Higher level of communication between the medical staff and the performance staff is associated with a lower hamstring injury burden: a substudy on 14 teams from the UEFA Elite Club Injury Study.

Objectives: External risk factors connected to club, team and coaching are believed to be important in the causation of hamstring injuries, but little is known about the preventive measures used. The objective was to analyse the association between preventive factors and hamstring muscle injury burden.

Methods: 14 teams participated in the Union of European Football Associations Champions/Europa Leagues from 2019/2020 to 2022/2023.

Video analysis of Achilles tendon ruptures in professional male football (soccer) reveals underlying injury patterns and provides strategies for injury prevention.

Purpose: In professional football (soccer), Achilles tendon ruptures are severe injuries. Video analysis promotes a better understanding of the underlying situational and biomechanical patterns, and provides a roadmap for future research to improve the management and prevention of Achilles tendon ruptures. The purpose of this study was to identify injury patterns contributing to acute Achilles tendon ruptures in professional male football players.

Return to Play and Pattern of Injury After ACL Rupture in a Consecutive Series of Elite UEFA Soccer Players.

Background: Anterior cruciate ligament rupture represents a career-threatening injury for professional soccer players.

Purpose: To analyze the pattern of injury, return to play (RTP), and performance of a consecutive series of elite professional soccer players after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR).

Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4.

Risk factors for hamstring muscle injury in male elite football: medical expert experience and conclusions from 15 European Champions League clubs.

Objectives: To describe the perceived importance of suggested hamstring injury risk factors according to chief medical officers (CMOs) of European male professional football clubs. A secondary objective was to compare if these perceptions differed between teams with a lower-than-average hamstring injury burden and teams with a higher than average hamstring injury burden.

Methods: First, CMOs of 15 European professional male football clubs were asked to suggest risk factors for hamstring injury in their club.

[Musculoskeletal laboratory diagnostics in competitive sport].

Background: Laboratory diagnostics represent a valuable tool for the optimization and assessment of the performance and regeneration ability in professional athletes. Blood parameters play an important role in the prevention, diagnosis and rehabilitation of injuries and physical overload.

Objectives: The aim of this article is to present an overview of musculoskeletal laboratory parameters and to provide relevant information for the medical care of competitive athletes.

Bilateral Looser zones or pseudofractures in the anteromedial tibia as a component of medial tibial stress syndrome in athletes.

Purpose: Medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) represents a common diagnosis in individuals exposed to repetitive high-stress loads affecting the lower limb, e.g., high-performance athletes.

[Impact of Vitamin D in Sports: Does Vitamin D Insufficiency Compromise Athletic Performance?].

 Vitamin D is essential for calcium homeostasis and regulates the expression of over 900 genes. It thereby influences musculoskeletal health and function. Additionally, multiple other effects were observed through the detection of vitamin D receptors (VDR) in numerous tissues of the human body.

Treatment of muscle injuries in football.

Muscle injuries are frequent and represent one of the most substantial medical problems in professional football. They can have both traumatic and overuse causes with direct practical consequence due to differences in terms of the post-primary care regimen and prognosis. An accurate diagnosis is the first step towards a specific treatment and usually allows to predict return to play (RTP).

Intra-articular osteoid osteoma as a differential diagnosis of diffuse mono-articular joint pain.

Background: The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the frequency of intra-articular osteoid osteoma (iaOO) in a large study cohort and to demonstrate its clinical relevance as an important differential diagnosis of non-specific mono-articular joint pain.

Methods: We searched the registry for bone tumours of the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf for osteoid osteomas in the last 42 years. Herein, we present three selected iaOO which were detected in the three major weight-bearing joints.

Deterioration of teeth and alveolar bone loss due to chronic environmental high-level fluoride and low calcium exposure.

Objectives: Health risks due to chronic exposure to highly fluoridated groundwater could be underestimated because fluoride might not only influence the teeth in an aesthetic manner but also seems to led to dentoalveolar structure changes. Therefore, we studied the tooth and alveolar bone structures of Dorper sheep chronically exposed to very highly fluoridated and low calcium groundwater in the Kalahari Desert in comparison to controls consuming groundwater with low fluoride and normal calcium levels within the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended range.

Materials And Methods: Two flocks of Dorper ewes in Namibia were studied.

Nonoperative treatment and return to play after complete proximal adductor avulsion in high-performance athletes.

Purpose: To assess the outcome of nonoperative treatment after complete avulsion of the proximal adductor longus tendon in high-performance athletes.

Methods: Six consecutive athletes were included. Treatment was conservative following a strict rehabilitation plan.

Epidemiological and clinical outcome comparison of indirect ('strain') versus direct ('contusion') anterior and posterior thigh muscle injuries in male elite football players: UEFA Elite League study of 2287 thigh injuries (2001-2013).

Background: Data regarding direct athletic muscle injuries (caused by a direct blunt or sharp external force) compared to indirect ones (without the influence of a direct external trauma) are missing in the current literature--this distinction has clinical implications.

Aim: To compare incidence, duration of absence and characteristics of indirect and direct anterior (quadriceps) and posterior thigh (hamstring) muscle injuries.

Methods: 30 football teams and 1981 players were followed prospectively from 2001 until 2013.

Suture anchor repair of proximal rectus femoris avulsions in elite football players.

