in the last post i was taliking about the majority of therapists in greece and how they act,namely as those who execute simple orders by MDs....Personally i avoid this philosophy in my own clinical practice...I always come on a deal with the patient to embark on a INDIVUALISED treatment that is based through my own evaluation and reasoning, forgetting completely what the doctor said.....Some times when a patient is very reluctant on that i merely say to him, "Has your doctor examined u at all in the first place???If not, how HE can decide what the treatment regime should be??" By that, many patient been convinced....But to make an treatment indivualised and adapted to patient needs u need some form of an "algorithm"...That means it is not enough always to take a simple medical history, u need something to guide u to treatment! This is what McKenzie method has helped me a lot, because even though i am not always depend on its treats, i use widely and in every patient the ASSESSMENT FORM, as been proposed by Mckenzie, and from that point i contribute my own style and techniques, besides the McKenzie's therapist techniques....
Nevertheless i should agree with u about the fact that physios MUST be aware of serious pathologies and how they can appear in a clinical setting....Boissonaul has made fantastic job on that, and i remebered when i first studied a fantastic article-series that was published on JOSPT in 1990....He included all the organ systems (cardiovascular,gastrointestinal, etc) and how their syptoms can misjudge and confuse the therapist...I think also that Grieve had made relevant reviews in the past