Ridgway Method

[bikelet]

Hi Mitch,

I have been to his exceedingly expensive course Considering that work was paying for it and not me- here are my thoughts:

-overall very good presentation, very professional and good amount of information
-challenging-he likes to be a bit controversial and challenge traditional thinking. This can be helpful but it also means that he challenges physios to basically use his method only because his theoretical background is way different to most other 'methods' we follow in physio. He also challenges the accepted medical model of tissue healing/recovery times.
-not always easy to apply in a clinic situation, unless you want to only practice using his method. Practicing his method in a 'pure' form is risky- can be difficult to explain to clients and it can be difficult to know if you are going to get results and when, although he claims that when you see a result it will be dramatic (50% + improvement straight away).
-I learned some nice skills about whole body assessment and the importance of respecting and treating neural signs- this point alone made it worth it for me, but there again I wasn't paying for it.
-He encourages the use of techniques from a range of schools of thought, lots of Mulligans, triggerpoints and other things thrown in together with the goal of focusing on the outcome rather than the means. Most physios probably already do this- it was good to get a few fresh ideas.
-He has a completely different way of doing S+O's. His Subjective interviews are very short (too short IMHO) and objectives are excessively long (but in the name of being thorough). It is good to be reminded to be thorough and take a broad view-this is probably the main message to take home.

There was nothing really magical or ground breaking about the physio he taught or demonstrated-it is good basic physio. What was different about the course and his method is how he goes about the process of physio- from the S+Os to the whole business side of things and client management. So all in all- I think I would recommend it, even though I feel that I don't use the course material to the fullest extent during day to day work. It did have enough of an impact on me to still be in my mind at some level when I'm treating patients even now, a year later. Whether you want to do it will depend on your situation too- your level of experience, what style of physio you are (personality and how to like to manage your clients). I found Michael a little over zealous in pushing his business model and 'his method' and found that I was always a bit suspicious of things because of that. But the course material itself was good PM if you want further info

[Mitch]

Mate, that was a fantastic summary. Thanks for the time it took to write that message as I think you just saved me $4K (although work would have covered some of it).

For that money I was looking for something absolutely groundbreaking and by the sound of it, it isn't a bad course but maybe isn't quite as great as it is made out to be. I already went to a brief seminar on his buisness model and walked away feeling like I had just paid to sit through an advertisement. He clearly has read a lot of pop buisness books as his model resonates very clealry with those.

It sounds like you have to integrate both his buisness model and his clinical practice to be succesful? I have been wondering if a great deal of his success relies on a placebo effect i.e. he charges so much and is a great salesman so people are convinced it will work. I am however not denying that there is some truth in what he does as through experimenting with alternative medicine means I have discovered relationships in seemingly unrelated body areas e.g. wrist extensors and p/f pain in one individual, and in fact this has made me want to do his course as I felt he may have a more direct way of getting to body areas seemingly unrelated in allopathic physio.

If work was covering it all I would defintately go as I can see from a 'free' perpective it has definately been worthwhile for you.

Very interesting and I am more than happy to listen to anyone else who has thoughts on this whether or not they are contrary to my perspective or not.

Thanks again

Mitch