IFOMT NEWSLETTER – DECEMBER 2002

 

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Another six months has passed since the last Newsletter, and as we are all preparing to have some well earned “Time Out”, let me update you on the activities of the IFOMT executive since June.

The areas of activity have been:

• Collection of information for the Resource Centre
• Continued development of the website
• Collaboration with WCPT in preparation for Barcelona, June 2003
• Initial meeting with WCPT- Europe regarding Specialisation

COLLECTION OF INFORMATION FOR THE RESOURCE CENTRE
We have now received lists from the Member Organisations regarding experts in areas related to Manual therapy, Education (structure and course development) and Research. It is our intention that this information should go on the website.
We envisage that this information will be sought after by new or developing MT groups. It should make it easy for them to choose which country they would like to turn to for help, as language is sometimes a big problem in the early developments of an educational program. There would also be the possibility for groups to mix and match from different countries depending on their specific needs.
The intention is that IFOMT should truly be able to provide constructive help in a way that has previously not been possible (due to lack of technical facilities).

In addition we have also collected information regarding current research areas, projects and publications, from each Member Organisation (MO). This information will be organised into specific fields with contact people clearly denoted, for correspondence.

Further more we have requested the MOs to submit any Clinical Guidelines, which have been developed and adopted for use by their organisations and Parent Bodies. This would also be available on the website. We believe that this information will be of increasing use for the MOs and the physiotherapy profession as a whole in relation to presenting justification for funding for education, research and clinical scope of practise. We have evidence, these days, and we must use it to the best effect. By making this information easily accessible on one site, we can save time and improve accuracy of the information used.

CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEBSITE
The development of the website is in active progress. Through our Canadian MO we have an IT firm working on a first draft. It is our expectation that the initial framework will be in place for the WCPT conference in Barcelona in June 2003.

COLLABORATION WITH WCPT IN PREPARATION FOR BARCELONA 2003
The contact with WCPT has continued to increase, as was discussed at the Strategic Planning Meeting last year. IFOMT has taken an active part in discussions around the role and status of the subgroups. In preparation for Barcelona, IFOMT has contributed to the quadrennial report and we are also responsible for part of the program during the forthcoming conference. We hope that we will see a lot of our MO delegates in Barcelona, as it promises to be an interesting and stimulating program. The IFOMT part of the program is at this stage scheduled for Sunday morning, 8th June.
There will be an informal meeting for the attending MO delegates in the afternoon of the 9th June. IFOMT will also be hosting a drinks reception in the evening of the 9th. If you already know that you are going to be at the conference, please could you let Vicki know so that we have some ideas of numbers for the MO meeting. The increase in contact between WCPT and IFOMT leads to a greater understanding between the two organisations and will ultimately further improve the utilisation of our specific areas of expertise.

INITIAL MEETING WITH WCPT-EUROPE REGARDING SPECIALISATION.
In October the Portuguese MT group hosted an IFOMT-ECE meeting, which was held in Estoril. At the open business meeting (which is always organised by IFOMT at these conferences to allow for a forum of exchange of information regarding current issues in MT), Antonio Lopes, chairman for WCPT- Europe, had been invited to present a paper on the interpretation the title specialist by the WCPT. This was a first step in looking at the possibility of reciprocity of clinicians (as discussed at the SPM in Antwerp, September 2001). This is a long-term issue the work for which will be carried on by the next executive committee. However, at our handover in Capetown, there will have been some groundwork done.

In brief, the above outlines the activities of the executive in the last six months. We have had good input from the MOs, without whom we would have no remit. The last year has seen a great increase in contact between the executive and the MOs and it has been a very positive step forward for IFOMT. On behalf of the executive committee I would like to extend our thanks to all of you for your hard work and help. A lot has already been achieved, but there is more to come.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2003.

Agneta Lando, President of IFOMT

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RESEARCH CLINICAL GUIDELINES
Please see the attached Research document.

THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE, MEMBERS AND ROLE
It was with regret that we accepted the resignation of Jane Greening, UK, from the Standards Committee.
The Standards Committee held a Teleconference in September, which was a chance for the committee to liaise with each other.

SUBSCRIPTIONS
Please note that subscriptions are due, (as per the constitution Article 9, Section 2), by the beginning of the new financial year. These have been posted, so you will receive them shortly. Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to organising payment of the annual subscriptions.

