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Orthopaedic research

Everything we have read on orthopaedic. Each paper is summarised from the full article rather than its abstract, so the limitations are in there too, and the funding wherever the paper declares it.

2,015 PAPERS · PAGE 17 OF 41 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTRCT2022Psychometric properties of the 4-meter walk test after total knee arthroplasty.Disability and rehabilitationThe 4-meter walk test at fastest speed is as reliable and responsive as the 6-minute walk test in the first three months after knee replacement. It takes less than four minutes and needs only eight meters of space, making it a practical choice for tracking early recovery.
• PTOTSLPSurvey2021Menstrual Irregularity, Hormonal Contraceptive Use, and Bone Stress Injuries in Collegiate Female Athletes in the United States.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationMost female collegiate athletes use hormonal contraceptives, often to mask irregular periods rather than treat underlying energy deficits. Injectable contraceptives were associated with higher odds of stress fractures compared to oral pills, while past menstrual irregularity alone showed no such link.
• PTOTCohort2021The Course of Physical Capacity in Wheelchair Users During Training for the HandbikeBattle and at 1-Yr Follow-up.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationHandbikeBattle training raised physical capacity, and gains held at 1 year for the whole group. However, capacity dropped significantly in those who did not compete again, while it remained stable or slightly improved in those who did. Having a future event goal appeared key to maintaining fitness.
• PTOTSystematic Review2021A Systematic Search and Review of Questionnaires Measuring Individual psychosocial Factors Predicting Return to Work After Musculoskeletal and Common Mental Disorders.Journal of occupational rehabilitationThree psychosocial factors predict return to work after musculoskeletal or mental disorders. Self-efficacy is a strong predictor for both. Expectations predict well for musculoskeletal issues, while work ability is less reliable for mental disorders. Several validated questionnaires exist to measure these factors.
• PTSystematic Review2022Relationships between physical therapy intervention and opioid use: A scoping review.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationEarly physical therapy for low back pain was consistently linked to lower odds of opioid use in five of six studies. However, evidence for other PT interventions, modalities, or interdisciplinary programs remains weak, inconsistent, or null.
• PTCohort2022Prevalence of low back pain and related disability in patients with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationAmong 158 patients with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome, 60% had clinically significant low back pain; those with it had worse hip function, and low back disability was strongly linked to worse hip function. It is an association, not proof that treating the back improves the hip.
• PTSurvey2021Lifetime Prevalence of Nonspecific Low Back Pain in Adolescents: A Cross-sectional Epidemiologic Survey.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation48.98% of adolescent students in Veneto, Italy reported nonspecific low back pain. Female sex, not playing sports regularly, shorter sleep, and family history were linked; sitting and device use also tracked with pain.
• PTOTCohort2021Recovery Courses of Patients Who Return to Work by 3, 6 or 12 Months After Total Knee Arthroplasty.Journal of occupational rehabilitationPatients who returned to work by 3 months after knee replacement had significantly less knee pain and stiffness than those who returned later. Late returners were held back by persistent knee symptoms, not by mental health issues or social factors.
• PTOTRCT2021Two-Year Follow-Up of a Randomized Clinical Trial of Inpatient Multimodal Occupational Rehabilitation Vs Outpatient Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Sick Listed Workers with Musculoskeletal or Common Mental Disorders.Journal of occupational rehabilitationInpatient multimodal rehabilitation led to faster and more frequent return to work over two years compared to outpatient therapy. However, the reduction in total sick leave days did not reach statistical significance. The intensive inpatient program showed clear benefits for work participation.
• PTOther2022Opioid use and social disadvantage in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationPatients with chronic musculoskeletal pain on long-term opioids were more likely to live in socially disadvantaged areas and report worse depression, anxiety, and pain interference than patients not routinely prescribed opioids. This is an association, not proof opioids caused disadvantage.
• PTOTCohort2022Shoulder pain and ultrasound findings: A comparison study of wheelchair athletes, nonathletic wheelchair users, and nonwheelchair users.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationWheelchair athletes did not have more shoulder pain or ultrasound-detected pathology than nonathletic wheelchair users. Athletes exercised their shoulders more often. Basketball players reported higher pain scores, but the study was too small to confirm this as a risk.
• PTOTRCT2021Physical activity on prescription in patients with hip or knee osteoarthritis: A randomized controlled trial.Clinical rehabilitationAdding a written exercise prescription and follow-up appointments to standard advice did not increase physical activity more than advice alone over six months. Both groups improved self-reported activity and symptoms, but accelerometer data showed no change.
