Pelvic pain is a common, yet challenging area of practice. The contributing factors can be multiple and the presentation a complex puzzle. Patients are often embarrassed to speak about their symptoms. Allied health have a unique opportunity to spend more time with the patient to develop the rapport and trust required for this intimate area.
In this course you will review the embryology, anatomy, physiology and common presentations of the pelvic region to help unravel the pelvic pain puzzle for your patients.
Learn about the normal function of the female pelvis and organs and how dysfunction presents clinically. Conditions covered include pudendal neuralgia and visceral pain such as dysmenorrhea and endometriosis.
Liz Howard has been practicing as an osteopath and pain educator for over 20 years including at the Women’s Health and Research Institute of Australia since 2013. She has taught at multiple Australian universities and presented allied health CPD extensively in Australia, New Zealand and most recently in Ireland and Sweden.
The Pelvic Pain Puzzle follows on from Liz's popular Pain & Pregnancy course and will cover;
This course has a strong practical focus and includes appropriate manual therapy techniques that you can use with confidence in your practice. Internal techniques will not be demonstrated. The Pelvic Pain Puzzle is an excellent continuation for those who have attended Liz’s Pain & Pregnancy course. Pelvic girdle pain will be reviewed but not addressed in depth.
The Pelvic Pain Puzzle course is aplicable to allied health manual therapy practitioners. It includes practical examination and treatment protocols you will be able to use with confidence in your practice. Internal techniques will not be demonstrated.
The course will run from 8:30AM to 4PM. Places are limited to 20 attendees. It includes morning and afternoon tea, printed course notes and an e-certificate of attendance for your CPD records. The course can be counted as 7 hours CPD.
This course follows Liz Howard’s popular Pain & Pregnancy course which teaches practitioners to effectively help women during pregnancy (pelvic girdle pain etc), prepare for labour and recover efficiently from delivery or caesarean section.
I thought the course was fantastic! Incredibly well presented, very concise and interactive, and left me feeling confident and enthusiastic about applying it to my practice.
Jane Edmondson
Liz is an inspiring and engaging presenter, she shares extensive clinical knowledge of pelvic and perineal pain by way of case studies and current evidence-based practice protocols. Liz relates current clinical application models for chronic pain seamlessly with familiar osteopathic principles. This course has helped me to develop my confidence in diagnosing and treating patients with pelvic and perineal pain in a way that is immediately transferable to my every day practice.
Bimbi Joy
Loved that it was not too overwhelming and built on lots of techniques we have all learnt! Best course I've been to in a while.
Rebecca Brugman
I especially liked the practical techniques/assessment and exercises that we learnt and, it was very nicely presented I found it easy to be engaged but not intimidating at all!
Jacqueline Green
Get up close with the anatomical structures that you treat every day in your practice and deepen your understanding of pelvic pain presentations.
If it’s been a while since you had the privilege of returning to the anatomy laboratory to learn, then you’ll love this event!
Pelvic pain and organ dysfunction is a common presentation - with 1 in 5 women and 1 in 12 men suffering. This sensitive area of practice requires a sound understanding of the functional anatomy, embryology and how this translates to common symptomatology, and individualised treatment approaches available.
This clinical anatomy course - hosted at the University of Melbourne Cadaver Wet Lab - utilises real cases seen by the interdisciplinary team at the Women’s Health & Research Institute of Australia in Sydney to review the clinical anatomy of pre-dissected pelvic cadavers under the guidance of gynaecological surgeon and pain medicine physician Prof Thierry Vancaillie and advanced pain management osteopath Liz Howard.
These cases will highlight the importance of understanding the complex interrelationship of the pelvic anatomy structures and how this helps us understand patient symptoms.
The day will conclude with a tour of Melbourne Uni’s private Harry Brookes Allen Museum of Anatomy and Pathology - one of Australia's largest collections of human tissue specimens, comparative anatomy specimens and historical anatomical models.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this workshop you will be able to;
Better visualise and understand the anatomical structures of the pelvisCourse Details
This course is applicable to all medical practitioners and allied health with an interest in pelvic anatomy. It would serve as an excellent addition to Liz Howard’s Pain & Pregnancy and Pelvic Pain Puzzle courses.
