The MIA Education Weekend is fast approaching.
Make sure you Lock in May 2nd and 3rd at Rydges Hotel, North Sydney.
This year’s Seminar Day (2nd May) is open to all clinicians and will focus on ‘Differential Diagnosis of the Lower limb’.
This will be highlighted by presentations from 3 prominent Orthopaedic Surgeons, in conjunction with Research and Case Study discussions.
The Credentialled Update Day (3rd May) will be packed with further learnings regarding all things MDT.
You can register for the Education Weekend via the MIA website.
You can also check out our Part A-E courses for 2026, where we’ll be presenting the fully updated course materials, to progress your MDT journey or refresh existing knowledge
I hope you have had a great start to 2026.
Happy reading!
Mark Cheel
MIA Chairperson
“My leg hurts… so what could it be?”
This year’s Education Weekend will feature three prominent orthopaedic surgeons presenting on the Differential Diagnosis of Lower Extremity Symptoms.
Saturday will be dedicated to expert presentations, interactive discussion with fellow clinicians, research updates, and case study scenarios designed to strengthen your clinical reasoning.
Sunday’s MDT Update Day will deliver a deep dive into all things MDT, including the unveiling and discussion of the new McKenzie Classification System.
Day 1 - Seminar Day
Date: Saturday 2 May 2026
Venue: Rydges North Sydney, 54 McLaren Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060
Who can register: Any clinician
Day 2 - MDT Update Day
Date: Sunday 3 May 2025
Venue: Rydges North Sydney, 54 McLaren Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060
Who can register: MDT credentialed and diplomate only
Click here for more details and to register.
For the past few years, MII Faculty around the world have been hard at work, updating course content, to ensure it remains contemporary and consistent with the best available evidence.
From this year onwards, we will utilise the revised content on all A-E courses in Australia.
Part C and D will also be delivered via the same format as A and B, i.e. one day of online learning, followed by three days face to face.
To remain up to date, we recommend retaking one or more Part A-E courses; especially as Credentialed and Diplomate members, receive a 50% discount off the scheduled fee.
Also, course fees are fully tax deductible, so book early to ensure you don’t miss out!
Click here for the 2026 Courses.
It seems some members aren’t utilising the CPD Points Tracker in the members section of the MIA website.
We’d like to remind you to use this tool to record your 10 MDT CPD points required in a three-year cycle (in line with MIA policy).
By staying up to date, it can make your membership renewal and audit periods much easier to manage.
Please click here for step-by-step instructions on how to view and add CPD points to your profile.
Any queries, please contact: education@mckenzieinstitueaustralia.org or 1800 332 735.
The challenge of pelvic pain!
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Pelvic pain remains a challenging entity to effectively assess and manage in both female and male patients; especially as there is comparatively little research to help inform best practice.
Historically, non-surgical approaches have often focussed on the pelvic floor muscles, diet and psychosocial factors; with relatively little attention paid to the potential contribution of the ‘spine.’
This paper by Di Wu and colleagues, based on a series of vignettes, provides some preliminary evidence of the possible utility of MDT, in assessing and classifying chronic pelvic pain syndrome.
As with other research, into ‘extremity conditions’, it suggests that there is value in screening the spine, to explore whether it may be contributing to the patients’ clinical presentation. And if so, could help inform the development of more tailored management programs.
If you work with patients with pelvic pain, how do you incorporate MDT principles into your approach?
Peter Schoch
Faculty
Di Wu , Catherine Bednarczyk, Adriana Ramon Figueroa , Helen Zhu, Meridith Geer , Richard Rosedale, Shawn M Robbins
Journal of Manual & Manipulative Therapy 2025 Oct;33(5):449-456.
Link: Click here.
Introduction
Chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) involves complex interactions between the musculoskeletal system, nervous system, and psychosocial factors. A major challenge in managing CPPS is the lack of reliable assessment and classification systems. The Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT) is a widely used and reliable classification system for assessing and managing painful musculoskeletal conditions affecting the spine and extremities. This study's primary objective was to assess the inter-rater reliability of the MDT assessment in diagnosing CPPS using clinical vignettes. Secondary objectives included determining the prevalence of MDT classification categories.
Methods
Five MDT clinicians classified clinical vignettes into three categories: 1) Spinal Derangement, 2) Pelvic Floor Contractile Dysfunction, or 3) MDT OTHER subgroups. The vignettes were developed from the McKenzie Pelvic Pain Assessment Form. Inter-rater reliability among clinicians was calculated using the Fleiss kappa statistic with 95% confidence intervals, and Cohen's kappa examined reliability between pairs of raters.
Results
A total of 76 vignettes were developed (40 females and 36 males). Good inter-rater reliability was found among clinicians (Fleiss kappa = 0.616, 95% CI = 0.598-0.633, p < 0.001). Inter-rater reliability was higher when classifying female vignettes (Fleiss kappa = 0.658, 95% CI = 0.634, 0.682) than male vignettes (Fleiss kappa = 0.546, 95% CI = 0.519, 0.573). The most common classification was Spinal Derangement (57%), followed by MDT OTHER subgroups (26%) and Pelvic Floor Contractile Dysfunction (17%).
Conclusions
The study indicates good inter-rater reliability among MDT clinicians in classifying pelvic pain syndrome. However, clinical vignettes may not fully capture the complexities of real participant interactions, potentially inflating agreement. Future studies should incorporate direct observation of real participant encounters alongside clinical vignettes to improve validity.
Keywords: Chronic pelvic pain syndrome; Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy; clinical vignette; inter-rater reliability.
Monitor the MIA website's Calendar of Events and follow us on social media for details of further courses, as they are released.
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MIA Education Weekend When: Saturday 2 - Sunday 3 May 2026 Where: North Sydney, NSW |
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Part A - The Lumbar Spine |
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Part A - The Lumbar Spine |
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Part B - The Cervical & Thoracic Spine |
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Part A - The Lumbar Spine Online |
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Part B - The Cervical & Thoracic Spine |
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Part B - The Cervical & Thoracic Spine |
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Do you have something you’d like to share with other MDT trained clinicians?
If so, please get in touch! Submissions to the newsletter are always welcome and contributions contribute to MDT CPD points for members. Tell us about an interesting clinical experience you’ve had, an article you’ve read or a case study that challenged you.
Submissions can be emailed to: education@mckenzieinstituteaustralia.org