Congratulations to Chad E. Cook, PT, PhD, MBA, FAPTA, professor of Orthopaedic Surgery; director of Clinical Facilitation Research; director, Duke Center of Excellence in Manual and Manipulative Therapy, June Kennedy, MS, PT, a board-certified specialist in orthopaedic physical therapy, Duke Sports Medicine, and Emily Reinke, PhD, Senior Research Program Leader, Duke Sports Medicine and other contributors for receiving the 2025 Charles S. Neer Award from the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) Foundation in the clinical science category.
The Neer Award, a prestigious recognition established in honor of Dr. Charles S. Neer, one of the founding members and the first president of ASES, holds significant value in orthopaedics. It acknowledges outstanding clinical and basic science investigations contributing to understanding, caring for, or preventing shoulder injuries.
The two studies, the SHORT and PMADS Trials, have significantly advanced our understanding of Shoulder rehabilitation. They explored outcomes associated with home exercise-based and physical therapist-based approaches, showing no differences in two-year outcomes across 196 randomized individuals with reverse total shoulder arthroplasty. The study also looked at treatment-effect moderators, providing valuable insights for tailoring care to selected groups and ultimately improving patient outcomes.
The study was funded by an Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) grant Grant E. Garrigues, MD, associate professor and director of Upper Extremity Research, Rush University, received in 2018 while at Duke Orthopaedics. This award will be presented during the October ASES Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX.