Jackie L Whittaker

• BScPT, PhD
• Professor (Associate) at University of British Columbia

Background Youth and young adults who participate in sport have an increased risk of knee injury and subsequent osteoarthritis. Improved understanding of the relationship between structural and clinical outcomes postinjury could inform targeted osteoarthritis prevention interventions. This secondary analysis examines the association between MRI-def...

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading cause of pain and disability worldwide. Despite the existence of evidence-based treatments and guidelines, substantial gaps remain in the quality of OA management. There is underutilization of behavioral and rehabilitative strategies to prevent and treat OA as well as a lack of processes to tailor treatment selectio...

Objective: Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) commonly affects the knee joint. Although the risk of PTOA substantially increases post-joint injury, there is little research examining PTOA outcomes early in the period between joint injury and disease onset. Improved understanding of this interval would inform secondary prevention strategies aimed...

Youth have very high participation and injury rates in sport. Sport is the leading cause of injury in youth. Sport injury reduces future participation in physical activity which adversely affects future health. Sport injury may lead to overweight/obesity and post-traumatic osteoarthritis. The objective of the systematic review and meta-analysis was...

Background The identification of risk factors for lower extremity musculoskeletal (MSK) injury in sport is required to inform primary and secondary injury prevention strategies. Objective To determine whether measures of poor movement quality are associated with lower extremity MSK injury in sport. Design Systematic Review. Methods Five electron...

Background Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures are a potent risk factor for post-traumatic knee osteoarthritis (PTOA). Annually, in Aotearoa New Zealand, approximately 2,500 people under the age of 30 undergo ACL reconstruction surgery. Due to the young age of injury and surgery, many develop osteoarthritis before age 50 and have a higher lik...

OBJECTIVES: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears and subsequent reconstruction surgery are associated with a recalcitrant decline in quadriceps muscles’ performance, which can persist for decades, contributing to impaired function, elevated osteoarthritis risk, and poor quality of life. Little is known about why this decline occurs, or if it can...

OBJECTIVE: To compare injured and uninjured limb knee extensor and flexor peak torque between youth who experienced a sport-related, traumatic, knee joint injury and comparable uninjured youth; at baseline (≤4-months of injury) and semi-annually for 2-years. Differences by injury type and sex were also explored. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. ME...

Purpose Despite evidence of efficacy, the effectiveness of telerehabilitation in real-world clinical settings is still largely unknown. Telerehabilitation requires a substantial transformation of the organization and delivery of traditional services. Considering that a virtual setting can create unique challenges for providing physiotherapy service...

SYNOPSIS: To improve the potential for sustained success when implementing injury prevention programs, researchers must focus on patient and public involvement and engagement. Creating lasting equitable relationships between researchers and knowledge users (ie, improving patient and public involvement and engagement) takes time and purposeful inves...

Background Many outcome measures used in lower‐limb osteoarthritis (OA) present ceiling effects. This compromises the ability of those measures to accurately assess people with higher levels of physical function. Understanding of the difficulty and importance of physical activities would enable the inclusion of challenging and meaningful activities...

Background People with Achilles tendinopathy (AT) experience persistent pain that can limit engagement with daily occupations and negatively impact mental health. Current therapeutic exercise approaches vary in success, with many people experiencing reinjury, leading to a cycle of chronic tendinopathy often lasting years. High-magnitude precision l...

Objective Knee crepitus, the audible crackling or grinding noise during knee movement, can be experienced across the lifespan and create concern for underlying pathology. Our systematic review aims to provide a summary estimate of knee crepitus prevalence and its association with structural pathology among the general population and across knee con...

Purpose Despite evidence of efficacy, the effectiveness of telerehabilitation in real-world clinical settings is still largely unknown. Telerehabilitation requires a substantial transformation of the organization and delivery of traditional services. Considering that a virtual setting can create unique challenges for providing physiotherapy service...

Objective Clinicians treating patients with patellofemoral pain (PFP) rely on consensus statements to make the best practice recommendations in the absence of definitive evidence on how to manage PFP. However, the methods used to generate and assess agreement for these recommendations have not been examined. Our objective was to map the methods use...

BACKGROUND People with Achilles tendinopathy (AT) experience persistent pain that can limit engagement with daily occupations and negatively impact mental health. Current therapeutic exercise approaches vary in success, with many people experiencing reinjury, leading to a cycle of chronic tendinopathy often lasting years. High-magnitude precision l...

