Sports Injuries Research Articles

Research on the application of scientific training methods in the prevention of muscle injuries in young taekwondo athletes

The Taekwondo project originated in the Korean Peninsula. Since it was introduced to my country in the 1990s, it has attracted the attention of many people because of its high degree of appreciation. Taekwondo, characterized by its combative nature and technical demands, poses inherent sports risks, with research indicating that a significant percentage of athletes’ experience sports injuries during their careers. Therefore, this study selected high-level Taekwondo athletes of S University as the survey object, and analyzed the collected data by using literature data method, questionnaire survey method, interview method and other research methods. Aiming at the injury factors of boxing practitioners’ sports injuries, this research proposes the following related countermeasures: (1) The countermeasures against the practitioners themselves and the physical injury factors are: strengthen the protection or exercise of vulnerable parts; the coaches check the physical condition of the students before class; strengthen physical fitness exercises; improve self-protection awareness and ability. (2) The countermeasures against the factors that cause the practitioner’s emotional and rational emotions include: exert the influence of social relations on the practitioner; eliminate fear, cultivate self-confidence; strengthen the cultivation of will quality and self-will! Relaxation and concentration training. (3) The countermeasures for coaches to prevent exercises from sports injuries include: coaches improve their own technical level and teaching skills; reasonable grouping and training methods; leading students to prepare for activities; controlling sports negatives, and technical exercises step by step. (4) Improve the problems of venue facilities that easily cause sports injuries.

Injury prevention and rehabilitation strategies in physical education: A machine learning-based approach using biomechanical characteristics

The field of sports biomechanics employs concepts from physics, biology, and engineering to investigate the mechanical characteristics of human motion and how they affect the body’s anatomy and functions. With the development of technology, sports biomechanics has emerged as a crucial component of sports medicine, training, and rehabilitation. To reduce the risk of injury and enhance athletic performance, sports biomechanics examines motions in sports in great length. The purpose of the study is to establish injury prevention and rehabilitation strategies for physical education (PE) teaching based on biomechanical characteristics. The early warning mode of sports injuries is recognized using advanced deep learning (DL) techniques, specifically resilient convolutional neural networks (RCNN). Biomechanical data from wearable sensors is used in this study to find trends related to sports-related injuries. A questionnaire survey of 228 students from various colleges was conducted. Individualized rehabilitation strategies will be provided to injured participants, taking into account their unique biomechanical deficiencies. These programs will be created in conjunction with physical therapists, and they will be updated in response to the patient’s progress toward recovery. The study found that their sports injuries were acute and chronic. This research demonstrated the treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation strategies of injuries in sports. The study emphasizes that biomechanical analysis is crucial for improving PE programs, which will eventually enhance students’ performance and overall health.

Research on the Application of Multi-ball Training Method in Table Tennis Training in Colleges and Universities

This paper aims to explore the practical application effect and strategy of multi-ball training method in table tennis training in colleges and universities. As an efficient and systematic training method, multi-ball training method has significantly improved the technical proficiency, physical fitness level and competition adaptability of athletes through continuous and repeated hitting practice. The study also pointed out that when applying multi-ball training method, we should pay attention to following the principle of moderation to avoid overtraining leading to physical fatigue and injury of athletes; At the same time, we should fully consider the individual differences of athletes and make personalized training plans; In addition, the importance of technical details should be emphasized to ensure that athletes form correct technical action stereotypes in training. Therefore, it is suggested that table tennis coaches in colleges and universities actively adopt this method in teaching and training to improve the quality and effect of training.

