College Soccer Student-Athletes Demonstrate Differences in Self-Reported Athlete Health When Grouped by Match Volume.

Context: Physical changes following activity are well documented, but there is limited information about self-reported outcomes around competitive matches. High training volumes and poor recovery could predispose athletes to overuse injury. The purpose of this study was to identify the changes in daily athlete health measures before, during, and after the day of each match in high- and low-volume groups.

Demographic Factors and Instantaneous Lower Extremity Injury Occurrence in a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Population.

Context: Temporal prediction of the lower extremity (LE) injury risk will benefit clinicians by allowing them to better leverage limited resources and target those athletes most at risk.

Objective: To characterize the instantaneous risk of LE injury by demographic factors of sex, sport, body mass index (BMI), and injury history.

Design: Descriptive epidemiologic study.

Examining the effects of femoral anteversion and passive hip rotation on ACL injury and knee biomechanics: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: Greater femoral internal rotation (via anteversion or passive hip ROM) is associated with knee biomechanics thought to contribute to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, but it is unknown if femoral internal rotation contributes to actual ACL injury occurrence. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to quantify the extent to which femoral anteversion and hip range of motion (ROM) influence knee biomechanics consistent with ACL injury and actual ACL injury occurrence.

Methods: Using PRISMA guidelines, PubMed, CINAHL, SportDiscus, and Scopus databases were searched.

Ankle Dorsiflexion Affects Hip and Knee Biomechanics During Landing.

Background: Restricted ankle dorsiflexion range of motion (DFROM) has been linked to lower extremity biomechanics that place an athlete at higher risk for injury. Whether reduced DFROM during dynamic movements is due to restrictions in joint motion or underutilization of available ankle DFROM motion is unclear.

Hypothesis: We hypothesized that both lesser total ankle DFROM and underutilization of available motion would lead to high-risk biomechanics (ie, greater knee abduction, reduced knee flexion).

Relationships of hamstring muscle volumes to lateral tibial slope.

Background: Greater posterior-inferior directed slope of the lateral tibial plateau (LTS) has been demonstrated to be a prospective ACL injury risk factor. Trainable measures to overcome a greater LTS need to be identified for optimizing injury prevention protocols. It was hypothesized that Healthy individuals with greater LTS who have not sustained an ACL injury would have a larger lateral hamstring volume.

Female Athletes With Varying Levels of Vertical Stiffness Display Kinematic and Kinetic Differences During Single-Leg Hopping.

Vertical stiffness may contribute to lower-extremity injury risk; however, it is unknown whether athletes with different stiffness levels display differences in biomechanics. This study compared differences in biomechanics between female athletes (n = 99) with varying stiffness levels during a repetitive, single-leg, vertical hopping task. Vertical stiffness was calculated as the ratio of peak vertical ground-reaction force to maximum center-of-mass displacement.

Bilateral quadriceps and hamstrings muscle volume asymmetries in healthy individuals.

Determining the magnitude of quadriceps and hamstring muscle volume asymmetries in healthy individuals is a critical first step toward interpreting asymmetries as compensatory or abnormal in pathological populations. The purpose of this study was to determine the magnitude of whole and individual muscle volume asymmetries, quantified as right-left volume differences, for the quadriceps and hamstring muscles in a young and healthy population. Twenty-one healthy individuals participated: Eleven females age = 22.

The Interday Measurement Consistency of and Relationships Between Hamstring and Leg Musculo-articular Stiffness.

Hamstring stiffness (K(HAM)) and leg stiffness (K(LEG)) are commonly examined relative to athletic performance and injury risk. Given these may be modifiable, it is important to understand day-to-day variations inherent in these measures before use in training studies. In addition, the extent to which K(HAM) and K(LEG) measure similar active stiffness characteristics has not been established.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of anterior cruciate ligament injury prevention programme training components: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury prevention programmes have shown mixed results, which may be due to differing emphasis on training components. The purpose of this study was to (1) quantify the overall and relative duration of each training component encompassed within these programmes and (2) examine the effect of these durations on ACL injury rates.

Methods: A systematic review was completed and meta-analyses performed on eligible studies to produce a pooled OR estimate of the effectiveness of these programmes.