• PTOTCohort2022The Influence of Race, Sex, and Social Disadvantage on Self-reported Health in Patients Presenting With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationLiving in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods was linked to worse physical function, pain interference, anxiety, and depression in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Black race was linked only to higher anxiety, and female sex only to lower physical function. These associations were independent of age and opioid use.
• PTOTSLPRCT2022A Worksite Self-management Program for Workers with Chronic Health Conditions Improves Worker Engagement and Retention, but not Workplace Function.Journal of occupational rehabilitationWorkers with chronic conditions improved their sense of engagement and reduced thoughts of quitting after a group self-management program. However, the program did not improve their actual ability to perform job tasks or meet physical and time demands.
• PTCohort2021Daily Walking and the Risk of Knee Replacement Over 5 Years Among Adults With Advanced Knee Osteoarthritis in the United States.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationWalking more steps did not lower the risk of knee replacement over five years. However, swapping ten minutes of slow walking for brisk walking was linked to a 35% lower risk. The study confirms walking is safe for advanced arthritis but cannot prove it prevents surgery.
• PTOTSLPCohort2021Perceived Injustice After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.The Journal of head trauma rehabilitationPerceived injustice levels were low and similar in mild brain injury and ankle fracture groups. However, feeling that the injury was unfair or permanent correlated strongly with more postconcussion, depressive, and stress symptoms in the brain injury group.
• PTRCT2022First Contact Practitioners' (FCPs) and General Practitioners' Perceptions Towards FCPs Delivering Vocational Advice to Patients with Musculoskeletal Conditions: A Qualitative Investigation of the Implementation Potential of the I-SWAP Initiative.Journal of occupational rehabilitationFirst Contact Practitioners already discussed work with musculoskeletal patients, but most felt one-off consultations were too short to address complex barriers. GPs saw them as well placed, yet employers did not have to follow the health and work report.
• PTOTPilot2022Acute Physiological Effects of Continuous Versus Intermittent Walking During Golf in Individuals With Knee Osteoarthritis: A Pilot Study.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationWalking a golf course increased knee pain and cartilage stress markers in people with knee osteoarthritis, while using a motorized cart limited these effects. However, walking provided significantly higher cardiovascular exercise intensity. Both methods met daily aerobic guidelines, so cart use is a viable option for those whose pain worsens with walking.
• PTOTPilot2021Inertial Measurement Unit-Derived Ergonomic Metrics for Assessing Arm Use in Manual Wheelchair Users With Spinal Cord Injury: A Preliminary Report.Topics in spinal cord injury rehabilitationManual wheelchair users with shoulder tendon damage showed more frequent and longer overhead arm use compared to those whose shoulders remained stable. However, wheelchair users overall spent more time resting than able-bodied people, contradicting the expectation that they lacked recovery time.
• PTOTOther2021Development and Validation of Crosswalks Between FIM® and SCIM III for Voluntary Musculoskeletal Movement Functions.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairThe conversion methods met the main validation standard for FIM and SCIM III voluntary movement scores in spinal cord injury. The Rasch and equipercentile methods performed better on additional checks than the expert panel method.
• PTOTCohort2022Factors Associated With Ambulation and Transfer Ability: A Study From the National Spina Bifida Patient Registry.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationMotor level remains the strongest predictor of walking and transfer ability in spina bifida. Distal surgeries like foot corrections associate with better function, while proximal surgeries like spine or hip repairs associate with worse function, likely reflecting underlying severity rather than treatment effects.
• PTOther2021Altering the tuning parameter settings of a commercial powered prosthetic foot to increase power during push-off may not reduce collisional work in the intact limb during gait.Prosthetics and orthotics internationalIn four men with leg amputation, tuning a powered prosthetic foot did not reduce intact-limb collisional work or relate it to push-off work, although it changed push-off work magnitude.
• PTCohort2022Aberrant Lumbopelvic Movements Predict Prospective Functional Decline in Older Adults with Chronic Low Back Pain.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationFour observed aberrant lumbopelvic movements at baseline were linked to worse physical function one year later in older adults with chronic low back pain. Higher movement scores were associated with worse function.
• PTOTOther2021Coupling of shoulder joint torques in individuals with chronic stroke mirrors controls, with additional non-load-dependent negative effects in a combined-torque task.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationNo stroke-specific difference appeared in how shoulder rotation changed with load. Stroke arms were weaker and produced less torque overall, possibly because of background muscle tone rather than abnormal synergy.
• PTSystematic Review2021Assessing the usability of wearable devices to measure gait and physical activity in chronic conditions: a systematic review.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationYou cannot trust current data on whether patients find wearable gait devices usable. The studies reviewed measured and reported usability so inconsistently that no firm conclusions could be drawn about which devices patients actually accept or find helpful.
