Diagnosis, Prevention and Treatment of Common Sport Shoulder Injuries: A Statement Paper That Grades the Evidence

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who see overhead athletes in sports, outpatient orthopaedic or school and club settings, and who want a plain-language account of what the graded evidence supports for shoulder testing, prevention programmes and rehabilitation.

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants. Athletic trainers, sports medicine physicians and other rehabilitation professionals who manage athletic shoulder complaints may also find the material useful.

Intended audience

Physical Therapy

Level

Intermediate

Delivery format

Online, asynchronous, self-paced course: interactive reading with audio or video, and a scored post-test.

Based on

This course is based on a single open-access source document, and every claim and figure in the course traces to it.

Liaghat B, Pedersen JR, Husted RS, Pedersen LL, Thorborg K, Juhl CB. Diagnosis, prevention and treatment of common shoulder injuries in sport: grading the evidence – a statement paper commissioned by the Danish Society of Sports Physical Therapy (DSSF). Br J Sports Med. 2023;57(7):408–416. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2022-105674. PMID: 36261251. PMCID: PMC10086287.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Name the clinical tests the statement paper identified as having high diagnostic accuracy for anterior instability, SLAP and biceps-labrum injuries, and subscapularis rupture.
2. Describe the four shoulder injury prevention programmes that carried the highest quality of evidence and the athlete groups in which they were tested.
3. State what the authors concluded about active rehabilitation compared with passive modalities, and how confident they were in the overall body of evidence.

1. Start Here: how this course works and what the source document is
2. Podcast: Grading the Evidence on Athletic Shoulder Injuries (about nine minutes)
3. Why Shoulders Break Down in Overhead Sport, and What This Paper Set Out to Grade
4. How the Authors Searched, Appraised and Graded the Evidence
5. Which Clinical Tests Earned Confidence, and Which Did Not
6. What the Prevention and Treatment Studies Showed
7. Where the Evidence Runs Thin, and What the Authors Concluded for Practice
8. Key Takeaways
9. Post-test and course evaluation

Quinn Millington, PT, DPT, ECS is the instructor of record: the licensed clinician who reviewed this course and signed off on it. The name and credentials print on the certificate.

Disclosures. This course was developed by The ConEd Solution, which has a financial interest in its sale. No outside funding or sponsorship was received. The instructor of record has no affiliation with the authors of the source publication or their institutions.

This course awards 0.5 contact hours (30 min). How you earn them:

1. Complete the course. Every lesson, in order.
2. Pass the post-test. Score 80% or higher. Retakes are allowed.
3. Complete the evaluation. A short form rating each learning objective and the course.
4. Download your certificate. It is issued on completion and stays available in My Account.

The episode time is its measured length. Reading, post-test and evaluation times are estimates.

This course is designed to satisfy the quality requirements state boards set for continuing education. Requirements vary by state, and confirming that a course fits your renewal is up to you. Each state’s own acceptance statement is in the credit panel on this page.

1. This course is based on a single open-access source document, and every claim and figure in the course traces to it.
2. Liaghat B, Pedersen JR, Husted RS, Pedersen LL, Thorborg K, Juhl CB. Diagnosis, prevention and treatment of common shoulder injuries in sport: grading the evidence – a statement paper commissioned by the Danish Society of Sports Physical Therapy (DSSF). Br J Sports Med. 2023;57(7):408–416. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2022-105674. PMID: 36261251. PMCID: PMC10086287.