JOSPT Insights

There are many outstanding leaders in the sports medicine and musculoskeletal rehabilitation world. How did they get there? What decisions did they make that have got them to where they are today?

In today's episode, Dr Amber Donaldson shares what she is looking for in the next generation of sports medicine leaders, how she has approached developing her own career, and her advice for early-career clinicians looking to establish themselves in elite sports medicine.

Dr Donaldson is the Vice President - Sports Medicine at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

How often do you think about the air quality in the clinic or outside when you're exercising? Perhaps you live and work in a part of the world where you're fortunate to have good air quality most of the time. For many people though, that's not the case.

Air pollution from wildfires in increasing, and it has serious implications for everyone's health. Today, Dr Débora Petry Moecke (Centre for Heart Lung Innovation, University of British Columbia) explains how to support clean air in the clinic to protect patients' health.

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RESOURCES

Wildfire smoke and its impact on physical therapy practice: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2025.13546

IQAir (real-time air quality data from around the world): www.iqair.com

Today, Dr Federico Pozzi (University of Florida), walks Dan and Marquis through his recent paper titled “Addressing Shoulder Weakness in Individuals With Rotator Cuff–Related Shoulder Pain: A Systematic Review With Meta-analysis”

In this discussion, Dr Pozzi, Dan & Marquis look at the research regarding rotator cuff-related shoulder pain, asking the question: what type of strengthening interventions help best? Dr Pozzi shares his advice for clinicians on how to design and implement effective shoulder rehabilitation programs.

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RESOURCES

Addressing shoulder weakness systematic review: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2025.13445

Rugby is seeing consistent growth in popularity and participation. It's also no secret that women's sport is also growing rapidly. Put those together and you enter the exciting and rapidly developing area of women's and girl's rugby.

Today, Dr Isla Shill (University of Victoria) discusses her research work in preventing injuries (including concussion) in girl's rugby. She shares the key components, and what it takes to implement an effective injury prevention program.

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RESOURCES

Effects of neuromuscular training warm-up for preventing injury and concussion in girl's rugby: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2026.13373

SHRED injuries neuromuscular training warm-up programs: https://www.ucalgary.ca/shred-injuries

Tips for supporting athletes to return to sport after concussion, with Dr Kathryn Schneider: https://pod.link/1522929437/episode/YTA0ZWY0NDgtYzNmZi00ODlmLTg5ZWQtMTAyMDE3ZTUxNjhk

Female, woman, and/or girl Athlete Injury pRevention: https://fairconsensus.com/

FAIR practical recommendations: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41330629/

Today’s guest—Dr Thomas Ibounig—who led the paper, “Rotator Cuff Imaging Abnormalities in Asymptomatic Shoulders: A systematic review” explores how prevalent abnormal MRI findings are in asymptomatic shoulders, and how the prevalence changes by population.

The systematic review is an exemplar of what musculoskeletal rehabilitation clinicians can learn from accepting what we don’t know!

Chelsea and Marquis wrap up the chat by thinking about how physical therapists can take the systematic review findings into account when educating and referring patients with shoulder pain.

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RESOURCES

Rotator cuff imaging abnormalities in asymptomatic shoulders systematic review: https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2025.13611

More on the SCRUTINY (Systematic Review of Shoulder Imaging Abnormalities in Asymptomatic Adults) project: https://www.ficebo.com/project/scrutiny