• PTOTCohort2022Physical Activity Advice for Prevention and Rehabilitation of Low Back Pain- Same or Different? A Study on Device-Measured Physical Activity and Register-Based Sickness Absence.Journal of occupational rehabilitationFor workers with low back pain, high-intensity activity at work increased sickness absence risk, while light activity at work and moderate-to-vigorous activity during leisure lowered it. These associations were not significant for workers without low back pain.
• PTOTSystematic Review2021Systematic Review of Lumbar Elastic Tape on Trunk Mobility: A Debatable Issue.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationLumbar elastic tape does not meaningfully improve trunk mobility. While some studies reported statistical changes, these were smaller than the measurement error of the tests used. Clinicians should not expect tape alone to increase range of motion.
• PTOTSLPCohort2021The Association Between Concussion History and Increased Symptom Severity Reporting Is Independent of Common Medical Comorbidities, Personality Factors, and Sleep Quality in Collegiate Athletes.The Journal of head trauma rehabilitationCollegiate athletes with more prior concussions reported higher symptom severity and distress, even after accounting for sleep quality and personality. Orthopedic injury history did not show this link, suggesting the symptoms reflect brain injury effects rather than general physical trauma.
• PTCohort2022Longitudinal Relationship Between Tibiofemoral Contact Stress at Baseline and Worsening of Knee Pain Over 84 Months in the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationKnees with high baseline contact stress had double the odds of worsening pain over seven years compared to low-stress knees. However, this link disappeared when adjusting for BMI and leg alignment, suggesting those factors may explain the risk.
• PTOTSLPRCT2022Implementing a Stratified Vocational Advice Intervention for People on Sick Leave with Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Multimethod Process Evaluation.Journal of occupational rehabilitationPhysiotherapists delivered a telephone-based vocational advice intervention to 89% of those randomised. They covered core topics and made action plans, but rarely contacted employers or GPs, and no face-to-face meetings occurred due to lack of facilities and pandemic restrictions.
• PTOTOther2021Long short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network for muscle activity detection.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA new AI method detects muscle activity from surface electromyography more accurately than standard techniques, especially in noisy signals. It requires no manual threshold setting and shows promise for gait analysis and rehabilitation, though validation was limited to walking in a small group.
• PTCohort2022Rate of continued conservative management versus progression to surgery at minimum 1-year follow-up in patients with pre-arthritic hip pain.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitationAt a hip specialty center, 51.7% of 830 hips with at least one year of follow-up had surgery or surgery scheduled. Younger age, pain over six months, worse function, hip impingement, dysplasia, or labral tear were linked to surgery.
• PTCohort2021Wearing an Activating Spinal Orthosis and Physical Training in Women With Osteoporosis and Back Pain: A Postintervention Follow-Up Study.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationOlder women with osteoporosis and back pain who voluntarily continued the orthosis or training for 6 months kept similar back pain, back strength and balance.
• PTRCT2022A novel pivot ankle/foot prosthesis reduces sound side loading and risk for osteoarthritis: a pragmatic randomized controlled trial.Prosthetics and orthotics internationalWalking with a pivot-ankle foot reduced loading on the sound-side knee compared to standard feet. It also increased push-off power from the prosthetic side. This biomechanical shift may lower osteoarthritis risk, but the study did not track patients over time to prove clinical benefit.
• PTMeta-Analysis2022Delayed versus Accelerated Weight-bearing Rehabilitation Protocol Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of rehabilitation medicineAccelerated weight-bearing after ACL reconstruction improved IKDC scores but increased knee laxity and bone tunnel widening. Lysholm, Tegner, and KOOS scores showed no difference. The authors recommend delayed weight-bearing to restore knee stability.
• PTCohort2022The Effect of Mobile Care Delivery on Clinically Meaningful Outcomes, Satisfaction, and Engagement Among Physical Therapy Patients: Observational Retrospective Study.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesIn app-based physical therapy, more weekly workouts were associated with meaningful pain improvement. Longer program time was associated with meaningful function improvement. More provider video visits and faster access were associated with more workouts.
• PTOTSLPCohort2021Electronic health record and patterns of care for children with cerebral palsy.Developmental medicine and child neurologyMost care for children with cerebral palsy happens without the child physically present. For every in-person visit, there were five care coordination interactions like calls or emails. Therapy and emergency visits were mostly in-person, while neurology and rehab relied heavily on remote coordination.
• PTOther2022OpenSense: An open-source toolbox for inertial-measurement-unit-based measurement of lower extremity kinematics over long durations.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn 11 healthy adults, open-source software estimated lower-limb joint angles from wearable sensors close to lab motion capture during 10 minutes of walking and movement. Measurement error stayed small over time. It is a measurement tool, not a patient treatment test.
