Determination of the Prevalence of Knee and Hip Clinical Osteoarthritis in the Active Professional Male Footballer and Its Association with Pain, Function, Injury and Surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To comment on and explore (1) the prevalence of clinical knee and hip osteoarthritis (OA); (2) the association between pain or function and clinical knee or hip OA; (3) the association between injury or surgery and clinical knee or hip OA. METHODS: Participants were recruited from FIFPRO members. A total of 101 footballers consented to answer (1) a developed questionnaire, (2) patient-reported outcome measures, and (3) be evaluated by their team physician for clinical knee or hip OA. RESULTS: Of the 53% evaluated for clinical knee and hip OA, a prevalence of 9.43% and 7.55% of knee and hip OA, respectively, was found. There was a significant and strong association between knee (p = 0.033; Cramers v Value = 0.523) and hip pain (p = 0.005; Cramers v Value = 0.602) and clinical OA. A significant association existed between Hip dysfunction and Osteoarthritis Outcome short form Scores and clinical OA of the hip (p = 0.036). The odds of clinical knee OA were 1.5 and 4.5 times more after one or more injuries or surgeries, respectively. There was no association between playing position and clinical OA. CONCLUSION: There is a low prevalence of a clinical knee or hip OA in the active professional male footballer. Pain may be a valid symptom to predict or monitor knee or hip OA. Validated assessment tools should be utilised to identify a negative effect on function. The odds of developing clinical OA in the knee with the number of injuries or surgeries. The hip presents with earlier clinical signs of OA compared to the knee.

Monitoring the health of transitioning professional footballers: protocol of an observational prospective cohort study.

INTRODUCTION: Transitioning out of professional football is a challenging time in most players' lives. During these preretirement and postretirement years, professional footballers may struggle with their mental, musculoskeletal, neurocognitive and cardiovascular health. Currently, longitudinal data about these health conditions are lacking. This article presents the design of a prospective cohort study with the primary aim of gathering epidemiological evidence about the onset and course of mental, musculoskeletal, neurocognitive and cardiovascular health conditions in professional footballers during their preretirement and postretirement years and evaluating the associations between risk indicators and the health conditions under study in these players. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: An observational prospective cohort study with repeated measurements over a follow-up period of 10 years will be conducted among at least 200 professional footballers (male; 27 (±1) years old). Mental health will be explored by assessing symptoms of distress, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance, alcohol misuse, drug misuse and disordered eating. Musculoskeletal health will be explored by assessing severe joint injury and related surgery, clinical and radiological osteoarthritis, and joint function (hips, knees and ankles). Neurocognitive health will be explored by assessing the concussion, brain structure and functioning, and neurocognitive functioning. Cardiovascular health will be explored by assessing blood pressure, lipid profile and ECG abnormalities. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval for the study was provided by the Medical Ethics Review Committee of the Amsterdam University Medical Centers. The results of the study will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals, will be presented at scientific conferences and will be released in the media (postpublication). TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: The Dutch Trial Registry (Drake Football Study NL7999).

Distal patellar tendinosis: an unusual form of jumper's knee.

Jumper's knee is a common problem in athletes participating in sports that involve running and jumping. Typically activity related pain is felt at the proximal insertion of the patellar tendon. Symptoms and findings in the more distal parts of the patellar tendon are unusual. All of the patients in this retrospective study were active athletes suffering from distal patellar tendinosis. There were 19 men and four women. The mean age of the patients was 24 years (range 12-32). All of the patients were operated on after conservative treatment lasting for an average of 23 months had failed. After a mean postoperative follow-up of 42 months 21 of the knees were rated good meaning that the athlete had returned to the prior level of activity without any symptoms. In three knees the result was fair as the patients benefited from the operation but there were some remaining symptoms. No poor results were reported. All patients were able to return to their previous level of sports 8-12 weeks after surgery. Operative treatment seems to give good results in most cases after unsuccessful conservative treatment of the unusual distal patellar tendinosis in athletes.

Tension-band wiring for fractures of the fifth metatarsal located in the junction of the proximal metaphysis and diaphysis.