The course will also feature exclusive access to anatomy, embryology, physiology pre-learning videos (to maximise time in the lab). Internal techniques will not be demonstrated.
The course will run from 8:45AM to 4:30PM. Places are limited to 24 attendees. It includes morning and afternoon tea and an e-certificate of attendance for your CPD records. The course can be counted as 8 hours CPD.
About the Presenters
Professor Thierry Vancaillie is one of Australia’s few accredited Gynaecologist and Pain Medicine Physicians, renowned for his role in developing minimally invasive procedures, including hysteroscopic and laparoscopic surgery. His expertise includes pudendal neuralgia, pelvic pain, post-surgical pain due to mesh implants and the surgical treatment of infertility due to Asherman's Syndrome.
Liz Howard has 25 years experience as an osteopath. She holds the title of Advanced Pain Management Osteopath (USYD), pain educator and clinical specialist in sacral neuromodulation. She has more than 17 years’ experience teaching at multiple Australian universities and as a CPD provider. Liz has been working in collaboration with Prof Vancaillie the team at WHRIA for over 10 years, providing osteopathic manual therapy, pain education, exercise and home care advice to help guide patients on their path to recovery, as a part of a whole team approach.
The Women’s Health & Research Institute of Australia (WHRIA) is a tertiary specialist clinic for pelvic and perineal pain, general gynaecology and hormone issues, with referrals for women and men from all over Australia.
Pelvic pain is a common, yet challenging area of practice. The contributing factors can be multiple and the presentation a complex puzzle. Patients are often embarrassed to speak about their symptoms. Allied health have a unique opportunity to spend more time with the patient to develop the rapport and trust required for this intimate area.
In this course you will review the embryology, anatomy, physiology and common presentations of the pelvic region to help unravel the pelvic pain puzzle for your patients.
Learn about the normal function of the female pelvis and organs and how dysfunction presents clinically. Conditions covered include pudendal neuralgia and visceral pain such as dysmenorrhea and endometriosis.
Liz Howard has been practicing as an osteopath and pain educator for over 20 years including at the Women’s Health and Research Institute of Australia since 2013. She has taught at multiple Australian universities and presented allied health CPD extensively in Australia, New Zealand and most recently in Ireland and Sweden.
The Pelvic Pain Puzzle follows on from Liz's popular Pain & Pregnancy course and will cover;
This course has a strong practical focus and includes appropriate manual therapy techniques that you can use with confidence in your practice. Internal techniques will not be demonstrated. The Pelvic Pain Puzzle is an excellent continuation for those who have attended Liz’s Pain & Pregnancy course. Pelvic girdle pain will be reviewed but not addressed in depth.
Attendees can choose to register for Amanda Hannaford's After Breast Cancer course which is running on same weekend to recieve 10% off both. Select the Pelvic + After Breast Cancer ticket option.
The Pelvic Pain Puzzle course is aplicable to allied health manual therapy practitioners. It includes practical examination and treatment protocols you will be able to use with confidence in your practice. Internal techniques will not be demonstrated.
The course will run from 8:30AM to 4PM. Places are limited to 20 attendees. It includes morning and afternoon tea, printed course notes and an e-certificate of attendance for your CPD records. The course can be counted as 6 hours CPD.
This course follows Liz Howard’s popular Pain & Pregnancy course which teaches practitioners to effectively help women during pregnancy (pelvic girdle pain etc), prepare for labour and recover efficiently from delivery or caesarean section. Completion of Pain & Pregnancy is highly recommended for registration in the Pelvic Pain Puzzle
I thought the course was fantastic! Incredibly well presented, very concise and interactive, and left me feeling confident and enthusiastic about applying it to my practice.
Jane Edmondson
Liz is an inspiring and engaging presenter, she shares extensive clinical knowledge of pelvic and perineal pain by way of case studies and current evidence-based practice protocols. Liz relates current clinical application models for chronic pain seamlessly with familiar osteopathic principles. This course has helped me to develop my confidence in diagnosing and treating patients with pelvic and perineal pain in a way that is immediately transferable to my every day practice.
