Karim Khan catches up with associate professor Michele Sterling (Centre for National Research on Disability and Rehabilitation Medicine (CONROD), University of Queenstown, Australia) at the Canadian Physiotherapy Association Congress. As an international expert on neck pain, Michele explains what we currently do and don’t know about whiplash, and advises on managing the condition.

She talks us through the importance of early pain management, the link with post traumatic stress disorder and what to do if you suspect this, manual and physical therapies, and treating chronic pain.

Resources:
Similar factors predict disability and posttraumatic stress disorder trajectories after whiplash injury
CONROD’s whiplash evidence based information resource

Dr Mike Loosemore  is a consultant in sports and exercise medicine who works at the English Institute of Sport and the University College London Hospital.

In this podcast he emphasises the importance of clinicians taking an exercise/activity history. (See link Developing healthcare systems to support exercise: exercise as the fifth vital sign). He provides practical tips for clinicians and highlights major health benefits from physical activity in a wide range of settings as diverse as patients with mental illness, breast cancer [2 links below], and those undergoing renal dialysis.

See also:
Physical activity interventions for cancer survivors
Physical activity and breast cancer risk: impact of timing, type and dose of activity and population subgroup effects

Professor Jiri Dvorak, one of BJSM’s senior associate editors, shares his 17 years experience as the FIFA chief medical officer. He discusses

1. How FIFA have reduced injuries in football [1],
2. The evidence for football being a great medicine [2 a ,b]
3. ‘Football for Health’ – FIFA’s successful foray into public health education in schools [3].

This is a terrific story of research turning into action – improved health for football players and football players contributing to improve the health of their society.

See also:

[1]   Injuries and illness of football players during the 2010 FIFA world Cup
[2a] Executive summary: The health and fitness benefits of regular participation in small-sided football games
[2b] Give Hippocrates a jersey: promoting health through football/sport
[3]  ‘11 for Health’, a football-based health education programme for children: a two-cohort study in Mauritius and Zimbabwe

Jon Drezner, BJSM’s senior associate editor for sports cardiology, discusses prevention of sudden cardiac death. Jon discusses where ECG fits into screening, training sport physicians to confidently interpret ECGs, and the utility of automated external defibrillators.

Jon is also president-elect of the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine, and he gives us a preview of the 2012 annual meeting in Atlanta (April 21-25).

To listen to Jon Drezner’s opening keynote presentation at the IOC’s 3^rd World Congress on Prevention of Injury and Illness in Sport (a joint lecture with Professor Antonio Pellucia), follow this link and see the ‘Online Presentations’ tab on the top right of the screen.