Confidently assess and diagnose shoulder pain in 7 days

• Meet Ben, a typical patient with a six-month history of non-traumatic shoulder pain aggravated by upper body strengthening in the gym, who hasn't responded to previous exercises or rest.
• Discover the simple, evidence-based clinical reasoning framework you'll use throughout the bootcamp to cut through confusion and focus on what matters.
• Download the pre-bootcamp infographic: 7 days to clinical clarity.

Watch this first so the case study and the reasoning behind each day's assessment make sense from Day 1.

• Why the subjective examination makes up 70 to 80% of your diagnosis.
• The Super 6: age and mechanism or onset, pain location and descriptors, pain behaviour, diurnal pattern and sleep.
• How to spot key red flags, and the clues that point you towards the right treatment path.
• The Super 6 in action with Ben's case.

Three infographics cover age and mechanism, pain location and descriptors, and pain behaviour, diurnal pattern and sleep.

• How to incorporate patient beliefs, fears and goals in your assessment.
• Hidden system sensitisers that might be contributing to your patient's pain.
• Simple clarifying questions that uncover overlooked pain drivers.
• K is for keep vigilant: the sinister, serious or systemic red flags that often masquerade as shoulder pain.
• Why Ben's insidious onset pain wasn't just about his shoulder.

By the end of Day 2 you'll know which tests to perform in your objective assessment, and why.

• Why SIMPLES can simplify your whole assessment process, and the crucial first step that shapes everything you do next.
• How to tailor your objective assessment to your patient's irritability and severity, starting with symptoms at the start.
• How to confidently inspect and palpate the shoulder, acromioclavicular joint and cervical spine, and the subtle clinical clues you don't want to miss.
• How to use your objective assessment to educate and empower your patient.

Ben's case shows the framework in action, so you use your clinical basics brilliantly rather than over-complicating things.

• How to compare active and passive range of motion to differentiate stiffness, weakness and pain.
• The best ways to assess irritable shoulders without flaring symptoms.
• Practical strategies to identify protective patterns and compensations.
• Simple symptom modification procedures that can improve pain and movement immediately.

By the end of Day 4 you'll have clear, practical tools to guide your assessment and treatment plan.

• P is for push and provoke: resisted testing that reveals far more than pain or weakness, if you ask the right question.
• L is for link to the subjective: when your findings don't quite add up, how to decide what really matters.
• E is for explore above and below: why the cervical and thoracic spine, and even distal joints, often hold the missing piece of the puzzle.
• How to distinguish true shoulder weakness from pain inhibition, and whether your objective findings actually change your management plan.

This is where shoulder assessment moves beyond tests, into clinical reasoning that identifies what is causing your patient's pain and how to treat it.

• Why many special tests don't add value, and what to do instead.
• The real questions every test should answer before you use it.
• How to assess rotator cuff tears without falling into traps.
• The prone capacity test: a simple but underused tool that helps guide exercise.
• How to match your testing to irritability and patient-specific goals.

Using Ben's case, you'll see how to select assessment tests that help confirm your diagnosis and decide on treatment options.

• How to connect subjective and objective findings into a clear diagnosis.
• The key clinical reasoning questions every clinician should ask.
• How to turn your patient's barriers to progress and recovery into opportunities that help them achieve their goals.
• How to spot cervical spine contributions and other overlooked drivers of shoulder pain.
• Practical strategies to reassure, educate and empower patients as you set them on the road to recovery.

Two case study infographics, subjective and objective, summarise the whole bootcamp on two pages.