Evidence-Based Approach to ACL Injuries Online CE Course Package

Course components can be delivered as printed products or online:

• All 20 articles from the Evidence-Based Assessment and Prevention of ACL Injuries CE Course

• All 20 articles from the Evidence-Based Approach to Surgery and Rehabilitation of ACL Injuries CE Course

• Comprehensive continuing education exam

More than 250,000 ACL injuries occur every year, so athletic trainers, physical therapists, and others who work with athletes need to be well versed in the assessment, prevention, rehabilitation, and surgical options of ACL injuries. Evidence-Based Approach to ACL Injuries CE Course provides practitioners with a comprehensive review of the literature surrounding research on ACL injuries. This continuing education course presents 40 research articles regarding evaluation of ACL injury, treatment options, rehabilitation, and avoidance with the goal of demonstrating how athletic trainers and therapists can use existing studies and apply the information to their own practice. The articles are followed by an exam containing 200 questions. Upon passing the exam, users may print out and submit a certificate for continuing education credits.

The first portion of this course package is the Evidence-Based Assessment and Prevention of ACL Injuries CE Course, which evaluates various tests that can be used to determine the severity of an athlete’s ACL injury as well as how susceptible the athlete might be to sustaining one in the first place. Factors used in determining return to sport are also examined, including measuring anterior tibial translation, examining lower-extremity functional deficits, using clinical rotational tests, and analyzing age and quadriceps strength. Because research has indicated that ACL injuries are preventable with dynamic neuromuscular training programs, the course also focuses on prevention and includes articles on the effectiveness of warm-up programs. Special focus is applied to the FIFA11+ program and a coach’s role in player adherence to injury prevention.

The second section is the Evidence-Based Approach to Surgery and Rehabilitation of ACL Injuries CE Course, which focuses on surgical repair and rehabilitation of ACL injuries. It teaches how to apply therapeutic exercises and modalities during ACL reconstruction with the ultimate goal of helping clients and athletes return to their preinjury activity levels. The psychological outcomes among patients with ACL injury are discussed, including the fear of moving and causing reinjury to a recently repaired ACL. The surgical side of ACL rehabilitation is examined through various graft options as well as the emerging trends in surgical techniques for ACL reconstructions and how they compare to standard techniques.

Evidence-Based Approach to ACL Injuries CE Course supports the initiative in the athletic training profession to integrate the best new research and evidence into clinical decision making with the goal of improving patient outcomes. Certified athletic trainers completing this course may earn continuing education units to apply toward the required evidence-based practice category to maintain their certification.

This continuing education course package consists of Evidence-Based Assessment and Prevention of ACL Injuries CE Course and Evidence-Based Approach to Surgery and Rehabilitation off ACL Injuries CE Course. Each course is also available for purchase separately.

Jeffrey B. Driban, PhD, ATC, 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 orthopaedic 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 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 EATA and is the cofounder of a website dedicated to the summary of sports medicine research called Sports Medicine Research (SMR) (www.sportsmedres.org). Thomas has numerous peer-reviewed publications and abstracts in the areas of shoulder adaptations due to overhead throwing and the basic science of rotator cuff injury and healing. He has also had several invited lectures throughout the United States on overhead throwing.