JOSPT Insights

In the return of Sports Corner, Dr Olivia Abdoo chats all things UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and MMA (mixed martial arts). UFC combines wrestling, grappling and striking, which makes for complex demands that contribute to complex injury epidemiology. Whether working with a Championship fighter or a recreational martial arts athlete, Dr Abdoo provides excellent guidance for clinicians who...

Researchers are increasingly partnering with patients, clinicians and others who use research to design, conduct, report and disseminate research studies. Today we hear about a conversation that involved over 600 patients, clinicians and carers, who were supported to nominate their top priorities for research on shoulder pain. Kristian Lyng (physiotherapst, PhD student at Aalborg University's Depa...

There's a range of different interventions at your disposal when managing spine pain. Today we're focusing on spinal manipulative therapy, and asking questions like: does it matter how you apply a manipulation to get the best outcomes for the patient? Answering the questions is Dr Casper Nim from the University of Southern Denmark. Casper is an Associate Professor, chiropractor, and senior researc...

The anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) and the Achilles tendon captures much of our ankle attention. As JOSPT Insights listeners know, there's plenty more to the ankle than the ATFL. Today, Liz Bayley shares her approach to diagnosing, managing and ideally, preventing ankle pain in active people. Liz covers diagnosing the problem, where imaging fits, and how to support return to function, includ...

Hip arthroscopy is a common surgical procedure in athletes and active people, and it's not surprising that this clinical population is focused on returning to sport. Today, Dr Matthew King, physiotherapist and Senior Lecturer from La Trobe University's Discipline of Physiotherapy in Melbourne, Australia, discussed return to sport outcomes after hip arthroscopy. Dr King led a team that synthesised...

Myofascial pain syndrome is common - affecting somewhere around 1 in every 5 people. Yet there is plenty of debate about what causes myofascial pain syndrome, how to diagnose it, and even whether myofascial pain syndrome is a primary condition. Today, Professor Chad Cook (Duke University) discusses whether it is even possible to differentiate myofascial pain syndrome from other pain conditions, an...

Postmenopausal women can build some serious bone AND stay safe with the right instruction and the right load. What’s the right load? Dr Belinda Beck can answer that, and in today's episode, she takes us through the results of the LIFTMOR trial. With the right instruction and supervision, postmenopausal women can be lifting 85% of their 1 repetition maximum safely, and make a substantial change in...

Clinicians appreciate the value of a trustworthy clinical practice guideline for helping guide decisions in practice. Professor François Desmeules (University of Montréal) led an international team of shoulder experts who synthesised the latest evidence on diagnosing and non-surgically managing rotator cuff tendinopathy. Today he shares the headlines of the CPG and explains how the guideline group...

How do you approach assessing pain when you're working with athletes? What tools do you find most helpful? Today, sports physiotherapist and researcher, Ciarán Purcell (University of Limerick, Ireland) describes the project he is leading to gather consensus from athletes and sports medicine & rehabilitation clinicians about how best to assess athletes' pain. Listen to the end to learn about how yo...

The latest update to the midportion Achilles tendinopathy Clinical Practice Guideline is hot off the presses! Dr Ruth Chimenti is a co-author of the updated clinical practice guideline, “Achilles Pain, Stiffness, and Muscle Power Deficits: Midportion Achilles Tendinopathy Revision 2024”, and joins JOSPT Insights to share the key updates relevant for your practice. Dr Chimenti highlights the most i...

Did you know that only about 10% of the participants in sports medicine and sports physical therapy research are women? When people are under-represented in research, it might mean that clinicians and researchers miss key concerns of women and girls when working with them to achieve the best outcomes of treatment. Melissa Haberfield - physiotherapist and PhD candidate at the La Trobe Sports and Ex...

You don't have to go far to find a media story warning people off the high impacts of running, especially on concrete, and claiming that running is no good for your knees. Maybe you've had someone in the clinic who worries that running will wear their joints out? Today's guest has dedicated his career to helping runners stay healthy and running for life, and is adamant that running is a great phys...