BACKGROUND: Fractures of the proximal fifth metatarsal, other than those involving the tuberosity, have a tendency to delayed union or even nonunion. HYPOTHESIS: Tension-band wire technique is a good alternative in treating fractures of the fifth metatarsal located in the proximal junction of the metaphysis and the diaphysis. STUDY DESIGN: Case series; level of evidence, 4. METHODS: Between 1996 and 2001, a total of 27 cases of proximal metaphysial/diaphysial fractures of the fifth metatarsal were treated with tension-band wiring. All of the patients had undergone prior unsuccessful nonoperative or operative treatment. The mean delay from the diagnosis of the fracture to the final operative procedure was 19.5 weeks (range, 6-48 weeks). RESULTS: The mean length of follow-up was 35 months (range, 12-70 months). All patients were able to return to their prior levels of activity. The mean time for union as shown on radiographs was 12.8 weeks, and the return to full activity took 8 to 20 weeks (mean, 14.7 weeks). There were no delayed unions, nonunions, or refractures during the follow-up. CONCLUSION: The tension-band wire technique seems to give good results in the treatment of proximal metaphysial/diaphysial fractures of the fifth metatarsal in cases of primary unsuccessful nonoperative treatment or primary unsuccessful intramedullary screw fixation.

Evaluation of the second-generation meniscus arrow in the fixation of bucket-handle tears in the vascular area of the meniscus. A prospective study of 20 patients with a mean follow-up of 26 months.

The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate whether the shorter degradation time of the second-generation Meniscus Arrow would be adequate to allow meniscal healing and whether equally good results could be achieved compared to the first generation implant. We also wanted to assess whether some of the implant related complications could be avoided with the altered absorption time. A total of 20 patients were included in this study. The mean follow-up was 26 months. The average Lysholm score at the final follow-up was 90. There were 13 second-look arthroscopies performed during the follow-up and in them two failures of the repaired menisci to heal were seen. Seven patients were found with some degree of chondral irritation of the femoral condyle corresponding to the repair site. The second generation Meniscus Arrow seems to give results comparable to the first generation Meniscus Arrow. The potential complications caused by the implant reported in the earlier literature using the first generation arrow are possible also using this implant. In seven of the 13 second-look arthroscopies some degree of chondral irritation corresponding to the repair site was seen. The clinical relevance of these lesions remains to be seen.

Intra-articular cysts and ganglia of the knee: a report of nine patients.

Completely intra-articular cysts and ganglia of the knee are rare. They have been found in various locations such as on the anterior or posterior cruciate ligaments, in the infrapatellar fat pad, on the posterior wall of the posteromedial compartment and (very rarely) in connection to the menisci. We analyzed nine patients with intra-articular cysts or ganglia found in a series of 2,400 consecutive arthroscopies. In four patients, the cyst or ganglion was found attached to the anterior part of the ACL, in two patients it was located between the ACL and the PCL, and in the remaining three cases it was found in connection with the meniscus. In three out of the nine patients there was either no or very minor additional pathology found in the knee besides the cyst or the ganglion. We believe that intra-articular cysts and ganglia of the knee can be symptomatic, and excellent or good results after cyst removal can be expected especially when there is little additional pathology.

Mild eccentric stretch injury in skeletal muscle causes transient effects on tensile load and cell proliferation.

The biomechanical and regenerative responses in rabbit tibialis anterior muscle following a single eccentric stretch injury were investigated 1, 3 and 7 days after traumatization. The stretch injury produced a transient biomechanical effect. On day 1, the load at failure was decreased in the injured muscles compared with the uninjured controls (P<0.05), but on days 3 and 7 significant biomechanical differences were no longer recorded between the injured and control muscles. In immunohistochemical analyses, no overt myonecrosis or connective tissue disruption was observed in any of the stretch-injured muscles. Yet satellite cells were activated to incorporate a thymidine analogue, bromodeoxyuridine indicating mitotic activity. They did not, however, produce muscle-specific proteins, i.e., they did not differentiate further. Furthermore, the intact appearing but mildly injured myofibers of the stretched muscles expressed both neonatal myosin and vimentin near the myotendinous junctions. Collectively, these results suggest that a single mild eccentric stretch of skeletal muscle which does not cause gross structural alterations results in a short-term decrease in tensile load and induces transient proliferation of satellite cells and fibroblasts together with expression of primitive proteins in myofibers.

