crucial first step, with benefits realised when later implementing the risk management cycle.  The considerations particular to this context will be of interest to practitioners wishing to apply the APHIRM toolkit in their own context and understand what may be involved in a successful implementation.

Identifying if a child has generalized joint hypermobility (GJH), and whether or not this may be contributing to presenting symptomatology, is key when working with children with complex musculoskeletal conditions. This breakfast session aims to provide participants with contemporary perspectives of the assessment tools used to identify generalized joint hypermobility in both the face-to-face and telehealth setting. The new paediatric diagnostic framework for hypermobility disorders will be discussed, with implications for multidisciplinary assessment and treatment provided. Expert clinical reasoning for the physiotherapy management of children with hypermobility disorders will then be presented in an interactive session.

Physiotherapists in the modern sporting world use imaging to diagnose and inform the management of different injuries.  In this interactive session, the presenters will strive to answer some of the questions asked by physiotherapists daily:

• Do imaging findings help make clinical decisions?
• Are imaging findings related to clinical and functional findings?
• Does evidence support the use of imaging to guide invasive interventions?

The speakers will discuss current pain science research in the context of sport, and look at how our language to patients, even in the acute injury setting, can influence the outcomes that we are able to achieve.

Multimodal physiotherapy intervention is recommended as an important element of multidisciplinary intervention in genitopelvic pain, and has recently demonstrated evidence of effectiveness for pain sensitivity reduction and improved sexual function. Laser therapy has emerged as a treatment option, yet different types of laser therapy exist, each with a different mechanism of action, its own level of evidence, and its own associated risks.