PT Inquest

There are a maze of treatment options for people with pain, "each backed by enthusiastic and highly motivated advocates, all of whom lay claim to 'evidence'". How do clinicians wade through all the different ideas out there and get a handle on effectiveness? Or is it efficacy? Confused? Even if you're not, listen to this episode with special guest Neil O'Connell!!!

Exercise-based interventions are known to be most effective for patellofemoral pain but how good are they really? Do adolescents with patellofemoral pain respond in a similar manner? What do we know, what don't we know? Can you handle the dueling Barry Whites???

When talking about whether or not to repair someone's rotator cuff, we often consider the Goutallier/Fuchs category which is a grading of the amount of fat infiltration in the muscle. Should we start doing the same when considering repairs of the gluteal tendons, the "rotator cuff of the hip"? Might it predict outcomes better than the size of the tendon tear? Can JW pass on his disease to Erik via the internet???

80 years ago Ernest Codman proposed that calcific tendinopathy was initiated by tendon degeneration. This has never been validated. In recalcitrant cases, would surgical decompression lead to better outcomes than simple debridement of the calcium? Is this another case of "makes sense" turning out to be wrong?

There is a lot of talk about "inflammation", or lack thereof, around tendinopathies; but what does that even mean? Could this still be present in chronic conditions? Are NSAIDs pure evil or are they the ultimate answer??? This episode includes Peter Gettings, one of the authors of this systematic review and someone you should follow on Twitter!!!

The idea of hip strength having an effect on lower extremity dynamics is not new. Is there actually a correlation between the two? What is the difference between kinematics and kinetics? Is the gluteus medius as important as we used to think? Can JW break down the number 60 into its component prime numbers???

There is some evidence that repeated loads can fatigue an ACL in a cadaveric model. There is some other evidence that lack of hip internal rotation is a risk factor for ACL injury. This episode explores these ideas and asks how these factors might play a role in this common yet serious injury. How does one tear an ACL? Assuming they matter, is there anything we can really do proactively about these concerns? Can JW afford a new bike? Does Erik have a thing for foot piercings?

On this episode we look at the correlation between hip weakness and femoroacetabular impingement/labral tears. Is it all about the glute med? Can we just strengthen out of intra-articular hip injuries? Also, have you seen An Honest Liar yet???

We are back from hiatus and on this episode we look at the correlation between quadriceps weakness and patellofemoral chondral damage after ACLR. Might the chondral damage progress due to quadriceps weakness? Is this another reason to aggressively seek quad strength after surgery? How was JW's summer?

In this last episode before the hiatus, we explore exercise interventions for chronic low back pain (CLBP). Are they truly effective for the treatment of CLBP? If they are, does the type of exercise matter? What about stabilization exercises? Is JW a carpetbagger?