Traumatic Brachial Plexopathy in Athletes: Current Concepts for Diagnosis and Management of Stingers.

Traumatic upper trunk brachial plexopathy, also known as a stinger or burner, is the most common upper extremity neurologic injury among athletes and most commonly involves the upper trunk. Recent studies have shown the incidence of both acute and recurrent injuries to be higher in patients with certain anatomic changes in the cervical spine. In addition, despite modern awareness, tackling techniques, and protective equipment, some think the incidence to be slowly on the rise in contact athletes.

Cadaveric Investigation of Active Finger Range of Motion for Detection of Intratendinous Needle Placement.

Background: The authors' purpose was to determine if investigators can predict whether a needle is within a finger's flexor tendon by postinsertion tactile and visualization evaluation in an active range-of-motion cadaver model.

Methods: In 48 cadaver fingers, a 25-gauge needle, with a 1-cc syringe attached, was placed into one of three randomly assigned positions at the A2 pulley level: within the flexor digitorum profundus, within the flexor digitorum superficialis, or outside both flexors and the sheath. Each finger was cycled through full active range of motion as three hand surgeons, blinded to each other's responses and needle position, recorded whether they thought the needle was intratendinous.

Ultrasonography for Hand and Wrist Conditions.

Ultrasonography facilitates dynamic, real-time evaluation of bones, joints, tendons, nerves, and vessels, making it an ideal imaging modality for hand and wrist conditions. Ultrasonography can depict masses and fluid collections, help locate radiolucent foreign bodies, characterize traumatic or overuse tendon or ligament pathology, and help evaluate compressive peripheral neuropathy and microvascular blood flow. Additionally, this modality improves the accuracy of therapeutic intra-articular or peritendinous injections and facilitates aspiration of fluid collections, such as ganglia.

Brachial plexus injury: a descriptive study of American football.

A stinger is a common, yet understudied, injury that involves stretching or compression of the brachial plexus, often occurring during contact sports. Five football teams, including high school, collegiate, and professional teams, completed questionnaires. Questions were designed to obtain descriptive information regarding the nature and consequence of this injury and assess effectiveness of current preventive measures.

Flexor tendon repair rehabilitation protocols: a systematic review.

Purpose: To systematically review various flexor tendon rehabilitation protocols and to contrast those using early passive versus early active range of motion.

Methods: We searched PubMed and Cochrane Library databases to identify articles involving flexor tendon injury, repair, and rehabilitation protocols. All zones of injury were included.

Anterior cruciate ligament injuries in wakeboarding: prevalence and observations on injury mechanism.

Background: Wakeboarding is an increasingly popular sport that involves aggressive stunts with high risk for lower extremity injury, including anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture. Little has been reported on prevalence or mechanism of ACL injury while wakeboarding.

Hypothesis: The prevalence of ACL injury in wakeboarding approaches that of other high-risk sports.