Spooner & Griffiths: Podiatric evaluation of the injured athlete

Podiatric evaluation of the injured athlete

This one-day course will follow the journey of an injured athlete from when they arrive in our clinic with a concern, through to when they leave with a management plan.

Whilst focusing on the theoretical and practical components of our podiatric approach to this, we hope to highlight some of the wider psychosocial considerations along the way; notably that we do not treat foot problems, we treat people with foot problems.

Timetable:

08:30-09:00  Registration & Coffee

09:00-10:30  Session 1 – A patient attends clinic

• Introduction
• What is pain?
• How does injury happen?
• History Taking [interactive]

10:30-11:00  Break

11:00-12:30  Session 2 – Assessing the patient

• Objective testing and gait evaluation
• Quasi-static analysis
• Gait re-training

12:30-13:30  Lunch

13:30-15:00  Session 3 – How do foot orthoses work?

• Finite element analysis
• Direct mechanical effects
• Central nervous system driven effects
• Psychosocial effects

15:00-15:30  Break

15:30-17:00  Session 4 – Patient management

•  What does management look like?
•  Being evidence based; applying research papers to practice
•   Case history discussions and Q&A

17:00  End; drinks and nibbles

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of the day attendees should be able to:

1. Perform a thorough and ‘biopsychosocial’ subjective assessment
2. Apply scientific reasoning to clinical gait analysis
3. Describe the different ways clinicians can modify tissue loads in injured athletes
4. Understand how foot orthoses work and appreciate their potential clinical utility