Understand the anatomical, biomechanical, neurophysiological and clinical evidence behind The Thoracic Ring Approach:

• Learn how the functional framework of the Thoracic Ring Approach supports the overarching ConnectTherapy aims to create more options for posture and movement and increase movement variability to support optimal health of the whole person.
• Understand the primary roles of the thorax and the connections between the thorax and the rest of the body:
  • How the thorax is related to synergistic action of the abdominal wall and pelvic floor
  • The thorax as a base for shoulder girdle, neck and head function.
  • Connections between the thoracic rings and pelvis, thoracic rings and low back, thoracic rings and hip, thoracic rings and lower extremity (knee, ankle, foot).
  • The thorax and sensitization of the sympathetic nervous system
  • When dysfunctional thoracic rings are the driver for altered neurodynamic tests.
  • Mechanisms to explain why the thorax can be the driver for pain and problems elsewhere in the body – scientific and clinical hypotheses developed by LJ
• Acquire the key clinical skills to assess the thoracic rings – thoracic ring palpation to evaluate postural and movement behaviour of the thoracic rings across multiple tasks, and how to assess strategies for neuromuscular control of the thoracic rings across multiple tasks.
• Acquire thoracic ring correction and “ring stacking” skills in basic tasks with the aim to progress to more complex contexts with practice.
• Learn the clinical reasoning process of the Thoracic Ring Approach to determine when the thorax is the primary driver of a patient’s problem and when it is not – acquire the ability to determine if the thorax needs to be treated for problems anywhere in the body for the patient’s Meaningful Task:
  • Learn the assessment paradigm of Meaningful Task Analysis (MTA) (Lee LJ 2008) – how to design your assessment to be most relevant to the patient’s goals – learn how to take complex sports movements and choose meaningful screening tasks to determine whether the thorax is the primary driver.
  • Understand how The Thoracic Ring Approach relates to ConnectTherapy™
  • Discuss how the framework of The Thoracic Ring Approach provides a broader perspective to evaluate findings from traditional manual therapy and muscle energy assessment techniques for the thoracic spine and ribs.
• Discuss the most common underlying impairments for thoracic ring drivers and how this affects treatment decisions in the thorax – consider the various types of system impairments for the thorax in terms of neural, visceral, fascial, muscular and articular impairments – and learn the clinical tests to determine which system needs to be treated for individual patients.
• Understand the Principles for Treatment according to the Thoracic Ring Approach and ConnectTherapy and practice specific treatment techniques developed by LJ for the thoracic rings and the clinical reasoning process of when to use which techniques, including:
  • Thoracic ring “stack & breathe” and dynamic “stack & release” with progressions and variations to release vectors between the thoracic rings and the shoulder girdle (clavicle, scapula, glenohumeral joint), arms, neck and head, lumbopelvis, hips and lower extremities, indirect visceral release.
  • Discuss how to integrate other treatment techniques such as manipulation, mobilization, dry needling, myofascial release.
  • Taping for the thoracic rings to support and facilitate neuromuscular training.
  • Manual and verbal cues to recruit and train segmental thoracic ring control and how to provide manual feedback during movement to optimize brain mapping of new strategies for thoracic ring function.
• Learn how to design a progressive exercise program to optimize movement behaviour of the thoracic rings and increase movement variability – address “inter-ring control” – segmental control of the thoracic rings – and integrate thoracic ring control into inter-regional control (thoraco-pelvic, thorax-shoulder girdle, thorax-neck, thorax lower extremity) and whole body control of equilibrium (centre of mass over base of support) that is specific to the patient’s goals and meaningful activity.
• Learn the Thoracic Ring Approach and ConnectTherapy exercise prescription framework to prescribe and progress exercises for thoracic ring drivers through 3 phases of progression, with new features such as teaching “Self-check movements” and “Reset exercises” to automatically self-release non-optimal vectors when the system has been overloaded. This creates less reliance on the therapist and empowers patients with control over their exercise progressions as they move through the process of changing the way they live and move in their bodies.