By Nicola Phillips, IFSPT President

The Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports and Exercise Medicine held its Biennial Conference Friday, 1st July and Saturday, 2nd July in Cardiff, Wales, UK at Cardiff University, just a few short weeks after WCPT.

The contacts made through IFSPT meant that we were able to invite a selection of excellent speakers from within UK and across Europe. This wouldn't have been possible without these relationships.

Mario Bizzini and Henning Langberg (pictured above with Nicki Phillips ) are great examples of these connections - both gave excellent presentations that were well received by delegates.   

One of the attendees shared with us her experience at the conference in a much appreciated note:   

Great conference and an opportunity to network for research as well as clinical endeavours!  

The speakers and their presentations complimented incredibly well and sparked some great discussions! The theme of fascia, for example, mingled through many of the talks and demonstrations. James Earls presented the recent research developments and anatomical findings on the  connective tissue/fascia, followed on by a number of practical demonstrations of how we as clinicians can "tap in" to the concept of utilizing connective tissue to induce change in movement control and performance. Namely, the inspiring Andrea Fusco shared his experience and background in dance to prevent and rehabilitate shoulder sports injuries and Stephen Mutch gave an energetic demonstration of examples of groin pain prevention and rehabilitation in rugby. The evening drinks held at the great venue of the Cardiff Museum and the dinner at Tiger Tiger provided a great opportunity for networking and discussions. There was no difficulty of spotting the conference delegates who kept adopting the poses and exercises demonstrated by Andrea, followed by excited discussions of potential application in their athletes! Luckily, no one tried the shoulder roll!  

Next day, we were brought firmly back on the ground by Prof Lennard Funk presenting diagnostic assessment of shoulder injuries and examples of minimally invasive surgery and Mr Paul Rhys Davies giving us an insight into the surgical options for often catastrophic neck and spinal injuries! A great discussion on the management of chronic tendinopathy also took place with Dr. Henning Landberg presenting research on adaptation of connective tissue to exercise and loading and Dr. Anna Frohm shared her approach to patellar tendinopathy treatment from her work with the top athletes at the Swedish Confederation Centre. Mark Bennett's presentation on the role of testosterone and finger ratio in high level rugby players was fascinating as well as his overview of the challenges of strength&conditioning in top level rugby. Finally...Dr. Glenn Hunter opened our "eyes wide shut"! Not to look away but to look into ourselves and search for how we as a profession could contribute to achieving great, world-class performances in our athletes! After being mesmerised by Glenn's floating rivers analogy, questions started to float in my head: What is it that the athlete, coach and the sport overall perceive as a challenge in making a performance difference? What is it about us as physios that could make a real difference in performance of an athlete? Lots to think about and reflect on!

Overall, truly inspiring and horizon expanding conference, full of extremely high quality speakers, sparking great discussions and ideas! Highly specific to working in sport, unmissable for an experienced clinician as well as a junior physiotherapist thinking of career in sport.  Thank you ACPSM, see you in 2 years time."

Liba Sheeran, PhD, MSc, MCSP, HPC

Senior Physiotherapist in Welsh Athletics    

Andrea Fusco is also one of the many connections made through IFSPT. He is pictured below demonstrating his assessment and correction of body alignment and form, linking to shoulder injury.                                                             

As well as the international research and clinical input, Craig Bounds, Dakkar Rally competitor, gave a fascinating (and amusing!) insight into the mind set and preparation needed to compete in one of the world's toughest events. Craig is pictured below with Colin Paterson, ACPSM Vice Chair and Sian Knott , ACPSM Treasurer.

Another attendee shared their experience at the Biennial Conference via a professional blog.

As a newbie to the ACPSM bi-annual conference I was unsure what to expect. One thing was for sure though, the line up of international renowned speakers and lecturers was certainly enough of a draw to attend this conference.

Upon arrival it was clear to see the ACPSM backroom staff had been hard at work to organise such a conference, the venue was excellent and the hi-tech big screens updating us of dates to put in our diary and the timings of the breakout lectures was second to none. Every fine detail thought of and covered from copies of lecture notes to free software to assist with clinical practice.

The conference really helped me clinically and continued to fuel my fire of enthusiasm to become a high performance physiotherapist within sport and it reinforced the need for me to continue with my ACPSM CPD pathway.

The conference delivered really high level interesting lectures with well thought out and anecdotal evidence on performing excellence. The conference is also an excellent opportunity to network and socialise with physios from across the world. One thing that was clear to me is that the ACPSM was like a big family and it was clear to see that long standing members had known and worked with each other for long periods of time and had built life long friendships.

With all these aspects combined I would urge all existing members that didn't attend and all students or considering members to become members and attend the next conference, as the ACPSM is a growing organisation with clear defined goals and if the last conference is anything to go by I cannot wait until the next conference.

See you there!

Next year, ACPSM will present several single day seminars, then we will begin planning for another big two-day event in 2013...so watch this space. And don't forget that as IFSPT members, you can register at ACPSM member rates!