Harvard Sports Medicine 2026

1. Overview

The Harvard Sports Medicine 2026 course provides an extensive, evidence-based update on the evaluation, management, and rehabilitation of sports-related injuries. The program features expert-led sessions covering complex upper and lower extremity pathologies, advanced imaging techniques, orthobiologics, concussion management, and specialized care considerations for diverse athletic populations.

Course Date: March 18 – 21, 2026

The Comprehensive 2026 Sports Medicine Update

Sports Medicine 2026 is a live online course, using live streaming, electronic Q&A, and other remote learning technologies. 

In the past year, there have been very significant clinical changes that affect the way we diagnose, treat, and rehabilitate sports injuries incurred by elite athletes, weekend warriors, and patients with active lifestyles.

This comprehensive update provides education for state-of-the-art approaches to the diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention of sports injuries. The course creates a unique opportunity to hear about these changes directly from world-renowned physician-specialists (physiatrists, orthopedists, radiologists); team physicians and athletic trainers for the New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins, and New England Revolution; and physical therapists on the cutting edge of rehabilitation.

Education is practical, coupling updates with guidance on how to incorporate knowledge into practice to improve:

• Treatment outcomes for acute and overuse injuries of the spine, knee, hip, foot, and ankle, along with upper extremity conditions of the shoulder, neck, elbow, hand, and wrist
• The effectiveness and expediency of physical evaluations
• Appropriate diagnostic imaging and interpretation
• Rehabilitation and safe return to play
• Non-surgical management of injuries
• Decisions on when to refer patients for surgery
• Multidisciplinary team-based treatment with physicians, physical therapists, and athletic trainers
• Injury prevention
• Regenerative medicine and minimally invasive techniques for the management of injuries
• Treatment of athlete populations, including those who participate in baseball, cycling, crew, dance, and Para sports

The format is engaging, and attendees are encouraged to pose questions in sessions as well as one-on-one with the national and international experts who will be delivering the updates and education at this event.

2026 Course Highlights

Unique to this program is its immersive, fast-paced, 360-degree educational experience. You will learn about changes and advances in sports medicine from three critical, interrelated perspectives:

• Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
• Musculoskeletal Radiology
• Orthopedics

Educational highlights include:

• The most effective methods, both surgically and non-surgically, to manage injuries to tendons, joints, muscles, and ligaments in athletes and differences in approach for less active populations
• Updates on shockwave, platelet-rich plasma and ultrasound-guided procedures to treat injuries
• Advances in evaluation and treatment of ankle injuries
• Pain management for in-season athletes
• Strategies to optimize diagnosis and treatment of elbow injuries in throwing sports and Para athletes
• Updates in neurorehabilitation, including sports dystonia, concussion management, and vestibulo-ocular rehabilitation
• Optimizing the management of meniscus injuries
• Optimized approaches for interpreting images and making decisions about operative vs. conservative management
• Clinical strategies to account for age, gender, and patient conditions, along with accounting for athlete perspective to optimize care
• Comprehensive evaluation and management of fatigue in the athlete

2. Learning Objectives

• Evaluate and manage complex shoulder, elbow, and wrist injuries frequently encountered in elite throwing and racquet sports athletes.

• Formulate evidence-based rehabilitation and return-to-play protocols for joint instability, meniscus repairs, and extensor mechanism tendinopathies.

• Apply advanced imaging techniques, including dynamic weight-bearing studies and MRI, to accurately diagnose sports-related injuries and athletic pubalgia.

• Assess the clinical utility of emerging therapeutics, including orthobiologics (PRP/PPP), shockwave therapy, and minimally invasive ultrasound procedures.

• Navigate comprehensive athlete care by addressing cardiopulmonary health, nutrition, mental health, and specific biomechanical demands across different sports.

3. Target Audience

• Sports Medicine
• Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
• Orthopedics
• Family Medicine
• Internal Medicine
• Emergency Medicine
• Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine

4. Topics

1. 01 Mark Price, MD, PhD Memorial Lecture Shoulder Dislocation Update in Elite Athletes and Armed Forces

2. 02 AC Joint Instability

3. 03 USG Shoulder Injections Evidence Based

4. 04 Advanced Imaging (MR and CT) Shoulder Instability

5. 05 Audience Q+A, Expert Panel Discussion

6. 06 Scapulothoracic Abnormal Movement (STAM) Why This New Term

7. 07 MLB Scapular Mechanics in the Throwing Athlete

8. 08 Rehab and Return to Play Shoulder Instability and STAM

9. 09 Audience Q+A, Expert Panel Discussion

10. 10 Management of Elbow and Wrist Injuries in Racquet Sports

11. 11 Biceps and Triceps Injury

12. 12 US Evaluation of Thrower’s Elbow

13. 13 Rehab and Return to Play Thrower’s Elbow

14. 14 Audience Q+A, Expert Panel Discussion

15. 15 Para Athlete Overuse and Traumatic Injury Management

16. 16 Common Wrist Fractures in Athletes Surgical Indications

17. 17 Approach to Radiographs in Elbow and Wrist Fractures

18. 18 Audience Q+A, Expert Panel Discussion

19. 19 Sport Dystonia and Functional Movement Disorders in Athletes

20. 20 Sports-Related TBI Concussion Future Directions

21. 21 Vestibulo-ocular Rehabilitation and RTP

22. 22 Audience Q+A, Expert Panel Discussion

23. 23 Ankle Sprains Surgical Indications

24. 24 Ankle Sprains RTP in the NFL

25. 25 Imaging Innovations Weight-Bearing and Dynamic Studies

26. 26 Interesting Ankle Cases Rehab Pearls

27. 27 Audience Q+A, Expert Panel Discussion

28. 28 Saving the Meniscus Update on Repair

29. 29 Lost in Resection Pathways Beyond the Failed Meniscectomy

30. 30 The Principles and Art of Joint Restoration

31. 31 MRI Meniscus and Company

32. 32 Audience Q+A, Expert Panel Discussion

33. 33 Knee Extensor Mechanism Tendinopathy

34. 34 NBA Knee Injury Prevention

35. 35 WNBA Approach to Player Health

36. 36 Audience Q+A, Expert Panel Discussion

37. 37 Groin Pain in the Athlete Optimizing Management

38. 38 PWHL How Is Groin Pain Approach Different in Female Athletes

39. 39 MRI of Athletic Pubalgia

40. 40 Rehab and Return to Plan Approach to Adductor Injury

41. 41 Audience Q+A, Expert Panel Discussion

42. 42 Minimally Invasive US Procedures Ready for Primetime

43. 43 PPP for Acute Muscle Injury

44. 44 Subchondral Bone Techniques

45. 45 Audience Q+A, Expert Panel Discussion

46. 46 Crew Medicine

47. 47 Dance Medicine

48. 48 Para Winter Games

49. 49 Cycling Medicine

50. 50 Baseball

51. 51 Audience Q+A, Expert Panel Discussion

52. 52 Shockwave therapy

53. 53 Trigger point and dry needling

54. 54 Osteopathic medicine

55. 55 Debate PRP vs PPP

56. 56 Paradigms in Physical Therapy and Load Management

57. 57 Audience Q+A, Expert Panel Discussion

58. 58 Nutrition

59. 59 Cardiopulmonary Assessment

60. 60 Iron Deficiency

61. 61 Infection Lyme, Mono and More

62. 62 Overtraining and load management

63. 63 Mental Health

64. 64 Audience Q+A, Expert Panel Discussion