Intelligent rehabilitation assistant: Application of deep learning methods in sports injury recovery

In recent years, sports injury rehabilitation has developed into a specialized field that has forced the combination of an orthopedic surgeon, sports physiotherapist, and sports physician. Determining the appropriate time for an injured athlete to resume practice or competition is regarded as sports rehabilitation. Discovering the best solutions to avoid injuries, maximize recovery, and enhance performance is crucial for sports activities. The study introduced an intelligent rehabilitation assistant (IRA) that leverages advanced deep learning (DL) methods to enhance sports injury recovery. In this study, the IRA incorporates redefined prairie dog optimized bidirectional long-short-term memory (RPDO-Bi-LSTM) to enhance accuracy, predicting sports injury recovery. The study collected data on the state of rehabilitation, physiological parameters, and general health using wearable sensors and movement patterns. The data was preprocessed using a median filter to remove noise from sensor data. Region-based segmentation using segmented images from preprocessed data. Convolutional neural networks (CNN) using extracted features from obtained data. The IRA provides personalized recovery plans and real-time feedback. The framework consists of the components, suggested models to create quality scores for motions, measurements to quantify motion performance, and scoring of performance measurement elements into numerical quality scores. The proposed method is implemented using Python software. RPDO-Bi-LSTM presentation is evaluated by various metrics, such as accuracy 94.2% recall 98.2%, precision 96.5%, and specificity 95.2%, f1 score 95.6%, he planned technique attained good performance and improved the accuracy of sports injury recovery.

A study on Modeling and Simulation of Sports Training Injury Optimization from a Biomechanical Perspective

With the development of artificial intelligence technology today, sports training is one of the important ways to keep people healthy. Reasonable sports training can keep people happy, and can also improve the physical quality of athletes. However, because the intensity of sports training is greater than the physical endurance, it may lead to physical injury. The sports training injury model can collect the physical data of athletes, and simulate whether the actions that athletes want to practice are standard and correct through the collected data. If there are errors in the simulated exercise actions, the wrong exercise actions can be corrected in time, so as to reduce the incidence of sports injury accidents. The construction of the experimental model and the calculation and analysis process of the construction data are very complex, and the existing simulation models are difficult to achieve this, which has a significant impact on the subsequent development of the simulation model. In view of this phenomenon, this paper, on the basis of the sports training injury model, combined with the neural network method, conducted an effective research on the construction of the sports training injury model, and inspected the performance of the model by testing the accuracy of the evaluation of the injury risk level, the degree of sports training injury, and the accuracy of the evaluation of the prediction results of the sports training injury model. The experimental data shows that the maximum accuracy of the sports training injury model in the horizontal and vertical directions was 94.43% and 95.26% respectively, and the maximum accuracy of the single injury degree and the composite injury degree was 48.68% and 55.01% respectively, which had high accuracy and operational efficiency, and can effectively avoid the occurrence of training injury.

Characteristics, Relationships, and Differences in Muscle Activity and Impact Load Attenuation During Tennis Forehand Stroke with Different Grips

In forehand strokes with different grips in tennis, the forearm muscle activities, the distribution and attenuation of the impact loads, and the effects of the muscles on the impact load attenuation exhibited different characteristics. This study aimed to explore these characteristics by analyzing electromyography (EMG) and acceleration data, and comparing the differences between the Eastern and Western grips. Fourteen level II or above tennis players (ten males, aged 22.4 ± 3.6 years; four females, aged 19.8 ± 2.0 years) were recruited and instructed to perform forehand strokes using the Eastern and Western grips, respectively. The EMG of eight forearm muscles and the acceleration data at the ulnar and radial sides of the wrist and elbow were collected. The root mean square (RMS), the peaks of the impact load, the amplitude of impact load attenuation (AC), and the jerk value (Jerk) were calculated. The cross-correlation coefficients and time delays of EMG–EMG, EMG–AC, and EMG–jerk were obtained using the cross-correlation method. The results showed that in the Eastern grip group (group E), the RMS of the flexor carpi ulnaris (FCU) was significantly greater than that in the Western grip group (group W). In group E, the peaks of impact load, AC, and Jerk on the Y axis of the wrist ulnar side were all significantly higher than those in group W. The activity of the extensor digitorum commonis (EDC) had significantly different effects on the amplitude and rate of impact load attenuation at specific locations in different grips, especially at the elbow (p < 0.05). The conclusion indicated that the FCU exhibited higher levels of EMG activity in the Eastern grip. This grip responded to greater impact loads with more substantial and rapid attenuation on the wrist ulnar side. Furthermore, the EDC appeared to contribute more to the amplitude of impact load attenuation in the Western grip and to have a more significant influence on the rate of impact load attenuation in the Eastern grip, especially at the elbow. These results suggest that tennis players and coaches should pay more attention to improving the strength of the EDC and FCU, which can improve sports performance and comfort, as well as prevent sports injuries.