Purpose: To report the results of suture anchor repair of proximal rectus femoris avulsions in elite football players.

Methods: Four professional football players (first-team regulars of European first division football clubs) underwent suture anchor repair of complete proximal rectus femoris avulsions with significant tendon retraction. The following parameters were analysed: demographic data, mechanism of injury, type of injury, classification according to the Munich consensus statement, time between injury and surgery, time between surgery and full participation in training and availability for match and/or competition selection (return to play/RTP), and time between surgery and the comeback to the first official league match (return to competition/RTC).

Intravenous bisphosphonates and vitamin D in the treatment of bone marrow oedema in professional athletes.

Introduction: The goal of this retrospective study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ibandronate for bone marrow oedema (BMO) syndrome and stress fracture cases, and to demonstrate an additional field of therapeutic importance-the high-performance athlete.

Patients And Methods: This retrospective study included twenty-five high-performance athletes. Sixty per cent of the athletes were European soccer players and 40.

Terminology and classification of muscle injuries in sport: the Munich consensus statement.

Objective: To provide a clear terminology and classification of muscle injuries in order to facilitate effective communication among medical practitioners and development of systematic treatment strategies.

Methods: Thirty native English-speaking scientists and team doctors of national and first division professional sports teams were asked to complete a questionnaire on muscle injuries to evaluate the currently used terminology of athletic muscle injury. In addition, a consensus meeting of international sports medicine experts was established to develop practical and scientific definitions of muscle injuries as well as a new and comprehensive classification system.

The influence of the stable expression of BMP2 in fibrin clots on the remodelling and repair of osteochondral defects.

Growth factors like BMP2 have been tested for osteochondral repair, but transfer methods used until now were insufficient. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse if stable BMP2 expression after retroviral vector (Bullet) transduction is able to regenerate osteochondral defects in rabbits. Fibrin clots colonized by control or BMP2-transduced chondrocytes were generated for in vitro experiments and implantation into standardized corresponding osteochondral defects (n=32) in the rabbit trochlea.

A fibrin glue composition as carrier for nucleic acid vectors.

Purpose: Gene delivery from biomaterials has become an important tool in tissue engineering. The purpose of this study was to generate a gene vector-doted fibrin glue as a versatile injectable implant to be used in gene therapy supported tissue regeneration.

Methods: Copolymer-protected polyethylenimine(PEI)-DNA vectors (COPROGs), naked DNA and PEI-DNA were formulated with the fibrinogen component of the fibrin glue TISSUCOL and lyophilized.

Efficient and stable gene transfer of growth factors into chondrogenic cells and primary articular chondrocytes using a VSV.G pseudotyped retroviral vector.

Since efficient transfer of foreign genes into primary articular chondrocytes (CC) is difficult, a VSV.G pseudotyped retroviral vector (Bullet) was developed for marker and growth factor gene transfer. Transduction efficiency was analysed by FACS.

The fate of osteochondral grafts after autologous osteochondral transplantation: a one-year follow-up study in a minipig model.

Introduction: Because articular cartilage shows little intrinsic capacity of spontaneous regeneration, a variety of treatment options are currently at use to repair cartilage damage. One of these is the autologous osteochondral transplantation (AOT). The aim of the present work was to study the histological changes during the progress of 1 year after AOT in the knee joint.

Osteochondral transplantation to treat osteochondral lesions in the elbow.

Background: Effective treatment of osteochondral lesions in the elbow remains challenging. Arthroscopic débridement and microfracture or retrograde drilling techniques are often insufficient and provide only temporary symptomatic relief. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the treatment of these lesions with osteochondral autografts.

In vitro analysis of an allogenic scaffold for tissue-engineered meniscus replacement.

Scaffolds play a key role in the field of tissue engineering. Particularly for meniscus replacement, optimal scaffold properties are critical. The aim of our study was to develop a novel scaffold for replacement of meniscal tissue by means of tissue engineering.

Arthroscopical Findings after Antegrade Nailing of a Proximal Humeral Fracture : Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Proximal humeral fractures represent up to five percent of all fractures in adults, commonly found in elderly patients. The final functional results after different operative procedures are among other factors dependent on whether or not a rotator cuff lesion is pre-existent, prior to the fracture, and how its surgical therapy is carried out. However, to what extent prior rotator cuff tears in this special patient group contribute to the functional outcome remains widely unclear.

In vivo analysis of retroviral gene transfer to chondrocytes within collagen scaffolds for the treatment of osteochondral defects.

To examine a retroviral gene transfer to chondrocytes in vitro and in vivo in tissue-engineered cell-collagen constructs articular chondrocytes from rabbits and humans were isolated and transduced with VSV.G pseudotyped murine leukemia virus-derived retroviral vectors. Viral supernatants were generated by transient transfection of 293T cells using the pBullet retroviral vector carrying the nlslacZ gene, a Moloney murine leukemia virus gag/pol plasmid and a VSV.

Antegrade nailing of humeral head fractures with captured interlocking screws.

Objectives/design: To assess the functional outcome after treatment of proximal humeral fractures with a new antegrade nail that provides angular and sliding stability. INTERVENTION/PATIENTS: Ninety-seven patients were treated during a 4-year period between April 2000 and March 2004. All patients were followed for 6 months, 51 patients (53%) for 12 months, and 31 patients (32%) for 24 months.