Bimbi Joy
Loved that it was not too overwhelming and built on lots of techniques we have all learnt! Best course I've been to in a while.
Rebecca Brugman
I especially liked the practical techniques/assessment and exercises that we learnt and, it was very nicely presented I found it easy to be engaged but not intimidating at all!
Jacqueline Green
For the this event to proceed in the current COVID environment attendees will be required to comply with the following:
If this event is forced to be cancelled or postponed attendees will be offered a full refund.
1 in 8 women in Australia will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Thankfully the 5-year survival rate is over 90%, however as they try to move forward with their lives, they continue to deal with the long-term side effects of their treatment journey.
This treatment commonly results in significant scarring, adhesions, fibrous tissue, hard and lumpy breasts, rippled or contracted breast implants and even chronic pain. Current management is focused on exercise prescription or self-massage advice leaving a significant gap in the post-treatment care of breast cancer patients which osteopathy is well placed to help fill.
This one-day course will expand your understanding of breast cancer classification, diagnosis and treatments. You will gain an understanding of how common side effects develop based on the current research, and how to apply an osteopathic approach to help provide relief.
Course participants will leave with an understanding of the different types of breast cancer, the medical treatment these patients undertake and the impact of each of these forms of treatment on the tissues of the body. The course will explain the primary side effects these women experience and provide an osteopathic approach to caring for them during their recovery.
After Breast Cancer has a strong practical focus including treatment protocols that you can use to make a significant impact on your patients’ lives by relieving discomfort, changing distorted breasts to look and feel ‘normal’, and allowing patients to feel comfortable in their bodies again. Many of the techniques learned can be applied to and post-surgical scar.
Theory Component
Practical Component
Attendees can choose to register for Liz Howard's Pelvic Pain Puzzle course which is running on same weekend to recieve 10% off both. Select the Breast + Pelvic Pain Puzzle ticket option.
This course is open to osteopaths, physiotherapists, myotherapists and other hands-on body workers.
Participants will practice on each other. Please bring a thin, cotton singlet for this purpose as bras will need to be removed. Breast techniques will be undertaken only with consent and with all due sensitivity. Any direct palpation will occur underneath draping to protect the modesty of our participants.
The course will run from 8:30AM to 4:30PM with arund an 1 hour of pre-learning videos. Places are limited to 20 attendees. It also includes morning and afternoon tea and an e-certificate of attendance for your CPD records. The course can be counted as 8 hours CPD.
Amanda Hannaford is an experienced osteopath who works exclusively with breast cancer patients. She currently practices as part of the interdisciplinary team at the Northern Beaches Breast Clinic and is the founder and director of Restore Health & Wellness in St Leonards, Sydney. She will also be joining the Mater Hospital’s Centre For Wellbeing in 2022.
Amanda’s patients are referred by Oncology Breast Surgeons, Radiation Oncologists, Medical Oncologists and McGrath Breast Care Nurses. She is enthusiastic about the future of osteopathy in this field and has developed her After Breast Cancer CPD course to encourage other osteopaths to feel comfortable to care for these patients in their own practices.
Amanda has been practicing in Sydney for 20 years and has been an osteopathic university lecturer and a registration board examiner.
Find out more about Amanda Hannaford’s experience here.
As an osteopath and someone with a lived experience of breast cancer, I am so pleased that this course was created. I think osteopaths/manual therapists have so much to offer these patients.
I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in working with patients with a history of breast cancer.
Reena Murray
The course was fantastic. Amanda has done a beautiful job in collating relevant information and giving a well rounded approach to breast care. She was so generous with her resources, her experience and equipping us with skills to be able to make a difference for breast cancer and breast augmentation patients.
Chrissy Weston
For the this event to proceed in the current COVID environment attendees will be required to comply with the following:
If this event is forced to be cancelled or postponed due to COVID attendees will be offered a full refund.
Liz Howard is one of Australia’s leading Osteopaths with experience in treating the pelvis. Working closely with Pain Physician and Gynaecologist Prof Thierry Vancaillie at the Women’s Health & Research Institute of Australia Liz sees the consequences of difficult births, pregnancies and prolonged labour every day. With the right approach, great clinical results can be achieved for many complex presentations and Liz is passionate about sharing her knowledge and experience in this area.
