Managing Your Health: The Role of Physical Therapy and Exercise (Coursera)

Offered by University of Toronto,
Managing Your Health: The Role of Physical Therapy and Exercise (Coursera)

Managing Your Health: The Role of Physical Therapy and Exercise will introduce learners to the concepts and benefits of physical therapy and exercise.

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Over six weeks learners will explore:

  • Why physical activity and exercise are important,
  • Exercise and Cardiovascular Disease,
  • Exercise and Osteoporosis,
  • Exercise and Cancer,
  • Common Sports Injuries,
  • Exercise and Arthritis

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Intro to the Course & Module 1: Just Keep Moving - Why physical activity and exercise are important
This module will introduce you to concepts of physical activity and exercise. It will share some important information on the benefits of physical activity with you and also identify ways that you can assess your own physical activity levels. We'll also ask you to reflect on your own activity level and ask you to consider if you think you should modify your activity level. We've prepared a great module for you. We have an interesting lecture by Physiotherapist Agnes Makowski, an entertaining video, and some questionnaires for you to complete. We've also prepared a link to the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines which we hope you find informative. Lastly, we'll end with a quiz. We hope you enjoy it and as always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to post them to the discussion board.

WEEK 2
Managing your Health: The Role of Physical Therapy and Exercise Module 2: Exercise and Cardiovascular Disease
Welcome to Module 2! Cardiovascular Disease is one of the most frequent diseases among Canadians. There are many risk factors for CV disease and Inactivity is one of the important ones. In this module you will be guided to do a couple of things. We will ask you to take a risk assessment by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada self test. Then, you will meet Debbie Childerhose who is a physiotherapist and an expert in Cardiovascular disease. We will direct you to watch a video on the importance of exercise and ask you to reflect on your risk factors and any lifestyle or behaviour changes you might consider making. We will share some additional resources with you and then you will be directed to take the quiz for the module. We hope you enjoy this module!

WEEK 3
Managing your Health: The Role of Physical Therapy and Exercise Module 3: Exercise and Osteoporosis
Welcome to Module 3! In this module you will be guided to do a couple of things. First, we want you to reflect if you are doing enough exercise to meet the Osteoporosis Canada recommendations for the amount of exercise people with osteoporosis should do. Next, we’ll suggest that you do a Calculate your calcium intake online survey. This will give you an idea if you are getting enough calcium in your diet and they’ll make some suggestions for you. Next, you’ll get to meet Dr. Judi Laprade who has prepared a lecture for us on osteoporosis and exercise. The 4th component will direct you to watch videos on how to safely do everyday activities. We’ll share some additional resources with you and then you will be directed to take the quiz for the module. We hope you enjoy this module!

WEEK 4
Managing your Health: The Role of Physical Therapy and Exercise Module 4: Exercise and Cancer
Welcome to Module 4. In this module you will be asked to reflect on your potential experience of knowing someone who might have had cancer and how they incorporated exercise into their journey. You’ll get to meet Kristen McDonnell who is our guest lecturer for this session. Next, we’ll ask you to watch a video by Dr. Mike Evans on cancer related Fatigue, then we will guide you into reading some additional information about cancer and physical activity from the Canadian cancer Society. Lastly, you’ll need to take the quiz if you’d like to qualify for the certificate for this MOOC.

WEEK 5
Managing your health: the role of physical therapy and exercise module 5: Common Sports Injuries
Did you know that many injuries resulting from playing sports can be prevented? Do you know the best ways to treat common sport-related injuries? In this module, we will help you understand the importance of injury prevention in sport and how to deal with some of the more common ones. First, we will get you to take a quiz to see what you already know about common sports injuries. Then we will introduce you to Meghan Buttle, a sport physiotherapist with expertise in managing sport injuries. We will then get you to take a second quiz to test your knowledge again. Remember, you'll need to take these quizzes if you'd like to qualify for the certificate for this MOOC. So, listen carefully to Meghan's video as she talks about the role of physical therapists in preventing and managing sports injuries.

WEEK 6
Managing your health: The role of physical therapy and exercise module 6: Exercise and Arthritis
Welcome to module 6: Exercise and Arthritis. Do you or someone you know have aches and pains in your joints because of arthritis? Did know that exercise is good for you especially if you have arthritis? In this module we will guide you through some of the facts about arthritis and about why exercise is so important for keeping you healthy especially if you have arthritis. Leslie Soever, a physiotherapist with expertise in arthritis will tell you more about this in her video. But before you meet Leslie, we will ask you to do a quiz to see what you already know about arthritis. After you listen to Leslie’s talk, we will get you to complete a scavenger hunt to find exercise recommendations on specific arthritis websites. This will hopefully get you more familiar with these guidelines. Finally, at the end of this module we’ll quiz you again about your knowledge of exercise for people with arthritis, and especially about the role of a physiotherapist in helping people with arthritis to exercise.

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