Dr. Clare Ardern, assistant professor at the University of British Columbia and editor-in-chief of JOSPT, joins the Rehab and Performance Lab Podcast with host Phil Plisky to discuss confidence to return to sport after injury. Clare shares insights from her extensive research in ACL rehabilitation, addressing common mental barriers athletes face when returning to sport. Together, they explore practical strategies, including goal setting, confidence assessment, and techniques to create a safe therapeutic space for athletes. Don’t miss this episode packed with actionable advice for supporting athletes to successfully and confidently return to sport.

Learning Objectives

Interpret the evidence around supporting athletes and active people to feel confident about returning to sport after musculoskeletal injury
Apply evidence-based, practical strategies to support athletes and active people’s psychological readiness to return to sport after musculoskeletal injury
Solve patient case scenarios involving low confidence to return to sport or high fear of reinjury

Timestamps

(00:00:00) Welcome
(00:01:02) Introduction to guest
(00:08:19) Why this clinical question?
(00:11:49) What’s the evidence and application?
(00:53:11) Three main takeaways

Rehab and Performance Lab is brought to you by Medbridge. If you’d like to earn continuing education credit for listening to this episode and access bonus takeaway handouts, log in to your Medbridge account and navigate to the course where you’ll find accreditation details. If applicable, complete the post-course assessment and survey to be eligible for credit. The takeaway handout on Medbridge gives you the key points mentioned in this episode, along with additional resources you can implement into your practice right away.

To hear more episodes of Rehab and Performance Lab, visit https://www.medbridge.com/rehab-and-performance-lab

If you’d like to subscribe to Medbridge, visit https://www.medbridge.com/pricing/

Potential Friendship Breakup Song