In Pain & Pregnancy, you’ll learn how to best assist patients prepare for birth as well as post-partum covering topics such as prolapse, diastasis recti, preventing nerve pain, pelvic girdle pain, post-cesarean care, breastfeeding ergonomics, and more.
Treatment protocols and techniques demonstrated are based on the latest clinical guidelines for reducing pelvic floor delivery trauma, managing pelvic girdle pain, and the prevention of post-partum complications in the short and long term. You will learn useful self-management tips that patients can utilize during pregnancy, in birth-planning and the post-partum period.
The Pain in Pregnancy course is applicable to all allied health manual therapy practitioners with no prior experience treating pregnancy required. It will include practical examination and treatment protocols you will be able to use with confidence in your practice.
The course will run from 8:30 AM to 4 PM. It includes morning and afternoon tea, e-notes and an e-certificate of attendance for your CPD records. The course can be counted as 7 hours CPD.
After completing this course attendees will have the opportunity to attend Liz Howard’s Pelvic Pain Puzzle course which teaches the management of pelvic and perineal pain.
ACA course code: Y18-041
Organisation and venue was great which left participants comfortable to concentrate on the excellent delivery of very helpful and relevant information and instruction. Well done everyone involved and a big thank you to Liz for so generously sharing her skill and expertise.
Gopi McLeod
This was hands down one of the best courses I have attended! The balance of updated info, the course structure and the hands on practice was brilliant. I especially enjoyed that you tailored the course to the attendees and the one day course structure so that I don't feel burned out on the weekend and it didn’t impact work as much as a two day course may have. Thank you very much to all of the tutors and Liz for your guidance and support.
Casey Beaumont
Clear instruction, straight to the point, no wasting time.
Leonardo Viola
Stretching from head to pelvis, the visceral fascia is the most complex layer of fascia in the body and fundamentally involved with major vasculature, thoracic and abdominal systems. Learn to confidently examine and treat your patients viscero-fascial contributors to their pain or dysfunction in this course from osteopath Liz Howard.
You will practice a range of effective techniques and protocols that will enable you to confidently treat the supportive fascia of the thorax and abdominal viscera, including links to the musculo-skeletal system.
Exploring Visceral Fascia has a strong practical focus including treatment protocols (including patient education and self-management tools) that you can use immediately in your practice to improve patient outcomes.
Learning outcomes
Related Learning
It is recommended that attendees have previously completed Liz Howard’s Myofascial Release or Myofascial Release Online course which explores the functional anatomy and amazing properties of fascia and introduces assessment, protocols and techniques to address myofascial restrictions and contributors to pain.
Attendees can choose to register for Myofascial Release Online as well as Exploring Visceral Fascia and recieve 20% off. Select the Visceral registration + Myofascial Online ticket option.
Course Details
The Exploring Visceral Fascia course is applicable to all allied health manual therapy practitioners. It will include practical examination and treatment protocols you will be able to use with confidence in your practice.
The course will run from 8:30AM to 4PM. Places are limited to 20 attendees. It also includes morning and afternoon tea, printed notes and an e-certificate of attendance for your CPD records. The course can be counted as 6 hours CPD.
About the Presenter
Liz Howard has more than 20 years’ experience as an osteopath, pain educator and clinical specialist in sacral neuromodulation.
Liz has more than 16 years’ experience teaching at multiple Australian universities and as a CPD provider.
Her teaching experience ranges from lectures and technique in Undergraduate and Master’s Osteopathic programs (University of Western Sydney, Southern Cross University), clinical supervision of Osteopathic students (UWS, SCU, SportsMed Mumbai), Osteopathy Australia National Conference presentation, Pelvic Floor Seminars, GP education evenings and Allied Health events.
Find out more about Liz Howard's experience here.
COVID Protocols
For the this event to proceed in the current COVID environment attendees will be required to comply with the following:
If this event is forced to be cancelled or postponed attendees will be offered a full refund.
