Rehabilitation for Women's Health (REHB90006)

This online subject provides students with the opportunity to build a deep understanding of the safe and effective application of rehabilitation principles to meet the health needs of women. Attention is focused primarily on musculoskeletal disorders with attention to conditions affecting women from young adulthood through to their reproductive and older years. Students will develop an extended knowledge of the anatomy, physiology, and pathology that typically affect women’s experience of health and will use an evidence-informed, holistic practice framework for their analysis and synthesis of recent literature and contextual factors that influence practice. Students will design and evaluate a rehabilitation program in their own context and will contribute to the learning of other students via discussion board and an online presentation.

All students will complete four modules within this subject

All students will complete a Foundational module that will explore the structure and function of the female body highlighting the changes experienced from young adulthood through to the reproductive and older years. Students will develop their understanding of the typical body changes that influence women’s experience of health and identify the major features of muscle and exercise physiology that influence exercise prescription for women.

Students will then choose two from four modules that best meets their learning interests and/or practice needs. These modules are:

1. The Pregnancy & Post-partum module comprises the study of the physiology of pregnancy, the impact of activity on maternal and foetal physiology, post-natal recovery including pelvic floor rehabilitation, exercise prescription, delivery and the evaluation of pre- and post-natal exercise programs.

2. The Pelvic pain module focuses on the aetiology of pelvic pain and its contemporary management. Conditions covered include pelvic girdle pain, coccydinia, abdominal and pelvic floor muscle weakness and gynaecological sources of pelvic pain.

3. The Continence module addresses epidemiology and health issues related to incontinence, applied anatomy, physiology and pathology relevant to incontinence. Prevention and intervention strategies including exercise, biofeedback and continence devices will be addressed. Course content will include specific issues related to adult female continence, incontinence in the older population.

4. The Older woman module will focus on the physiology of the maturing woman including the effects of menopause, the effect of activity on the ageing musculoskeletal system, appropriate exercise prescription and evaluation of exercise programs for the elderly.

The final Integration module will be completed by all students and will focus on the application of rehabilitation theory to practice with an understanding of the needs of the individual and her engagement with a group program. Students will integrate and apply their learning from the previous three modules into context specific applications. They will select appropriate outcomes measures and critically review literature to solve contextually relevant rehabilitation challenges.