Wearable device data-driven athlete injury detection and rehabilitation monitoring algorithm

In recent years, sports wearable technology has completely changed the way athletes prepare, compete, and recover. Wearable technology has a lot to offer in the rehabilitation process, which is essential to an athlete’s return to their best performance. Wearable devices for athlete injury detection pose potential challenges like data quality, security, and privacy, impacting accuracy, reliability, and effectiveness. To solve these problems, an innovative injury detection and rehabilitation monitoring (IDRM) system was proposed for athletes. By employing an adjustable recurrent neural network (ARNN) to detect anomalies in injury risks such as abnormal joint movements in athletes. In this study, biomechanics data was collected from sports athletes through wearable devices, and the wearable system provided feedback to the user. A redefined convolutional neural network (RCNN) was utilized to monitor the rehabilitation process. This system tracks athlete’s rehabilitation progress and ensures that progress monitors were performed correctly, and the system, feasibility was evaluated on 10 healthy subjects performing 4 different rehabilitation exercises. Each exercise was performed four times monitoring and validation. The data was preprocessed using a Gaussian filter to remove noise from the obtained data. Then the features are extracted using independent component analysis (ICA) for dimensionality reduction from preprocessed data. The proposed method is implemented using Python software. In comparative analysis, the performance of ARNN showed high performance, with an F1-measure of 91.6%, accuracy of 93.5%, recall of 92.8%, and precision of 91.4%. With a 95% accuracy rate, 98% F1 measure, 94% precision, and 93% recall, the RCNN model functioned effectively. The result showed the proposed method achieved better performance in athlete injury detection and accurately recognizing all rehabilitation monitoring. This study provides a complete approach to athlete health management by highlighting the integration of rehabilitation monitoring and injury detection into an overall structure.

Relief and improvement of traditional Chinese medicine combined with exercise therapy in sports dance sports injury disorder from a biomechanical perspective

Among all kinds of sports, competitive sports with graceful movements as the main content are deeply loved by athletes. However, in the practice of sports dance, due to insufficient skills, incorrect movements, inattention and other factors, it is easy to cause sports injuries, which affects the effect of sports dance teaching. Therefore, the research and application of the alleviation and improvement of sports injury disorders are becoming more and more important. Although there are many researches and applied studies on the mitigation and improvement of sports injury disorders in sports dance, the existing research still needs to be supplemented. In this paper, a combination of traditional Chinese medicine and exercise therapy has been discussed. First, the relevant theoretical overview and related work were organized, and the sports dance movement was introduced. Then, based on the modeling of sports injury disorder, related algorithms were written, and the elements of mitigation and improvement of sports injury disorder, sports injury elements of sports dance, and elements of traditional Chinese medicine combined with exercise therapy were introduced. In the fourth part, a study on the improvement of alleviation and improvement of sports injury disorder in sports dance was carried out. In this paper, various algorithms were used to study the topic of Chinese medicine combined with exercise therapy in the mitigation and improvement of sports dance injury disorders, and the experiments were summarized and discussed. The results of the study showed that the mitigation improvement and application study of sports injury impairment in sports dance constructed in this paper can reduce the incidence of sports injury by 4.62%.

