Mel Haberfield and Brooke Patterson are leading sports physiotherapists with expertise at the intersection of elite performance and cutting-edge research. Mel has worked extensively in elite sport across basketball, gymnastics, and the AFL, and is currently completing a PhD focused on knee injuries in athletes. Her work bridges high-performance sport and evidence-based injury prevention and rehabilitation. Brooke is an Australian Research Council Early Career Industry Research Fellow whose research is shaping the future of knee injury and concussion prevention in women’s Australian Football. Her PhD examined the long-term impact of ACL reconstruction on young adults, including early osteoarthritis, symptoms, and quality of life. A former elite Australian footballer and semi-professional basketball player, Brooke also brings firsthand experience as an elite-level coach, giving her a unique athlete-to-clinician perspective. In this episode of the How I Rehab podcast, Mel and Brooke share their initial motivation in dedicating their careers to improving female athlete health. As well as discussing: Gender bias in elite sport and actionable changes that are required to improve this moving forward. How clinicians can implement the Prep-to-Play program at a community and sub-elite level. What do women want when it comes to their knee health? What did the FAIR consensus tell us about modifiable risk factors for injury? Key considerations for female athlete rehabilitation post ACL Injury - the 7 key clusters. The TRAIL-W - Knee health, and associations with female-specific health, physical, psychological, and social-gendered factors in women runners. https://youtu.be/uFnVsz_ezAg Additional References Injury prevention for women and girls playing Australian Football: programme cocreation, dissemination and early adopter coach feedback. What Do Women (With Serious Knee Injury) Want to Know About Knee Health? Identifying Research Priorities with a Consumer Advisory Group Considerations for a women’s rehabilitation programme following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a concept mapping approach to enhance women’s outcomes. Modifiable risk factors for lower-extremity injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis for the Female, woman and/or girl Athlete Injury prevention (FAIR) consensus Patterson et al (2024). Injury prevention for women and girls playing Australian Football: programme cocreation, dissemination and early adopter coach feedback. Patterson et al (2022). Evaluation of an injury prevention programme (Prep-to-Play) in women and girls playing Australian Football: design of a pragmatic, type III, hybrid implementation-effectiveness, stepped-wedge, cluster RCT. BMJ Open, 12(9), e062483 Prep to Play program resources