Overuse injuries in sport: a comprehensive overview

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Abstract

Background

The 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.

Methods

We 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.

Results

Overuse 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.

Conclusions

Further 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.

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Most cited references 131

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Tendon injury and tendinopathy: healing and repair.

Pankaj Sharma, Nicola Maffulli (2005)

Tendon disorders are frequent and are responsible for substantial morbidity both in sports and in the workplace. Tendinopathy, as opposed to tendinitis or tendinosis, is the best generic descriptive term for the clinical conditions in and around tendons arising from overuse. Tendinopathy is a difficult problem requiring lengthy management, and patients often respond poorly to treatment. Preexisting degeneration has been implicated as a risk factor for acute tendon rupture. Several physical modalities have been developed to treat tendinopathy. There is limited and mixed high-level evidence to support the, albeit common, clinical use of these modalities. Further research and scientific evaluation are required before biological solutions become realistic options.

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Platelet-rich plasma injection for chronic Achilles tendinopathy: a randomized controlled trial.

Robert de Vos, Adam Weir, Hans van Schie … (2010)

Tendon disorders comprise 30% to 50% of all activity-related injuries; chronic degenerative tendon disorders (tendinopathy) occur frequently and are difficult to treat. Tendon regeneration might be improved by injecting platelet-rich plasma (PRP), an increasingly used treatment for releasing growth factors into the degenerative tendon. To examine whether a PRP injection would improve outcome in chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy. A stratified, block-randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial at a single center (The Hague Medical Center, Leidschendam, The Netherlands) of 54 randomized patients aged 18 to 70 years with chronic tendinopathy 2 to 7 cm above the Achilles tendon insertion. The trial was conducted between August 28, 2008, and January 29, 2009, with follow-up until July 16, 2009. Eccentric exercises (usual care) with either a PRP injection (PRP group) or saline injection (placebo group). Randomization was stratified by activity level. The validated Victorian Institute of Sports Assessment-Achilles (VISA-A) questionnaire, which evaluated pain score and activity level, was completed at baseline and 6, 12, and 24 weeks. The VISA-A score ranged from 0 to 100, with higher scores corresponding with less pain and increased activity. Treatment group effects were evaluated using general linear models on the basis of intention-to-treat. After randomization into the PRP group (n = 27) or placebo group (n = 27), there was complete follow-up of all patients. The mean VISA-A score improved significantly after 24 weeks in the PRP group by 21.7 points (95% confidence interval [CI], 13.0-30.5) and in the placebo group by 20.5 points (95% CI, 11.6-29.4). The increase was not significantly different between both groups (adjusted between-group difference from baseline to 24 weeks, -0.9; 95% CI, -12.4 to 10.6). This CI did not include the predefined relevant difference of 12 points in favor of PRP treatment. Among patients with chronic Achilles tendinopathy who were treated with eccentric exercises, a PRP injection compared with a saline injection did not result in greater improvement in pain and activity. clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00761423.

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Biology of tendon injury: healing, modeling and remodeling.

P. Sharma, N Maffulli (2006)

Tendon disorders are frequent, and are responsible for much morbidity both in sport and the workplace. Although the presence of degenerative changes does not always lead to symptoms, pre-existing degeneration has been implicated as a risk factor for acute tendon rupture. The term tendinopathy is a generic descriptor of the clinical conditions in and around tendons arising from overuse. The terms "tendinosis" and "tendinitis/tendonitis" should only be used after histopathological examination. Disordered healing is seen in tendinopathy, and inflammation is not typically seen. In acute injuries, the process of tendon healing is an indivisible process that can be categorized into three overlapping phases for descriptive purposes. Tendon healing can occur intrinsically, via proliferation of epitenon and endotenon tenocytes, or extrinsically, by invasion of cells from the surrounding sheath and synovium. Despite remodeling, the biochemical and mechanical properties of healed tendon tissue never match those of intact tendon. Tendon injuries account for considerable morbidity, and often prove disabling for several months, despite what is considered appropriate management. Chronic problems caused by overuse of tendons probably account for 30% of all running-related injuries, and the prevalence of elbow tendinopathy in tennis players can be as high as 40%. The basic cell biology of tendons is still not fully understood, and the management of tendon injury poses a considerable challenge for clinicians. This article describes the structure of tendons, and reviews the pathophysiology of tendon injury and healing.

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Author and article information

Contributors

R. Aicale: + 39 345 848 5495 , aicale17@gmail.com

D. Tarantino: +39 329 264 6135 , domiziano22@gmail.com

N. Maffulli: + 44 20 8223 8930 , n.maffulli@qmul.ac.uk

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): J Orthop Surg Res

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): J Orthop Surg Res

Title: Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1749-799X

Publication date (Electronic): 5 December 2018

Publication date PMC-release: 5 December 2018

Publication date Collection: 2018

Volume: 13

Electronic Location Identifier: 309

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000 0004 1937 0335, GRID grid.11780.3f, Department of Musculoskeletal Disorders, School of Medicine and Dentistry, , University of Salerno, ; Salerno, Italy

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2171 1133, GRID grid.4868.2, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine, Mile End Hospital, , Queen Mary University of London, ; 275 Bancroft Road, London, E1 4DG England

Article

Publisher ID: 1017

DOI: 10.1186/s13018-018-1017-5

PMC ID: 6282309

PubMed ID: 30518382

SO-VID: d38da133-4b02-4734-9e9a-d1dfb824f8f1

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

History

Date received : 21 June 2018

Date accepted : 21 November 2018

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Surgery

Keywords: fractures,stress fracture,overuse injuries,osteochondritis dissecans,tendinopathy

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Surgery

Keywords: fractures, stress fracture, overuse injuries, osteochondritis dissecans, tendinopathy

Overuse injuries in sport: a comprehensive overview

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SICOT-J (Orthopedic surgery and traumatology)

Most cited references 131

Tendon injury and tendinopathy: healing and repair.

Platelet-rich plasma injection for chronic Achilles tendinopathy: a randomized controlled trial.

Biology of tendon injury: healing, modeling and remodeling.

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