MISSION/ VISION STATEMENT
The IFOMT executive have decided, on collating the replies that we received from delegates, that the IFOMT Mission/ Vision statement will be –
‘Worldwide promotion of excellence and unity in clinical and academic standards for manual/musculoskeletal physiotherapists’

REQUEST TO ALL IFOMT DELEGATES & MEMBERS!
Some thoughts from the IFOMT-ECE co-ordinator:

At my visits to IFOMT-ECE Congresses over the last few years, I have noticed that there are few ‘foreigners’ attending the meetings – sometimes there are the IFOMT delegates only.
I think it’s important that we help each other actively to acquire more participants, otherwise there will be no country willing to arrange an IFOMT-ECE (or any other region) congress.
I think one of the reasons could be lack of information to the different countries’ members. So let’s be more active to promote the meetings to our members through every kind of possible channel e.g. newsletter, website …. The arranging country must also inform, allowing enough time, and provide the delegates with information material.

The next IFOMT-ECE Congress will be in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in December 2003. Welcome!

Marina Wallin
Co-ordinator IFOMT-ECE
Stockholm, 29 January 2003

ASIA/ WEST PACIFIC REGION
Please note the 2nd meeting for the Asia West Pacific Region of IFOMT will take place in conjunction with the MPA conference in Sydney, November 27-30 2003.
More information is available from the website www.mpa2003.com

The MPA cordially invite all IFOMT members and registered interest groups to attend and mark this in your diary.

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MO & RIG Reports:
Thank you to the delegates who have again responded to the call for information to print in the newsletter.

Australia:
The 13th Biennial MPA Conference in 2003 is fast approaching. The conference will be held from 27-30 November at Darling Harbour in Sydney.
Keynote speakers include Associate Professor Gwen Jull, Associate Professor Paul Hodges, Dr Chris Maher and International Keynote speakers to be confirmed. There will also be clinical workshops run by leading researchers and clinicians including Headache Workshop with Gwen Jull, Shoulder Workshop with Mark Jones and Mary Magarey, Patellofemoral Pain Workshop with Jenny McConnell , Tendinopathy Workshop with Jill Cook and Cervical Spine with Duncan Reid. The conference will conclude with a Multidisciplinary Symposium on Neck Pain and Whiplash. For more information visit www.mpa2003.com The Asia/West Pacific meeting of IFOMT will be held in conjunction with MPA 2003.

Belgium:
BVMT-ABTM: OMT –Group Belgium

The Belgian OMT Group is currently working on different projects. As presented on the last open business meeting in Lisboa we have 3 major key points for the upcoming years.

A) First of all we are currently creating a PR-campaign together with a professional marketing agency for the promotion of “Manual Therapy”. Our main goals are:
1. Knowledge of term “Manual Therapy” for MD’s and patients
2. Creating positive image
3. Improving communication with GP’s
4. Creating distinctive profile (general physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors)
5. Providing a service for our members

We’ll try to achieve these goals on three levels:
• Information, image building: providing poster, informative brochure, paper with heading, envelops, T-shirts for members (January 2003).
• Name: direct media campaign in health and fitness magazines & health channel through advertising, providing articles & items (5 years).
• Call for action: personal mailing to GP’s by members (February - May 2003)

B) Secondly we will implement a “quality control system” for the recognised MT-programs
Our goals are:
1. Continuous evaluation of recognised MT programs.
2. Providing feedback for improvement of these programs.
3. Quality based recognition
4. Providing a good control system that can be proposed to the ministry of health for recognition of specialities

This will contain a self-evaluation report (SWOT- analysis), a questionnaire and an “on site” visitation.
In the self–evaluation report there will be information regarding philosophy, goals and background of the education, statistical administrative information about the program (students, staff, curriculum). It also needs to contain a SWOT analysis regarding content, examinations, didactic approach accommodation, staff, logistics, and scientific output.
The questionnaire for the graduated students will contain both open and closed questions about the program. There will be closed questions regarding organisation, infrastructure, didactic material, teaching staff, curriculum content and level, continuous education... It will also provide the possibility for making remarks about the program in an open question format for feedback.
The last part of the control would be an (on site) 1 or 2-day visitation of the accommodation with questioning of staff & students based on the self-evaluation report. There will have to be at least 1 international jury-member to assure objectivity. The Belgian association asks for IFOMT support in this matter.