Objective: Explore how social support influences exercise therapy participation and adherence before and after enrolling in an education and exercise therapy intervention (Stop OsteoARthritis, SOAR). Methods: Study design: Interpretative description. We sampled participants with sport-related knee injuries from the SOAR randomized controlled tri...

Objective To explore clinical practice patterns of physical therapists (PTs) who treat people with Achilles tendinopathy (AT), and identify perceived barriers and facilitators for prescribing and engaging with therapeutic exercise among PTs and people with AT. Methods Two cross-sectional surveys were electronically distributed between November 202...

Objective The global impact of osteoarthritis is growing. Currently no disease modifying osteoarthritis drugs/therapies exist, increasing the need for preventative strategies. Knee injuries have a high prevalence, distinct onset, and strong independent association with post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Numerous groups are embarking upon researc...

Objective To examine the feasibility and preliminary construct validity of a novel sports-related concussion (SRC) balance assessment battery; the Functional Assessment of Balance in Concussion (FAB-C). Design Cross-sectional study. Setting University laboratory and physiotherapy clinic. Participants Forty uninjured individuals (12 female; media...

OBJECTIVES: To (1) compare activity-related psychological factors between individuals with and without knee conditions, and (2) assess associations between these factors and objective measures of function in individuals with knee conditions. DESIGN: A priori registered systematic review with meta-analysis. LITERATURE SEARCH: MEDLINE-Ovid, Embase-Ov...

Background A full-thickness rotator cuff tear (FTRCT) is defined as a complete tear of one of the four rotator cuff muscle tendons (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis or teres minor). This condition can lead to pain and reduced function. However, not all FTRCT are symptomatic. A better understanding of the characteristics that lead some in...

Objectives: To better comprehend the initial injury experience and care requirements of knee-injured individuals, as well as healthcare professionals' interactions with early care. Design: Qualitative interviews. Setting: Public healthcare in Denmark. Participants: Ten individuals (6 women) with major knee injuries (6 anterior cruciate ligam...

Objective: This scoping review describes resistance-based therapeutic exercise intervention characteristics for Achilles tendinopathy (AT) treatment (e.g., therapeutic dose, underlying mechanisms targeted by exercise) and assesses participant reporting characteristics. Methods: Seven electronic databases were searched; studies delivering a resis...

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to compare knee-related quality of life (QOL) between youth with and without an intra-articular, sport-related knee injury at baseline (≤4 months postinjury), 6-month, and 12-month follow-up, and assess the association between clinical outcomes and knee-related QOL. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. METHODS: We recruited 86 inju...

Purpose: In this cross-sectional study, we compared patellofemoral geometry in individuals with a youth-sport-related intra-articular knee injury to uninjured individuals, and the association between patellofemoral geometry and MRI-defined osteoarthritis (OA) features. Methods: In the Youth Prevention of Early OA (PrE-OA) cohort, we assessed 10...

OBJECTIVE: To describe the knee- and overall health-related quality of life (QOL) 3 to 12 years after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear, and to assess the association of clinical and structural features with QOL after ACL tear. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of combined data from Australian (n = 76, 5.4 years postinjury) and Canadian (n = 50,...

Objective: To compare short-term changes in knee-related quality of life (QOL) and associated clinical outcomes between youth with and without a sport-related knee injury. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Sport medicine and physiotherapy clinics. Participants: Youth (11-19 years old) who sustained an intra-articular, sport-related...

Objective Assess the association between combined hormonal contraceptives (CHC) use and musculoskeletal tissue pathophysiology, injuries or conditions. Design Systematic review with semiquantitative analyses and certainty of evidence assessment, guided by the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach. Data Sources...

SYNOPSIS: Researchers often assign a label (such as a risk factor or predictor) to a characteristic that is statistically associated with an outcome (such as future injury). Labeling signifies that the characteristic has an established clinical value. More often than not, these labels are assigned prematurely and haphazardly. The rampant practice c...

Objective Investigate sex/gender differences in self-reported activity and knee-related outcomes after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Design Systematic review with meta-analysis. Data sources Seven databases were searched in December 2021. Eligibility criteria Observational or interventional studies with self-reported activity (includi...

