Specialist Society Updates

British Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (BOFAS) update

Heath Taylor, BOFAS President

The British Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (BOFAS) has, much like all other societies, had our usual activities restricted by COVID. We have, however, begun to run face-to-face meetings and coordinated two sessions at the BOA meeting in Aberdeen, including a lively debate on complex ankle fractures and a session on Rheumatoid foot surgery.

The Education Committee has maintained an excellent online educational commitment, including the Master Techniques Webinars, a collaboration with AOFAS. They have also restarted face-toface educational meetings, including the Advanced Fellows Forum and the Principles and New Consultant Courses.

The Scientific Committee has also been busy. The James Lind Alliance PSP project and the UK-FalCoN Project have completed. We are working towards a national research network for Foot and Ankle fellows and hope to restart the review and funding for BOFAS grant applications soon.

The Outcome Committee has continued to encourage the use of the BOFAS registry and a number of new pathways are now live. They have also contributed to an excellent paper on ankle arthritis networks, a project that ensures that we keep to the GIRFT principles.

As part of the NHS COVID recovery plan, I met with BOA, NHS England and the College of Podiatry, to work together in dealing with the problems of waiting lists for Foot and Ankle surgery. We continue to ensure the highest standards of care are offered to our patients, including equivalence in standards of training and governance, for clinicians treating patients with Foot and Ankle conditions.

Finally, plans are being finalised for a good old fashioned face-to-face annual meeting in Bournemouth, in March 2022. We have an excellent academic programme planned, with the aim to have the usual mixture of instructional sessions, keynote speakers and workshops.

Keep well, and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Bournemouth.

50 + years of the Society for Back Pain Research (SBPR)

Last year was the 50th anniversary of the Society for Back Pain Research. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic we were unable to hold a meeting and celebrate our 50th year, so this year’s meeting is going to be special in many ways. The title for our meeting is ‘Panning for Gold’ and we have some fantastic speakers including Professor Manuela Ferreira from the University of Sydney, Professor Annina Schmid from the University of Oxford and Professor Frances Williams from Kings College London.

Friday afternoon sessions at our meetings always involve a lively debate and we expect this year to be no different. The title for the debate is ‘50 years of Back Pain Research. Has SBPR made a difference?’

Motion for: “This house believes that the Society for Back Pain Research is a valuable forum because it has had a positive influence on back pain outcomes for most people over the last 50 years.”

Motion against: “This house believes that the Society for Back Pain Research is redundant as back pain research has not improved back pain outcomes for most sufferers in the last 50 years.”

The meeting will be held on Thursday 30th June and Friday 1st July 2022 at the Warwick Conference Centre, Coventry, UK.

Abstract submission is now open, please visit our website to download instructions and to submit your abstract www.sbpr.info/ meetings. The deadline for submission is 6th March 2022.

We welcome members and non-members and encourage new members. If you would be interested in becoming a member of our society, please visit www.sbpr.info/about-us where you can download the membership application form.

British Orthopaedic Sports Trauma & Arthroscopy Association (BOSTAA) update

Nick Nicolaou and Fazal Ali

THE VETERAN ATHLETE – ‘MASTERS’ OF THEIR SPORT? Annual Conference 7th July 2022, Westminster Hall, London

A quick look around the theatre changing room highlights the change in levels of physical activity that has occurred recently. The abundance of damp lycra draped over lockers suggests a large number of colleagues cycling or running to work, and this is just commuting. Not all of this can be attributed to the absence of acute site parking spaces. The involvement of all in physical activity at an older age is being seen widely across the nation.

Without doubt, sport and exercise is good for us. But what constitutes an ‘older’ athlete? If elite sport is a guide, then ‘Masters athletics’ would suggest this is someone 35 years and above. Also, does being active for longer lead to problems for the treating Orthopaedic Surgeon and should age be a guide to treatment?

The current European Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy (ESSKA) guidance on meniscal tears suggests that if over 35 years of age, a one month history of knee pain without a locked knee should be managed non-operatively for three months before MRI imaging and if a meniscal lesion is then identified, a partial meniscectomy should be performed. On the other hand, evidence suggests a 50-year-old with an ACL rupture will do as well with surgery as a younger patient 1 . It also seems that femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) in 40-60 year olds with mild arthritis is not considered a contraindication to hip arthroscopy by many hip arthroscopists 2 . What about the role of arthroplasty? Andy Murray, the most successful British tennis player turns 35 this year, although his hip resurfacing is considerably younger.

Other controversies exist in management of pathology in other subspecialty areas in the older athlete and BOSTAA is pleased to invite you to our annual meeting where we look forward to debating these topics.

References

1. Dahm DL, Wulf CA, Dajani KA, et al. Reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament in patients over 50 years. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 2008;90(11):1446-50.

2. Toobaie A, Ayeni OR, Degen RM. Mild to moderate osteoarthritis is not considered a contraindication to arthroscopic treatment of symptomatic femoroacetabular impingement: results of an international survey. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2021;29(12):4082-90.

British Trauma Society (BTS) update

Ansar Mahmood

The British Trauma Society annual scientific meeting went ahead last November as a virtual meeting due to the uncertainty regarding COVID-19 at the beginning of 2021. It is the first time in our history we have had to do this and I am very proud to say it received excellent feedback. Industry support was strong and very welcome given this novel format.

Not faced by geographical constraints we took advantage by inviting keynote speakers from around the globe to fit with the theme of Global Trauma Challenges. The evening keynote speaker sessions were well attended with well over 100 listeners at each session even though online access to recordings of the talks would be available to all registrants for six months.

Professor Fiona Lecky and Dr Carl Marinowitz discussed the effect of COVID on trauma based on data from TARN. Dr Jan Jansen, a trauma surgeon from Birmingham, USA, spoke about contemporary techniques of haemorrhage control and innovation in this area. Sarah Tucker, a consultant plastic surgeon from Oxford, spoke of her experiences in trauma care overseas and in Oxford with an aptly titled talk ‘Orthoplastics care across continents’.

Dr Jamie Colman, a leading trauma surgeon from Denver, gave us an eye opening talk on wellness and sleep deprivation for surgeons and how it impacts on our work and lives. Mr Bob Handley, BOA immediate past President, tackled Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) in trauma. Mr Alberto Gregori, an orthopaedic surgeon and chair of World Orthopaedic Concern joined from Africa to give his experiences of delivering care in low and middle income environments.

Professor Hans-Christoph Pape from Zurich, well known internationally for his research work on DCO concepts, presented an update on damage control orthopaedic concepts and safe definitive surgery.

We had our AGM and selected some fantastic new committee members. It is our vision to realise the true value of a truly multidisciplinary society and push ahead with publication cross specialty recommendations and guidelines for polytrauma patients as well as improve our educational offering. Professor Ian Pallister was appointed as our new Director of Education to drive this agenda forward. A new members area is being created on our new website which will have educational content, videos and talks available.

BTS were proud to have hosted the inaugural Human Factors in Trauma conference in Birmingham as a hybrid event in September 2021. This was very well received and we hope to make this an ongoing event, perhaps biennially.

I would encourage non-members to join NOW! - as this year there is a one-off offer of only £20 for annual membership via the website www.britishtrauma.com.