Mind the Soft Tissue Gap – “Acute Knee Injuries”

By Dr Irfan Ahmed (T: @Irfan_sem) Over the last week, I have had time to reflect on the twitter feedback from my first blog. I must confess to feeling slightly overwhelmed, the “#softtissuegap” is trending, and has certainly outgrown its initial aim. One thread debated ‘if SEM should focus on acute care, secondary MSK clinics or even […]

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How physiotherapists can contribute to decision making: a proposal for a PT treatment pathway for knee osteoarthritis

By Afxentios Kekelekis @afxentios Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading cause for knee pain and disability worldwide.1Approximately 25% of people aged over 60 years experience knee pain from degenerative knee disease.2 Risk factors for knee OA are multifactorial and include age, previous knee injury, female gender, obesity, diabetes, sedentary life, and psychosocial agents.1The most traditionally […]

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Does body weight matter when it comes to the patellofemoral joint?

  By Harvi F. Hart, PhD, @harvihart; and Kay M. Crossley, PT, PhD,@kaymcrossley As a society, we know that excess body weight is not good for our health. It increases the risk of an array of physical and mental health conditions such as hypertension, type II diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, osteoarthritis, depression, and anxiety. […]

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Synthetics ligaments in the knee: Deja vu or innovation ?

By Lars Engebretsen MD, PhD. Are you old enough to remember these orthopedic implants: GoreTex, Dacron, Polyester, Polypropylen, or carbon fibers? Let me remind you that these were not raincoats, mountaineering apparel or shoelaces— they were knee ligament substitutes! I am old enough to have tried these as substitutes for torn ACL or PCL, or augmentations […]

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What can we learn from Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s knee injury? Focus on PCL implications

The PCL gets much less attention than its anterior partner. What might be going through Zlatan’s mind? If we start with a player who has suffered an isolated mild to moderate (Grade I-II) PCL injury, we find the player can do well with quality physiotherapy reahabilitation because because surgical reconstruction tends to improve the grade of […]

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Cutting sporting Australians to their knees: time for more investment in sports injury prevention

By David Hunter, Florance and Cope Professor of Rheumatology Australians’ passion for their favourite sporting pursuits is almost unmatched by any other country throughout the world. We pride ourselves on our sporting heritage and the records that our minnow sized population has been able to achieve in an ever expanding sporting world. Not detracting from the importance […]

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Potential association between the current recommendations for ski binding adjustment and the high prevalence of knee injuries in female skiers?

By Gerhard Ruedl and Martin Burtscher Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, Austria Take home message: Are women’s bindings set 15% too high – and increasing risk of knee injury? Are you one of the over 200 million recreational skiers practicing this fascinating sport on snow covered ski slopes during the winter months? You […]

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Assessing when it’s the right time to have a knee replacement

By John Orchard (@DrJohnOrchard)   The Scandinavians have done it again – leading the world of orthopaedic outcome research with the first high-quality RCT to assess Total Knee Replacement (TKR) [1]. Danish investigators randomised 100 eligible patients (average age 67, BMI 32) to either TKR (n=50) or conservative care (n=50). Fortunately for knee surgeons – […]

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Return to Sport After Total Knee Replacements?

By Alexander Wood The number of total knee replacements (TKR) performed annually has doubled over the last decade1. TKR is common in the young population2 and an increasing number of elderly patients are playing sport and sustaining sports related injuries3. Considering the above factors combined with improvements in life expectancy and in overall general health4, […]

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