The advance of research on rhythmic gymnastics

This study conducted a systematic review of the existing literature on rhythmic gymnastics. Through searching databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus, 37 out of 2319 articles were selected, covering training and physical fitness, nutrition and metabolism, as well as sports injuries and rehabilitation. The findings revealed that: (1) Core physical training significantly enhanced athletes’ performance; (2) Inadequate nutritional intake was prevalent; (3) The incidence of sports injuries was high, particularly those resulting from overtraining. The conclusion emphasizes the need to enhance strength training, optimize nutritional management, and further investigate injury prevention and rehabilitation measures to enhance athletes’ performance and health status.

Research on the prevention of joint and muscle injuries in competitive sports by scientific sports—Table tennis as an example

Table tennis is the most popular sport among all people, which damages every joints of the body to a certain extent, and is an example of scientific sports analysis and popularization. Analyzing the causes of joint and muscle injuries in table tennis and seeking effective preventive measures can not only reduce the incidence of sports injuries, but also ensure that athletes keep a high level of competitive state in high-intensity and long-term training and competition to a certain extent, and prolong their sports life. From two aspects of traditional sports injury prevention measures and the design of a multi-data fusion management rehabilitation robot, the prevention of muscle injury in competitive sports has been studied in depth.

Association of self-reported health problems and interpersonal violence in sport: a cross-sectional study in world-level performing athletes

ObjectivesA paucity of studies assesses the intersection of physical health (injury and illness), mental health and experiences of interpersonal violence (IV, also known as harassment and abuse) in sport. The...

Protocol for scoping review: Mapping the landscape of acute pain management in sports-related musculoskeletal injuries.

Acute pain management is critical in sports-related musculoskeletal injuries to facilitate recovery and minimize long-term impact. While current practices vary, incorporating both pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches, the quality and breadth of existing evidence have not been thoroughly assessed. This scoping review aims to explore the clinical role of different pain management strategies and provide a comprehensive overview of the field. The review will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for scoping reviews and adhere to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. Searches will be conducted in major peer-reviewed databases and relevant gray literature. Studies involving athletes of any level undergoing treatment for acute musculoskeletal injuries will be considered. Data extraction will include study and participant characteristics, intervention details, reported outcomes, efficacy comparisons, and economic analyses. This review will provide a descriptive synthesis of the data, utilizing statistical analysis, figures, and tables where relevant to introduce the different treatment modalities. In line with PRISMA-P and PRISMA-ScR guidelines, this scoping review incorporates studies of diverse designs. The data synthesis involves descriptive statistics and narrative presentations, aimed at exploring the relationship between study results and research objectives. This scoping review will evaluate various pain management interventions for acute musculoskeletal injuries in sports, mapping the current evidence and identifying gaps in research. The findings will help inform clinical practices and guide future research efforts to optimize pain management strategies in sports medicine.

Finite-element simulation of functional knee sleeves based on three-dimensional modeling of the knee joint

Knee sleeves are one of the most satisfying and widely used items of protective equipment for sports enthusiasts. Achieving an effective balance between functionality and comfort is a key factor in the design of knee sleeves. However, there are still some problems with the knee protection products currently on the market, such as poor thermal and moisture comfort, difficulty in putting on and taking off, slippage during doing sports, and the lack of a timely and effective feedback mechanism that cannot guide the user to actively adjust their movement posture to avoid sports injuries. To improve the function and pressure comfort of the human body after wearing knee sleeves, this study took the knee joint as the research object, established a three-dimensional knee joint model through computed tomography (CT) scanning and Mimics software, and then built a finite-element model under the contact state between the human body and pressure clothing on this basis. Moreover, ABAQUS was used for finite-element simulation to obtain the pressure and displacement distribution of knee joints after wearing knee sleeves. In order to further investigate the stress state and deformation trend of knee joint after wearing knee sleeves, each section of the human body at the knee joint was divided into four regions according to the angle, and the functional relationship between pressure and displacement was obtained by curve fitting. This study has significance for the investigation of the pressure comfort threshold of knee sleeves and the optimization of the design of functional knee sleeves.

