Author Archives: marj

IFOMPT manual therapy update

I recently attended the IFOMPT congress in Quebec City.  IFOMPT is the International Federation of Manipulative Physiotherapists It is an organization that was formed to promote high standards amongst physical therapists practicing manual therapy in the field of orthopaedics (http://www.ifompt.com). Every 4 years, the top manual physical therapists from around the world, gather to share information and techniques with their colleagues.  I participated in an Explain Pain course from David Butler, the founder of the Neuroorthopaedic Institute in Australia (http://www.noigroup.com) and was not disappointed. No one is able to make … Read the rest of this post »

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Can ACL tears be prevented?

The answer is yes.  I had the opportunity to listen to Carolyn Emory PT, PhD of University of Calgary speak at the Canadian Physiotherapy Congress in Whistler.  Her area of expertise is paediatric sport injuries, particularly, injury prevention.  Since ACL injuries are so common in soccer (an average of 25% of 15 year old female soccer players per season), it is an area that has been extensively studied. Researchers have identified key risk factors and, have been able to demonstrate success in preventing injuries, by giving exercises to address them. … Read the rest of this post »

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Knee osteoarthritis and physiotherapy – part 3

Osteoarthritis of the knee What does recent physiotherapy research tell us? I just returned from Amsterdam where I attended the World Physiotherapy Congress. I was fortunate to be able to present a poster of my Master’s research to a large international audience.  I previously summarized and posted my whiplash related master’s research on the West 4th Physiotherapy blog, http://www.west4thphysio.com/archives/645 so in this post I decided to focus on summarizing some of the most interesting research presentations I attended which focused on osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. What exercise can I … Read the rest of this post »

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Knee osteoarthritis – part 2

This is a follow on from my last post and my time at the World Congress of Physiotherapy held in Amsterdam earlier this year. Is running bad for knee cartilage?  Can it cause knee OA? Ans Van Ginckel, a research physiotherapist from Ghent University in Belgium and her colleagues compared the changes in thickness of knee cartilage in 9 previously sedentary young women (20-40 y) who participated in a 10 week, 5 km beginners running program, with 10 sedentary controls.  Thicker cartilage is generally desirable as it is better able … Read the rest of this post »

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Osteoarthritis of the knee and physiotherapy – Part 1

Osteoarthritis of the knee What does recent physiotherapy research tell us? I just returned from Amsterdam where I attended the World Physiotherapy Congress. I was fortunate to be able to present a poster of my Master’s research to a large international audience.  I previously summarized and posted my whiplash related master’s research on the West 4th Physiotherapy blog, http://www.west4thphysio.com/archives/645 so in this post I decided to focus on summarizing some of the most interesting research presentations I attended which focused on osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Can osteoarthritis be prevented … Read the rest of this post »

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Physiotherapy and TMJ (jaw) pain

I attended the Pacific Dental Conference in Vancouver on March 11 and 12.  Many of the sessions were not relevant to physiotherapists but Dr. Mariano Rocabado a well-known physiotherapist from Chile drew me there. He specializes in treating head and neck pain, which is related to the jaw and or neck.  He was invited due to his expertise with TMJ (temporomandibular joint or jaw joint) pain and dysfunction. At the Friday session he spoke all day about how the upper neck joints can influence the function of the jaw, including … Read the rest of this post »

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Whiplash and chronic pain

Why me? Chronic Pain and Whiplash I recently attended an excellent course in Victoria, BC.  The instructors were two experienced physiotherapists who are pursuing PhDs at University of Calgary in the area of chronic pain and whiplash, Ashley Smith and Geoff Schneider. The course was titled Physiotherapy and Complex Whiplash. Ashley now focuses his practice on assessing and advising people with pain persisting for many months following traumatic neck injury, typically people who have had motor vehicle accidents and are at least 18 months post-injury.  He founded the Advanced Spine … Read the rest of this post »

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Low Back pain and specific exercise

  Following on from my last post on low back pain treatment options where we considered the use of manipulation, today we’ll look at some specific types of exercise Stabilization Exercises If your physiotherapist finds three or more of the following factors then a good choice for treatment would be stabilization or core exercises.  The factors associated with success in this treatment group were: age less than 40, presence of abnormal active movement patterns, straight leg raise of more than 90 degrees and a positive lumbar prone instability test.  The … Read the rest of this post »

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Low back pain and manipulation

  I recently participated in an excellent teleconference sponsored by the Canadian Physiotherapy Association and presented by Eric Parent, physiotherapist and researcher with the University of Alberta.  The title was “The treatment-based classification system for low back pain: Updated with a prediction rule to identify responders to extension exercises”.   The topic was using research to predict which clients are most likely to respond to spinal manipulation, stabilization or “core exercises”, traction and extension (backward bending) exercises. The good news is that research supports what physiotherapists have said for many years. … Read the rest of this post »

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Whiplash update

Neck Muscles and Whiplash   Whiplash injuries are common worldwide. In BC we have more than 60,000 motor vehicle related whiplash injuries per year.  Some people recover quickly, while 40-60 percent of people are still having neck pain 6 months or more after their injuries. Why is this?  In an effort to improve understanding of persistent neck muscle complaints post whiplash, I recently completed my Master of Science in Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University and chose to study upper trapezius activation before, during and after a repetitive upper … Read the rest of this post »

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