Prehospital Cervical Spine Motion: Immobilization Versus Spine Motion Restriction.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of two different spinal immobilization techniques on cervical spine movement in a simulated prehospital ground transport setting.

Methods: A counterbalanced crossover design was used to evaluate two different spinal immobilization techniques in a standardized environment. Twenty healthy male volunteers (age = 20.

Football Equipment Removal Improves Chest Compression and Ventilation Efficacy.

Objective: Airway access recommendations in potential catastrophic spine injury scenarios advocate for facemask removal, while keeping the helmet and shoulder pads in place for ensuing emergency transport. The anecdotal evidence to support these recommendations assumes that maintaining the helmet and shoulder pads assists inline cervical stabilization and that facial access guarantees adequate airway access. Our objective was to determine the effect of football equipment interference on performing chest compressions and delivering adequate ventilations on patient simulators.

Emergent Access to the Airway and Chest in American Football Players.

Context: American football has the highest rate of fatalities and catastrophic injuries of any US sport. The equipment designed to protect athletes from these catastrophic events challenges the ability of medical personnel to obtain neutral spine alignment and immobilization during airway and chest access for emergency life-support delivery.

Objective: To compare motion, time, and difficulty during removal of American football helmets, face masks, and shoulder pads.

A study of emergency American football helmet removal techniques.

Purpose: The purpose was to compare head kinematics between the Eject Helmet Removal System and manual football helmet removal.

Basic Procedures: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting. Thirty-two certified athletic trainers (sex, 19 male and 13 female; age, 33 ± 10 years; height, 175 ± 12 cm; mass, 86 ± 20 kg) removed a football helmet from a healthy model under 2 conditions: manual helmet removal and Eject system helmet removal.

Maintaining neutral sagittal cervical alignment after football helmet removal during emergency spine injury management.

Study Design: Descriptive laboratory study.

Objective: To determine whether the placement of padding beneath the occiput after helmet removal is an effective intervention to maintain neutral sagittal cervical spine alignment in a position comparable with the helmeted condition.

Summary Of Background Data: Current on-field recommendations for managing football athletes with suspected cervical spine injuries call for face mask removal, rather than helmet removal, because the combination of helmet and shoulder pads has been shown to maintain neutral cervical alignment.

National Athletic Trainers' Association position statement: prevention of pediatric overuse injuries.

Objective: To provide certified athletic trainers, physicians, and other health care professionals with recommendations on best practices for the prevention of overuse sports injuries in pediatric athletes (aged 6-18 years).

Background: Participation in sports by the pediatric population has grown tremendously over the years. Although the health benefits of participation in competitive and recreational athletic events are numerous, one adverse consequence is sport-related injury.

Prehospital emergency removal of football helmets using two techniques.

Objective: To compare the Eject Helmet Removal (EHR) System with manual football helmet removal.

Methods: This quasiexperimental counterbalanced study was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting. Thirty certified athletic trainers (17 men and 13 women; mean ± standard deviation age: 33.

Prevalence and characteristics of general and football-specific emergency medical service activations by high school and collegiate certified athletic trainers: a national study.

Objective: To describe frequency and characteristics of emergency medical services (EMS) activations by certified athletic trainers (ATs) and effects of pre-season planning meetings on interactions between ATs and EMS both generally and specifically during football head/neck emergencies.

Design: Retrospective cross-sectional survey.

Setting: 2009 Web-based survey.

Emergency face-mask removal effectiveness: a comparison of traditional and nontraditional football helmet face-mask attachment systems.

Context: Football helmet face-mask attachment design changes might affect the effectiveness of face-mask removal.

Objective: To compare the efficiency of face-mask removal between newly designed and traditional football helmets.

Design: Controlled laboratory study.

Summary of the National Athletic Trainers' Association position statement on the acute management of the cervical spine-injured athlete.

The incidence of catastrophic cervical spine injury in sports is low compared with other injuries. However, cervical spine injuries necessitate delicate and precise management, often involving the combined efforts of a variety of health care providers. The outcome of a catastrophic cervical spine injury depends on the efficiency of this management process and timeliness of transfer to a controlled environment for diagnosis and treatment.

National athletic trainers' association position statement: acute management of the cervical spine-injured athlete.

Objective: To provide certified athletic trainers, team physicians, emergency responders, and other health care professionals with recommendations on how to best manage a catastrophic cervical spine injury in the athlete.

