CSB538 Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation for Podiatrists
To view more information for this unit, select Unit Outline from the list below. Please note the teaching period for which the Unit Outline is relevant.
| Unit code: | CSB538 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite(s): | CSB522 or CSB525 |
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Timetable | Details in HiQ, if available |
| Availabilities |
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| CSP student contribution | $1,192 |
| Domestic tuition unit fee | $4,704 |
| International unit fee | $5,784 |
Unit Outline: Semester 1 2026, Kelvin Grove, Internal
| Unit code: | CSB538 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Pre-requisite: | CSB522 or CSB525 |
| Coordinator: | Matthew Rixon | m2.rixon@qut.edu.au |
Overview
Podiatrists have an essential role in enabling patients to restore, maintain and improve their mobility, function and physical performance for participation across the lifespan. In this unit you will gain a theoretical and practical background in musculoskeletal rehabilitation, including evidence informed assessment and management of lower limb musculoskeletal conditions and principles of injury prevention and working in interprofessional teams. You will integrate knowledge of body systems, podiatric medicine and therapeutics to further develop your professional reasoning, communication and clinical skills. This will enable you to partner with patients from diverse populations in your future clinical placements.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Utilise digital capabilities to source and critically apply knowledge of exercise, sport, rehabilitative and preventative medicine, to generate person-centred plans to restore, maintain and improve function
- Initiate a collaborative, multidisciplinary and evidence-informed approach to the evaluation and management of musculoskeletal and sports injuries across the lifespan
- Safely apply rehabilitation techniques, considering indications and contra-indications, as well as evidence and suitability in the specific patient context
- Conduct safe, prioritised assessments of function related to injury prevention, rehabilitation and optimising performance
Content
Specialist Knowledge
- Physical activity and exercise in management and prevention of chronic medical conditions and positive health outcomes
- Barriers and enabling factors influencing engagement with physical activity and exercise, including methods for facilitating behaviour change
- Principles of sports medicine and rehabilitation, including injury prevention, load management and athletic training and performance
- Person-specific and environmental considerations in the prevention, development and management of conditions affecting the musculoskeletal system
- Evidence-informed assessment and management of acute and chronic musculoskeletal injuries, including pharmacotherapeutic, electro-physical, manual and activity based interventions
- Qualitative and quantitative methods for monitoring patient outcomes, leveraging the use of industry specific digital technologies
- Innovative methods for patient education, monitoring and management of therapeutic exercise, including digital technologies.
- Role of health and other professionals in exercise and sports and Interprofessional referral pathways
Clinical Skills
- Safe implementation of immobilisation and taping techniques
- Person centered prescription of therapeutic exercise and physical activity
- Clinical assessments of the ankle, knee and hip
- Manual therapy techniques
- Methods for monitoring of patient progress, including use of digital technologies
- Professional reasoning, including decision making relating to return to sport or activity following injury
Communication Skills
- Effective communication and collaboration within interprofessional teams
- Effective patient communication and education
These elements relate to AHPRA’s Professional Capabilities for Podiatrists. Students are registered with the Podiatry Board of Australia which recognises these capabilities as the minimum standards for professional practice.
Please refer to Podiatry Board of Australia for more information.
Learning Approaches
In this unit, you will learn by engaging in lectures, practical sessions and online discussions. You will have the opportunity and are encouraged to attend an optional field trip activity where you will apply your learning.
This unit links theory to practice, with lectures providing the underpinning theoretical principles, and practical sessions facilitating the development of new skills in the assessment of sports injuries, the musculoskeletal system and physical function and the safe implementation of treatment modalities. Your assessment tasks will draw together knowledge and skills elements, demonstrating applied clinical reasoning and problem solving. This unit provides you with the skills for Work Integrated Learning experiences in the QUT Health Clinics later in your Bachelor of Podiatry course.
The unit adopts a blended learning approach which includes lectures and laboratory practice where you will engage in collaborative activity with peers and tutors. Both content and organisation is designed for you to assess your progress in the unit and the course and gather evidence of meeting unit and course outcomes.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
Formative feedback will be provided to you by teaching staff (including both academic and industry-based clinical teaching staff) during your practical sessions throughout the semester. This will include providing guidance on musculoskeletal assessment techniques and appropriate application of therapeutic modalities used in rehabilitation. Individual feedback will be provided on your performance in the practical demonstration assessment task undertaken in late semester.
In-class feedback will be provided to you as you develop an evidence-based rehabilitation pathway for your essay task. Individual feedback will be available via Canvas following completion and marking of this assessment item.
Assessment
Overview
Your first assessment task will be to work as a team to develop an evidence-based rehabilitation pathway for a common musculoskeletal injury, including consideration of multidisciplinary approaches. Your second assessment task, an OSCE, will assess your competency and safe and appropriate application of rehabilitation modalities and equipment in simulated patient case scenarios. Your third assessment task will assess the breadth of knowledge attained across the semester with regard to exercise, sport, rehabilitative and preventative medicine.
