Sports Stars is a program designed by Queensland-based paediatric physiotherapist Dr Georgina Clutterbuck to help children with various disabilities make the transition from physiotherapy in the clinic to playing community sport. 

In Part 2 of this series, we looked at the patient interview through a pain sensitivity lens. This process helps determine whether pain sensitivity is less or more likely to be a priority for the physical examination. Now we arrive at the examination itself.

How much evidence did you find about normal or comfortable gait speed?

There are numerous articles published where researchers measured normal gait speed.

Using search terms for normative, gait and speed in addition to their synonyms, we found 1444 articles published in the past decade worthy of review.

Mobile apps supporting exercise for musculoskeletal pain

A group of physiotherapists in Melbourne collaborated on a systematic review examining whether therapeutic exercise programs or physical activity programs for people with musculoskeletal pain can be made more effective by administering them with a supporting mobile phone app.

In Part 1 of this series we agreed that pain sensitivity is an important consideration for all physiotherapists in clinical practice.

Pain sensitivity may alter a person’s response to treatment, can help patients make sense of their own conditions, could be used for subgrouping people and might provide insight into a patient’s prognosis.

Ten years ago, it was almost unheard of for patients recently diagnosed with lung cancer to take part in exercise programs prior to or after surgery.

Hip osteoarthritis (OA) affects one in four Australians over their lifetime, resulting in a personal burden of low physical activity, weight gain, social disengagement and poor quality of life. 

The latest research via email 

When the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) is updated each month, new research is emailed to physiotherapists via PEDro’s Evidence in your inbox service.

Research is the backbone of our profession and the APA has a long history of joining forces with academic institutions to strengthen the evidence base of physiotherapy.

Our research partners are conducting valuable and innovative work that will increase clinical knowledge to optimise outcomes for patients.

What is gluteal tendinopathy and how common is it?