Course description
Hybrid Course Overview
Elbow pain often presents a diagnostic dilemma. Intra-articular pathologies, local soft tissues and neural structures may be primary sources of nociception, with psychosocial and environmental factors contributing to symptom severity and chronicity. Understanding the contribution of local tissue pathology, and sensory and motor system impairments to the individual’s clinical presentation of elbow pain will assist clinicians in implementing an effective treatment program. The aim of this course is to provide clinicians with an opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills relevant to client-centred assessment and treatment of common lateral elbow conditions.
This course will comprehensively review the underlying mechanisms and pathophysiology, differential diagnosis, assessment and management of elbow disorders that present as lateral elbow pain. This course is suitable for clinicians with clinical experience in musculoskeletal and sports injuries, interested in updating their knowledge and improving their skills in the management of elbow injuries. It is designed to give clinicians applied knowledge of the latest evidence regarding individualising treatment for people with chronic elbow injuries and will present a contemporary, evidence-based clinical pathway for treatment of elbow pain, and discuss treatment options based on clinical presentation, prognostic indicators and underlying pathophysiology.
Overall Course Aims
At the completion of this course, participants will:
1. Understand important anatomical and biomechanical relationships with elbow function and mechanisms of injury
2. Demonstrate applied knowledge of the latest evidence regarding aetiology, differential diagnoses, and predictors of recovery in people with lateral elbow pain
3. Perform skilled assessment techniques relevant to intra-articular pathology, instability, tendinopathy and peripheral nerve entrapment at the elbow
4. Apply the evidence to clinical reasoning for the management of elbow injuries (conservative, injection, surgical)
5. Demonstrate refined manual therapy, neurodynamic and exercise prescription skills for the assessment and management of elbow injuries.
The online lecture will provide the background rationale for the management of lateral elbow tendinopathy, and will be supported by an in person practical workshop:
Workshop Overview: Exercise is the foundation for management of tendinopathies, as it has the capacity to stimulate biochemical processes through mechanical tendon loading that lead to tendon healing and repair. In addition, exercise has demonstrated other benefits such as analgesia and improved general physical and mental health. Yet the evidence only shows small incremental benefits for exercise compared to other interventions, with no one type of exercise superior to another. Furthermore, painful exercise may reduce an individual’s adherence to the rehabilitation program. In this workshop we will focus on selected assessment techniques to inform the differential diagnosis of lateral elbow pain, and evidence-based exercise prescription for elbow tendinopathy. We will incorporate research evidence, tendon biology, exercise mechanisms, and patient-specific factors into the assessment and design of an exercise program for people with elbow tendinopathy.
This will be a highly interactive session that will include case studies in a discussion-based format.
Details
Associate Professor Leanne Bisset is an experienced, titled Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist of the Australian College of Physiotherapists, with an international reputation for clinical and research expertise in the field of upper limb musculoskeletal pain. Dr Bisset has over 80 publications (>3500 citations) in many top-ranking journals in Sports Medicine, Rheumatology and Orthopaedics. She has co-authored 6 invited book chapters on contemporary assessment and non-surgical management of people with elbow conditions, and has a successful track record in competitive research funding and higher degree research supervision. Her previous roles include Academic Lead and Program Director of Physiotherapy (Griffith University), Associate Editor with the journal Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, external assessor of post-graduate musculoskeletal physiotherapy programs and volunteer roles in the Australian Physiotherapy Association. Dr Bisset has been invited to present her research and clinical work in various international and national conferences and workshops. She has been the invited presenter for the Australian Physiotherapy Association workshops on elbow pain since 2017. Dr Bisset is ranked 3rd in the world for authors published on elbow tendinopathy, and in the top 0.2% of ~21,500 authors worldwide who have published on tendinopathy in general (Expertscape).
The online lecture will be presented via Zoom, approximately one week prior to the in person workshop, with details to be forwarded to registered participants.
For the in person workshop:
Date: Fri Sep 18, 2026
Time: 3pm – 7pm
Location: Vivo Cura Health
325 Manning Rd NE
Calgary AB T2E 2P5
