Stress fractures of the lower ribs related to sports are rare. Fractures of the ribs related to rowing sports have not been reported. We have documented seven cases of stress fractures of the lower ribs in female athletes; four were elite rowers and three were engaged in tennis, golf, and gymnastics. Each athlete was initially seen and treated elsewhere for muscular strain. All athletes presented with pain in the posterolateral thorax in and around the scapula. The time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis ranged from 2 to 6 months. Bone scans were used to document the fractures when roentgenograms were equivocal. Each athlete responded to a 4 to 8 week period of rest or training modification. Biomechanical analysis of the forces across the ribs demonstrates that these fractures tend to occur along the posterolateral segment where the bending stresses on the rib are greatest. The predominant muscle forces are generated by the forced couple of scapular retraction and protraction acting through the serratus anterior. We postulate that inadequate strength and resistance training background in women is the cause for the apparent increased susceptibility of women to these skeletal injuries.

A prospective investigation covering 8 years (1971 to 1978) at a major university was undertaken involving the nonoperative management of medial collateral ligament injuries to the knee. Rigid diagnostic criteria were used for each injury prior to inclusion in a program of functional rehabilitation without cast immobilization. Eighty-nine fresh ligamentous injuries were reviewed. Thirty-eight knees required surgery. The remaining 51 knees were classified as isolated Grade I or Grade II injuries. Forty-two (80%) successfully completed the program of rehabilitation. Nine (20%) were considered failures. These were attributed to inadequate diagnoses during the early period of the study. Average time required for the athletes to return to full competition was 21 days (range of 9 to 32 days.)

No abstract

Green sturgeon, Acipenser medirostris, and white sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus, are frequent inhabitants of coastal estuaries from northern California, USA to British Columbia, Canada. An analysis of stomach contents from 95 green sturgeon and six white sturgeon commercially landed in Willapa Bay, Grays Harbor, and the Columbia River estuary during 2000-2005 revealed that 17-97% had empty stomachs, but those fish with items in their guts fed predominantly on benthic prey items and fish. Burrowing thalassinid shrimp (mostly Neotrypaea californiensis) were important food items for both white and especially for green sturgeon taken in Willapa Bay, Washington during summer 2003, where they represented 51% of the biomass ingested (84.9% IRI). Small pits observed in intertidal areas dominated by these shrimp, are likely made by these sturgeon and we present evidence from exclusion studies and field observation that the predator making the pits can have a significant cumulative negative effect on burrowing shrimp density. These burrowing shrimp present a threat to the aquaculture industry in Washington State due to their ability to de-stabilize the substrate on which shellfish are grown. Despite an active burrowing shrimp control program in these estuaries, it seems unlikely that current burrowing shrimp abundance and availability as food is a limiting factor for threatened green sturgeon stocks. However, these large predators may have performed an important top down control function on shrimp populations in the past when they were more abundant.