What's New in Orthopaedic Rehabilitation.

Abstract

Orthopaedic rehabilitation involves the care of patients who have complex musculoskeletal problems, which are global in nature rather than being limited to one or two anatomic locations. It is a specialty that combines biomechanics and biology in a unique manner with an approach that focuses on improving the functional outcome for individuals with musculoskeletal disability through surgical and nonsurgical management. This specialty encompasses patients of all ages, a broad range of anatomic locations, and a variety of musculoskeletal dysfunctions. Orthopaedic rehabilitation comprises all of the traditional orthopaedic subspecialties, including amputation surgery, prosthetic and orthotic management, neuromuscular diseases, and a variety of other neurologic disorders, with a focus on the musculoskeletal system as a whole as well as on the linkages and couplings between bones, joints, muscles, and the nervous system. This update highlights presentations and advances in several areas of orthopaedic rehabilitation that were discussed at meetings of the Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Association, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and other specialty organizations over the past year. The review also highlights the papers that received the Jacquelin Perry Award and the Vernon Nickel Award, the two prestigious awards in orthopaedic rehabilitation that are presented annually by the Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Association. Motion analysis and dynamic electromyography are important tools in the analysis of movement and lower extremity function. These modalities can be utilized by the surgeon to create both operative and nonoperative treatment protocols. There have been several developments in the use of treadmills for gait analysis. Riley et al.1 examined the differences between overground and treadmill running in terms of kinematics and kinetics. With the advent of instrumented treadmills that permit the measurement of ground-reaction force, the instrumented treadmill has become an important tool that can be used by the clinician for high-velocity gait analysis. The authors examined twenty healthy, …