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the effectiveness of management strategies and rehabilitation approaches for knee joint structural and molecular biomarker outcomes following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and/or meniscal tear. DESIGN: Intervention systematic review. LITERATURE SEARCH: We searched the MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, CENTRAL, and SPORTDiscus data...

Introduction Half of young women start combined hormonal contraceptive (CHC) use for non-contraceptive reasons including ‘controlling’ their menstrual cycle to prevent injuries. These decisions should be evidence-based. This study assessed the association between CHC use and musculoskeletal tissue pathophysiology, injuries, or conditions. Material...

This systematic review aims to (i) identify all published PROMs where thresholds were measured with the aim of defining meaningful outcomes in individuals who have experienced an ACL or meniscus injury; and (ii) synthesize the literature to provide estimates for thresholds defining meaningful outcomes in these PROMs, in individuals who ruptured the...

The objective of this review is to investigate the effectiveness of rehabilitationinterventions to optimise symptomatic, functional, psychosocial and quality of life outcomes, and preventreinjury after ACL and/or meniscal injury.

The primary objective of this systematic review is to determine the long-term burden of anterior cruciate ligament andmeniscal injury. The secondary objective is to determine the burden of living with radiographic and/orsymptomatic osteoarthritis, following anterior cruciate ligament and/or meniscal injury.

The primary objective of this review is to critically appraise, compare and summarize the quality of the measurement properties of functional performance tests assessing physical function in persons with ACL or meniscus injury. A secondary objective is to critically appraise, compare and summarize the quality of the measurement properties of muscle...

The objective of this review is to summarize the effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions on knee joint structural and biological outcomes in individuals with ACL and/or meniscal injuries.

The primary objective of this review is to critically appraise, compare and summarize the quality of the measurement properties of functional performance tests assessing physical function in persons with ACL or meniscus injury. A secondary objective is to critically appraise, compare and summarize the quality of the measurement properties of muscle...

Objective: Assess the association between Combined Hormonal Contraceptives (CHC) use and musculoskeletal tissue pathophysiology, injuries, or conditions.Design: Systematic review with semi-quantitative analyses and certainty of evidence assessment, guided by the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.Dat...

Objective To identify and quantify potential risk factors for osteoarthritis (OA) following traumatic knee injury.Design Systematic review and meta-analyses that estimated the odds of OA for individual risk factors assessed in more than four studies using random-effects models. Remaining risk factors underwent semiquantitative synthesis. The modifi...

Objective: Accurate knowledge is central to effective self-care of osteoarthritis (OA). This study aimed to assess the measurement properties of the Osteoarthritis Knowledge Scale (OAKS) with versions for the hip and knee. Methods: Participants with hip OA (n = 144), knee OA (n = 327), and no OA (n = 735) were recruited. Rasch analysis was condu...

Objective Describe participants’ perspectives about the feasibility of a virtual, physiotherapist-guided knee health program for people at risk of post-traumatic osteoarthritis after a sport-related knee injury. Design Qualitative description study nested within a quasi-experimental study evaluating the feasibility of the Stop OsteoARthritis (SOAR...

The goal of the OPTIKNEE consensus is to improve knee and overall health, to prevent osteoarthritis (OA) after a traumatic knee injury. The consensus followed a seven-step hybrid process. Expert groups conducted 7 systematic reviews to synthesise the current evidence and inform recommendations on the burden of knee injuries; risk factors for post-t...

Objective Determine the long-term health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL), work limitation, physical activity, health/economic cost and disease burden of traumatic ACL and/or meniscal injury. Findings will inform OPTIKNEE evidence-based consensus recommendations. Design Random-effects meta-analysis evaluated HRQoL (SF-36/SF-12/VR-12 Physical Compon...

Objectives Critically appraise and summarise the measurement properties of knee muscle strength tests after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and/or meniscus injury using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments Risk of Bias checklist. Design Systematic review with meta-analyses. The modified Grading of Reco...

Objective To identify and quantify potential risk factors for osteoarthritis (OA) following traumatic knee injury. Design Systematic review and meta-analyses that estimated the odds of OA for individual risk factors assessed in more than four studies using random-effects models. Remaining risk factors underwent semiquantitative synthesis. The modi...

