Specialty MSK Clinical Practice Award

Specialty MSK clinical practice provides patients and colleagues with a confidence in their diagnostics, treatment direction and long term outcomes. 

The current model of specialization in many countries is quite peculiar in that any award or certification culminates as general MSK physio practice in its scope and application. This precludes a concentrated caseload - this is necessary to create the patient numbers and repetition to identify patient trends, patterns, diagnostics and treatment outcomes.

We require more physiotherapists to specialize within MSK practice to foster  expertise, creativity and innovation in rehabilitation. Narrowing your practice, paradoxically, allows for a more diverse career, building broader networks and offering the much needed clinical experience and expertise to your patients.

Physiotherapists remain at the forefront of rehabilitation and clinical MSK management. MSK medicine has high complexity demanding specialty management in both non-surgical and surgical fields for ideal patient outcomes.

I believe physiotherapy requires a critical mass of specialty MSK clinicians to advance our profession into a more compelling proposition for our patients and our colleagues. Physiotherapists have expertise in orthopedic knowledge, manage and solve pain and injury, all the way through to high performance athletic movement.

The Bennett SMCP award is a small contribution towards encouraging physiotherapists to find their niche, develop and use those skills and then pass them onto the next generation of clinicians for the benefit of our profession.

I very much look forward to assisting like minded clinicians looking to pursue a rewarding career path in specialty MSK clinical practice.

How It All Began...

My parents (Terry & Martha) have always been champions of continuous learning. This education award honors their advocacy for higher education and professional skills.

I attended multiple schools, my parents always looking for the next step up. I was very sports focused, and they did have some initial worries about my education focus. During my teens, I had additional mentors - Brian Tracy (from Calgary!), Jim Rohn and Tony Robbins, who was just becoming known.

Immediately after school I began an undergraduate Science degree at Melbourne University, with 'majors' in biological sciences (anatomy, physiology and pharmacology). At the completion of my Science degree I was fortunate to receive an accelerated entry in physiotherapy school, beginning in the second year. Ironically, I took the standard full 4 years to complete the undergraduate degree at the time, due to my persistence in debating topics with supervisors (who it turned out did not view these debates kindly).

My clinical pathway into practice was a combination of private practice (many thanks to my wonderful mentors at Bright Spinal Clinic, Melbourne - a multidisciplinary group with great skills and leading clinicians), sports teams, hospital rounds and as many professional development courses I could find. 

Before leaving Australia, I had attended approximately 40 courses, many by leading clinicians in their field. Australia is very well known for competitive and excellent physiotherapists, leading to the natural progression towards my clinical Masters (MSK), returning to Melbourne University for a third time.

During the completion of my clinical Masters, I picked up additional roles with Olympic Park Sports Medicine, another large multidisciplinary clinic, and a teaching position at Melbourne University Physio school. 

I was already aware of the importance of specialty pathways, and I began to narrow my focus on a difficult topic - clinical management of shoulder disorders.

Rather than choose a typical business pathway, I was keen to explore the potential of specialty clinical work. This has allowed me to remain as a clinician, opening further growth areas including post graduate teaching, clinical research and book publishing. Becoming a subject expert, creates a need to look for more knowledge across multiple disciplines, including sports medicine, radiology, neurology, physiatry, rheumatology and orthopedic surgery. 

The BENNETT SCMP AWARD is comprised of three parts:

1.  Specialty MSK Practice Sessions & One-One Mentoring

• An opportunity to shadow Cameron during two, 1/2 day patient sessions of specialty MSK clinical practice in your next two years of practice.

• Eight 1/2 hour sessions (quarterly) of specialty MSK mentoring during your next two years of practice.

2. Professional Courses - Mastering The Shoulder™ Series - Levels 1-5

• Full complimentary course tuition ($5,000) for the certification level of Mastering The Shoulder™ available over the first 5 years of practice (at any location in Canada or abroad). This certification program is being updated for 2024.

3.  Professional Development Library

• A curated selection of specialty textbooks offering advanced and multidisciplinary skills in MSK physiotherapy to the value of $1,000.