Background: The relative incidence of catastrophic cervical spine injury in sports is low compared with other injuries. However, cervical spine injuries necessitate delicate and precise management, often involving the combined efforts of a variety of health care providers.

The combined tool approach for face mask removal during on-field conditions.

Context: An effective approach to emergency removal of the face mask (FM) from a football helmet should include successful removal of the FM and limitation of both the time required and the movement created during the process. Current recommendations and practice are to use a cutting tool to remove the FM. Researchers recently have suggested an alternate approach that combines the use of a cordless screwdriver and a cutting tool.

Combined tool approach is 100% successful for emergency football face mask removal.

Objective: To compare effectiveness of two techniques for removing football face masks: cutting loop straps [cutting tool: FMXtractor (FMX)] or removing screws with a cordless screwdriver and using the FMXtractor as needed for failed removals [combined tool (CT)]. Null hypotheses: no differences in face mask removal success, removal time or difficulty between techniques or helmet characteristics.

Design: Retrospective, cross-sectional.

The influence of various factors on high school football helmet face mask removal: a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis.

Context: Most research on face mask removal has been performed on unused equipment.

Objective: To identify and compare factors that influence the condition of helmet components and their relationship to face mask removal.

Design: A cross-sectional, retrospective study.

Knee-muscle activation during landings: developmental and gender comparisons.

Purpose: This study determined anteroposterior knee-joint muscle activation differences among children and adult males and females landing from a self-initiated vertical jump (VJ) under normal and offset-target conditions to further understand physical maturation's influence on anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury risk.

Methods: Fifty-five recreationally active volunteer subjects grouped by age (children = 9.5 +/- 0.

Football face-mask removal with a cordless screwdriver on helmets used for at least one season of play.

Context: The Inter-Association Task Force for the Appropriate Care of the Spine-Injured Athlete recommends leaving a football player's helmet in place and removing the face mask from the helmet "as quickly as possible and with as little movement of the head and neck as possible." Although 2 groups have studied face-mask removal from new equipment, to our knowledge no researchers have investigated equipment that has been previously used. A full season of play may have a significant effect on football equipment and its associated hardware.

A comparison of head movement during back boarding by motorized spine-board and log-roll techniques.

Context: In a patient with a potential cervical spine injury, minimizing or eliminating movement at the head and neck during stabilization and transport is paramount because movement can exacerbate the condition. Any equipment or technique creating less movement will allow for a more effective and safe stabilization of an injured patient, reducing the likelihood of movement and potential secondary injury.

Objective: To compare the amount of head movement created during the log-roll and motorized spine-board (MSB) stabilization techniques.

The effects of hamstring stretching on range of motion: a systematic literature review.

Study Design: Systematic literature review.

Objective: Investigate the literature regarding the most effective positions, techniques, and durations of stretching to improve hamstring muscle flexibility.

Background: Hamstring stretching is popular among physical therapists, athletic trainers, and fitness/coaching professionals; however, numerous stretching methodologies have been proposed in the literature.

Football equipment design affects face mask removal efficiency.

Background: Researchers have investigated the performance of face mask removal tools for spine injury management in football but not the effects of football equipment design.

Hypotheses: Various styles or designs of football helmet equipment (helmets, face masks, loop straps) affect face mask removal efficiency. A cordless screwdriver performs more efficiently than do cutting tools.

Effects of Developmental Stage and Sex on Lower Extremity Kinematics and Vertical Ground Reaction Forces During Landing.

Context: The presence or absence of biomechanical differences between the sexes before puberty may provide clues about the onset of adult landing pattern differences, which may help to explain the greater number of anterior cruciate ligament injuries in females than in males and provide the basis for interventions to reduce those injuries.Objective: To identify developmental sex-related and biomechanical differences during vertical jump landings.Design: A 2 x 2 developmental stage (prepubescent or postpubescent) x sex (male or female) between-subjects design.

Standing and Supine Hamstring Stretching Are Equally Effective.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relative effectiveness of standing and supine hamstring stretching in increasing hamstring flexibility as measured by increasing range of motion at the knee. DESIGN AND SETTING: The trial was randomized, and the setting was local academic physical therapy and physical therapist assistant programs. SUBJECTS: Twenty-nine healthy subjects who exhibited limited hamstring muscle flexibility bilaterally (22 women, 7 men, 25.

Functional anterior cruciate ligament bracing: a survey of current brace prescription patterns.

This study surveyed orthopedic surgeons regarding anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) bracing practices. Surveys were mailed to 1194 members of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. The return rate was 24% (n = 287).