JOSPT Insights

Profs Lori Michener and Joe Donnelly, Vice President and President, respectively, of the APTA’s Academy of Orthopaedic Physical therapy (AOPT), share the inside track on the AOPT’s new strategic framework, opportunities for grants, and how you can get involved with AOPT. Visit http://www.orthopt.org to find out more about the Academy and its work.

Sports physical therapist Elisa Nédélec heard so many harmful myths about when and how girls and women should play sport that she decided to start a PhD. In today’s episode, Elisa explains why girls and women should stay active, and what research can (and can’t) tell us about the relationship between reproductive hormones and musculoskeletal injury. Elisa co-leads the FAIR-ACL Project with Professor Kirsty Elliott-Sale, which tracks female athletes’ hormone profiles at the time of ACL injury. Find out more about the FAIR-ACL Project at: https://fairaclproject.isrg.org.uk

In the second episode of our 2-part masterclass on late-phase ACL rehabilitation, Dr Dan Lorenz shares what it means to bring sport specificity to rehab. It’s not about replicating every drill the athlete will do at practice. Rather, Dr Lorenz encourages clinicians to understand how the athlete moves during sport and treat the impairment that’s preventing the athlete from unleashing powerful movements.

In Part 1 of this 2-part podcast, Dr Dan Lorenz joins Drs Dan Chapman and Chelsea Cooman to dig into what quality rehab looks like in the late stages after an ACL reconstruction. Dr Lorenz covers the importance of loading, including where to start, how to load for the demands of the sport, and how it can look different at 4 vs 8 months. He shares his criteria for returning to run, prerunning drills, when and how to progress into plyometrics, and a peek into what he thinks the early stages should look like to prepare for later success.

A young handball player walks into your clinic tomorrow—she tells you her shoulder pain is bad, and getting worse. What should she do? Sports physical therapist Suzanne Gard is here to help untangle shoulder instability. Tune in for tips on assessing and treating shoulder instability and building strong and supportive lines of communication with youth athletes. The International Federation of Sports Physical Therapy (IFSPT) World Congress will take place in Denmark in August 2022. Head to http://www.ifspt.org to find out more.

Dr Caitlin McGee is back for the second of a two-part episode to outline the challenges and opportunities for diversity and inclusion in esports. Like many industries, esports is grappling with a past that did not embrace the rich and diverse gaming community as much as it could have. How is change happening, and who is driving it? Dr McGee is the co-owner and Performance & Esports Medicine Director of 1HP, a company that provides health and performance services to esports players, teams, and organizations. For more on the role for the musculoskeletal rehabilitation practitioner in esports, check out Dr McGee's recent editorial in JOSPT: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2021.0109

Ease your way into the billion-dollar esports industry in this first of a two-part episode as Dr Caitlin McGee explains what esports are and the common musculoskeletal problems seen in gamers, then walks through how she approaches an initial clinical evaluation. Dr McGee is the co-owner and Performance & Esports Medicine Director of 1HP, a company that provides health and performance services to esports players, teams, and organizations. For more on the role for the musculoskeletal rehabilitation practitioner in esports, check out Dr McGee's recent editorial in JOSPT: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2021.0109

Dr Marcie Harris-Hayes joins Drs Dan Chapman and Chelsea Cooman to share her extensive knowledge of hip-related groin pain. We dive into 3 of her papers to get to the bottom of 3 important questions: What counts as hip-related groin pain? Can physical therapy help? Which treatment interventions are most effective for improving function?

2021 has been a big year for trials studying the benefits of different approaches to rehabilitation for rotator cuff–related shoulder pain. Keeping up with the latest research can feel a bit like chasing your tail—today, Professor Lori Michener is here to help! We look at the latest research, explain what it all means, and how to apply it tomorrow in the clinic. GRASP trial: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34265255/ SExSI trial: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34048281/

Join Kate Mahony—sports physical therapist and Head of Performance Health at the New South Wales Institute of Sport—for a post-Olympics wrap-up of the achievements and advocacy of women athletes, clinicians and coaches in sport. Kate shares her tips for supporting women athletes to help them perform at their best and her advice for clinicians who aspire to work in elite sport.