Stephen C Hegarty

(3/3) Pragmatism still plays an essential role in scholarly publications. Thanks to mentorship from co-author @ShepDPT and constructive feedback from journal editors, it withstood the peer-review process.

(2/3) I challenged myself to exceed the scope of a single case report and submit to a high-caliber journal. This manuscript felt like a long time coming. It still feels like there are things I would change about the patient care and my report of it all

New publication in the Journal of Manual and Manipulative Therapy: tandfonline.com/eprint/5IEYG25…

Don’t let your life 'narrow'. I’ve been an orthopedic surgeon for 30 years. The thing I watch happen to people — more than any injury or surgery — is what I call the narrowing. Most of my patients have no idea it’s happening. They think it’s just aging. It’s not...

@Garmin when may the public expect to hear any updates on the rumored CIRQA or screen-less activity tracker? I’ve been waiting patiently and optimistically since info was leaked in early 2026, but the lack of updates has me considering other brands for a comparable product 😕

Former competitive athletes are a unique clinical population. The transition out of sports often removes highly structured schedules and robust health monitoring from their lifestyle. This qualitative manuscript explores the topic in depth (@LASTLabMU): frontiersin.org/journals/sport…

As it stands, the FMS should not be used as a means to accurately assess dynamic mobility and stability. More research (and perhaps modification of the tool) is necessary for it live up to its advertised purposes

In a recent systematic review, most studies show no significant correlation between the FMS and other comparable tests assessing joint mobility and stability pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40325772/

I’ve seen the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) used in sport, military, occupational, and rehabilitation research. I was intrigued that a commercialized assessment technique is so widely accepted in scientific publications. I think some skepticism is justified:

This data is only cross sectional and lacked detailed dietary tracking. From a PT perspective, our wheelhouse tends to be modulating physical activity. These findings suggest that we should not neglect the implications of nutrition in our patient care.

Body size-adjusted energy expenditure only accounted for ~10% of the increases in BMI and % fat associated with higher economic development. They hint that increased caloric intake and ultra-processed foods may explain more of the the association

Fascinating study challenging the assumption that reduced physical activities levels the primary driver of obesity rates in economically developed populations pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…

Furthermore, long-term quality of life outcomes seem similar between operative and non-operative management groups. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38230888/

For some groups, surgery may be the best option. But non-op management is especially important to consider for non-athletes, occupational injuries, and populations with barriers to consistent healthcare access

One recent piece in a growing body of literature suggesting ACLR maybe not be gold standard for returning to normal function. Extended rehab always seems necessary, but a lot of time and money could be conserved without going under the scalpel pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40603829/

Our paper, “Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy: A Modern Definition and Description” has been published in @PTJournal Thanks to my coauthors and the great review team at PTJ! academic.oup.com/ptj/article/10…

Orthopedic surgery office based decision making isn’t easy …