Unit Synopsis
This unit will introduce you to the aetiology, incidence, pathophysiology and clinical presentation of conditions commonly encountered in chiropractic practice. You will integrate this theoretical understanding with appropriate orthopaedic, neurologic and physical examination skills and continue to build on your clinical management skills.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 3 |
| Credit Points | 12 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.25 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
CHIR12006 Foundations of Chiropractic Practice 4 AND MPAT12001 Medical Pathophysiology Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 12-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. On-campus Activity | 0% |
| 2. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) | 50% |
| 3. In-class Test(s) | 50% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 78.57% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 35% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: SUTE
Some students felt that additional clarity around the unit requirements would have been helpful.
It is recommended the unit coordinator review the assessment information provided to the students to better guide their study time.
The assessment information was reviewed and improved to ensure clarity and expectations.
Source: SUTE
Students appreciated the instructional video resources.
It is recommended the unit coordinator continue to develop a comprehensive instructional video resource.
The unit coordinator created additional video resources.
Source: SUTE
Some students felt that the unit requirements could be more clear.
It is recommended the unit coordinator continue to develop clarity surrounding the unit requirements.
The unit coordinator updated the unit requirements to ensure clarity.
Source: SUTE
Students appreciated the clear unit requirements and assessment guides.
It is recommended that the unit coordinator continue to provide clear unit requirements and assessment guides.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Students expressed that they would like to receive OSCE feedback sooner.
It is recommended that the discipline explore digital means to provide marked OSCE rubrics in a timely manner.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Describe the clinical presentation including etiology, incidence and pathophysiology of commonly encountered conditions of the spine and extremities.
- Apply clinical reasoning skills in relation to the selection and application of assessment and management procedures relevant to commonly encountered conditions seen to determine introductory diagnoses.
- Demonstrate commonly used clinical assessment skills including neurological and orthopedic procedures.
- Demonstrate management procedures including chiropractic techniques.
- Communicate and demonstrate appropriate professional and culturally inclusive behaviours to the standard expected of a registered healthcare professional.
LO1 - Competency 3 (3.4)
LO2 - Competency 1 (1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4), 2 (2.2), 3 (3.3, 3.4 and 3.5), 4 (4.1 and 4.2)
LO 3 - Competency 1 (1.1, 1.2 and 1.3), 2 (2.1), 3 (3.1, 3.2 and 3.4)
LO4 - Competency 1 (1.1, 1.2 and 1.3), 2 (2.1 and 2.3), 4 (4.1 and 4.2), 5 (5.1 and 5.2)
LO5 - Competency 2 (2.1), 3 (3.1, 3.2 and 3.4)
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - On-campus Activity | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) | • | • | • | ||
| 3 - In-class Test(s) | • | • | |||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | |||
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | • | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |