Physio Edge podcast with David Pope

When you assess your patients shoulder movements, and notice a winging scapula, altered resting position or timing of scapula movement, do you need to treat it? Can we diagnose "Scapular dyskinesis", and does it matter? How can you simplify your scapular assessment? In this podcast, Jo Gibson (Clinical Physiotherapy Specialist) explores  common beliefs and myths  around the scapula, including: Abn...

How can you identify the source of your patients leg, shoulder or arm pain? Is it from neural tissue compression, sensitisation or irritation or nearby joints, tendons or muscles? What questions and objective tests will help you diagnose a neural tissue pain disorder (NTPD)? In this podcast with  Dr Toby Hall (Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist, FACP, PhD) , you'll discover: Three types of...

A young male patient woke with an acute onset of constant, shooting shoulder pain, is painful into abduction, reluctant to lift his arm, and feels like he's losing shoulder strength. He has no recent history of injury. Can you diagnose this unusual cause of shoulder pain, based on this patient's symptoms and physical tests? What are your differential diagnoses and red flags to keep in mind with th...

Do you include stretches in your treatment of shoulder pain? Have you ever identified a glenohumeral internal rotation deficit (GIRD) and used the "Sleeper stretch" to help improve internal rotation? Do stretches have any value for shoulder pain, or are there better treatment options? In this podcast, Jo Gibson (Clinical Physiotherapy Specialist) discusses how to differentiate true capsular stiffn...

Shoulder surgery in athletes is common following dislocation. Accelerated post-op shoulder stabilisation rehab protocols include early mobilisation to reduce movement, proprioceptive and strength deficits. This has allowed earlier return to play (RTP), however athletes often still have significant proprioceptive and strength deficits up to 2 years post surgery. Despite getting back to play, athlet...

100 Physio Edge podcast episodes since I discovered a love of podcasts, and created the Physio Edge podcast to help Physio's, Physical Therapists and other health professionals in their clinical practice with practical information from the leaders in different musculoskeletal and sports injuries. I really enjoy recording each podcast, helping you with your clinical challenges and hearing how the p...

Patients with shoulder pain, rotator cuff tears and nerve injuries can often be seen shrugging their shoulder while they lift their arm, appearing to overuse their upper fibres of trapezius. Surface EMG research has shown increased activity in UFT in shoulder pain and whiplash patients. To add to this, patients get sore upper traps, and can be adamant that they need regular massage of their upper...

Strength training can be used in your treatment and rehab programs to improve your patients strength, load capacity, function & pain, so they can get back into work and the activities they enjoy. In your athletic patients, strength training can be used to help restore power and speed, which are vital for sporting performance. Would you like to include more strength training in your treatment, but...

Long head of biceps (LHB) tendinopathy and associated anterior shoulder pain can develop in patients that increase their lifting load eg moving house, overhead activities, activities that involve loaded shoulder extension and in throwing athletes. Patients may also develop long head of biceps tendon pain after a traumatic ACJ injury or SLAP tear. How can you identify and treat LHB tendinopathy? In...

Patients with thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) may have undiagnosed pain and symptoms into their shoulder, arm, hand, scapula, head, face, upper back, axilla, chest and anterior clavicle. With a number of potential sources of pain in these areas, TOS patients commonly have a delayed or incorrect diagnosis, followed by unnecessary and unsuccessful surgery. Further complicating matters, imaging and ne...

The sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) can cause pain locally, or refer into the neck and shoulder. With a relatively high incidence of serious and potentially life-threatening pathology at the SCJ, it's important to diagnose the source of SCJ pain. In this (Facebook live/video/podcast) with Jo Gibson (Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist), you'll discover: How to identify and diagnose the SCJ as the sou...

Have you ever wanted to improve your patients strength, but weren't sure about the best way to go about it? What exercises should you use? How many sets, reps and sessions per week should you ask your patients to complete? Strength levels often start to decline with pain or after an injury, from neuromuscular inhibition, swelling, inflammation or joint laxity (Hopkins & Ingersoll, 2000; Rice & McN...

