Stress Fractures and Muscle Strains: What Are the Keys to Recovery?
Presented by Phil Plisky and Teresa L. Schuemann
Audio Runtime: 50 Minutes; Learning Assessment Time: 21 Minutes
Join host Phil Plisky, PT, DSc, ATC, CSCS, and sports rehabilitation expert Teresa Schuemann, PT, DPT, ATC, board-certified clinical specialist in sports physical therapy, as they sit down to dissect why some of your perfectly dialed rehabilitation plans still fail to produce results. In this collaborative conversation, you will discover how to look beyond the immediate musculoskeletal injury and evaluate the athlete’s entire body environment, uncovering the physiological impacts of energy availability, sleep hygiene, and systemic recovery. By shifting your focus toward actionable, low-hanging fruit and comprehensive screenings, you will learn how to unlock stuck rehab trajectories, prevent reinjury, and safely guide your athletes to return to sport better than they were before.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyze the evidence around optimizing energy availability, sleep hygiene, and nutrition to manage recalcitrant musculoskeletal injuries like stress fractures and muscle strains
- Apply evidence-based, practical strategies to actionably address the “low-hanging fruit” of athletic recovery—including sleep extension, nutritional timing, and screening for the athlete triad and REDs—throughout the sports medicine management of an athlete
- Solve patient case scenarios involving suboptimal fueling and lifestyle factors that stall rehabilitation and return to sport
Meet your instructors
Phil Plisky
Dr. Phil Plisky is a professor in the University of Evansville’s Doctor of Physical Therapy and PhD in Health Professions Education programs. He is the host of the Medbridge Rehab and Performance Lab podcast and founder of the Coaches Club at
Teresa L. Schuemann
Dr. Teresa Schuemann has extensive experience in sports physical therapy after attaining her physical therapy degree from the University of Missouri: Columbia in 1987. She continues to serve as a member of the sports medicine team at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Center and previously with the International…
Chapters & learning objectives
1. Stress Fractures and Muscle Strains: What Are the Keys to Recovery?
Host Phil Plisky sits down with sports rehabilitation expert Teresa Schuemann to dissect why “perfect” rehabilitation plans fail, revealing how clinicians can unlock stuck recovery trajectories by screening for relative energy deficiency, optimizing sleep hygiene, and treating the athlete as a whole person.
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