Matthew Ithurburn, PT, DPT, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and an Associate Scientist in the Center for Exercise Medicine and the Comprehensive Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, Bone, and Autoimmunity Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has a clinical background as a sports medicine physical therapist. Dr. Ithurburn's research focuses on improving rehabilitation and outcomes for young, active individuals following lower extremity musculoskeletal injuries. Specifically, to date, this work has occurred in adolescents and young-to-middle-aged adults with knee injuries and intra-articular, non-arthritic hip pain. His approach to achieve these goals includes leveraging clinical and biomechanical data to determine factors associated with successful or unsuccessful outcomes over time. These outcomes include improvement or change in pain, symptoms, and function, continuation of sports participation or physical activity, and the occurrence of additional injury. With an understanding of factors associated with outcomes, a long-term step includes developing and testing the efficacy of rehabilitation-specific interventions in these patient populations.
