The aim of the study was to evaluate differences in knee injuries and osteoarthritis between the dominant and non-dominant legs of former professional football players. The study cohort comprised 40 retired professional players with an average age of 49.2 years. Participants completed a questionnaire about their sports and personal history with special emphasis on knee injuries/operations of the dominant and non-dominant leg. Bilateral standing knee radiographs were taken. Overall, 29 footballers (73%) had experienced at least one moderate or severe knee injury and 18 (40%) had undergone at least one knee operation during their career. Among those injured, 14 (35%) players had suffered a dominant knee injury and 22 (55%) a non-dominant knee injury. Evidence of osteoarthritis (Kellgren-Lawrence scale > or = 2) was found in 17 (43%) dominant and 23 (58%) non-dominant knees. Professional football players have a significant risk of knee injuries and early osteoarthritis with preponderance in the non-dominant leg.
While awaiting longer-term follow-up studies, trabecular metal components show sufficient primary stability and appear suitable for revision hip arthroplasty with acetabular bone loss.
The application of a drill guide template for pedicle screw placement is not more effective in reducing pain and disability after midterm follow-up in comparison with the free-hand technique. However, it reduces the cortex perforation incidence. Concerning this evidence, a drill guide is still an additional tool that could in the future potentially compete with other screw placement techniques.
Purpose. To quantitatively evaluate growth plates around the knees in adolescent soccer players utilizing the diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI). Methods. The knees and adjacent growth plates of eleven 14-year-old male soccer players were evaluated by MRI before (end of season's summer break) and after two months of intense soccer training. MRI evaluation was conducted in coronal plane by PD-FSE and DWI. All images were screened for any major pathological changes. Later, central growth plate surface area (CGPSA) was measured and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were calculated in two most central coronal slices divided into four regions: distal femur medial (DFM), distal femur lateral (DFL), proximal tibia medial (PTM), and proximal tibia lateral (PTL). Results. No gross pathology was diagnosed on MRI. CGPSA was not significantly reduced: DFM 278 versus 272, DFL 265 versus 261, PTM 193 versus 192, and PTL 214 versus 210. ADC decrease was statistically significant only for PTM: DFM 1.27 versus 1.22, DFL 1.37 versus 1.34, PTM 1.13 versus 1.03 (p = 0.003), and PTL 1.28 versus 1.22. Conclusions. DWI measurements indicate increased cellularity in growth plates around knees in footballers most prominent in PTM after intense training. No detectable differences on a standard PD-FSE sequence were observed.
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