In today's part 2 of an NMES masterclass from Dr Elanna Arhos (Northwestern University) and Dr Naoaki Ito (University of Wisconsin - Madison), we're getting into the nitty gritty of how to support patients to get the most out of a very beneficial intervention. Drs Arhos and Ito, and their team have tested a mix of common stimulators available on the market today, and are here to share the results...

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) hasn't quite had the coverage it deserves, especially when one considers the strength of evidence supporting NMES as a musculoskeletal rehabilitation intervention Today, Drs Elanna Arhos (Northwestern University) and Naoaki Ito (University of Wisconsin - Madison) are re-visiting how NMES is applied in sports clinical practice. Get the low-down on why you...

Dr Robert-Jan de Vos, sports physician and associate professor at Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, dives deep into all things Achilles tendinopathy. In part 2 of this series, Dr de Vos covers the multitude of options for treatment, outside of exercise therapy. Should you and the patient consider corticosteroid injections, PRP injections, heel lifts, shockwave, NSAIDs, or surge...

Dr Robert-Jan de Vos, sports physician and associate professor at Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, dives deep into all things Achilles tendinopathy. As lead author of the Dutch Multidisciplinary Guideline on Achilles Tendinopathy (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34187784/), he shares the key messages from this in-depth review. In today’s episode, Dr de Vos covers the important...

When patients improve following treatment, how much can be attributed to the intervention delivered, and how much is due to contextual factors and nonspecific effects that lie outside of the clinician's control? Dr. Giacomo Rossettini joins the podcast again as a co-author of a paper (link below) that answers that very question. Dr. Rossettini and his research colleagues tried to quantify the effe...

Musicians and athletes might sometimes appear to exist in very different cultures. And yet, the single-minded focus, thousands of hours of practice, and high training loads on their musculoskeletal systems mean that musicians and athletes probably have more in common than they have differences. At least from a musculoskeletal rehabilitation perspective. Today's guest is Marianne Roos - a former cl...

When it comes to serious injury, like an ACL tear, in college sport, how many young athletes return to their previous level of performance? Today's guest led a team that has done the hard yards of synthesising all the available data to find an answer. Dr Cortez Brown is a junior orthopaedic surgery resident at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre. In today's episode, Dr Brown shares the res...

Ballooning wait times, overworked and burnt out staff. No doubt you're only too familiar with the signs of a health system that's under serious strain. And not just since the Covid-19 pandemic. Simon Lafrance, physiotherapist and researcher from the University of Montreal, explains musculoskeletal care models that flip the traditional medical model of the doctor as the first contact point a patien...

Musculoskeletal rehabilitation clinicians are well versed in the physical and mental benefits of regular physical activity. Unfortunately there is limited evidence to guide clinicians on how to best support return to sport and physical activity after childbirth. That's where today's guest comes in. Dr Jenna Schulz (physiotherapist and postdoctoral researcher from Western University, Canada) specia...

Most people who pursue a career in health care do so because they want to help people. Depending on where you work, patients might find it easier or harder to access high-value musculoskeletal care, and you might run into barriers to providing the care you would like to provide. Dr Roy Film is a physical therapist, educator and current President of APTA Maryland. In today's episode, Roy explains h...

The complex world of clinical practice in musculoskeletal rehabilitation brings many challenges. Some you might feel prepared for, while others...not so much. Musculoskeletal physiotherapist and shoulder specialist, Jared Powell, is here to reassure us that no-one expects you to have all the answers, encourage us all to think carefully and critically when evaluating information, and to embrace a w...

Today brings a refresher on best practice in managing non-traumatic shoulder pain. Professor Karen McCreesh (University of Limerick) guides the listener to the best available clinical practice guidelines and runs the ruler over different approaches to exercise therapy. ------------------------------ RESOURCES Diagnosing, managing and supporting return to work for people with rotator cuff disorders...

If you consult a clinical practice guideline for any musculoskeletal condition, you'll probably see advice and education included as part of the recommendations for helping someone manage their musculoskeletal pain. How well do the recommendations in clinical practice guidelines about what topics advice and education should cover align with the main concerns of people with back pain? Dr Giovanni F...