Dr Tom Cross is one of Australia’s leading Sport and Exercise Physicians. He has worked in Sports Medicine for over 25 years and has succesfully gained fellowship to the Australisian College of Sports and Exercise Physicians (ACSEP). Tom has worked with the NBA, Melbourne Storm Rugby team, Cirque Du Soleil and the Sydney Swans Australian Football team as head doctor. Recently, Tom has lead the development of a new bracing method “The Cross Bracing Protocol“ to facilitate native healing of the ruptured ACL. He has overseen many successful ACL injured patients achieve ACL healing and return to high level sport without surgery. This approach challenges the long-standing notion that a torn ACL cannot heal and is revolutionising the management of ACL injured patients worldwide.

Dr Stephanie Filbay is a physiotherapist, NHMRC Emerging Leader Fellow, Dame Kate Campbell Fellow and Senior Research Associate in the Department of Physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne. Steph leads a team aiming to improve outcomes for people with ACL injury across the lifespan. Her team are developing and evaluating non-surgical strategies to facilitate healing of ACL rupture, creating a patient decision aid and training resources to educate clinicians and inform patients about evidence-based ACL injury management options. She is involved in studies evaluating the efectiveness of the Cross Bracing Protocol and has recently published the results from the world-leading KANON trial evaluating spontaneous ACL healing rates in young active adults with ACL rupture undergoing non-operative management.

A/Prof Jane Rooney is one of Australia’s most recognised physiotherapists and one of only 45 Australian Physiotherapists holding the highest clinical qualification, being admitted as a Fellow of the Australian College of Physiotherapists in 2009 as a Specialist Sports Physiotherapist (as awarded by the Australian College of Physiotherapy in 2009). With 30 years of experience in the Sports Medicine field, both in Europe and Australia, Jane is often chosen as the Physiotherapist for elite athletes at state, national and international levels in tennis, gymnastics, athletics including triathalon, golf, swimming, netball and cycling. Jane has worked closely with Steph Filbay and Tom Cross in managing ACL injured patients through nonoperative management with the Cross Bracing Protocol through to ACL healing and return to sport.

Dr Adam Culvenor is a physiotherapist, Senior Research Fellow and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at the La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre. Adam’s research focusses on the prevention and management of knee osteoarthritis in young adults. From preventing knee injuries, identifying clinical and biomechanical risk factors for post-traumatic osteoarthritis, through to developing and testing novel osteoarthritis prevention strategies in young adults. He was co-lead of the 2022 OPTIKNEE Consensus statement recently published in BJSM (consortium of 38 international researchers and clinicians), which developed clinical and research recommendations for optimising knee health and preventing osteoarthritis after knee injury.

Dr Brooke Patterson is a physiotherapist and postdoctoral researcher at La Trobe Sport and Exercise Medicine Research Centre. Her research investigates the prevention of ACL injuries through to the impact of ACL reconstruction on the lives of young adults (early ostearthritis, symptoms and quality of life), and how potentially modifiable factors are associated with such changes over time. Brooke is involved in current elite and community-level AFL funded projects, aimed at monitoring and reducing injuries, and improving coach education. She has hands on implementation experience at elite and community levels and continues to evolve primary and secondary ACL prevention strategies to reduce the impact of posttraumatic OA.

Attendee Type

Standard in person

(includes refreshments, finger food and networking)

$90

Standard Online

$90

(in person or online, evidence of student status required)

$40