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The Shoulder Physio Podcast

The Shoulder Physio Podcast

Jared Powell 64 Episodes Aug 4, 2026

The Shoulder Physio Podcast explores meaningful topics in musculoskeletal health care, with a focus on shoulder-related issues. Hosted by Jared Powell, the show aims to provide insights for both clinicians and patients. Episodes cover assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies, offering evidence-based perspectives. The podcast serves as a resource for those interested in physiotherapy and orthopaedic care.

Episodes

#64: Is measuring strength useful? With Tim Cook
#64: Is measuring strength useful? With Tim Cook Aug 4, 2026 2816  Jared is joined by Tim Cook who is Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy at the University of Chichester, Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioner in the NHS, and doctoral researcher to discuss their new paper with Prof. Jeremy Lewis in the Journal of Manual & Manipulative Therapy: "Rethinking strength testing in rotator cuff-related shoulder pain: a clinical tradition that lacks muscle."
#63: The myth of perfect movement
#63: The myth of perfect movement Jul 21, 2026 1416 Is there really one correct way to move? For decades, clinicians and coaches have acted like there is. In this episode, we prosecute that idea. We start in a 1930s Soviet forge, where Nikolai Bernstein filmed blacksmiths and found their hammer strikes landed in the same spot every time, despite every joint angle differing swing to swing. That's "repetition without repetition." From there
#62: Pain during exercise: friend or foe?
#62: Pain during exercise: friend or foe? Jul 7, 2026 1171 The question of allowing pain, or avoiding it, during exercise based rehab remains contentious and uncertain. So, like any good scientist, we (led by Ivy Tran) studied the evidence-base and sought an answer to this clinical conundrum to help not just you, but us too! What did we find? Listen to the episode to find out.  Key resources Tran I et al. Effectiveness of Painful V
#61: What is a physiotherapist?
#61: What is a physiotherapist? Jun 23, 2026 1294 What is a physiotherapist? Strip away the hands, the exercises, the modalities, what's left? In this episode I argue that the "fixer" identity, the clinician who finds what's broken and corrects it, isn't where our profession came from. It's something that was selected into us through a century of professional politics and reductionist thinking. Drawing on the history of physiotherapy, Ne
#60: The Burnout Episode
#60: The Burnout Episode Jun 10, 2026 1316 Burnout in our profession is widespread, with most studies reporting prevalence between 8 and 23 per cent, and up to 65 per cent of recent graduates planning to leave physiotherapy within ten years. In this episode, drawing on a recent editorial in the Journal of Physiotherapy by Ky Wynne, I lay out the empirical picture and challenge the dominant framing that burnout is a problem of
#59: Exercise, sets, reps and the pharmacology problem
#59: Exercise, sets, reps and the pharmacology problem May 26, 2026 1315 Is more always better? Is there a dose response effect of exercise for musculoskeletal pain? Should exercise be just like a medication, where the dose has to be sufficient in order for it to elicit a therapeutic effect?  These are the questions we contend with on this episode of The Shoulder Physio Podcast.  Key resources Lawford BJ, Hinman RS, Spiers L, Kimp AJ, Dell'Isola
# 58: Most rotator cuff tears don't hurt
# 58: Most rotator cuff tears don't hurt May 12, 2026 1565 The FIMAGE study scanned both shoulders of 602 adults from the general population using high-resolution 3-Tesla MRI. Only 7 had a structurally normal rotator cuff. In this episode, I walk through what the study found, why 78% of full-thickness tears were in people with no shoulder pain, and what happens to the diagnostic value of a scan when the finding it detects is near-universal. I cha
#57: Stop Looking for a Winner: The Case for Treatment Pluralism
#57: Stop Looking for a Winner: The Case for Treatment Pluralism Apr 28, 2026 1099 In this episode, I walk through my recent JOSPT paper arguing that no single treatment modality has proven itself superior for musculoskeletal pain and that the profession should stop pretending otherwise. Drawing on Isaiah Berlin's distinction between the hedgehog and the fox, I make the case for treatment pluralism: the idea that multiple interventions can lead to recovery, and that rig
#56: I Posted a Meta-Analysis and 50 Doctors Told Me I Was Wrong
#56: I Posted a Meta-Analysis and 50 Doctors Told Me I Was Wrong Apr 14, 2026 1453 I posted a meta-analysis showing PRP doesn't beat saline for tennis elbow. The regenerative medicine community came for me, hard. This episode walks through the incident, what the evidence states, why the comparator you choose determines the conclusion you reach, and what the pushback reveals about incentives in musculoskeletal medicine. References Antunes Júnior et al. (2026). Plate
#55: Will AI Replace Physiotherapists?
#55: Will AI Replace Physiotherapists? Mar 31, 2026 1498 The argument that AI replaces "the science" while clinicians should "lean into the art" has become common across healthcare. In this episode, I explain why I think both sides of that framing get it wrong, and why the art vs. science debate was always a false dichotomy that AI has simply made harder to ignore. I draw on four thinkers to make the case: Michael Polanyi on tacit knowledge, Do
#54: Physiotherapists are Knowledge Workers
#54: Physiotherapists are Knowledge Workers Mar 17, 2026 796 In this episode of The Shoulder Physio Podcast, we discuss why musculoskeletal clinicians are, at their core, knowledge workers. Not in the corporate buzzword sense, but in the truest sense: professionals whose value comes from the quality of their thinking, not the techniques in their toolkit. We explore why knowledge compounds but repetition doesn't, why information alone fails to chang
#53: Shin Splints: The Most Misunderstood Running Injury with Laura Anderson PhD(c)
#53: Shin Splints: The Most Misunderstood Running Injury with Laura Anderson PhD(c) Feb 24, 2026 2783 Physiotherapist and PhD researcher Laura Anderson just published a paper arguing that "medial tibial stress syndrome" is a 'garbage' name that's been freaking runners out and leading to terrible treatment for decades. Her proposed replacement? Load-Induced Medial Leg Pain (LIMP). Yes, LIMP, pun not intended. The Problem: "Tibial stress" makes everyone think bone stress injury → stress fr

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