• PTCohort2022Symptomatic individuals with Lumbar Disc Degeneration use different anticipatory and compensatory kinematic strategies to asymptomatic controls in response to postural perturbation.Gait & posturePeople with painful lumbar disc degeneration used smaller hip and knee movements and larger lumbar movements during a predictable forward push, and reported more anxiety, depression, disability and lower quality of life.
• PTOTOther2021The effect of experimental shoulder pain on contralateral muscle force and activation.Physiotherapy theory and practiceInjecting pain into one shoulder slightly reduced strength in the opposite shoulder but did not significantly reduce muscle activation. However, nearly half the participants showed a meaningful strength drop on the pain-free side. Clinicians should measure both shoulders, not just the injured one, when assessing progress.
• PTOTPilot2022Blood Flow Restricted Walking in Elderly Individuals with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Feasibility Study.Journal of rehabilitation medicineNine of 14 older adults with knee arthritis completed 8–10 weeks of blood-flow-restricted walking, showing improved functional performance but no change in self-reported knee function. Five withdrew, mostly due to discomfort or pain. Adherence was high among completers.
• PTOTOther2021What Are the Most Important Problems in Functioning Among Patients With Shoulder Pain? An Analysis of the Patient-Specific Functional Scale.Physical therapyPatients with shoulder pain reported problems mostly in activities and participation, not just body function. Secondary care patients reported significantly more issues with self-care and housework than those in primary care.
• PTProtocol2021A Cognitive Functional Therapy+ Pathway Versus an Interdisciplinary Pain Management Pathway for Patients With Severe Chronic Low Back Pain (CONFeTTI Trial): Protocol for a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial.Physical therapyThis paper is a protocol for a future trial comparing a physical therapy-led cognitive functional therapy pathway against usual interdisciplinary care for severe chronic low back pain. It describes the planned methods but reports no results.
• PTOther2021Beyond the Diagnosis: Using Patient Characteristics and Domains of Tendon Health to Identify Latent Subgroups of Achilles Tendinopathy.The Journal of orthopaedic and sports physical therapyAchilles tendinopathy patients grouped into three profiles: active, psychosocial, and tendon-structure. The tendon-structure group had the worst tendon measures and heel-rise work. These profiles describe patients, not treatments that were tested.
• PTSystematic Review2022An Investigation Into the Use of mHealth in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy: Scoping Review.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesPhone or video contact with the physiotherapist was the most accepted mHealth use and may help patients keep exercising. Evidence that mHealth improves pain or function is limited and inconsistent, so do not assume an app alone replaces physiotherapy.
• PTOther2021Interexaminer Agreement and Reliability of an Internationally Endorsed Screening Framework for Cervical Vascular Risks Following Manual Therapy and Exercise: The Go4Safe Project.Physical therapyWhen therapists use the IFOMPT framework to screen for cervical vascular risks, they disagree on the three-tier risk score. However, agreement improves substantially when they simply decide whether to proceed with manual therapy or delay it, suggesting a binary decision is more reliable.
• PTOther2021Lumbopelvic sagittal standing posture associations with anthropometry, physical activity levels and trunk muscle endurance in healthy adults.Hong Kong physiotherapy journal : official publication of the Hong Kong Physiotherapy Association Limited = Wu li chih liaoBetter abdominal endurance was associated with less lumbar lordosis in young adults, though the study was underpowered for this finding. Sex influenced standing posture, but BMI, physical activity levels, and back muscle endurance showed no significant association with lumbopelvic alignment.
• PTOther2021Integrating neurocognitive challenges into injury prevention training: A clinical commentary.Physical therapy in sport : official journal of the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports MedicineThis is a clinical commentary proposing a framework for adding neurocognitive challenges to group injury prevention training. It reports no patients, no methods, and no outcomes, so there is no finding here to act on.
• PTOTCase Series2022Effect of a Rehabilitation Program After Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Transplantation for Advanced Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head: A 10-Year Follow-Up Study.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationTen patients with advanced hip osteonecrosis who received cell transplantation and 12-week rehab maintained improved pain, range of motion, and strength for 10 years. Five hips did not collapse, but five progressed, with two requiring replacement surgery. No control group means this cannot prove the rehab caused the improvements.
• PTOTQualitative2021Therapeutic Alliance: Patients' Expectations Before and Experiences After Physical Therapy for Low Back Pain-A Qualitative Study With 6-Month Follow-Up.Physical therapyPatients expected exercises and a specific diagnosis but valued reassurance and active listening most. Trusting the therapist and understanding pain was not dangerous helped them manage symptoms and return to activity. This describes patient experience, not proof that these interactions cause recovery.