Sports
Arm pain in young baseball players common, preventable
Source: Science Daily
Arm pain is common among supposedly healthy young baseball players and nearly half have been encouraged to keep playing despite arm pain, the most in-depth survey of its kind has found. The findings suggest that more detailed and individualized screening is needed to prevent overuse injury in young ballplayers.
What is repetitive strain injury (RSI)? What causes repetitive strain injury?
Source: Medical News Today
Repetitive strain injury or RSI, also known as repetitive stress injury, repetitive motion injuries, repetitive motion disorder (RMD), cumulative trauma disorder (CTD), occupational overuse syndrome, overuse syndrome, and regional musculoskeletal disorder is a range of painful or uncomfortable conditions of the muscles, tendons, nerves and other soft tissues. RSI is usually caused by repetitive use of a certain part of the body, often somewhere in the upper limbs (arms).
Repetitive strain injury is typically related to an occupation (job), but may also be linked to some kinds of leisure activity. As opposed to a sudden or ‘normal’ injury, RSI signs and symptoms may continue for much longer.
Young baseball players frequently suffer from preventable arm pain
Source: Medical News Today
The most in-depth survey of its kind found that arm pain is common among supposedly healthy young baseball players and nearly half have been encouraged to keep playing despite arm pain. The findings suggest that more detailed and individualized screening is needed to prevent overuse injury in young ballplayers. The study, led by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers, was published in the online edition of the American Journal of Sports Medicine.
Divergent trends seen in meniscal and cartilage injuries between primary and revision ACL repair
Source: Healio
In a community-based sample, the prevalence of articular cartilage injury increased between primary and revision ACL repair, whereas the prevalence of meniscal injury decreased, according to recent study findings.
Researchers studied 261 patients who underwent both primary and revision ACL reconstruction (ACLR) between February 2005 and September 2011 via community-based registry. Patient data (sex, age, race and BMI), procedure characteristics and descriptive statistics (medians, interquartile ranges, frequencies and proportions) were the metrics used for evaluation.
Overall, 256 patients required revision ACLR due to instability, and the remaining five were due to infection.
Cartilage injuries nearly doubled (14.9% to 31.8%) from primary to revision ACLR, whereas meniscal tears decreased overall from 54.8% at primary ACLR to 43.7% at revision. This trend was also reflected in lateral meniscus tears (32.2% at primary, 18.4% at revision), though medial meniscus tears were observed to be the same (32.6%) at both primary and revision ACLR, according to the researchers.
A 70.8% prevalence of meniscus tear in revision was observed in patients who had meniscus fixation during primary ACLR.
Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.
Female athletes at highest risk for first-time noncontact ACL tear
Source: Healio
Although multiple factors influence first-time noncontact ACL injuries, female athletes are most at risk to sustain them, according to recently published data.
Researchers reviewed first-time noncontact ACL injury data from 320,719 collegiate athletes and 873,057 high school athletes between fall 2008 and spring 2012. Athlete exposure was determined retrospectively using team-reported schedule and roster data. Effects of competition level, sport and sex on ACL injury risk were estimated by Poisson regression.
Athlete incidence rate was 0.150 per 1,000 person-days among collegiate athletes and 0.061 per 1,000 person-days among high school athletes. When adjusted for differences in sport and gender, the researchers found college athletes were significantly more likely to sustain a first-time noncontact ACL injury than high school athletes.
Overall injury incidence rate was 0.112 in female athletes and 0.063 for males. When adjusted for sport and level of play, females were more than two times more likely than males to have a first-time noncontact ACL injury.
Among all athletes, rugby and soccer players ran the highest risk of these ACL injuries (2.23 and 1.77 times more likely, respectively), according to the researchers.
Disclosure: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01 AR050421) and the Department of Energy (SC00017).
Similar clinical outcomes found with, without acromioplasty after rotator cuff repair
Source: Healio
After rotator cuff repair, study results showed no difference in clinical outcomes with or without acromioplasty at 2 years postoperatively.
Researchers randomly assigned 114 patients undergoing arthroscopic repair of full-thickness rotator cuff tears into acromioplasty or non-acromioplasty groups. Along with physical examination, which included range of motion and dynamometer strength testing, the researchers collected the Simple Shoulder Test, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons, Constant, University of California — Los Angeles and SF-12 health assessment scores and recorded intraoperative data, including tear size, repair configuration and concomitant procedures.
The researchers reviewed preoperative imaging to classify the acromial morphologic type, acromial angle and lateral acromial angulation.
Overall, 95 patients were available for a minimum of 2-year follow-up. Study results showed no significant differences in baseline characteristics, including number of tendons torn, repair configuration, concomitant procedures and acromion type and angles. All functional outcome scores improved significantly from preoperatively to all follow-up time points in both groups.
Additionally, there were no significant differences in functional outcomes between the two groups or between patients with different acromial features at any time point, according to the researchers.
Disclosure: See the study for a full list of all authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
Early alteration after distal radius fracture casting not associated with loss of alignment
Source: Healio
Although cast alteration after casting for distal radius fractures is common, early cast alteration was safe and not associated with loss of alignment, according to study results.
Researchers retrospectively reviewed patient records for 296 adult patients who presented with distal radius fracture and were treated with a below-elbow circumferential plaster cast at a tertiary care hospital from 2006 to 2009. Outcome measures included patient demographics, polytrauma at the time of injury, subspecialty of the physician performing the reduction and type of cast alteration.
The researchers used radiographs to assess initial fracture characteristics and secondary displacement of reduction over time, and an analysis was performed to identify predictive variables for the early cast alteration and determine the alterations’ effects on fracture alignment.
Study results showed 22.2% of patients underwent cast alteration during the early treatment, with splitting as the most common alteration performed, followed by application of new cast and cast trimming.
Upon stratifying by fracture classification, the researchers found patients with type A fractures had an alteration frequency of 23% compared with 22% in patients with type B fractures and 21% in patients with type C fractures.
Among patients treated by orthopedic residents, 22% had their cast altered compared with 21% of patients treated by emergency room physicians.
According to study results, 36% of patients with multiple injuries had their cast altered, whereas 21% of patients with isolated distal radius fractures had their cast altered.
No type of cast alteration was found to be significantly predictive of loss of fracture alignment at 2 or 6 weeks, according to the researchers.
Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.
Cayenne Medical launches new all-suture anchor system
Source: Healio
Cayenne Medical recently announced the launch of the SureLock All-Suture Anchor System.
Indicated for use in shoulder and extremity procedures, the SureLock system is designed to provide a predictable fixation method while eliminating manual tension that can lead to pull-out or displacement of the anchor as well as partial anchor deployment.
The system minimizes bone loss and anchor footprint by requiring a smaller pilot hole compared with traditional anchors. It is also deployed through an inserter-controlled method, ensuring a greater level of control over placement, according to a company press release.
“Cayenne Medical has seen great clinical success with the SureLock All-Suture Anchor System since its limited market release earlier this year, and we are excited to announce a full market launch that allows us to open up domestic and international markets,” Dave Springer, president and CEO of Cayenne Medical, said in the press release.
Autografts may improve ACL reconstructions
Source: Medical News Today
Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) reconstructions occur more than 200,000 times a year, but the type of material used to create a new ligament may determine how long you stay in the game, say researchers who presented their work at the Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine (AOSSM).
Identifying risk factors for ACL re-injury
Source: Medical News Today
Re-tearing a repaired knee Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) happens all too frequently, however a recent study being presented today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s (AOSSM) Annual Meeting suggests that identification and patient education regarding modifiable risk factors may minimize the chance of a future ACL tear.