Free checklist
20 questions and tests for your first session with an MSK patient, each with one line on why you ask it and what the answer changes. Built to upgrade your SOAP notes, not replace them.
“I don't ask that question. And if I did, I wouldn't know what to do with the answer.”
If that sounds familiar, you're not missing knowledge. You're missing the link between the question and the decision. This checklist puts that link on paper.
Every question and test for your first session with an MSK patient, and why it matters. Red flag screen included.
Page 1 · Step 1 (S)
10 history questions with the reason behind each so every answer moves you closer to a hypothesis instead of filling the notes.
From the checklistAsk the patient to point to the pain with one finger. One finger usually means a local problem. The whole hand means think referred pain or a wider driver.
Page 2 · Step 2 (O)
A red flag screen (fracture, infection, malignancy, cauda equina, DVT, vascular), so you know when to stop and refer.
From the checklistMalignancy: history of cancer, unexplained weight loss, constant pain unchanged by position or rest.
Page 2 · Step 2 (O)
How to pick 2–3 targeted tests instead of running everything "just in case".
From the checklistFor each hypothesis, pick one test that would confirm it and one that would rule it out.
Page 2 · Step 3 (A/P)
The finding → structure → treatment chain so you can explain to the patient, in two sentences, what's wrong and why you're treating it this way.
From the checklistTest X reproduced the pain → structure Y is the likely source → so we load, unload or mobilise Y in this way.
Page 2 · Step 3 (A/P)
The continue / change / refer rule for every review session.
Page 3
A quick-reference table and the 4 most common mistakes to keep next to your notes until the reasoning becomes automatic.
For you if
Not for you if
Built from 10 years in clinic and mentoring dozens of physiotherapists. 17 of them share their experience on video.
“A person tells you their symptoms, and you're instantly down to 2 or 3 diagnoses.”
Original message, Croatian · open full size“Everything is so much simpler now. A person comes in and tells you their symptoms, and you're instantly down to 2 or 3 diagnoses and can rule out everything else, from orthopaedics to compressions.”
“Told he needed surgery. I tested the discs: nothing. It was the middle cluneal nerve.”
Original message, Croatian · open full size“Mentee: “A dentist came in, said he'd been told he needs surgery. I test the discs: nothing.” Franjo: “And what was it in the end?” Mentee: “Middle cluneal nerve. Compression. I test the sacroiliac joint, that's not the pain. When he got up, he said: ‘I feel like I did 20 years ago.’””
“I was so focused on the nerve that the joint mechanics would never have crossed my mind.”
Original message, Croatian · open full size“Franjo: “Try getting dorsiflexion passively. Maybe the problem isn't the nerve but the joint mechanics.” Mentee: “You were right. She stood fully on her heels. I was so focused on the nerve that this would never have crossed my mind.””
“Assessment and rehab are no longer a mystery or groping in the dark. They’re real tools with visible results.”
Original message, Croatian · open full size“Before the mentorship started, I honestly doubted that I, of all people, could become a skilled physiotherapist. I was on the verge of giving it all up. With Franjo's lectures and support, I achieved results I couldn't have imagined before. Assessment and rehab are no longer a mystery or groping in the dark. They're real tools with visible results.”
“I had to get to the stage where I trust my tests more than others' opinions.”
Original message, Croatian · open full size“Franjo: “That's why you trust tests, not arbitrary findings.” Mentee: “Yes, you're right, I can see that now too. But I had to get to the stage where I trust myself more than others on these things.””
“5–6 months of hip and buttock pain. After 10–15 minutes she walked with 80–90% less pain.”
Original message, Croatian · open full size“A woman came in today with pain at the front of the hip on longer strides and buttock pain when sitting and standing up, for 5–6 months already. I immediately remembered what you'd talked about, and we did a few exercises for those muscles and the ones compensating. After 10–15 minutes she got up and walked with 80–90% less pain.”
In their own words · English subtitles
“A patient walks into the treatment room, starts describing their symptoms, and you know exactly what's going on and how to help them: what to focus on, what to release, what to activate and how to test.”
“I'd often help a client, or not, but sometimes I didn't understand why. Now, from the first session I know what I'm dealing with and what needs rehab.”
“Before, I was afraid of assessments. Now within the first few minutes of a patient arriving we find the problem.”
“Before, I struggled to find the cause and make a diagnosis. Now, just minutes after a client walks in, we find the cause and set out a plan for their rehab.”
Founder, Fizio Centar Keškić, Kaštel Sućurac, Croatia
Around 10 years in practice. Franjo came into physiotherapy after his own football injury was misdiagnosed. That experience is why the first assessment and clinical reasoning sit at the centre of everything he teaches.
He has personally mentored dozens of students and physiotherapists through his 1:1 programme, and teaches anatomy and biomechanics as a guest lecturer at the Život Physiotherapy Academy.
Co-founder, Noxana physiotherapy and rehabilitation centre, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kenan has worked with elite athletes, including the Bosnia and Herzegovina national swimming team at European championships and European champion Lana Pudar. Alongside that, his daily caseload runs from recreational athletes to chronic pain patients.
He teaches colleagues and students through mentoring and practical workshops such as Physiotherapy 101.
“Find the cause of the dysfunction. Don't just treat the place that hurts.”
The First Assessment Checklist