C) The recognition and scientific committee of BVMT-ABTM are also updating the Belgian Curriculum. In Belgium the BAMA structure will be implemented from 2004 on. This European model for higher education will have some consequences for the Physiotherapy education in Belgium and also for the Postgraduate education. The new “Belgian Curriculum” has to be in concordance with this new situation. We’ll have to take into account the regulations for postgraduate training in Belgium and Europe. The program will be in concordance with the ECTS system. It will provide both general quantitative standards (credits, rules for examination,…) as qualitative standards (learning outcomes per subject). The quality control system will make a more qualitative evaluation possible.

Canada:
The Canadian Member Organization, CAMT (the Canadian Academy of Manipulative Therapists), has recently undergone organizational relationship changes. CAMT was formed in 1997 to represent Canadian manipulative therapists (having evolved from the association, COMP, the Canadian Orthopaedic Manipulative Physiotherapists Association, a group focused more on the practical areas of manipulative therapy, less concerned with political and representative functions), and proposed to assume the official Canadian MO for IFOMT. When Canada first became an official Member Organization, the OPD was the official Canadian MO for IFOMT. The change in representative status from OPD to COMP, and presently to CAMT, was never ratified by appropriate executives until recently. At our Annual General Meeting in September 2002, held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, this change in professional relationships was officially recognized and accepted by both the CAMT members and its executives, as well as the OPD members and its executives. Final approval for this change in IFOMT MO status is expected to be granted by the Board of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association (CPA) shortly, and the executive of IFOMT will be presented with official written documentation of this change in status. CPA is the Canadian member of WCPT. Preliminary planning will start shortly by CAMT on a bid for the 2008 IFOMT Congress, with the suggested venue being Quebec City, Province of Quebec. Our next Annual Symposium of the Orthopaedic Division (OPD) of the Canadian Physiotherpy Association will be September, 2003, in Victoria, British Columbia. It would be nice to see some international participants! The website address for the OPD is www.orthodiv.org Please visit the CAMT website at www.manipulativetherapy.org to see our history, our professional relationships, and meet our members. Canada is looking forward to the next IFOMT meeting in Barcelona, May 2003.

Denmark:
Over the past years we have gradually changed our Manual Therapy post basic education. As a consequence of that we now see a dramatic increase in the number of physiotherapists attending our examination level one, which now also includes writing a case report. Also, the number of attendees for the level two examination, which is meeting the IFOMT educational standards, has increased. It is our great hope that our education in manual therapy will be adopted by the official post basic educational system and thereby officially approved within the next few years.

Our parent body has initiated the description of specialists in physiotherapy following the definitions of WCPT-Europe. The two first fields to be described and implemented are Neurological Physiotherapy and Musculo-Skeletal Physiotherapy. The academic level is set to a master’s level and expert skills and ability to complex problem solving within the specialist field are required. Within the Musculo-Skeletal field the manual therapy group have been working together with three other interest groups (McKenzie, Women’s Health, and Sports Physiotherapy) in order to specify the educational content and the actions of the specialist in the future. The plan is to approve the first specialist in year 2003. However, this is still not a legislation of the specialist, and no formal competences are given. Hopefully this will be next step together with mono disciplinary masters in physiotherapy in Denmark.

Our teaching staff is preparing to meet the new demands of higher postgraduate levels, two are now PhD-students, and several are enrolled in master’s programmes. This means that we at the moment are low on resources for jobs, other than teaching. Therefore, it seems hard for members to find available time for IFOMT tasks, even though the interest and competence is present.

Hong Kong:
MTSG has continued to organize short courses on manual therapy throughout the year for working physiotherapists. And the Hong Kong Polytechnic University has started offering the Master course in manipulative physiotherapy for physiotherapists from September 2001. In Hong Kong, there is exposure to manual therapy both of western and Chinese medicine tradition, exchanges can bring enrichment.
Ireland:
Ireland has recently joined IFOMT as a Registered Interest Group and plans are well under way to put in place a manual therapy programme to obtain full membership.

Netherlands:
The topic of our annual two-day congress, March 1st and 2nd, 2002 was the Spine. Approximately 30 speakers, amongst which Mike Adams, Charles April, Serge Gracovetsky, Mark Jones, Margareta Nordin and Peter O’Sullivan from abroad, gave lectures on this subject. More than 1600 persons attended both congress days and 24 companies attended the exposition during our congress.

At the annual congress of KNGF (parent body of the NVMT = Dutch Association of Manual Therapy) on November 1st and 2nd, 2002 the NVMT covered a session on Manual Therapy for all physiotherapists.

There are five certified post-graduate centres in The Netherlands. All five of them have combined their efforts in preparing a common educational plan for the near future.