To Sew or Not to Sew: A Case Report

Introduction-Tongue injuries in children vary from slight lacerations to complete amputations. It could be due to fall, self-mutilation, epilepsy, child abuse, or sport injury. The anterior dorsum is the most common site followed by the mid dorsum and anterior ventral part. These injuries may cause dysfunction of tongue, hemorrhage, and disfigurement. Management of injuries of tongue in young children is challenging. There are no established guidelines for managing tongue lacerations. This is a case report of a three-year-old girl with a laceration on the anterolateral part of the tongue with non-approximating wound edges. The laceration extended from the dorsal to the ventral part. The parents were apprehensive about the surgical management of the injury due to the age of their daughter. Hence, healing of the injury with conservative management without suturing was achieved. Conclusion-The management of traumatic injuries of tongue in children is difficult due to their age and cooperation. The pediatrician has to decide whether to heal the tongue by primary or secondary intention. Our decision to allow the healing by secondary intention was successful. The tongue healed without any complications barring a small scar with satisfactory aesthetic and functional outcome. Both the parents and the child were satisfied with the management of the injury.

Relationships Between Functional Movement Quality and Sports Performance in Elite Figure Skating Athletes of China.

Zhitao, L, Junlong, D, Rui, Y, Leijiao, Y, Cheng, G, and Jun, Y. Relationships between functional movement quality and sports performance in elite figure skating athletes of China. J Strength Cond Res 38(11): e678-e685, 2024-This study aimed to determine the optimal functional movement screen (FMS) cut score for assessing the risk of sports injuries and to explore the correlations between functional movement quality and sports performance among elite figure skaters. A total of 22 elite figure pairs skaters in China underwent FMS, sports performance, and clinical examinations for sports injuries. The FMS cut score was determined using the receiver operating characteristic curve. Pearson's rank correlation analysis was used to quantify associations between the variables. (a) The optimal FMS cut score for assessing the risk of sports injuries was 13 (p = 0.008), with an area under curve of 0.838. The sensitivity and specificity were 0.889 and 0.692, respectively. (b) The trunk stability push-up (TSPU), an individual FMS test, predicted injuries in figure skaters (p = 0.015). (c) Moderate correlations were found between shoulder mobility and bench strength (r = -0.453, p = 0.034), counter movement jump (r = -0.582, p = 0.007), and 30-m sprint (r = 0.567, p = 0.009). A strong correlation was observed with squat jump (r = -0.774, p = 0.001). In addition, TSPU scores moderately correlated with 30-m sprint times (r = -0.511, p = 0.021) and 30-s average anaerobic power (r = 0.503, p = 0.024). These findings indicate that both the FMS total score ≤13 and the FMS individual score serve as indicators of injury risk in figure skaters. However, only the FMS individual score reflected the sports performance. This likely results from the similarity in kinetic chain systems and movement patterns involved in both the FMS individual test and sports performance, suggesting a promising assessment strategy for sports performance.

Clinicodemographic Risk Factors for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury: A Prospective 3-Cohort Study on Collegiate Varsity Athletes

Background: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are among the most distressing injuries for collegiate varsity athletes. Identifying easily attainable clinicodemographic risk factors in this subgroup can help screen for high-risk athletes who may benefit from proven ACL injury risk reduction programs. Purpose: To identify clinicodemographic risk factors for noncontact ACL injury among female and male collegiate varsity athletes from 10 different sports. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: A total of 777 (276 female and 501 male athletes) collegiate varsity athletes from 3 consecutive seasons had an extended panel of clinicodemographic parameters recorded at their respective preseason physical sessions. The athletes were followed for 1 athletic season for noncontact ACL injuries. Results: Fifteen (6 female and 9 male athletes) athletes suffered a noncontact ACL injury during their season. Among all athletes, previous lower limb surgery and cutting sport participation were significantly associated with an increased risk of noncontact ACL injury. Among female athletes, previous ACL injury and previous lower limb surgery were significant risk factors. No significant clinicodemographic risk factors were identified in male athletes. Female sex was not a significant risk factor for noncontact ACL injury. Conclusion: The clinicodemographic risk factors for noncontact ACL injury identified in this study are easily attainable and may guide preseason screening for ACL injury risk in collegiate varsity athletes. The lack of association of these risk factors in male athletes may highlight the need to focus on other factors such as kinematics for these athletes.

