Anterior cruciate ligament injuries among wakeboarders: a case report.

No previous cases of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries sustained during wake-boarding have been reported. We report on a case involving an ACL injury sustained during wakeboarding. A 27-year-old man sustained an injury while attempting a wakeboarding maneuver(a heel-side back roll, consisting of a jump and simultaneous roll toward the heel side). He failed to complete his roll before landing, striking the water with his right shoulder foremost, then plunging underwater. When his wakeboard struck the water, his left knee was sprained by the rotational force exerted by the board. The patient was diagnosed with an isolated ACL injury and underwent arthroscopic ACL reconstructive surgery. The board used in wakeboarding is wider and subject to greater water resistance than that used in water skiing. The feet of the wakeboarder are firmly attached by binding boots to a board, laterally with respect to the direction of motion, impeding easy separation of the board from the feet in the event of a fall. Thus, wakeboarding conditions would appear to put wakeboarders at particular risk for ACL injuries. These conditions need be assessed from a medical perspective in order to devise ways to minimize the risk of such injuries.

Research on the effectiveness of intermittent cervical traction therapy, using short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials.

Short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) were measured before and after intermittent cervical traction therapy to serve as objective indicators of therapy effectiveness. The subjects were 29 patients with myelopathy, 23 with cervical radiculopathy, 28 with cervical sprain, and 26 healthy individuals. SSEPs were recorded by stimulating the median nerve, and the negative potentials elicited from the brachial plexus (N9), neck (N11, lcN13, ucN13), and somatosensory area (N18) were measured to determine interpeak latencies and then corrected latency. As to the changes in SSEPs following traction, the N11-lcN13 and lcN13-ucN13 interpeak latencies for patients with type I and II myelopathy decreased, and the severity of myelopathy was inversely related to the degree of decrease. The ucN13-N18 interpeak latency for some patients with severe myelopathy increased. The N9-N11 and N11-lcN13 interpeak latencies for patients with cervical radiculopathy decreased, and the ucN13-N18 for patients with cervical sprain accompanied by autonomic nervous symptoms also decreased. Traction therapy might improve conduction disturbance primarily by increasing the amount of blood flow from the nerve roots to the spinal parenchyma.