The guideline “Manual Therapy for Patients with Non-specific Low Back Pain” has been completed and we will start up the implementation process.
The NVMT is evolving into a more professional organisation.

New Zealand:
Another busy year is drawing to a close for the New Zealand Manipulative Physiotherapy Association. Ongoing education via the weekend-based courses has been successful and well attended. These courses are filling an important niche in the manual therapy market for those physiotherapists who do not require a University based manual therapy qualification. These weekend courses have replaced the Diploma of Manipulative Therapy exams and now lead more directly to membership of the New Zealand College of Physiotherapy. The University based programmes are also well attended and maintain the standards required for IFOMT membership.

A survey of NZMPA members as to their compliance to the 1988 Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) VBI testing protocol was undertaken this year. The results were similar to the findings of the survey conducted in Australia in 1999. Members found the 1988 protocol cumbersome and lengthy and compliance was affected as a result. As a consequence of the findings the NZMPA will be moving to adopt the new APA VBI guidelines as they seem more appropriate to clinical practice and are based on recent VBI research. A full report of the survey will be published in the New Year.

The 2003 NZMPA year is looking exciting with our biannual national conference scheduled for August. Gwen Jull and David Butler are the key-note speakers with a strong contingent of local speakers expected. Those in the Asia West Pacific region should mark their calendars now and look forward to an exciting time in sunny Auckland! Further information with regard to NZMPA courses and the conference is available from our website www.nzmpa.org.nz. Courses are open to any registered physiotherapists who wish to either upskill or update their Manual Therapy skills.

Norway:
Manual Therapists in Norway are continuing with the Primary Contact Trial Project. Early external evaluation shows that there is a better use of health resources. Fewer patients are on sick leave, and they are using less medication when commencing treatment. Doctors are not as skeptical as at the start of the trial. An increasing number of Manual Therapists are using their special skills in more than 90% of their clinical work.

Manual therapy education in Norway is celebrating their first group of graduates from the University of Bergen. They have completed a 2 year fulltime course of study. The second group begins in December 2002 and will graduate at the end of 2004.
The Manual Therapy Group in Norway is involved in arranging " Focus on Back patients" for Physiotherapists, Chiropractors and Medical practitioners, in Trondheim 14 - 16 March 2003.
More information: www.fys.no/mt2003.htm or www.tsforum.no/mt2003

South Africa:
IFOMT 2004 CONGRESS
Plans for the IFOMT 2004 Congress in Cape Town are progressing well. The theme of the congress is “Balancing the Outcome”, and the programme will range from research-based papers to clinical outcomes. We are delighted and honored that the following keynote speakers have accepted our invitation to participate:

- Mark Jones, Australia: Balancing the outcome in research
- Kari Bo, Norway: Balancing the outcome in evidence
- Jane Greening, United Kingdom: Balancing the outcome in assessment
- Gwen Jull, Australia: Balancing the outcome in management
- Karim Khan, Canada: Balancing the outcome in sports injuries
- Paul Hodges, Australia: Balancing the outcome in exercise therapy
- Paul Watson, United Kingdom: Balancing the outcome in pain management
- Leon Straker, Australia: Balancing the outcome in work-related disorders
Several other experts will be invited and our website will continuously be updated.

We look forward to receiving your abstracts. Full submission details will be supplied with future notices. The deadline for submission will be 1 August 2003.
For any further information and updates please visit our website at www.uct.ac.za/depts/pgc/

OMT COURSE
We’ve completed the restructuring of our OMT course and we are hoping to start the new course in 2004.
Season’s Greetings and Best Wishes for Happiness in the New Year from South Africa!

Spain:
In Spain I am happy to tell you that this month we will start the first course of orthopaedic manual therapy and also we are finishing the curriculum of the course to send to be evaluated by the Scientific committee.
Cristóbal Downey & Gines Almazon

Sweden:
During the time since our last newsletter the OMT group of Sweden has been working on many different aspects. This fall Sweden have had election to our parliament and our PR group has been active, lobbing for our issues at political convents all over Sweden. The sick leave rate in Sweden is the highest in the European community. Our OMT group together with our mother organisation is trying to put the focus on the benefits for society in a better working rehabilitation system especially in the area of muscular skeletal problems.

