Purpose
The Orthopaedic Section supports its members by funding studies to systematically examine orthopaedic practice issues. The purpose of this grant program is to address the urgent need for clinical research in orthopaedic physical therapy. Emphasis for this funding mechanism is aimed at junior researchers, who are those who have not been funded or had very limited funding by extramural or intramural grants.

Targeted Recipients of the Grant Program
The grant program is designed to provide funding to any Orthopaedic Section member who has the clinical resources to examine a well-defined clinical practice issue, but who needs some external funding to facilitate completion of the clinical research project.

Studies Eligible for Funding
Eligible studies will address one of the four following areas:

1. examine the effectiveness of a treatment approach on a well-defined sample of patients with orthopaedic problems;
2. examine patient classification procedures for the purposes of determining an appropriate treatment;
3. further establish the meaningfulness of an examination procedure and/or
4. examine the role of the orthopaedic physical therapist in the health care environment.

Availability of Funding
The Orthopaedic Section has earmarked $30,000 to be awarded to support clinical research that is relevant to orthopaedic physical therapy that addresses one of the four areas described above. Individual grant applications are limited to a maximum of $10,000 funding over a 1-year period. The grant may be used to purchase equipment, pay consultation fees, recruit patients or fund clinicians to collect data. Physical therapists receiving funding from this program will be expected to report their findings at a Combined Sections Meeting within 3 years of receipt of funding. Recipients will also receive $300 to assist with the costs for presentation of the work at a Combined Sections Meeting. Travel money for the explicit purpose of executing the study is permitted as a budget item. Travel money for travel to conferences is not permitted. Evidence of approval from the investigator's Institutional Review Board for Biomedical Research must be provided before the funding will be released.

Instructions for Submitting an Application:
Applications should consist of, in this order:

• Cover Sheet: Grant Application Form
• Table of Contents (with corresponding page numbers for each section listed below)
• Section 1: Abstract (1 page maximum) - must include:
  • Background, Purpose, Design, Methods, Data Analysis, Significance
• Sections 2 - 5: Research Plan (10 page maximum) - must include:
• Section 2: Specific Aims and Hypotheses
• Section 3: Background and Significance
• Section 4: Preliminary Data
• Section 5: Experimental Design and Methods
  • Design
  • Subjects
  • Methods
  • Variables
  • Statistics
    • Statistical Analysis
    • Power Analysis
  • Limitations and Potential Problems
  • Potential problems and risks
• Section 6: Bibliography
• Section 7: Appendices
  • Appendix A: Timeline
  • Appendix B: Budget and Budget Justification
  • Appendix C: Biosketches for each investigator (3 page maximum for each)
    • Name and Position Title
    • Education / Training (Institution and Location, Degree, Year, Field of Study)
    • Positions Held and Honors
    • Publications
    • Funding History
  • Appendix D: Facilities
  • Appendix E: IRB Informed Consent and Approval statement of submittal for approval
  • Appendix F: Other: Data collection forms, surveys, etc.

• Risks to human subjects including involvement and characteristics of human subjects, sources of research material and potential risks
• Adequacy of protection against risks including procedures for recruitment, informed consent and protection against risks
• Potential benefits of the proposed research to the subjects and others
• Importance of the knowledge to be gained

Previously funded by the Orthopedic Section? Please submit as Appendix G a brief summary (1 page maximum), to include: title of the funded project, date of funding and results of previous funding.

When formatting the application, margins in all directions must be at least ½ inch. The height of the letters must not be smaller than 10 point and the type density including characters and spaces must be no more than 15 characters per inch with no more than 6 lines of type within a vertical inch. Arial 12-point is the suggested font.

Criteria for Review of Applications:
Priority will be given to applications that meet the following criteria:

• Have a specific and well-designed purpose that is judged to be consistent with the types of research studies eligible for funding described above.
• The sample to be studied must include patients/clients with impairment of the musculoskeletal system. For studies examining the role of the orthopaedic physical therapist in the health care environment, the sample to be studied should include physical therapists involved in the delivery of orthopaedic physical therapy.
• Projects that involve multiple clinical sites.
• Projects that examine the effectiveness of orthopaedic physical therapy.
• Projects that are currently not receiving funding from other sources.
• Studies that have evidence of preliminary work.

To receive an application, you may contact the Orthopaedic Section office:
Orthopaedic Section, APTA, Inc.
2920 East Avenue South, Suite 200
La Crosse, WI 54601
800/444-3982(PHONE) 608/788-3965(FAX)
e-mail: tfred@orthopt.org