Context: More than 1.6 million sport-related concussions occur every year in the United States, affecting greater than 5% of all high school athletes who participate in contact sports. As more females participate in sports, understanding possible differences in concussion symptoms between sexes becomes more important.Objective: To compare symptoms, symptom resolution time, and time to return to sport between males and females with sport-related concussions.Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Setting: Data were collected from 100 high schools via High School RIO (Reporting Information Online).Patients or Other Participants: Athletes from participating schools who sustained concussions while involved in interscholastic sports practice or competition in 9 sports (boys' football, soccer, basketball, wrestling, and baseball and girls ' soccer, volleyball, basketball, and softball) Main Outcome Measure(s): Reported symptoms, symptom resolution time, and return-to-play time.Results: No difference was found between the number of symptoms reported (P 5 .30). However, a difference was seen in the types of symptoms reported. In year 1, males reported amnesia (exact P 5 .03) and confusion/disorientation (exact P 5 .04) more frequently than did females. In year 2, males reported more amnesia (exact P 5 .002) and confusion/ disorientation (exact P 5 .002) than did females, whereas females reported more drowsiness (exact P 5 .02) and sensitivity to noise (exact P 5 .002) than did males. No differences were observed for symptom resolution time (P 5 .40) or return-to-play time (P 5 .43) between sexes.Conclusions: The types of symptoms reported differed between sexes after sport-related concussion, but symptom resolution time and return-to-play timelines were similar.

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Muscle energy technique (MET) is a common conservative treatment for pathology around the spine, particularly lumbopelvic pain (LPP). MET is considered a gentle manual therapy for restricted motion of the spine and extremities 1 and is an active technique where the patient, not the clinician, controls the corrective force 2 . This treatment requires the patient to perform voluntary muscle contractions of varying intensity, in a precise direction, while the clinician applies a counterforce not allowing movement to occur 2 . For many years, MET has been advocated to treat muscle imbalances of the lumbopelvic region such as pelvis asymmetry. The theory behind MET suggests that the technique is used to correct an asymmetry by targeting a contraction of the hamstring or the hip flexors on the painful side of the low back and moving the innominate in a corrected direction. It is worth noting however, that evidence suggests that nonsymptomatic individuals have also been shown to have pelvis asymmetries. Despite this, MET is frequently used by manual therapy clinicians.Unfortunately, few studies have examined the effectiveness of MET. Previous research has found that MET of the low back improved self report of disability when used with supervised neuromuscular reeducation and resistance exercise training 2 , but the effect of MET as an isolated treatment has not been determined. Cervical range of motion increased after 7 MET sessions, which consisted of four 5-second contractions over a 4-week period, and lumbar extension increased after 2 sessions per week for 4 weeks 4,5 . Five-second contractions have shown greatest results with application at the atlanto-axial joint 6 and the thoracic spine 1 . While MET was successful in two studies, the effect of one treatment session was not reported and only range of motion was assessed. Roberts 7 indicated the short-term effects of MET as decreased pain, increased range of motion, decreased muscle tension and spasm, and increased strength. However, these effects seemed to last only a few seconds to minutes, indicating that for continued benefit, MET would have to be applied multiple times throughout the day 7 . At present, the treatment window and lasting effect of a single MET session is undefined 1,2,4-11 . Evidence to support the use of lumbar manipulation in patients with acute lumbopelvic pain with moderate severity has been reported 12,13 , yet, because the treatment pattern of manually trained clinicians varies, we were interested to determine if MET offered similar benefits (albeit, short-term) in patients with acute LPP. Subsequently, the purpose of this ABSTRACT: Muscle energy technique (MET) is a form of manual therapy frequently used to correct lumbopelvic pain (LPP), herein the patient voluntarily contracts specific muscles against the resistance of the clinician. Studies on MET regarding magnitude and duration of effectiveness are limited. This study was a randomized controlled trial in which 20 subjects with self-reported LPP were randomized into two groups (MET ...

In collegiate soccer, men have significantly higher rates of hamstring strains than women, and regardless of the recurrence status, the event and athlete characteristics were similar for both sexes. Identifying common characteristics may assist in the targeted development of preventive and rehabilitative programs as well as continued research on hamstring strains among collegiate soccer players.

Study Design: This is a prospective observational study. Objective: To determine the relationship of self-reported and clinical measures to the number of days to return to sport following acute lateral ankle sprains. Background: In order to direct rehabilitation, injury classification schemes should include self-reported and clinical measures that help prognosticate the number of days to return to sport (DAYS). Methods and Measures: Twenty Division II college athletes (7 men, 13 women; mean age = 19.2 ± 1.1 years) were assessed following an acute lateral ankle sprain and upon return to sport. Athletes were assessed by three self-reported measures: global function question, Short Form-36 Physical Function scale (SF36PF), visual analog pain scale, and four clinical measures: ankle active range of motion (AROM), ankle dorsiflexion strength, ankle plantar flexion strength, ambulation status. Simple regression, multiple regression, and effect sizes (ES) were used to analyze these data. Results: The simple regression revealed a statistically significant relationship between DAYS and the global function question (r 2 = .22), the SF36PF (r 2 = .28), and the patient's ambulation status (r 2 = .27). A multiple regression using these three variables in combination was also statistically significant (P = .015) and explained approximately one-third of the variance in DAYS, (r 2 = .37). All dependent variables revealed large or moderate ES. Conclusion: Self-reported functional measures in conjunction with the athlete's ambulation status are important factors in predicting the number of days to return to sport following acute lateral ankle sprains. Further research using large sample sizes and other clinical and functional measures is necessary.