Principle Four Melbourne city osteopaths Heath Williams, Shaun Coghlan and Jarrod Testa travelled down to Melbourne yesterday (Sunday 10th November 2019) and attended osteopath Grant Burrows 5 step kinetic chain screen workshop.

The focus of the course was to look at one aspect of a bigger system or framework and how we can assess range of motion in a particular region and how these can impact other regions of the body. Grant is very much a student and teacher of learning and he has put together a simple and effective kinetic chain screen that integrates applied functional science from the Gray Institute and other similar contemporary health professionals that integrates well with the osteopathic approach.

It was a fantastic day where we had the chance to collaboratively work with 17 osteopaths of all different backgrounds and experiences. Grant as usual brought his dynamic and facilitative style of teaching to the day with occasional random storytelling that eventually had a life lesson or teaching point. His mum Pam was a fantastic host who kept everyone extremely well fed and happy throughout the breaks.

Now lets briefly cover what was taught for the day so that those of you who might be thinking about attending this course will look to do so when the next one is advertised.

The course was titled “5 step kinetic chain screen” that involved looking at the 3 big rocks: foot/ankle, hip and thoracic spine and how the thoracic spine can influence the hip and the hip and foot/ankle can influence each other.

The first 3 steps of the screen involve taking an isolated look at the movement availability at the foot/ankle, hip and thoracic spine across 3 (sagittal, frontal and transverse) in the foot/ankle and thoracic spine and 4 dimensions (compression/traction) for the hip. Step 4 involved looking at how the thoracic spine can influence the hip and step 5 how the foot/ankle and hip can each influence each other.

By completing the simple 5 step kinetic chain screen we can assess for specific range of motion limitations within the individual when comparing one side to the other and we can also determine if one region is impacting the range at another. Therefore providing us with a specific strategy to look to address any range of motion restrictions. Now when it comes to how we then address the range of motion, this can be done in an upright manner or through more traditional manual therapy techniques.

Many thanks for a great course Grant and we all look forward to attending future courses.

This blog post was written by osteopath Heath Williams of Principle Four Osteopathy. Principle Four Osteopathy is located on level 4 at 178 Collins St Melbourne City CBD 3000. Book online or call us on 0396709290.