Objective We synthesised and assessed credibility (ie, trustworthiness) of thresholds that define meaningful scores for patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) following interventions for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear or traumatic meniscus injury. Design Systematic review, narrative synthesis. Data sources We searched five databases, ha...

Objectives (1) To determine the prevalence of spine and upper limb osteoarthritis (OA) and pain in retired Olympians; (2) identify risk factors associated with their occurrence and (3) compare with a sample of the general population. Methods 3357 retired Olympians (44.7 years) and 1735 general population controls (40.5 years) completed a cross-sec...

Objectives This study aims (1) to determine the prevalence of lower limb osteoarthritis (OA) and pain in retired Olympians; (2) to identify factors associated with their occurrence and (3) to compare with a sample of the general population. Methods 3357 retired Olympians (median 44.7 years) and 1735 general population controls (40.5 years) complet...

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis and has a multifactorial etiology. Current management for OA focuses on minimizing pain and functional loss, typically involving pharmacological, physical, psychosocial, and mind-body interventions. However, there remain challenges in determining which patients will benefit most from which in...

Objective: Synthesise evidence for effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions following ACL and/or meniscal tear on symptomatic, functional, clinical, psychosocial, quality of life and reinjury outcomes. Design: Overview of systematic reviews with Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation certainty of evidence. Data s...

Purpose Force plates can be used to monitor landing asymmetries during rehabilitation, but they are not widely available. Accelerometer-based wearable technology may be a more feasible solution. The purpose of this article was to determine the agreement between impact accelerations measured with force plates and accelerometer-derived measures of (1...

Objectives To critically appraise and summarise measurement properties of functional performance tests in individuals following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) or meniscal injury. Design Systematic review. Data sources Systematic searches were performed in Medline (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCO) and SPORTSDiscus (EBSCO) on 7 July 2021. El...

Consensus is an often neglected but important part of the scientific process. Consensus agreement allows researchers to agree on fundamentals such as terminology and taxonomy, to establish core outcome sets for reporting on medical conditions, and to set research priorities. Consensus methods are invoked by the scientific community to provide answe...

Post-traumatic knee osteoarthritis is attributed to alterations in joint morphology, alignment, and biomechanics triggered by injury. While magnetic resonance (MR) imaging-based measures of joint morphology and alignment are relevant to understanding osteoarthritis risk, time consuming manual data extraction and measurement limit the number of outc...

Objectives To examine accelerometer-measured physical activity (PA) in individuals with a knee injury history and controls and the association of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) with self-reported and performance measures of knee function. Design Historical cohort. Participants Participants with a 3–12 year history of youth sport-related knee inju...

Objective Describe “usual care” patterns of education, exercise, weight management, pain medication and other nonsurgical treatments for knee osteoarthritis (OA) in people recommended for nonsurgical care by an orthopaedic surgeon. Methods We used a telephone-administered questionnaire to capture treatments people with knee OA used over the three...

Objective Assess the feasibility of a virtually-delivered, physiotherapist-guided knee health program (SOAR) that targets self-management of knee health and osteoarthritis risk after an activity-related knee injury. Design In this quasi-experimental feasibility study, individuals with varied lived experience of knee trauma completed a 4-week SOAR...

Background Knee trauma permanently elevates one’s risk for knee osteoarthritis. Despite this, people at-risk of post-traumatic knee osteoarthritis rarely seek or receive care, and accessible and efficacious interventions to promote knee health after injury are lacking. Exercise can ameliorate some mechanisms and independent risk factors for osteoar...

Introduction SOAR (Stop OsteoARthritis) is a virtual, physiotherapist-guided knee health program that aims to reduce osteoarthritis risk after sport-related knee trauma. This study qualitatively explored individuals’ experiences of the SOAR program. Materials and Methods Individuals with varied lived experience of knee trauma completed a 4-week SO...

Introduction There is a lack of consensus on the most relevant and clinically applicable tests to evaluate knee muscle strength following a knee injury. This systematic review aimed to critically appraise and summarize the measurement properties of knee muscle strength tests in young individuals with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) or meniscus inj...

Introduction It is unclear why some people develop osteoarthritis after knee trauma and others don’t. This study identified risk factors for osteoarthritis following knee trauma. Materials and Methods After protocol registration, 5 databases were searched to 09–2021. RCTs and cohort studies assessing risk factors for symptomatic or structural oste...