Rupture of the pectoralis major muscle.

BACKGROUND: Total or near-total rupture of the pectoralis major muscle is a rare injury. Fewer than 200 cases have been reported in literature, many of them in single case reports. There is discrepancy regarding whether this kind of injury should be treated operatively. HYPOTHESIS: Early surgical treatment is necessary to obtain optimal functional recovery following total or near-total ruptures of the pectoralis major muscle. STUDY DESIGN: A case series of 33 operatively treated pectoralis major ruptures combined with a meta-analysis of the previously published cases in the English literature. METHODS: The authors have retrospectively analyzed 33 operatively treated cases of total or near-total ruptures of the pectoralis major muscle. They have also analyzed the previously published cases and the final outcomes of their treatment. The difference in outcome between groups of acute operation, delayed operation, and conservative treatment in both their own material and meta-analysis was statistically analyzed. RESULTS: Both the case series and the analysis of the cases from the literature showed that early operative treatment is associated with better outcome than delayed treatment. The delayed operation was associated with better outcome than the conservative treatment. CONCLUSION: Early surgical treatment by anatomic repair gives the best results in the treatment of total and near-total ruptures of the pectoralis major muscle.

Comparison of two procedures for meniscal cysts. A report of 35 patients with a mean follow-up of 33 months.

BACKGROUND: The cause, pathogenesis, and appropriate treatment of meniscal cysts remain controversial. PURPOSE: We wanted to evaluate the results of treatment of meniscal cysts with two different operative procedures. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. METHODS: Two different operative procedures were compared. Sixteen patients (group 1) had an open excision of the cyst performed in addition to arthroscopic examination of the knee. Nineteen patients (group 2) were treated entirely arthroscopically. The postoperative treatment course was the same for both groups. The mean length of follow-up was 33 months. RESULTS: The results were excellent or good in 86% of the patients (30 of 35) and were equally good for both procedures. Patients with degenerative changes of the knee joint seemed to have a less favorable outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Good or excellent results can be expected from either open or arthroscopic treatment of meniscal cysts.

Transected myofibres may remain permanently divided in two parts.

During regeneration of transected myofibres a scar is formed between their stumps. Myofibres restore their tendon-muscle-tendon continuity and contractile function by attaching to the scar with new myotendinous junctions. The scar contracts with time, and thereby the stumps are pulled close to each other. During early regeneration, myoblasts and myotubes can fuse with the surviving parts of the transected myofibres. However, it is not known whether it is possible that the opposite stumps could eventually fuse to reunite the divided parts of the transected fibres. In this study, we show in rat that even after 12 months the stumps remain attached to the separating scar by myotendinous junctions without showing definite fusion of the stumps. We conclude that transected myofibres probably remain permanently divided in two consecutive tendon-muscle-tendon units.

Observation of anomalous insertion of the medial meniscus on the anterior cruciate ligament.

We wanted to determine the frequency of occurrence and types of anomalous insertions of the medial meniscus to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in Finnish patients. In 987 consecutive arthroscopies from January 1996 to August 1998, the meniscal pathology was mapped using videoprints and drawings. We found 11 anomalous medial meniscus insertions to the ACL. There were 4 female and 6 male patients in the series. In 1 woman, the anomaly was bilateral. The mean age of the patients was 30.6 years (range 14 to 63 years). The anomalous band was excised in all patients. The anomaly usually was not the finding that caused the need for arthroscopy. In 3 knees, the anomaly was the only pathologic finding. The frequency of this anomaly occurring was approximately 1.2%. The anomalous medial meniscus insertion to the ACL is a very rare clinical finding. Arthroscopic surgeons should be aware of its existence as well as of other anterior horn insertion variations of the medial meniscus.