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Bringing us all together under one roof
Next October we look forward to welcoming the sports medicine world to Vancouver for Sport Physiotherapy Canada’s 1st Biennial Congress and the 3rd World Congress of Sports Physical Therapy (#SPC2019)! Together, under one roof, many of the world’s top sports medicine clinicians and researchers will take us from high performance to clinical practice.
This conference will nourish and challenge your mind and give you the perfect canvas to be physically active. Vancouver welcomed the world for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and now we are ready for you! Vancouver has breathtaking scenery that fosters an outdoor active lifestyle. Where the mountains meet the sea, you can ski in the local mountains in the morning and paddle through the inlets in the afternoon. Come for the conference and stay for the city and its surrounds—a run around Stanley Park, a cycle at Whistler, a hike through the North Shore mountains. Or venture to the west coast of Vancouver Island where the edge of the continent falls into the Pacific Ocean. This trip you will never forget.
A tradition of sports physiotherapy
Sport Physiotherapy Canada (SPC) has a long history of actively educating, training and certifying its members to work with high performance athletes. Working with teams, individual athletes, or performing medical assistance at Major Games, SPC certificate and diploma holders (an accredited programme of the International Federation of Sports Physical Therapy) are highly regarded by stakeholder groups and athletes alike. Many of our members are on the cutting edge of sport-related research. In our fold are internationally recognised physiotherapists creating policy from their research on concussion and injury prevention. Hosting an annual Concussion Symposium and working towards a certification for physiotherapists who treat concussed individuals is one of SPC’s top priorities.
A sneak peek into #SPC2019
In this Canadian issue of British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM), we feature several of the speakers who will be presenting at the World Congress of Sports Physical Therapy (#SPC2019). Several editorials discuss leadership and lateral thinking in the sports medicine and physiotherapy community. In our Editor’s Choice ( see page 1543 ) Drs Jeremy Lewis and Peter O’Sullivan assert that the way we currently approach musculoskeletal pain is failing – we should reframe the way we care for musculoskeletal pain conditions learning from the management of other chronic conditions.
Sweden/Denmark’s Professor Ewa Roos, highlights the success of the international GLA:D programme for patients with osteoarthritis ( see page 1544 ). This standardised, but individualised programme of education and neuromuscular exercise therapy sessions provides a high-value alternative to current standards of care. Professor Roos will discuss the role of conservative management as an alternative to surgery for knee pathology in different athletic populations at #SPC2019.
Two speakers at #SPC2019, Dr Christian Barton and Professor Kay Crossley, issue a call to action to researchers and clinicians to consider non-traditional physiotherapy interventions to optimise outcomes in patients with patellofemoral pain ( see page 1546 ). UK sports physiotherapist Dr Osman Ahmed launches BJSM’s ‘Patient Voices’ series in this issue ( see page 1547 ). He calls for patients to be at the centre of decision-making processes in research. As an example, we hear from Jermain Defoe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jermain_Defoe) on his experiences in professional and international football ( see page 1554 ). He offers three pearls of advice to all of us.
A highly anticipated session at #SPC2019 is one featuring Drs Karen Litzy, Christian Barton, and Rod Whiteley on bridging the gap between research and clinical practice. Drs Barton and Whiteley combine with #SPC2019 Scientific co-Chairs Drs Chris Napier and Jean-Francois Esculier to discuss strategies to increase clinician engagement in research and ensure effective translation of research to patient care using a ‘design thinking’ approach ( see page 1550 ). This topic is already getting a lot of engagement on social media (including Twitter @spc2019).
For runners and clinicians who work with runners, this issue includes an editorial by our Conference Chair, Dr Chris Napier, and the renowned Dr Richard Willy on the lack of evidence behind running shoe prescription for the prevention of running injuries ( see page 1552 ). This editorial has also sparked long threads on social media (is there an invisible thread running through this Warm Up @spc2019?) as many beliefs are challenged.
This issue’s original research article discusses an emerging, yet still taboo, subject in elite female sport: urinary incontinence ( see page 1586 ). Portugal’s Professor Alice Carvalhais exposes the high prevalence of urinary incontinence among elite athletes. We look forward to hearing more on the clinical management of this problem from Chicago-based international thought leader Dr Sarah Haag (@SarahHaagPT) in Vancouver next year. Systematic reviews on Achilles ( see page 1564 ) and patellar tendinopathy ( see page 1575 ) and on the role of strength training in the prevention of acute and overuse sports injuries ( see page 1557 ) will give you more than enough to handle in the 2 weeks before the next issue of BJSM drops. 24 issues per year! (Editor forced us to write that, BTW;)).
Join us to celebrate Sports PT at the Third World Congress of Sports Physical Therapy. #GlobalPT President, Dr Emma Stokes will be there to discuss the role of leadership in sports physiotherapy. Hear her as she calls for PTs the world over to Collaborate, Communicate, Be Coherent, and Connect. Let’s do it all at #SPC2019 next October 4th-5th in Vancouver!
Footnotes
Twitter @spc2019
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent Not required.
Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.