Elbow Dislocations in the National Football League: Epidemiology and Management.

Background Currently, it is not known how the combined osseous and ligamentous injury of a traumatic elbow dislocation in a National Football League (NFL) athlete affects management and return to play. In this study, we aimed to describe the epidemiology, management, and return to play for elbow dislocations in NFL athletes. Methodology This is a descriptive observational study.

Pectoralis Major Injuries in the National Football League.

Background: Pectoralis major (PM) injuries are rare, primarily occurring in males during athletic activity. In the current literature, these injuries have not been well described in National Football League (NFL) athletes.

Hypothesis: The incidence of PM injuries will be low in NFL athletes, with athletes missing significantly more time after injuries requiring operative management.

The negative impact of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in professional male footballers.

Background: Soccer is one of the most common international sports in which ACL injuries occur, with previous studies reporting high return-to-play rates following ACL reconstruction (ACLR). Return-to-play analysis fails to take into consideration how effective a player remains once returning to competition. The aims of this study are to provide a large-scale international analysis of return-to-play and player performance statistics among professional soccer athletes following ACLR.

Superior Labrum Anterior-Posterior Tears in the National Football League.

Background: Shoulder disorders are common in football players, with up to 50% of National Football League (NFL) recruits reporting a history of shoulder injuries. Superior labrum anterior-posterior (SLAP) tears are an entity with well-described detrimental effects on return to play in overhead-throwing athletes but with minimal data in contact athletes.

Purpose: To identify the incidence, predisposing factors, and effect of SLAP tears in NFL athletes and prospects as well as the treatment patterns of NFL team physicians.

Does the Level of Cervical Disc Herniation Surgery Affect Performance-based Outcomes in National Football League Athletes?

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether the level of a cervical disc herniation (CDH) procedure will uniquely impact performance-based outcomes in elite athletes of the National Football League (NFL).

Summary Of Background Data: Comparative assessments of postsurgical outcomes in NFL athletes with CDH at different levels are unknown.

The NFL Orthopaedic Surgery Outcomes Database (NO-SOD): The Effect of Common Orthopaedic Procedures on Football Careers.

Background: Injuries are inherent to the sport of American football and often require operative management. Outcomes have been reported for certain surgical procedures in professional athletes in the National Football League (NFL), but there is little information comparing the career effect of these procedures.

Purpose: To catalog the postoperative outcomes of orthopaedic procedures in NFL athletes and to compare respective prognoses and effects on careers.

Preexisting Rotator Cuff Tears as a Predictor of Outcomes in National Football League Athletes.

Background: A preexisting rotator cuff tear may affect the draft status and career performance of National Football League (NFL) players.

Hypothesis: Preexisting rotator cuff tears decrease a player's draft status, performance, and longevity in the NFL.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Common Shoulder Injuries in American Football Athletes.

American football is a collision sport played by athletes at high speeds. Despite the padding and conditioning in these athletes, the shoulder is a vulnerable joint, and injuries to the shoulder girdle are common at all levels of competitive football. Some of the most common injuries in these athletes include anterior and posterior glenohumeral instability, acromioclavicular pathology (including separation, osteolysis, and osteoarthritis), rotator cuff pathology (including contusions, partial thickness, and full thickness tears), and pectoralis major and minor tears.

Different roles of the medial and lateral hamstrings in unloading the anterior cruciate ligament.

Introduction: Anterior cruciate ligament injuries are closely associated with excessive loading and motion about the off axes of the knee, i.e. tibial rotation and knee varus/valgus.

Pre-existing lumbar spine diagnosis as a predictor of outcomes in National Football League athletes.

Background: It is currently unknown how pre-existing lumbar spine conditions may affect the medical evaluation, draft status, and subsequent career performance of National Football League (NFL) players.

Purpose: To determine if a pre-existing lumbar diagnosis affects a player's draft status or his performance and longevity in the NFL.

Study Design: Cohort study; Level 3.

The impact of a cervical spine diagnosis on the careers of National Football League athletes.

Study Design: Cohort study.

Objective: To determine the effect of cervical spine pathology on athletes entering the National Football League.

Summary Of Background Data: The association of symptomatic cervical spine pathology with American football athletes has been described; however, it is unknown how preexisting cervical spine pathology affects career performance of a National Football League player.

Acromioclavicular joint injuries in the National Football League: epidemiology and management.

Background: Previous studies investigating acromioclavicular (AC) joint injuries in professional American football players have only been reported on quarterbacks during the 1980s and 1990s. These injuries have not been evaluated across all position players in the National Football League (NFL).

Purpose: The purpose of this study was 4-fold: (1) to determine the incidence of AC joint injuries among all NFL position players; (2) to investigate whether player position, competition setting, type of play, and playing surface put an athlete at an increased risk for this type of injury; (3) to determine the incidence of operative and nonoperative management of these injuries; and (4) to compare the time missed for injuries treated nonoperatively to the time missed for injuries requiring surgical intervention.

Nerve block of the infrapatellar branch of the saphenous nerve in knee arthroscopy: a prospective, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: With the rising use of outpatient knee arthroscopy over the past decade, interest in peripheral nerve blocks during arthroscopy has increased. Femoral nerve blocks are effective but are associated with an inherent risk of the patient falling postoperatively because of quadriceps weakness. We studied blocks of the infrapatellar branch of the saphenous nerve, which produce analgesia in the knee that is similar to that resulting from a femoral nerve block but without associated quadriceps weakness.

