Millions of individuals will have persistent symptoms following an acute COVID-19 infection requiring post COVID-19 rehabilitation. Common symptoms include fatigue, decreased activity tolerance, cognitive dysfunction (brain fog), shortness of breath, and pain. This leads to decreased ability to complete activities of daily living, return to work or school and affects quality of life. There are many terms for post COVID-19 condition including long COVID (proposed by patients in May 2020) and post acute sequelae of COVID-19, also known as PASC. The World Health Organization created a clinical c ..read more

This episode deals with something we all do every day, sleep! Sleep is now seen as an active, restorative experience intended to optimize our functioning while awake, rather than a passive process. Sleep is closely tied with mood and pain, and plays an important role in cognition, emotional regulation, injury, function, and chronic disease. Sleep difficulties are incredibly prevalent and fatigue frequently accumulates over time – the concept of sleep debt. Though generally 8 hours per night are recommended, we often underestimate how much sleep we need and how much we are actually getting ..read more

In this week's episode, our family medicine resident Dr. Falconi assesses a hockey player with groin pain. Our guest expert Brent Smith was an athletic therapist in the NHL for 20 years, including working with the Toronto Maple Leafs for 16 years. Extra Resources: https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases--conditions/sports-hernia-athletic-pubalgia#:~:text=Sports%20Hernia%20%28Athletic%20Pubalgia%29%20A%20sports%20hernia%20is,traditional%2C%20abdominal%20hernia%2C%20it%20is%20a%20different%20injury ..read more

In this episode, we review all of the episodes from this season and highlight our favourite clinical pearls, while adding some new ones!  A huge thank you to all of our guests for sharing their knowledge and time.  To recap: Low back pain with Dr. Stuart McGill Diet and Sports Nutrition with Jennifer Sygo Exercise is Medicine with Rob Bertelink Sport Concussions with Drs. Alex Francella and Scott Shallow  Lower extremity injuries with Dr. Tim Rindlisbacher  Physical Activity and Pregnancy with Dr. Rebecca Titman and Jenni Diamond  The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with Dr ..read more

This week we are joined by Dr. Melissa Corso, a Sports Specialist Chiropractor and Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach. Check out these resources: Core Back Tool https://cep.health/clinical-products/low-back-pain/  The Centre for Effective Practice (CEP) has developed tools and education modules to help primary care physicians and nurse practitioners better manage patients who suffer from low back pain. This work builds from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) Low Back Pain Strategy, which began in 2012. The goal of this initiative was to reduce the number of unnece ..read more

Physical activity can help prevent and manage chronic diseases such as heart disease, depression and diabetes, but it is not a one size fits all measure. We need to tailor the intervention to the patient, as we would a drug. Check out Exercise is Medicine Canada’s prescription pad – a way to provide a personalized prescription to each of your patients and increase compliance. Rob Bertelink, Cardiac Rehab Supervisor at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute Rumsey Centre and registered Kinesiologist discusses the evidence behind cardiac rehab, at home exercise hacks, how to prescribe HIIT trainin ..read more

In this episode we review concussion, a large and nuanced topic. There are 200,000 concussions annually in Canada, making concussion knowledge required for coverage of all sports. To gain an understanding of sport related concussions refer to the consensus statement on concussion in sport (the 5th international conference on concussion in sport held in Berlin, October 2016) It is helpful to think of concussion management in 3 phases: acute, subacute and chronic In the acute phase, a sideline evaluation must include screening for red flags. Review the CT Head Rules, C-Spine Rules and SCAT5 incl ..read more

Hi! I am Dr. Ali Rendely, a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician at UHN’s Toronto Rehab Institute I am an MSK physiatrist doing both inpatient and outpatient work and have an outpatient sports medicine practice. Season 2 will sound a little bit different than season 1 as we add more voices including family medicine residents, physiatry residents and sports medicine fellows. Each episode will continue to centre around a specific MSK topic. We will have a round table discussion with myself, a resident and a featured guest. We have a wide range of experts lined up for season 2 including ..read more

Welcome to the first episode of MSK Matters! This is a podcast aimed at helping Canadian Family Medicine residents and senior medical students, or those who would typically do an elective with a sport and exercise medicine physician. This episode Dr. Falconi assesses a simulated patient with medial tibial stress syndrome but she has no prior knowledge of the case going into the assessment. Dr. Carson and guest expert Steve Kopas discuss important topics not to be missed and offer physical exam pearls. Here is the link for Dr. Carson's knee and shoulder MSK Exam series on Youtube: https://www ..read more

Dr. Jane Thornton imparts more wisdom for residents and then our incoming Season Two host, physiatrist Dr. Ali Rendely gives us her highlights from each of the preceding episodes. Be sure to keep an eye out for Season Two ..read more