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 Exercise Medicine Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia - shares the results of her work with women who have experienced serious knee injury, about what they wanted to know about managing knee health.

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RESOURCES

Systematic review of self-reported activity and knee-related outcomes after ACL injury (sex and gender differences): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36889918/

Sex/gender equity in sport and exercise medicine/physical therapy publishing: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36631242/

What do women (with serious knee injury) want to know about knee health (article): https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2025.12869

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 physical activity choice, even for people with osteoarthritis and joint replacement.

Dr Jean François Esculier is a physiotherapist based in Kelowna, Canada. He leads the Research & Development team at The Running Clinic, and teaches at The University of British Columbia; his clinical practice is at MoveMed Physiotherapy.

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RESOURCES

Survey about perceptions on running and knee health: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36199830/

Education resource on running and joint health, in 7 languages: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/82767

Evaluation of the education resource: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/josptopen.2024.0149

Free webinar (account required) about the influence of running on cartilage: https://therunningclinic.com/tv/?VideoId=185711&SelectedCategory=185731

Running with osteoarthritis case report: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38725598/

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 with us. Let them help you make an informed decision about your next equipment purchase for your clinic.

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RESOURCES

Who's afraid of electrical stimulation? Let's revisit the application of NMES at the knee: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2023.12028

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 need NMES in your sports rehabilitation toolkit, and how to figure out dose and intensity.

In part 2 we discuss how to support patients to get the most out of NMES, and which equipment is best for your clinic.

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RESOURCES

Who's afraid of electrical stimulation? Let's revisit the application of NMES at the knee: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2023.12028

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 surgery? And when? What are the important clinical considerations when patients choose these options? Part 2 has it all!

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RESOURCES

Terminating corticosteroid injection in tendinopathy? https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2023.11875/

Dutch multidisciplinary guideline on Achilles tendinopathy: (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34187784/

Platelet-rich plasma injection for chronic Achilles tendinopathy: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20068208/

Time to put down the scalpel when treating tendinopathy? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31653777/

Why tendons like load: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29920664/

Clinical diagnosis of Achilles tendinopathy: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34692248/

Clinical tool for identifying spondyloarthropathy: http://tinyurl.com/3my87hma

More on the pain monitoring model: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17307888/

Dosing your resistance training in tendinopathy: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37169370/

Best treatment for Achilles tendinopathy (living systematic review): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32522732/

Achilles Pain, Stiffness, and Muscle Power Deficits - 2024 updated clinical practice guideline: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2024.0302

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 tendon anatomy to guide your differential diagnosis, what information he is most focused on communicating to patients, and the key factors that can affect your choices when managing Achilles tendinopathy.

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RESOURCES

Why tendons like load: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29920664/

Clinical diagnosis of Achilles tendinopathy: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34692248/

Clinical tool for identifying spondyloarthropathy: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paul-Kirwan/publication/332275130_D18_SCREEND%27EM_BEFORE_YOU_TREAT%27EM_A_CLINICAL_TOOL_TO_HELP_IDENTIFY_SPONDYLOARTHROPATHY_IN_PATIENTS_WITH_TENDINOPATHY/links/5cab530da6fdcca26d06aaf1/D18-SCREENDEM-BEFORE-YOU-TREATEM-A-CLINICAL-TOOL-TO-HELP-IDENTIFY-SPONDYLOARTHROPATHY-IN-PATIENTS-WITH-TENDINOPATHY.pdf

More on the pain monitoring model: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17307888/

Dosing your resistance training in tendinopathy: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37169370/

Best treatment for Achilles tendinopathy (living systematic review): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32522732/

Achilles Pain, Stiffness, and Muscle Power Deficits - updated clinical practice guideline from AOPT: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2024.0302

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 effect of contextual factors with a meta-analysis. They found non-specific effects play a big role in patients' outcomes. Today's discussion covers what these contextual factors are, how the researchers quantified them, and how musculoskeletal rehabilitation clinicians can harness non-specific effects to boost patients' outcomes.

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RESOURCES

Non-specific effects in musculoskeletal pain treatment outcomes (meta-analysis): https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2024.12126

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 clarinetist and forever musician-at-heart, who now practices as a physiotherapist and conducts her PhD research from Laval University, Canada. Marianne explains the physical and psychological demands of orchestra performance on the musician's body, and shares the results of her PhD research in developing programmes to reduce musculoskeletal injuries among orchestra musicians.

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RESOURCES

Barriers and facilitators to implementing rehabilitation and wellness programs for orchestral musicians: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33853373/

Workplace injury prevention and wellness program for orchestra musicians: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2024.12277

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 results of his systematic review, and guides listeners through the complex factors that affect return to play outcomes for college athletes.

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RESOURCES

Return to college sport after ACL reconstruction systematic review: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2024.12483

Systematic review of return to competitive sport (all levels) after ACL reconstruction: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25157180/

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 patient has with the health system, to a musculoskeletal specialist, like a physical therapist, leading instead.

Simon's clinical work and research work merge as he works to develop and evaluate advance practice physiotherapy models.

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RESOURCES

Trial of single vs. multiple sessions of advanced practice physiotherapy: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2024.12618

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) specializes in pelvic health and sport, women’s health, and improving longevity in sport for females across the lifespan. Today, Jenna shares how she approaches supporting physical and mental readiness for sport postpartum, and when to refer to your colleagues in the multidisciplinary health care team.

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RESOURCES

Systematic review of exercise interventions for physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2024.12666

Scoping review of guidelines for returning to physical activity and sport postpartum: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37898507/

Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) and the lactating athlete: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37752008/