Overuse injuries in sport: a comprehensive overview

Abstract

BackgroundThe absence of a single, identifiable traumatic cause has been traditionally used as a definition for a causative factor of overuse injury. Excessive loading, insufficient recovery, and underpreparedness can increase injury risk by exposing athletes to relatively large changes in load. The musculoskeletal system, if subjected to excessive stress, can suffer from various types of overuse injuries which may affect the bone, muscles, tendons, and ligaments.MethodsWe performed a search (up to March 2018) in the PubMed and Scopus electronic databases to identify the available scientific articles about the pathophysiology and the incidence of overuse sport injuries. For the purposes of our review, we used several combinations of the following keywords: overuse, injury, tendon, tendinopathy, stress fracture, stress reaction, and juvenile osteochondritis dissecans.ResultsOveruse tendinopathy induces in the tendon pain and swelling with associated decreased tolerance to exercise and various types of tendon degeneration. Poor training technique and a variety of risk factors may predispose athletes to stress reactions that may be interpreted as possible precursors of stress fractures. A frequent cause of pain in adolescents is juvenile osteochondritis dissecans (JOCD), which is characterized by delamination and localized necrosis of the subchondral bone, with or without the involvement of articular cartilage. The purpose of this compressive review is to give an overview of overuse injuries in sport by describing the theoretical foundations of these conditions that may predispose to the development of tendinopathy, stress fractures, stress reactions, and juvenile osteochondritis dissecans and the implication that these pathologies may have in their management.ConclusionsFurther research is required to improve our knowledge on tendon and bone healing, enabling specific treatment strategies to be developed for the management of overuse injuries.

Influence of genetic factors in elbow tendon pathology: a case-control study

“…Tendinopathy is a common condition that affects a large portion of the population, making up 30% of all musculoskeletal injuries 1 and being the most prevalent tendon disorder 2 . It is generally defined as an overuse injury resulting in tendon degeneration after a failed early inflammatory healing response 3 , leading to collagen disorientation and disorganization in the absence of classic inflammatory changes, accompanied by pain and dysfunction 4,5 . Tendon homeostasis relies on a dynamic remodeling process influenced by tendon loading and cytokines, among other things.…”

Overuse injuries in the athlete

“…The definition of an overuse injury is generally based on the concept of an injury occurring in the absence of a single identifiable traumatic cause. 3 Overuse is a relative term applied to conditions for which the mechanism of injury is a single or closely related action repeated many times. It has been suggested, mainly from retrospective studies, that the occurrence of overuse injury depends on many factors including the number of repetitions, age, previous injuries, state of training, individual biomechanical variation, genetics and rate of change of training load.…”

Increased Oxidative Stress in Injured and Ill Elite International Olympic Rowers

“…OS biomarkers correlate with training load and volume 7,8 , and exceedingly high training loads and/or spikes in training load are a recognised risk factor for injury 2 . Furthermore, OS has been suggested to play a role in the pathophysiology of overuse injuries 23 . We report a significant difference between OSI and FORT biomarkers for injured versus healthy rowers, but not FORD ( Figure 2).…”