Evidence-Based Practice for Ankle Sprains Online CE Course

The course components are delivered online:

• Summaries and evidence-based application of 20 articles from sports medicine journals
• Continuing education exam

Ankle sprains are a common and often disabling injury in athletes. Evidence-Based Practice for Ankle Sprains CE Course will prepare athletic trainers to implement evidence-supported treatment strategies to ensure safe and rapid return to play. It examines peer-reviewed evidence addressing the prevention of ankle sprains, the most reliable and accurate diagnostic techniques, and the best treatments to prevent recurrence. You’ll also find information on the benefits and limitations of balance training after an ankle sprain.

This course features 20 articles that have been reviewed by editors Jeffrey Driban, PhD, ATC, and Stephen Thomas, PhD, ATC. The article summaries are followed by an exam containing 100 questions.

Learning Objectives
After completing this course, you will be able to do the following:

• Explain the risk factors for suffering an acute ankle sprain.
• Be able to implement treatment interventions that best decrease ankle pain and disability.
• Explain the diagnostic accuracy of various physical examination techniques for ankle injury.
• Be able to educate others about medication prescription and physical therapy referral after an ankle sprain.
• Explain the benefits and limitations of balance training after an ankle sprain.

Audience

A continuing education course for athletic trainers, coaches, physical therapists, physicians, and medical technicians.

Article 1. Ankle Sprains Come Into Play Late in the Game
Article 2. Ankle Injury Prevention Programs Work
Article 3. To Brace or Not to Brace . . . Haven’t We Heard This Question Before?
Article 4. Lace-Up Ankle Braces on Injury Rates in High School Football Players
Article 5. Is One Ankle Brace as Good as Another?
Article 6. Save the Ankles by Bracing or Balance Training: Either Is Better than Nothing
Article 7. Highest Accuracy for High Ankle Sprains?
Article 8. What’s in the Anterior Drawer? Probably Not Accuracy
Article 9. Position Someone to Guard Against Bad Laxity Measures
Article 10. Ankle Sprains Are Being Overmedicated and Under-Rehabilitated
Article 11. Oh Boy—That’s a Lot of Opioids After an Ankle Sprain
Article 12. What Does It Cost for an Athletic Trainer to Treat an Ankle Sprain?
Article 13. “Shock”ingly No Improvements in Ankle Sprain Outcomes
Article 14. An Electronic Home Balance Program Improves Gait Parameters in Ankle Sprain Patients
Article 15. Ankle Joint Mobilizations: What Are They Good For?
Article 16. If an Ankle Sprain Has You Fearful, You’re Not Alone
Article 17. Ankle Sprains Need R&R Too
Article 18. Reevaluating RICE for Ankle Sprains
Article 19. Hands-On Approach to Massage Wins Over Instruments
Article 20. Taping Versus Semirigid Bracing on Patient Outcome and Satisfaction in Ankle Sprains

Jeffrey B. Driban, PhD, ATC, CSCS, is an assistant professor in the division of rheumatology at Tufts University School of Medicine and a member of the special and scientific staff at Tufts Medical Center. The goal of his research is to explore novel biochemical and imaging markers to gain a better understanding of osteoarthritis pathophysiology and potential disease phenotypes.

Driban received his bachelor’s degree in athletic training from the University of Delaware. During his doctoral training at Temple University, he focused on various aspects of osteoarthritis (e.g., early pathophysiology in animal models, biochemical markers in joint fluid, systematic reviews of risk factors for osteoarthritis, survey of medication use among patients with osteoarthritis). In January 2010, he began a postdoctoral research fellowship in the division of rheumatology at Tufts Medical Center, where he continued his focus on osteoarthritis and learned new assessment strategies in magnetic resonance imaging.

Stephen Thomas, PhD, ATC, is an assistant professor at Temple University. Thomas received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in athletic training from Temple University. He then received his PhD in biomechanics and movement science from the University of Delaware. Before working at Neumann University, Thomas performed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania in the department of orthopedic surgery and biomedical engineering, where he received a Ruth L. Kirschstein Research Grant from the National Institutes of Health. He has served on several national committees and is the chair of the research committee for the American Society of Shoulder and Elbow Therapists.

Thomas continues to be active in the area of research, participating as a manuscript reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals. He is on the executive board for Athletic Training and Sports Health Care. He also was an ad hoc grant reviewer for the Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Association (EATA) and is the cofounder of Sports Medicine Research (www.sportsmedres.org), a website dedicated to the summary of sports medicine research. Thomas has numerous peer-reviewed publications and abstracts in the areas of shoulder adaptations from overhead throwing and the basic science of rotator cuff injury and healing. He has also had several invited lectures throughout the United States in the area of overhead throwing.