Sweden’s yearly congress in Manual therapy is planned for March 20-22th. We arranged this congress together with the orthopaedic medicine group of Doctors. This year our theme will primarily be “muscular fatigue syndromes” and the update on the latest research. The IFOMT-Sweden group have an extra day in according to the congress.
Our workshop will be focused on clinical reasoning. Some of our teachers in manual therapy will speak on the subject but with different aspects according to different dysfunctions.
Our association have, as many of you, been working on getting a good informative website for our members. It is getting on real nice and we all hope that we together with all the different IFOMT groups worldwide can build up a good network in the future. Please be sure to check on www.omt.justnu

Switzerland:
We had our national SVOMP conference on Manual Therapy on the 26th of October in Zürich. Speakers from Germany, Switzerland and the UK made it a great day. The title has been Manual Therapy Today, exploring various themes such as qualitative research, latest acknowledgements in chronic pain treatment and placebo as well as several case stories and an update on how to integrate medical training therapy in the Muskulokeletal approach.

Comparing to earlier conferences being organised by the SVOMP we noticed a drop in the number of participants. This seems to follow the same pattern as has been observed in other conferences. People tend to be a member of more than one interest group nowadays. The amount of events they can attend has increased and the number of participants for each event therefore seems to decline. Although we were still satisfied with the conference as it is, we might think of other forms in future.

There has also been some discussion in Switzerland about potential law changes for the use of thrust techniques. This will be reviewed in the spring.

United Kingdom:
This year has been a very busy time for the Manipulation Association of Chartered Physiotherapists (MACP). The activity has been centred around issues of Continuing Professional Development and the development of research. A series of very successful courses culminating in the AGM has enabled discussion and debate between members on key issues. There has been considerable development in the number of routes leading to membership of the MACP, particularly through the development of Masters level programmes across the UK. A key issue for 2003 will be the ongoing development of members through learning, teaching and research, with attention to such issues as the development of Clinical Mentors / Tutors.
The website for the MACP www.macp-online.co.uk is proving an effective resource and continues to be developed alongside other initiatives to keep members informed of developments.

USA:
The American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists (AAOMPT), the representative body of MO USA has recently formed a new committee “The International Affairs Committee”. The role of this committee is to facilitate information flow between IFOMT and MO USA. The committee has responsibilities in monitoring information from IFOMT and reporting this to the MO. The committee will also be responsible for informing IFOMT of the USA MO position on various issues at the direction of the MO

MO USA looks forward to continuing to be involved in the important work of IFOMT.

The Chair of the Committee is Chris Showalter. He can be contacted via email at Sablelion@aol.com

Calendar of Events:

WCPT 14th International Congress, Barcelona, Spain 7 – 12 June 2003
WCPT’s goal is to host a range of internationally relevant courses that are of consistent high quality and content. Register by 31 December to be eligible for the Early Bird fee and to enter the prize draw.

The courses should meet a variety of interests and learning styles, and there should be continuity between the organisation of the congress and the courses. Please contact WCPT for further information at ISC@wcpt.org Website www.wcpt.org

Romania:
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of Organizing Committee of the First International Congress of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport within the University of Oradea, I should like to invite you to participate at our Congress in 15 - 18 May, 2003, in Oradea, Romania.
For more information please look in our next website: www.fefs.go.ro
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Yours sincerely,
Secretary of Organising Committee, Dorina Flora

NZMPA Biennial Conference - 9 & 10 August 2003
Auckland, New Zealand
We are pleased to advise that the keynote speakers will be Gwen Jull and David Butler. They will both also be taking a two day post conference workshop.
Diarise this conference now – it will be one not to be missed and we would welcome our international colleagues!! If you, or any of your MO/ RIGS members, would like to present an abstract at this conference, please look at the details on our website under the Conference 2003 button.
Please contact Vicki Reid at nzmpa@wave.co.nz or via the NZMPA website www.nzmpa.org.nz

MPA 13th Biennial Conference - Australia.
MPA 13th Biennial Conference - 27 - 30 November 2003, "Best Evidence Better Care"
Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia

Introducing for the first time a multi-disciplinary day
Theme: "Neck pain and Whiplash"
Sunday 30th November 2003

IFOMT Congress – 21st – 26th March 2004
Capetown, South Africa. Sally Elliott is on the organising committee and may be contacted at, Conference Management Centre, UCT Medical School
Observatory 7925, Cape Town,
SOUTH AFRICA.
For further information please see the attached flyers.

Please circulate the information in this newsletter to your respective members.

Please send a brief confirmation to acknowledge that you have received this newsletter, as I want to ensure all recipients are aware of IFOMT happenings. Thank you.

Best wishes to you all for a safe and happy Christmas and a fantastic New Year.

Vicki Reid
IFOMT Secretariat