Ultrasound Screening of Achilles Tendon, Patellar Tendon, and Plantar Fascia for Pain Development in Collegiate Athletes: A Multi-institutional Prospective Evaluation.

Diagnostic ultrasound can evaluate musculoskeletal structures for abnormalities that correlate with tendinopathy and fasciopathy. Previous literature suggests that sonographic screening of tendons and fascia can identify structures that are at risk for developing pain, although this has not been evaluated in collegiate athletes competing in a variety of sports. To evaluate the use of ultrasound for screening the patellar tendon, Achilles tendon, and plantar fascia for time-loss injury in collegiate athletes during a full year. Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. A total of 242 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletes from 3 institutions participated in this yearlong prospective observational study. Each athlete completed a brief demographic questionnaire, followed by an ultrasound examination of the bilateral patellar tendons, Achilles tendons, and plantar fascia performed at the beginning of the season. Ultrasound examinations assessed for tendon/fascia thickening, hypoechogenicity, and neovascularization. Athletes were monitored for any time-loss injury in these 3 structures throughout a full year. Of the 242 athletes (n = 484 tendon/fascia) evaluated, the patellar tendon had the highest prevalence of sonographic abnormalities (37.4%), followed by the Achilles tendon (10.6%); plantar fascia abnormalities were rare (3.5%). The overall number of tendon/fascia structures that developed injury was low (<5%). The relative risk for a time-loss injury based on an initial abnormal ultrasound screening was 8.8, 17.2, and 13.2 for the patellar tendon, Achilles tendon, and plantar fascia, respectively (P < .01). Negative predictive values (99-99.6) far outweighed positive predictive values (10.3-14). NCAA Division I student-athletes with sonographic abnormalities on initial screening were more likely to develop a time-loss injury in the affected tendon/fascia during the competitive season. Further research on this topic should focus on identifying the specific sonographic abnormalities and their relationship with future injury.

Sex-based differences in hamstrings stiffness assessment in football players using ultrasound shear wave elastography.

Hamstring stiffness varies among individuals and can influence athletic performance and injury risk. Sex-based differences in hamstring stiffness among football players have not been thoroughly investigated. This study aimed to assess these differences using shear wave elastography (SWE), a non-invasive ultrasound technique that quantifies tissue stiffness. The study recruited 30 football players (15 male, 15 female) in June 2022 during their annual medical check-up. Participants were aged 18-40 years, engaged in regular training, and had no history of lower limb musculoskeletal injury in the six weeks preceding the study. SWE was used to measure shear wave velocity (SWV) in the hamstring muscles: semitendinosus (ST), semimembranosus (SM), and biceps femoris (BF). Independent t-tests were used to compare the SWV values of the hamstring muscles between sexes and between dominant and non-dominant legs. ST muscle had a statistically significant difference in SWV based on gender and leg dominance with marked differences particularly in the non-dominant leg across both genders (P=0.02; Bonferroni corrected P=0.05). SWV for ST in male group was significantly higher than that in female group; the mean elasticity of the male group for dominant and non-dominant leg were 3.8±1.5 and 4.1±1.2 m/s, respectively; and the mean elasticity of the female group for dominant and non-dominant leg were 2.9±0.7 and 2.8±0.7 m/s respectively. In contrast, SWV differences in the SM and BF muscles were not statistically significant(P=0.187 and 0.760, respectively). The study revealed significant sex-based differences in hamstring stiffness among football players, as assessed by SWE. ST muscle stiffness was associated with higher SWV in male group and show stronger correlation with non-dominance leg. These findings can contribute to individualized training programs and injury prevention strategies.

