JOURNAL OF PHYSIOTHERAPY Clinical Associate Professor Mark Elkins has written an Invited Topical Review on physiotherapy management of rib fractures. Invited Topical Reviews are hugely popular because they summarise the causes, assessment, diagnosis, prognosis and management of a condition.

RESEARCH FOCUS South Australian researchers have launched a longitudinal study on neck and back pain to look at prevalence, risk factors, impact and effective treatments.

A Physiotherapy Research Foundation Project Grant helped Dr Kevin Wernli investigate the relationship between movement, posture and activity in treating persistent low back pain. He talks to Marina Williams about his research.

In 2022, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care released its Low Back Pain Clinical Care Standard, which has been endorsed by 19 professional associations. Professor Chris Maher, the first author of an editorial introducing the standard, answers some questions.

In April last year, Victorian physiotherapist Alisha da Silva was given news that brightened what had been a pretty terrible week. While isolating at home with a nasty bout of COVID-19, Alisha was told that her application for a Felice Rosemary Lloyd Scholarship had been successful.

Jenny McConnell has become the first Australian—and the first physiotherapist—to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Patellofemoral Foundation, a subgroup of the International Patellofemoral Study Group. Jenny talks about the prestigious accolade and what it means for the physiotherapy profession.

Michael Ryan and Barby Singer are the two newest names added to the APA’s Honoured Member board. And both share a philosophy of being part of the change that they want to happen.

The International Federation of Orthopaedic Manipulative Physical Therapists (IFOMPT) developed and endorsed a clinical reasoning framework to support clinicians to gauge the level of risk for vascular pathology following manual therapy or exercise to the cervical spine.

A group of researchers in Sydney and the Netherlands has tackled the need for estimates of the smallest worthwhile effect of some common interventions for low back pain. First author Harrison Hansford answers questions about the study.

JOURNAL OF PHYSIOTHERAPY An interdisciplinary team from Perth, including two APA Neurological Physiotherapists, has systematically reviewed the evidence from qualitative and quantitative studies to determine the perceptions and experiences of constraint-induced movement therapy among stroke survivors, their carers, their therapists and managers of rehabilitation services. First author Ashan Weerakkody answers a few questions about the review.