Biomechanical comparison of 3 methods to repair pectoralis major ruptures.

Background: Pectoralis major ruptures are closely associated with weight lifting and participation in sports. The anatomy of the pectoralis major tendon is unique with an elongated thin footprint requiring multiple points of fixation to restore the native anatomy. Multiple options exist for tendon repairs, but the strongest construct has yet to be identified.

The anterior deltoid's importance in reverse shoulder arthroplasty: a cadaveric biomechanical study.

Background: Frequently, patients who are candidates for reverse shoulder arthroplasty have had prior surgery that may compromise the anterior deltoid muscle. There have been conflicting reports on the necessity of the anterior deltoid thus it is unclear whether a dysfunctional anterior deltoid muscle is a contraindication to reverse shoulder arthroplasty. The purpose of this study was to determine the 3-dimensional (3D) moment arms for all 6 deltoid segments, and determine the biomechanical significance of the anterior deltoid before and after reverse shoulder arthroplasty.

Biologic and pharmacologic augmentation of rotator cuff repairs.

As rotator cuff repair techniques have improved, failure of the tendon to heal to the proximal humerus is less likely to occur from weak tendon-to-bone fixation. More likely causes of failure include biologic factors such as intrinsic tendon degeneration, fatty atrophy, fatty infiltration of muscle, and lack of vascularity of the tendons. High failure rates have led to the investigation of biologic augmentation to potentially enhance the healing response.

Efficacy of preoperative home use of 2% chlorhexidine gluconate cloth before shoulder surgery.

Hypothesis: Deep infection after shoulder surgery is a rare but devastating problem. This study tested the hypothesis that the home application of a 2% chlorhexidine gluconate cloth before shoulder surgery would be more efficacious than a standard shower of soap and water at decreasing the preoperative cutaneous levels of pathogenic bacteria on the shoulder.

Materials And Methods: This randomized, prospective study evaluated 100 consecutive patients undergoing shoulder surgery.

Developing a 6-DOF robot to investigate multi-axis ACL injuries under valgus loading coupled with tibia internal rotation.

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries have become more common in recent years as more young people participate in risky sporting activities [1]. Most ACL injuries occur as a result of noncontact mechanisms. Previous in vitro studies of ACL strain have found significant increases in ACL strain primarily with anterior directed force on the tibia relative to the femur and with internal rotation and often with valgus torque [2,3].

Efficacy and safety of hylan G-F 20 for symptomatic glenohumeral osteoarthritis: a prospective, pilot study.

Objective: To determine the safety and efficacy of 2 intra-articular, fluoroscopically guided hylan G-F 20 injections for painful glenohumeral osteoarthritis.

Design: This study was a prospective open-label pilot investigation with both U.S.

Supramolecular design of self-assembling nanofibers for cartilage regeneration.

Molecular and supramolecular design of bioactive biomaterials could have a significant impact on regenerative medicine. Ideal regenerative therapies should be minimally invasive, and thus the notion of self-assembling biomaterials programmed to transform from injectable liquids to solid bioactive structures in tissue is highly attractive for clinical translation. We report here on a coassembly system of peptide amphiphile (PA) molecules designed to form nanofibers for cartilage regeneration by displaying a high density of binding epitopes to transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGFbeta-1).

In vivo patellar tracking induced by individual quadriceps components in individuals with patellofemoral pain.

Patellofemoral pain is a common knee disorder with a multi-factorial etiology related to abnormal patellar tracking. Our hypothesis was that the pattern of three-dimensional rotation and translation of the patella induced by selective activation of individual quadriceps components would differ between subjects with patellofemoral pain and healthy subjects. Nine female subjects with patellofemoral pain and seven healthy female subjects underwent electrical stimulation to selectively activate individual quadriceps components (vastus medialis obliquus, VMO; vastus medialis lateralis, VML; vastus lateralis, VL) with the knee at 0 degrees and 20 degrees flexion, while three-dimensional patellar tracking was recorded.

Efficacy of surgical preparation solutions in shoulder surgery.

Background: Deep infection following shoulder surgery is a rare but devastating problem. The use of an effective skin-preparation solution may be an important step in preventing infection. The purposes of the present study were to examine the native bacteria around the shoulder and to determine the efficacy of three different surgical skin-preparation solutions on the eradication of bacteria from the shoulder.

Biomechanical analysis of bursal-sided partial thickness rotator cuff tears.

Background: Treatment of partial thickness supraspinatus tendon tears is controversial with no clearly defined treatment algorithms based on severity of tears. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between depth of partial thickness tears and strain.

Methods: Bursal-sided partial thickness tears were created at 1 mm increments in depth at the anterior portion of the supraspinatus tendon to 3/4 tendon width on ten fresh-frozen shoulder specimens.

In vivo three-dimensional mechanical actions of individual.

The flexor-pronator mass is thought to be the primary dynamic valgus stabilizer of the elbow and protects the ulnar collateral ligament. However, in vivo multiaxis actions of individual muscles of the flexor-pronator group and their roles in valgus stability have not been investigated quantitatively. This study tested the hypothesis that individual muscles of the flexor-pronator muscle group produce a significant varus moment that provides elbow valgus stability.