Lutz Foss (ashox76)

Coaches and athletes need to be more aware of risk factors for injury to enable safer and better training strategies. Predicting when athletes can return to play after muscle strains is not always simple because of difficulties in evaluating the severity of such injuries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to classify lower extremity muscle strains in Japanese professional baseball players. The hypothesis was that MRI grading can be used to diagnose the severity of muscle strains in the lower extremity and predict return to play in athletes. Case series; Level of evidence, 4. A total of 55 muscle strains occurred in the lower extremity of players on a professional baseball team between the 2006 and 2015 seasons; all players had undergone MRI examination. Age, player position, location of injury, cause of injury, and duration until return to play (in days) were extracted from the medical records. MRI scans were classified using the following system grade 0, no abnormal findings; grade 1a, T2-weighted high intensity only between muscles; grade 1b, T2-weighted high intedicting the time to return to play. Surgical resection is usually required for symptomatic elbow plicae that have failed nonoperative therapy. However, evidence of surgical outcomes has not been presented. To review the surgical outcomes for the treatment of synovial plicae in the radiocapitellar joint. Systematic review; Level of evidence, 4. We searched the PubMed, Ovid/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and Embase databases using keywords as well as Medical Subject Headings terms and Emtree ([(elbow OR humeroradial joint OR radiohumeral joint) AND (meniscus OR plica)] OR snapping elbow OR snapping triceps OR synovial fold syndrome OR synovial fringe) for English-language studies. We conducted a systematic review using PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. A total of 14 articles comprising four level 5 and ten level 4 studies were identified, including 279 patients (284 elbows). The triggering factors reported for 58 patients were heavy labor (29 patients; 50.0%), sporting acerestimation of concomitant intra-articular abnormalities may yield an inferior outcome. It is unknown whether the treatment effects of partial meniscectomy and physical therapy differ when focusing on activities most valued by patients with degenerative meniscal tears. To compare partial meniscectomy with physical therapy in patients with a degenerative meniscal tear, focusing on patients' most important functional limitations as the outcome. Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1. This study is part of the Cost-effectiveness of Early Surgery versus Conservative Treatment with Optional Delayed Meniscectomy for Patients over 45 years with non-obstructive meniscal tears (ESCAPE) trial, a multicenter noninferiority randomized controlled trial conducted in 9 orthopaedic hospital departments in the Netherlands. The ESCAPE trial included 321 patients aged between 45 and 70 years with a symptomatic, magnetic resonance imaging-confirmed meniscal tear. Exclusion criteria were severe osteoarthritis, body mass index >35 kg/m , locking of the knee, and prior knee surgery or knee instament was statistically significant but not clinically meaningful, as the calculated minimal important change was 2.5 points on an 11-point scale. Both interventions were associated with a clinically meaningful improvement regarding patients' most important functional limitations. Although partial meniscectomy was associated with a statistically larger improvement at some follow-up time points, the difference compared withphysical therapy was small and clinically not meaningful at any follow-up time point. NCT01850719 (ClinicalTrials.gov