Manual therapy (MT) comes in all shapes and sizes - mobilisation, manipulation, mobilisation with movement, soft tissue massage, instrument assisted massage, muscle energy techniques, pointy elbows pressed into flesh and more. Patients (often) love it, and it's a popular treatment modality with therapists. Debate rages, and myths and misconceptions surround MT. Is MT evidence-based? Could the time...

When your patient has heel pain with their first few steps in the morning, after sitting for a while or at the start of a run, a diagnosis of plantar heel pain (PHP) or plantar fasciopathy might jump straight to the top of your list. How will you treat your patients with PHP? How long will it take? How can you explain PHP, the rehab and recovery to your patients? In this podcast with  Henrik Riel...

When you love running or any other sport or activity, having to take time off with an injury is really frustrating. Your patients with an injury limiting their running will feel frustrated and be keen to keep running or get back to running as quickly as possible. We can make a huge difference in helping them return to running, but how do we do it? It would be pretty simple if we could hand all of...

Squeezing a stress ball and strengthening with 0.5kg dumbells will only get you so far with your treatment of hand and wrist injuries, and soon enough you'll hit a wall with treatment results. How are you going to smash through that wall, and help your patients keep working or playing, or get back to work and sport? If you've felt limited with your hand and wrist treatment and exercises, you'll lo...

Your knuckles getting crushed in an overenthusiastic handshake by hands the size of watermelons isn't a fun experience. Do these knuckle-crushers know they're squeezing that hard, or do they just regularly snap pencils while taking notes, and wonder why pens and pencils are so fragile nowadays? How much grip strength do you actually need, even if you're not planning on crushing any knuckles the ne...

Hand and wrist assessment and treatment can be overwhelming. There are a lot of tendons, ligaments and bones crammed into a small area, you need to worry about ligament and cartilage tears, rehabing fine and gross motor control, strengthening, and then there are a bunch of fancy-looking splints. How would you like to get a better grip on hand and wrist injuries? In this podcast with Physiotherapis...

A crunching tackle, flying headfirst off the bike onto your shoulder, or falling onto an elbow will often be enough to injure an acromio-clavicular joint (ACJ). When your patient walks in supporting their arm, or wearing a collar-and-cuff to offload their ACJ, how will you accurately assess and grade their injury? What will you include in your ACJ patient rehab to help them get back to full should...

How do you answer your patient when they ask why they still have back or neck pain more than 12 months after an injury? Shouldn't their body have healed by now? Why does their knee pain get worse every time they do their exercises, put tape on it, go for a walk or just climb the stairs? What is going on? Why do they still have pain? How are you going to explain it, and how can you help them? In th...

Have you had patients that developed groin pain after getting a bit carried away with situps or abdominal exercises in the gym? Or have your patients developed lower abdominal pain after running or training that is causing them pain into hip extension? In this podcast with Andrew Wallis, Sports Physiotherapist with the St Kilda AFL team, we explore how you can treat patients that were a little too...

How can you manage lower limb tendinopathy in your patients that like to run? Can runners with medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) continue to run? Can patients with high BMI or following total hip replacement run? Physiotherapists  Tom Goom  and  David Pope  answer your questions on how to assess and treat patients with running-related injuries in this Q&A conducted live, including: How can you...

What are the key components when assessing and treating runners? Should your treatment of running injuries focus on glutes? How can your runners schedule their training to improve recovery? Physiotherapists  Tom Goom  and  David Pope  answer your questions on how to assess and treat patients with running-related injuries, including: The key concepts when assessing and treating running injuries Gai...

Achilles tendinopathy treatment - what is the latest research, and how can it help your treatment? What is the best way to treat Achilles tendinopathy (AT)? Over the years our treatment of tendinopathy has evolved significantly. You may remember rubbing tendons with ultrasound or our thumbs in years gone past, and stretching the painful area or muscle-tendon complex. If you did, you may also remem...

Ankle syndesmosis injuries following forced ankle dorsiflexion and lateral rotation of the foot require very specific management and rehabilitation to achieve great treatment outcomes. If you approach management of ankle syndesmosis injuries in the same manner as a lateral ankle ligament injury it will likely result in long term pain and dysfunction for your patients. In the  previous episode of t...