Research Activity

The concepts for managing injured elite athletes and returning them to the playing field as quickly and safely as possible are the same concepts that facilitate returning injured service members to their units in garrison or combat.  Research conducted by the Baylor University – Keller Army Community Hospital Division 1 Sports Physical Therapy Fellowship focuses on the epidemiology, prevention, and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries, and contributes to the body of knowledge within the field of sports physical therapy.

Lines of research focus on improving military readiness and are as follows:

1. Running-related injury epidemiology, prevention, rehabilitation
2. Sports injury and concussion epidemiology, prevention, and rehabilitation
3. Rehabilitation of post-surgical patients
4. Optimizing return to duty/sport
5. Physical therapy direct access and musculoskeletal imaging 

As a requirement for conferring a Doctor of Science degree, each Sports Physical Therapy Fellow completes an approved research study, defends their study and results to a doctoral research committee, and submits the findings to an indexed, peer-reviewed journal.  The intent of this fellowship is for each Fellow to graduate with the ability to independently design, execute, analyze, and communicate research that contributes to the specialty of sports physical therapy.

The Baylor University – Keller Army Community Hospital Division 1 Sports Physical Therapy Fellowship has an outstanding reputation for producing high-quality research.  Since 2014, the fellows and faculty of the program have produced 24 publications in peer-reviewed journals, 8 platform presentations at national meetings, and 32 poster presentations at national meetings.

Grant-funded research facilitates the research mission of the fellowship program and improves the quality of research conducted by fellows.  Since 2013, $3,140,562 has been awarded to the Baylor University – Keller Army Community Hospital Division 1 Sports Physical Therapy Fellowship.  From 2013-2017, $1,691,818 was awarded to conduct research that has informed providers and directly benefited over 2000 patients. Grant funding has allowed the fellowship to hire highly-qualified personnel to support research initiatives and to purchase cutting-edge medical technology.  These enhancements have improved the clinic’s ability to evaluate and treat a range of musculoskeletal injuries and have improved the quality of patient care delivered.