This month, we welcome Dr Jackie Whittaker, PT, PhD, to the role of JOSPT Editor. Dr Whittaker joins Dr Joshua Cleland, Dr Bryan Heiderscheit, Dr Steven Kamper, Dr Christopher Hughes, and Dr Clare Ardern on the senior editorial team of JOSPT. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2022;52(1):1-2. doi:10.2519/jospt.2022.0101.

Objective The purpose of this study was to explore physical therapy through the stories of physical therapists who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and other related identities (LGBTQIA+) to consider how the profession enacts and constructs gender and sexual orientation. Methods Physical therapists with cl...

Background A better understanding of movement biomechanics after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) could inform injury prevention, knee injury rehabilitation, and osteoarthritis prevention strategies. Purpose To investigate differences in vertical drop jump (VDJ) biomechanics between patients with a 3- to 10-year history of youth sp...

Study design Prospective Cohort Study. Background Few investigations utilize evidence-informed pre-participation evaluation, inclusive injury definitions, and prospective surveillance to identify risk factors for dance-related injuries. Objective To evaluate pre-participation characteristics that may be associated with greater odds of dance-relat...

Background Elite athletes are exposed to high physiological training and competition loads and associated increased injury risk. While there is a wealth of evidence reporting the prevalence of injuries seasonally and during major games events, there are few studies examining injury risk across an elite athlete’s entire sporting-career. Objective R...

Background Few investigations utilize evidence-informed pre-participation evaluation, inclusive injury definitions, and prospective surveillance to identify risk factors for dance-related injury. Objective To identify baseline injury risk factors that may be associated with dance-related musculoskeletal (MSK) complaints in pre-professional dancers...

Background There are numerous studies describing elite athlete injury patterns seasonally and during major sporting events, however little is known about injury patterns during an elite athlete’s entire sporting career. Objective To describe Olympic-career related significant (≥30 days duration) injuries. Design Cross-sectional survey. Setting T...

Poor reporting of medical and healthcare systematic reviews is a problem from which the sports and exercise medicine, musculoskeletal rehabilitation, and sports science fields are not immune. Transparent, accurate and comprehensive systematic review reporting helps researchers replicate methods, readers understand what was done and why, and clinici...

Objective: To identify the most suitable existing generic and condition-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) for active youth with and without a musculoskeletal injury, based on measurement properties, interpretability, and feasibility. Design: Systematic review of clinimetrics. Literature se...

Prevention is an attractive solution for the staggering and increasingly unmanageable burden of osteoarthritis. Despite this, the field of osteoarthritis prevention is relatively immature. To date, most of what is known about preventing osteoarthritis and risk factors for osteoarthritis is relative to the disease (underlying biology and pathophysio...

Background: There is no clinical tool that assesses multiple components of postural control potentially impacted by sport-related concussion (SRC). Objective: To develop and assess the feasibility and construct validity of the Functional Assessment of Balance in Concussion (FAB-C) battery. Study design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Tests...

Background: This study examined the association between youth sport-related ankle sprain injury and health-related outcomes, 3-15 years postinjury. Methods: A historical cohort study in which uninjured controls were cluster-matched with injured cases. The primary outcome was self-reported Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (FAOS). Secondary outcomes i...

Knee trauma can lead to poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and osteoarthritis. We aimed to assess HRQoL 3–12 years following youth sport-related knee injury considering HRQoL and osteoarthritis determinants. Generic (EQ-5D-5L index, EQ-VAS) and condition-specific (Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score quality of life subscale, KOOS...

Attitudes, priorities, and perceptions of exercise directly influence exercise behaviors. Despite the benefits of exercise‐based activities for future health, little is known about how youth who experience an ACL injury view exercise‐based activity beyond the immediate recovery period. A qualitative (interpretative description) approach with one‐to...

Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of early mortality among young adults with cerebral palsy. While low physical activity in childhood has been hypothesized as a potential contributor to increased CVD risk in early adulthood, little is known about timing of vascular disease progression and the presence of subclinical atheros...

Objectives 1) Develop unidimensional instruments to measure osteoarthritis (OA) knowledge among people with hip or knee OA, and 2) assess the structural validity, internal consistency, cross-cultural validity/measurement invariance, test-retest reliability, and measurement error of the Hip Osteoarthritis Knowledge Scale (HOAKS) and the Knee Osteoar...