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Introduction: While musculoskeletal disorders are leading causes of medical visits, musculoskeletal education is underrepresented in US medical curricula. Previous studies have demonstrated that undergraduate medical students often fail to demonstrate competency surrounding musculoskeletal disorders. More educational content is needed to support musculoskeletal knowledge in learners., Methods: We developed an online, case-based musculoskeletal module for second-year medical students alongside their standard course material and presented clinical cases with multiple-choice question quizzes regarding the presentation, diagnosis, and anatomic correlation of musculoskeletal conditions. Cases, under 10 minutes each, targeted common, medically important areas of musculoskeletal health., Results: Grades in the required musculoskeletal course were significantly and positively correlated with online module quiz performance. 258 (73%) of 354 students completed at least one quiz, and students completed an average of 14 out of 15 quizzes. Learners who completed more than 50% of the quizzes performed significantly better in the course than those who completed fewer quizzes; this was true for a formative internal course exam ( p = .035), an NBME customized assessment ( p = .008), and the course overall ( p = .021). Additional analyses of students' perceptions revealed that students valued the self-directed online learning environment. The high completion rate (73%) for the online module also signaled student value in the content and format., Discussion: This module represents educational material that has been demonstrated to improve medical student musculoskeletal learning. Additionally, the module could be expanded to address inadequacies in orthopedic education among other students, such as allied health learners., (© 2024 Robertson et al.)

Heat therapy has been shown to promote capillary growth in skeletal muscle and in the heart in several animal models, but the effects of this therapy on angiogenic signaling in humans are unknown. We evaluated the acute effect of lower body heating (LBH) and unilateral thigh heating (TH) on the expression of angiogenic regulators and heat shock proteins (HSPs) in healthy young individuals. Exposure to LBH (n = 18) increased core temperature (Tc) from 36.9 ± 0.1 to 37.4 ± 0.1°C (P < 0.01) and average leg skin temperature (Tleg) from 33.1 ± 0.1 to 39.6 ± 0.1°C (P < 0.01), but did not alter the levels of circulating angiogenic cytokines and bone marrow-derived proangiogenic cells (CD34(+)CD133(+)). In skeletal muscle, the change in mRNA expression from baseline of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), angiopoietin 2 (ANGPT2), chemokines CCL2 and CX3CL1, platelet factor-4 (PF4), and several members of the HSP family was higher 30 min after the intervention in the individuals exposed to LBH (n = 11) compared with the control group (n = 12). LBH also reduced the expression of transcription factor FOXO1 (P = 0.03). Exposure to TH (n = 14) increased Tleg from 32.8 ± 0.2 to 40.3 ± 0.1°C (P < 0.05) but Tc remained unaltered (36.8 ± 0.1°C at baseline and 36.9 ± 0.1°C at 90 min). This intervention upregulated the expression of VEGF, ANGPT1, ANGPT2, CCL2, and HSPs in skeletal muscle but did not affect the levels of CX3CL1, FOXO-1, and PF4. These findings suggest that both LBH and TH increase the expression of factors associated with capillary growth in human skeletal muscle., (Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.)