Safety of dry needling in stroke patients: a scoping review.

Introduction: Spasticity is a common problem in stroke patients. Treatments of spasticity often have side effects or are insufficiently effective. Dry needling (DN) has been proposed as a potential additional option to consider in the multimodal treatment of post-stroke spasticity, although questions about its safety remain.

Comparison of immediate versus optional delayed surgical repair for treatment of acute anterior cruciate ligament injury through a parallel, multicentric, pragmatic randomized controlled trial - IODA trial.

Background: Standard care for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries often includes surgical reconstruction of the ACL. However, two randomized controlled trials [1, 2] (RCT) concluded that conservative treatment does not result in inferior clinical outcomes compared to immediate ACL reconstruction. More research is needed to verify these results and assess whether patient-specific parameters determine if a patient would benefit from one treatment option over the other.

Fatigue-induced Landing Alterations in ACL Reconstructed Athletes after Return-to-Sport.

At the time of return-to-sport, anterior cruciate ligament reconstructed athletes still show altered neuromechanics in their injured leg during single leg hopping tasks. Part of these alterations can be magnified when these athletes are fatigued. So far, little is known whether fatigue-induced landing alterations persist after return-to-sport.

Postural balance strategies during landing at the moment of return-to-sports after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Most athletes that return to sport (RTS) after Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury undergo reconstruction (ACLR) to restore their knee stability. The major concern for RTS is for the patient to be able to perform challenging dynamic tasks whilst adequately stabilizing the knee joint and maintaining their postural balance. Nevertheless, the interaction between knee protective mechanisms (such as knee unloading and knee stabilisation) and postural balance strategies has not yet been comprehensively analyzed.

Push-Off Dynamics Reveal Task-Independent Alterations in Athletes Returning to Sport after ACL Reconstruction.

Purpose: Athletes with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction (ACLR) show persisting biomechanical and neuromuscular landing alterations. So far, most research focused on the landing phase of dynamic tasks where most ACL injuries occur. This study will assess whether these landing alterations are also present in the propulsion phase, in an attempt to identify generalized movement alterations.

Effects of integrative neuromuscular training on the gait biomechanics of children with overweight and obesity.

Objective: To analyze whether 13 weeks of integrative neuromuscular training can benefit spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters of gait in children with overweight/obesity.

Methods: This is a non-randomized controlled trial. Fifty children (10.

Pilot study to investigate the feasibility of conducting a randomised controlled trial that compares Immediate versus Optional Delayed surgical repair for treatment of acute Anterior cruciate ligament injury: IODA pilot trial.

Introduction: Standard care for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries includes surgical reconstruction of the ACL. However, two randomised controlled trials (RCTs) concluded that conservative treatment does not result in inferior clinical outcomes compared with immediate ACL reconstruction. More research is needed to in the first place verify these results, and second to assess whether patient-specific parameters determine whether a patient would benefit from one treatment option over the other.

Neuromuscular and biomechanical landing alterations persist in athletes returning to sport after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Background: Anterior cruciate ligament reconstructed (ACLR) athletes show increased hamstrings activation and decreased knee flexion moments (KFMs) during single leg landing tasks at time of return-to-sport (RTS). Although these landing alterations seem protective in the short term, they might become undesirable if they persist after RTS. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to investigate whether those landing alterations persist in the months following RTS.

Athletes with an ACL reconstruction show a different neuromuscular response to environmental challenges compared to uninjured athletes.

Background: Evidence suggests that neuromuscular alterations in patients with an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) are rooted in neurocognitive and proprioceptive deficits. The aim of this study was to assess neuromuscular control of athletes with ACLR under increased cognitive and environmental challenges.

Research Question: Do athletes with ACLR show a different neuromuscular response to cognitive and environmental challenges relative to controls?

Methods: Cross-sectional study.

Single-Joint and Whole-Body Movement Changes in Anterior Cruciate Ligament Athletes Returning to Sport.

Introduction: Athletes returning to sport after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) demonstrate prolonged changes in landing kinematics, kinetics, and muscle activation, predisposing them for reinjury, knee osteoarthritis, and/or knee instability. So far, researchers have been focusing on how kinematics and kinetics change in every joint separately. However, as the human body operates within a kinetic chain, we will assess whether single-joint changes are associated with whole-body changes.

Are Anterior Cruciate Ligament-reconstructed Athletes More Vulnerable to Fatigue than Uninjured Athletes?

Introduction: Fatigue has a negative impact on lower extremity neuromuscular and biomechanical control. Because anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) athletes show already neuromuscular/biomechanical deficits in an unfatigued state, the negative impact of fatigue may magnify these deficits or help expose other deficits. So far, this has only scarcely been assessed warranting further research.

Match Play-induced Changes in Landing Biomechanics with Special Focus on Fatigability.

Introduction: Growing evidence exists that match-related fatigue induces biomechanical alterations that might increase lower extremity injury risk. Fatigue studies often use match simulation protocols that expose all subjects to a standardized demand (e.g.

Is knee neuromuscular activity related to anterior cruciate ligament injury risk? A pilot study.

Background: There is limited evidence on neuromuscular risk factors for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, with most work mainly focusing on hamstrings and quadriceps muscle strength. This prospective pilot study explored if neuromuscular activation patterns of the quadriceps and hamstrings during a drop vertical jump influence ACL injury risk.

Methods: Forty-six female athletes performed a drop vertical jump at baseline.

Knee and Hip Joint Kinematics Predict Quadriceps and Hamstrings Neuromuscular Activation Patterns in Drop Jump Landings.

Purpose: The purpose was to assess if variation in sagittal plane landing kinematics is associated with variation in neuromuscular activation patterns of the quadriceps-hamstrings muscle groups during drop vertical jumps (DVJ).

Methods: Fifty female athletes performed three DVJ. The relationship between peak knee and hip flexion angles and the amplitude of four EMG vectors was investigated with trajectory-level canonical correlation analyses over the entire time period of the landing phase.

Dynamic Neuromuscular Control of the Lower Limbs in Response to Unexpected Single-Planar versus Multi-Planar Support Perturbations in Young, Active Adults.

Purpose: An anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury involves a multi-planar injury mechanism. Nevertheless, unexpected multi-planar perturbations have not been used to screen athletes in the context of ACL injury prevention yet could reveal those more at risk. The objective of this study was to compare neuromuscular responses to multi-planar (MPP) and single-planar perturbations (SPP) during a stepping-down task.