Medical services during the 24th summer universiade.

Background: International sports competitions are one of the mass gathering events which require a well-planned medical care system for large numbers of participants. The Universiade, the World University Games, is organized for university athletes every two years. Methods: The medical service organization was presented and the medical care for injuries and illnesses provided during the 24th Summer Universiade were described. Results: During 1 to 23 August 2007, a total of 5,641 patients aged 12-89 years (including 1,700 athletes) received medical care. There were 2,535 cases (44.9%) using the Athletes’ Village Polyclinic, 2,755 cases (48.8%) using the on-site medical units, and 351 cases (6.2%) using Thammasat Hospital. For the patients presented at the Athletes’ Village Polyclinic, muscle strain was the most common injury (n=287, 34.1%), and musculoskeletal system problems were the most common illnesses (n= 484, 27.33%). Nineteen patients required hospital admission at Thammasat Hospital. Conclusion: This information might be useful for planning medical services in international multi-sport competitions in the future.

Validity and reliability of Thai version of the International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Form.

BACKGROUND: Self-administered questionnaires have become an important aspect for clinical outcome assessment of knee-related surgery. The International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) Subjective Knee Form is a knee-specific questionnaire that is widely used and translated to many languages. The purposes of the present study were: (1) to translate the questionnaire into Thai; and (2) to assess the validity and reliability of the Thai version of the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) Subjective Knee Form. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The IKDC Subjective Knee Form was translated into Thai using forward-backward translation protocol. Afterward, reliability and validity were tested The responses of 55 consecutive patients on two questionnaires, the Thai IKDC Subjective Knee Form and the Short Form-36, were used. The validity was tested by correlating the scores from both questionnaires. The reliability was adopted by measuring the test-retest reliability and internal consistency. RESULTS: The Thai IKDC Subjective Knee Form showed good correlations with the physical functioning and bodily pain domains of the SF-36 (Pearson's correlation coefficient = 0.75 and 0.76 respectively). The reliability proved excellent with an intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.92 for test-retest. The internal consistency was strong (Cronbach alpha = 0.92). CONCLUSION: The Thai version of IKDC Subjective Knee Form showed good value to retain the characteristic of the original version. In addition, it was a reliable evaluation instrument for patients with knee-related problems.

Closed posteromedial dislocation of the ankle without fracture: a case report.

Ankle dislocation without fracture is an extremely rare injury. Open dislocations were more common in the previous reports. The authors report a case of closed posteromedial dislocation of the ankle in a 24-year-old basketball player. Closed reduction was performed. The ankle was initially immobilized with the short leg cast before using the functional brace. Details of the rehabilitation program were described. Follow up examination at one-year demonstrated good clinical and functional results confirmed with the inversion stress radiographs. The patient can participate in sports activities at the same level as pre-injury.

Difference in isokinetic strength of the muscles around dominant and nondominant shoulders.

BACKGROUND: Muscle training usually plays an important role in the treatment of shoulder disorders. Clinicians traditionally predict the pre-injury strength of an injured shoulder by using the contralateral uninjured side as the baseline data. OBJECTIVE: The primary purpose of the present study was to determine the difference in isokinetic peak torque of dominant and nondominant shoulders. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Both shoulders of 39 healthy subjects (24 men, 15 women) were tested isokinetically by using the CON-TREX MJ dynamometer at two angular velocities (60 and 180 degrees/sec) during abduction, adduction, flexion, extension, internal rotation and external rotation. RESULT: There were statistical differences of contralateral peak torque in almost all directions of shoulder muscle contractions except in shoulder flexion at both speeds. Peak torque of shoulder adduction, extension, and internal rotation were greater in the dominant side. Shoulder abduction and external rotation peak torque were greater in the nondominant side. CONCLUSION: Therefore, clinicians should not directly use the isokinetic strength of the contralateral shoulder as normal baseline data for an injured side without consideration.