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1 in 8 women in Australia will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Thankfully the 5-year survival rate is over 90%, however as they try to move forward with their lives, they continue to deal with the long-term side effects of their treatment journey.
This treatment commonly results in significant scarring, adhesions, fibrous tissue, hard and lumpy breasts, rippled or contracted breast implants and even chronic pain. Current management is focused on exercise prescription or self-massage advice leaving a significant gap in the post-treatment care of breast cancer patients which osteopathy is well placed to help fill.
This one-day course will expand your understanding of breast cancer classification, diagnosis and treatments. You will gain an understanding of how common side effects develop based on the current research, and how to apply an osteopathic approach to help provide relief.
Course participants will leave with an understanding of the different types of breast cancer, the medical treatment these patients undertake and the impact of each of these forms of treatment on the tissues of the body. The course will explain the primary side effects these women experience and provide an osteopathic approach to caring for them during their recovery.
After Breast Cancer has a strong practical focus including treatment protocols that you can use to make a significant impact on your patients’ lives by relieving discomfort, changing distorted breasts to look and feel ‘normal’, and allowing patients to feel comfortable in their bodies again. Many of the techniques learned can be applied to and post-surgical scar.
Theory Component
Practical Component
This course is open to osteopaths of all genders.
Participants will be required to expose breast tissue to practice on each other. Breast techniques will be undertaken only with consent and with all due sensitivity. Where possible direct palpation will occur underneath draping to protect the modesty of our participants so please bring a thin, cotton singlet for this purpose as bras will need to be removed.
The course will run from 8:30AM to 4:30PM with around an 1 hour of pre-learning videos. Places are limited to 20 attendees. It also includes morning and afternoon tea and an e-certificate of attendance for your CPD records. The course can be counted as 8 hours CPD.
Amanda Hannaford is an experienced osteopath who works exclusively with breast cancer patients. She currently practices as part of the interdisciplinary team at the Northern Beaches Breast Clinic, the Mater Hospital’s Centre For Wellbeing and is the founder and director of Restore Health & Wellness in St Leonards, Sydney.
Amanda’s patients are referred by Oncology Breast Surgeons, Radiation Oncologists, Medical Oncologists and McGrath Breast Care Nurses. She is enthusiastic about the future of osteopathy in this field and has developed her After Breast Cancer CPD course to encourage other osteopaths to feel comfortable to care for these patients in their own practices.
Amanda has been practicing in Sydney for 20 years and has been an osteopathic university lecturer and a registration board examiner.
Find out more about Amanda Hannaford’s experience here.
Watch the introduction the to Amanda's pre-learning videos for this course. Watch all the pre-learning videos here.
Watch Breast Care Osteopath Amanda Hannaford interview Advanced Paediatric Osteopath Reena Murray about the challenges women face breastfeeding after being treated for breast cancer.
The way I've been describing it to people is, ‘sometimes you do a course and it might be good, but a bit watery. This course was juicy’!!
Amanda is such a genuinely engaging and inspiring teacher. She is warm and fun and has the life experience to back it up. I would recommend this course to anyone thinking of doing it!! I'm so excited to start helping women post breast cancer!
Roz Hill
As an osteopath and someone with a lived experience of breast cancer, I am so pleased that this course was created. I think osteopaths/manual therapists have so much to offer these patients. I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in working with patients with a history of breast cancer.
Reena Murray
Loved it all! It was very useful to have the pre-learning set up as you've done it. The face to face was great and Amanda was an excellent presenter. I felt very comfortable with all the hands-on learning; thank you for creating a safe, supportive and welcoming space of learning. And the handbook is an amazing resource. Thank you so much.
Narelle Crabbe
Amanda was so great in providing a good depth of knowledge and demonstrating the immense growth she has achieved in this field. What an asset to osteopathy! I also appreciated learning about referral ideas and things doctors/GP's in this field appreciate seeing in letters to build a good referral source. As someone who has completed several women's health osteopathy courses in Australia and the UK, this course really provided entirely knew knowledge to me.
Sarah
Amanda is a fantastic presenter! The course content was excellent with a great mix of practical techniques, to go along with the theory. For practitioners concerned about never providing Breast Cancer after-care to their patients, the techniques here are just as relevant to any patient undergoing wound healing post-surgery or trauma. The information I gleaned from Amanda enabled me to more deeply connect with several of my patients, who I usually treat for musculoskeletal complaints, and who have had breast cancer, and this greatly enhanced the rapport and trust that I have with them. These patients were elated and appreciative of my greater understanding of their journey. As the only male practitioner at the course I would like to thank Amanda and the rest of the course participants for being so inclusive and welcoming of me being there.
To say the material covered in this course is groundbreaking anywhere, let alone in our osteopathic practices, is a major understatement!!!
Tomas Leszczynski
Loved the presenter she was engaging, personal and professionally knowledgeable - a tricky balance to strike. Really helped to discuss and explore anatomy I have pondered in clinic. Well facilitated and clinically-relevant.
Ruth Atkinson
Amanda's course is very helpful in putting a protocol together for patients recovering post breast cancer treatment as there is a gap and a lack of understanding currently in both the medical industry and also the patients are not provided with supportive information towards their healing. I walked away from this course with better understanding regarding the type of cancers, the possible treatment protocols they receive and how we as osteopaths can assist these patients in their recovery. Thank you Amanda
Ilona Wagner
I loved the presenter, the topic, the approach, and techniques. I was able to take the techniques straight back to clinic and everything she described was what I felt and how the consult proceeded. From the patient crying and the location and feel of the scarring to the change in the tissues and her tummy rumbling.
Amanda Viedma-Dodd
Loved the topic. Amanda was a great presenter and it was a real pleasure to learn from her and learn more about her work and her unique perspective on osteopathy and breast cancer care.
I felt really inspired.
Kate Henderson
I loved everything about it. It was very informative and easy to comprehend and follow along with. Everything felt relevant and was presented in an enjoyable way. I left feeling like I knew so much more than I did before the course and like I could implement a lot of what I learnt straight away.
Chloe
The course was fantastic. Amanda has done a beautiful job in collating relevant information and giving a well rounded approach to breast care. She was so generous with her resources, her experience and equipping us with skills to be able to make a difference for breast cancer and breast augmentation patients.
Chrissy Weston
