Admission to this course requires successful completion of CHI 301, CHI 302, CHI 303, CHIS 333, and either completion of all other identified Year 1 and Year 2 courses of the Bachelor of Chiropractic or recognition of prior learning for equivalent courses.

The dress requirements for these classes are comfortable clothing and footwear appropriate for the climate. Female students will wear a sports bra and briefs in class and these may be worn under clothing. Males are mandated to wear underpants in addition to clothing. All students are asked to wear the approved university scrubs for Chiropractic students and to ensure cleanliness. Students will carry a water bottle and remain properly hydrated.

All units in this course require attendance and participation-in-person for all 48 hours. The passing grade is 80%. Repeated absence may result in a failing grade.

The Learner will be able to explain and defend detailed clinical meanings attached to the assessment of the upper body, especially the torso and back, by integrating elements that are bony, muscular, connective tissue, trigger points, neurological, vascular, and neurolymphatic points to facilitate critical clinical assessment. 

The Learner will apply a contemporary understanding of trigger points and neurolymphatic points about this region as supportive of subluxation being the primary treatable clinical focus of disorders. They will knowingly value Chiropractic as a global profession and particularly as an emerging health system in their nation. They will understand and value the role of subluxation in 21st Century Chiropractic in the global health community. They will build on knowledge gained-to-date to develop higher level knowledge and clinical skills in a range of contexts for professional practice and as a pathway for Continuous Professional Learning.

This course has immediate clinical application and Learners will act in a professional manner in a context expressing the combined traits of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, justice, and professionalism as essential to Chiropractic health care, health promotion, and public health practices, and will demonstrate the responsibility to provide ethical, professional care and to uphold good conduct in all practices.

The complexity of learning outcomes is Level 8 Bachelor Honours where learners will integrate and interpret advanced knowledge and skills for employment as a Chiropractic Assistant and/or further learning to become a registered Chiropractor. They will have advanced, integrated theoretical and technical knowledge in the clinical nature of clinical findings from palpation including subluxation and their potential for correction by hand within the context of the discipline of Chiropractic practice about the back to select and apply methods and technologies to: 

1. analyse critically, evaluate and transform information to complete a comprehensive range of activities of clinical assessment of the back

2. analyse, generate and transmit solutions to complex clinical problems involving the back

3. transmit knowledge, skills and ideas to others

4. refine communication skills to present a clear, coherent and independent exposition of knowledge and ideas, and

5. applied clinical reasoning for basic interpretation of clinical evidence of subluxation with patient-centred recommendations for care and management by a Chiropractor.

The student will will apply knowledge and skills to demonstrate autonomy, well-developed judgement, knowledge adaptability and responsibility as a practitioner or learner and will demonstrate the integration of knowledge and skills with initiative and judgement in planning, problem solving and decision making in professional Chiropractic practice and/or scholarship; be able to to adapt knowledge and skills in diverse contexts with responsibility and accountability for own learning and professional practice and in collaboration with others within broad parameters. 

CEXP-22: To demonstrate cognitive-driven tactile abilities to conduct functional assessment of the upper body within the chiropractic context. (Here ‘cognitive’ is used as an adjective to include the of exercise critical thinking and judgement and their integration into a clinical picture to guide patient-centred care).

CEXP-34: To demonstrate cognitive skills to review, analyse, consolidate and synthesise knowledge to identify and provide solutions to complex problems with intellectual independence for clinical presentations involving the back.

HPRO-9: To correctly use the basic language of Chiropractic clinical assessment to skilfully observe then explain findings as within normal limits or not as seen in a patient including possible underlying structural causes and neurological implications.

HINF-1: To knowingly utilise communication skills to present a clear and coherent exposition of knowledge and ideas to a variety of audiences.

HINF-5: Be capable to identify and describe what is meant by health and well-being and to knowledgeably determine and apply the assessment skills of subluxation within this field as characteristic of Chiropractic clinical practice.

The outcomes of this course include that on completion Learners will demonstrate the application of knowledge and skills with initiative and judgement in professional practice and/or scholarship, to adapt knowledge and skills in diverse contexts, and with responsibility and accountability for own learning and practice and in collaboration with others within broad parameters. 

They will be able to to plan and execute care plans for individual patients for non-spinal care of a patient and also for implementation within a plan of spinal care for a registered Chiropractor. This knowledge and skill will feed into research and scholarship with some independence. 

Learners will demonstrate functioning levels of personal competence involving knowing how to conduct oneself in a specific situation, and ethical competence involving the possession of certain personal and professional values. 

In particular they will understand, own, and practice patient confidentiality at first with their class-mates and then advance that into the doctor-patient interaction and clinical practice.

The outcome of this course is that the Learner will have capability to contextualise subluxation as it may affect the functionating of the patient within the discipline of Chiropractic in specific, concise terms and be able to situate themselves as a learner within this capability. They will exhibit sociocultural responsibilities specific to Chiropractic and demonstrate matters of ethics and integrity appropriate for its practitioners. 

Learners are required to personally attend and participate in all 8 hours of this course each day, total 48 hours over one 6-day week. Any missed hour or class must be ‘made-up’ and the Learner remains responsible for all learning outcomes of this course.

Complete Anatomy. Elsevier. Student price available at https://www.us.elsevierhealth.com/complete-anatomy

Each 8-hour day of this course provides the knowledge and skills required to be assimilated into the developing sociocultural and profession-specific knowledge based of chiropractic. The assessment period is the afternoon of day 6 of the course.

This is a pass/not pass course. You will be graded as ‘you are at a beginners level and must be re-assessed following remedial learning’ OR ‘you are demonstrating acceptable attainment across all stated Learning Outcomes of this course’. A numerical grade is not awarded.

Students must not share images of classmates taken in class, nor share their class-work on-line or on social media. Failure to comply may result in dismissal from the program. You must respect the privacy of your class-mates.

Students must at all times be prepared to adequately defend their clinical decision-making with evidence including citations from the indexed literature in particular from the assigned reading.