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Rehabilitation pathway
For this group assessment task, you will utilise research and problem-solving skills, including use of emerging digital technologies, to design a rehabilitation pathway for a common lower limb condition or musculoskeletal injury in the context of a simulated patient case. You will be required to apply your knowledge of sports medicine and rehabilitation to justify and explain your evidence-based rehabilitation pathway, with reference to peer-reviewed literature.
This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.
The ethical and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is authorised in this assessment. See the relevant assessment details page for specific guidelines.
Assessment: Objective Structured Clinical Examination
You will be examined on your ability to make and justify professional decisions regarding appropriate assessments and treatment modalities in the management and rehabilitation of conditions and injuries affecting the musculoskeletal system and physical activity, in diverse populations, including athletes. You will be required to demonstrate practical skills and discuss simulated patient case scenarios with your examiner.
The use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is prohibited during this assessment.
Assessment: Theory examination
You will be required to demonstrate knowledge within a theoretical examination which may include short answers and multiple choice questions to assess your knowledge of exercise, sport, rehabilitative and preventative medicine, and the application of that knowledge to person-centred management plans to restore, maintain and improve wellbeing.
The use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools is prohibited during this assessment.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.
The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Resources
Resource Materials
Prescribed text(s)
Brukner, P., Khan, K., Clarsen, B., Cook, J., Cools, A., Crossley, K., Hutchinson, M. R., McCrory, P., & Bahr, R. (2017). Brukner & Khan’s Clinical Sports Medicine : Injuries, Volume 1 (5th ed). McGraw-Hill Education LLC. (Available in hardcover or eBook via QUT Library)
Recommended text(s)
Prentice, W. E. (2020). Rehabilitation techniques for sports medicine and athletic training (7th edition). SLACK Incorporated. (Available in hardcover or eBook via QUT Library)
Risk Assessment Statement
This unit will involve lab-based sessions. All students will be required to attend the induction session at the commencement of the semester where the safety precautions to be observed while working in the laboratory will be outlined. You are required to read the laboratory safety manual and sign the form indicating that you have read and understood the material contained in the manual. Please direct any questions regarding safe working procedures to the unit coordinator, staff who are conducting a session, or to technical staff.
This unit also includes a field trip activity, which may include off-campus travel. This activity will be supervised by a registered podiatrist and an activity-specific risk assessment has been conducted.
Course Learning Outcomes
This unit is designed to support your development of the following course/study area learning outcomes.CS44 Bachelor of Podiatry
- Critically evaluate and integrate specialised discipline knowledge of body systems, pathology, podiatric medicine and therapeutics in real-world settings.
Relates to: Rehabilitation pathway, Theory examination - Employ information literacy, evidence-based professional reasoning and shared decision-making to safely and effectively undertake person-centred management for diverse lower limb conditions through assessment, investigation, diagnosis and evaluation.
Relates to: Rehabilitation pathway - Implement safe and effective assessment and management of patients, using highly developed clinical and technical skills, exercising reflexive, ethical, sustainable and culturally responsive practice, within regulatory and legal frameworks.
Relates to: Objective Structured Clinical Examination - Practice effective multimodal communication and collaboration, establishing inclusive partnerships with patients, health professionals and relevant stakeholders, leveraging digital capabilities and interprofessional referral pathways to positively impact individual and community health outcomes, applying the full scope of podiatric practice.
Relates to: Rehabilitation pathway, Theory examination - Uphold, promote and advocate for the culture and practice of safety, quality assurance and risk management in diverse health care environments and populations, while recognizing personal accountability and responsibility for sustainable and culturally safe systems, and embracing diverse perspectives and innovative health care solutions.
Relates to: Theory examination
CS46 Bachelor of Podiatry (Honours)
- Critically evaluate and integrate advanced specialised knowledge of body systems, pathology, podiatric medicine and therapeutics in real-world settings.
Relates to: Rehabilitation pathway, Theory examination - Employ research skills in parallel with evidence-based professional reasoning and shared decision-making to safely and effectively undertake person-centred management for diverse lower limb conditions through assessment, investigation, diagnosis and evaluation.
Relates to: Rehabilitation pathway - Implement safe and effective assessment and management of patients, using highly developed clinical and technical skills, exercising reflexive, ethical, sustainable and culturally responsive practice, within regulatory and legal frameworks.
Relates to: Objective Structured Clinical Examination - Practice scholarly multimodal communication and effective collaboration, establishing inclusive partnerships with patients, health professionals and relevant stakeholders, leveraging digital capabilities and interprofessional referral pathways to positively impact individual and community health outcomes, applying the full scope of podiatric practice, including dissemination of research findings.
Relates to: Rehabilitation pathway, Theory examination - Uphold, promote and advocate for the culture and practice of safety, quality assurance and risk management in diverse health care environments and populations, while recognizing personal accountability and responsibility for sustainable and culturally safe systems, embracing diverse perspectives and demonstrating emergent leadership of innovative health care solutions through research.
Relates to: Theory examination