Functional outcome after arthroscopic mosaicplasty for localised osteochondral defects in the knee

Background: Knee injuries are commonly encountered in active sports persons as well as nonathletes, with approximately 60% of patients having cartilage damage with or without associated ligament and meniscal injuries. In this study, we report on the functional outcome of autologous osteochondral grafting in localised cartilage lesions of the knee. MethodsA longitudinal follow-up study was conducted on 50 patients aged between 18-55 years with symptomatic focal cartilage defect in the knee of size less than 2.0 cm2 after necessary inclusion/exclusion criteria. Management involved arthroscopic autologous osteochondral grafting. The donor cartilage was from the non–weight-bearing region of the ipsilateral knee. Other associated intra-articular injuries were addressed in the same sitting. The patients were followed up after 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months and clinical status documented by the Lysholm Knee Function Scale (LKFS). ResultsMost patients were young active males. Clinical presentation involved pain in all participants, followed by joint line tenderness. There was at least one associated injury to other intra-articular structures in 52% of the patients. The commonest associated injury was anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear followed by meniscus tear. The mean size of the focal cartilage defect was 1.013 cm2, ranging from 0.8 cm2 to 1.6 cm2. The mean preoperative LKFS was 56.97 ± 1.38 (standard error). There was a statistically (p < 0.001) as well as clinically significant (clinically important difference >13.0 and patient acceptable symptomatic state >70.0) improvement in the mean Lysholm score, which was 70 ± 1.32, 81.3 ± 1.12 and 92.1 ± 1.11 at the end of 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months respectively. Eighty-four percent of the patients showed excellent functional outcome at 6 months (LKFS >90), whereas 8% and 4% had good and fair outcomes, respectively, at 6 months (LKFS: 70–90). Two patients (4%) who had failed ACL reconstruction had poor outcome (LKFS <70)at 6 months. ConclusionMosaicplasty is an excellent procedure for managing cartilage defects of small to medium sizes, less than 2.0 cm2. The short-term results are satisfying and can accelerate rehabilitation of sports injuries. It is noteworthy that instability is a contra-indication for the procedure to succeed.

Ankle injury due to supination trauma: Potential factors worsening patient outcome

PurposeSupination trauma is a common sports injury, and often leads to chronic ankle instability. This study analyses whether indications of healing can be detected 2 weeks after supination trauma. MethodsThis prospective, monocentric study at a German Medical Center examined patients with acute supination trauma. Only patients with severity levels 2-3 were included in the study, and were advised to wear an orthosis for 5 weeks starting in the emergency room. The follow-up period was two weeks after trauma (follow-up examination 1/FE1: swelling of the ankle joint, tenderness over the lateral ligament complex and the syndesmosis, questionnaire). Nine months after injury (follow-up examination 2/FE2), these patients were interviewed by telephone using a questionnaire surveying current complaints in everyday life, sports, and work, as well as the general healing process. ResultsForty-one patients aged 35.1 years (±10.5) were included in the study. The presence of hematoma two weeks post-injury (n=6) correlated significantly with inability to work (p=0.02). Calcaneofibular ligament (CFL) tenderness was seen in 36 patients, posterior talofibular ligament (PTFL) tenderness in 29 patients, and syndesmosis tenderness in 9 patients. All patients who reported pressure pain at the anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) at FE1 were significantly more likely to experience feelings of instability at FE2 (p=0.011). All patients who reported instability at FE1 had significantly greater problems climbing stairs at FE2 (p=0.003). All patients with hematoma and instability two weeks post-injury had a persistent feeling of instability at FE2. Patients with hematoma and pressure pain at the ATFL at FE1 had persistent pain through FE2. ConclusionsPersistent hematoma, pressure pain at the ATFL or feelings of instability two weeks after ankle sprain increase the likelihood of symptoms persisting for up to nine months post-injury. Physicians and patients should be well informed about the treatment guidelines and not underestimate this injury. In general, further studies are necessary to clarify why acute ankle sprains often lead to persistent complaints.