Beyond the Hands: Manual Tools for MSK Care
Learn how to integrate acupressure, cupping, and gua sha into your clinical toolbox. This hands-on workshop equips osteopaths with practical skills to enhance recovery and extend your treatment impact—without relying solely on your hands.
One-Day CPD Workshop
This immersive one-day course introduces manual therapy practitioners to three powerful, adjunctive tools used in musculoskeletal treatment: acupressure, cupping, and gua sha. Grounded in traditional East Asian techniques but adapted for modern clinical application, these methods offer practical, non-pharmacological options for pain relief, soft tissue recovery, and neuromyofascial regulation.
The course is designed specifically for osteopaths who are looking to expand their hands-on repertoire using simple, effective tools that can be seamlessly integrated into your current practice.
Why it matters:
While Osteopaths currently lack a formal pathway for the extended scope for Western Medical Acupuncture, many of its principles—such as segmental input and point specificity—can be safely applied through acupressure. These hands-on techniques offer a practical, scope-safe way to enhance clinical reasoning and broaden your treatment toolkit.
Cupping has moved well beyond traditional medicine and into high-performance sport, now widely used for recovery, fascia release, and circulation, while Gua Sha is also gaining clinical recognition for its ability to reduce soft tissue restriction, stimulate perfusion, and ease musculoskeletal tension. This course reframes both in a clean, modern context, ready for use in contemporary MSK care. Together this toolkit results in better outcomes for the patient and longevity for a practitioners hands.
What you'll learn:
- The physiological principles behind acupressure, cupping, and gua sha
- Indications, contraindications, and safety considerations
- Tool selection, hygiene protocols, and session structuring
- Step-by-step instruction in each technique, with a strong emphasis on practical application
- How to integrate these approaches into real-world treatment plans for common MSK complaints (e.g., shoulder tension, low back pain, tendinopathies, and recovery support)
You’ll walk away with:
- Confidence in using each modality safely and effectively
- An understanding of when and why to use these techniques as an adjunct or standalone approach
- CPD certification and plenty of hands-on experience
No prior experience in these therapies is required.
All tools will be provided on the day, and you’ll have time to both practice and receive treatment in a supervised, supportive environment.
Early Bird ONZ members - $300
You can contact morgan@elitehealth.co.nz to make a booking or visit https://www.healthpropathways.com/event-details/beyond-the-hands-manual-tools-for-msk-care to book online.