Innovation is the name of the game at this year’s American Medical Society for Sports Medicine in Kansas City, Missouri. From April 22 through April 27, attendees will be “Elevating the Field: Inspiring Innovation in Sports Medicine.”
Andrea Kussman, M.D., this year’s program chair and a primary care sports medicine and family medicine physician at the University of Washington, shared with Orthopedics This Week some of the highlights of the upcoming meeting.
She told OTW, “The conference is geared to nonoperative sports medicine doctors. It is a great resource, especially for the provider population.”
She added, “It will be a nice blend of important updates on sports medicine—cutting edge innovations as well as essential standard operations.”
Kussman described the meeting as a good blend of large sessions and smaller groups as well as plenty of opportunities to get involved in various projects and committees.
Attendees will also be able to schedule one-to-one tutorials and attend pre-conferences on Advanced Sports Ultrasound, Essentials of Sports Ultrasound Lower Extremity, Therapeutic Needling, Extracorporeal shockwave therapy, Sideline Management Assessment Response Techniques – Emergency Sports Trauma Workship, Hands-On Workshop: Complex Laceration Repairs In The Training Room, Hands-On Sports Ultrasound Workshop, Orthobiologics and many more.
She said that they have planned an all-star lineup of both national and international experts to challenge attendees to apply cutting-edge research to their clinical practices and to connect with diverse patients.
Keynote speakers will include Olympian Suni Lee who will deliver the Presidential Keynote, Paul Dijkstra, MBChB, DPhil, who will discuss artificial intelligence (AI) in sports medicine in the Hough Memorial Lecture, and Nonhlanhla Mkumbuzi, PT, Ph.D., who will share innovations from low-resource settings in the Anderson Memorial Lecture.
Hot topics to be explored during the meeting include AI in sports medicine, REDS and female/male athlete triad, wearable technology, the efficacy of screening tools, surgical innovations, novel muscular injury treatment, BEAR protocol for ACL tears, and cross-bracing.
The meeting will also feature case-based sessions, evidence-based fracture care, sideline management essentials, and updates from the Collaborative Research Network on safe sport environments and the latest research findings.
This year there will be a new special interest group on the Care of the Underserved, and popular programs like the MSK Exam Boot Camp, Fellowship Fair and the Fellows Quiz Bowl will return.
If you miss anything, she said, educational sessions will also be available through online video access and audio playback.
The Fellows Quiz Bowl is making a return to allow fellowship programs to participate in some friendly game-based competition. Educational sessions will be available via online video access and audio playback, so you never miss key insights.
Program Highlights
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Session #1: Wearable Technology in Sport: Turning Big Data into W’s
5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Session #2: Muscle and Tendon Injuries: Clinical Pearls for Diagnosis and Treatment
Thursday, April 24, 2025
8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Session #3: ACL Care from Start to Finish — During the session, Martha Murray, M.D. from Boston Children’s Hospital will address if reconstruction is the only reasonable surgical option for an ACL Tear and Tom Cross, MBBS, DCH from The Stadium Sports Medicine Clinic in Sydney, Australia will discuss the Cross Brace Protocol.
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Session #4: Concurrent Sessions: Fuel Success – The Role of Energy Balance in Athletic Health and Performance — Louise Burke, OAM, Ph.D., APD, a sports dietitian at the Australian Catholic University will do a segment on low carbohydrate availability.
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Team Physician Breakout Sessions
- Collegiate/NCAA
- Olympic/Paralympic (USOPC)
- Professional
Friday, April 25, 2025
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Session #8B: Concurrent Sessions: Upper Extremity Sports – Using Technology and Science to Improve Diagnosis, Treatment and Performance.
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Session #9A: Concurrent Sessions: Commonly Missed Musculoskeletal Problems in Sports Medicine.
Session #9B at same time: Elevating the Female Athlete – Optimizing Health and Performance — Margie H. Davenport, Ph.D., an associate professor at University of Alberta in Canada, will give an update on Postpartum Return to Sport.
Saturday, April 26, 2025
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Session #13: AI in Sports Medicine
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Session #14: Dream Big – Sleeping for Success – Jesse D. Cooke, Ph.D. of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will lead the segment on “Building a Sleep Heath Program for Athletes: Best Practices and Essential Principles”.
Sunday, April 27, 2025
9:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. Session #16: Practical Applications from The Cutting Edge Of Research – Top Articles of 2024 and CRN Highlights.
Instructional Course Lectures
Instructional Course Lectures will also be held throughout the meeting in the early morning. Some of the topics will include:
- A Day in the Life of a Sports Medicine Physician
- Intraosseous Orthobiologics: Where Are We?
- Management of Menstrual Symptoms in the Athlete
- Sideline Cardiac Arrhythmia Emergencies
- What is the Work-up for Return to Sport for Exertional Heat Stroke, Exertional Rhabdomyolysis and ECAST?
- Can We Crack the Code of Rib Pain in Athletes?
- How to Perform Genicular Nerve RFAs and Incorporate RFAs into Your Practice
Kussman said that her best advice for getting the most out of this meeting is to not limit yourself to just the main stage events. Also check out the Instruction Course Lectures (ICL?), pre-conferences, interest groups and committees.
She emphasized that socializing is also important and that the AMSSM Foundation Party at the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday night is always a lot of fun.
For more information about this year’ program, visit amssm.org.
