Publications by authors named "Leigh Weiss"
Article Synopsis
- Hamstring strain injuries (HSIs) are common in NFL players, particularly affecting positions like wide receivers and defensive backs, with the biceps femoris being the most frequently injured muscle.
- A study analyzed 180 acute HSIs from the 2018-2019 NFL season to explore the relationship between player characteristics, clinical exams, and MRI findings regarding injury severity and time missed from games.
- Findings indicated that nearly half of the injuries were moderate (BAMIC grade 2), with specific locations on the biceps femoris and semimembranosus being the most affected, and MRI detected abnormalities in the sciatic nerve in some cases.
Article Synopsis
- * "Athlete's heart" describes beneficial changes in the heart from exercise but can complicate diagnosis as it may mimic other heart conditions.
- * While strategies for preventing sudden cardiac arrest are still being developed, the importance of CPR and early defibrillation in treating such emergencies is well-established but often underutilized.
Although uncommon, life-threatening injuries and illnesses do occur in American football, and the emergency response team must be ready to act when an emergency arises during training, practice, or competition. An emergency action plan (EAP) is central to the care of an athlete with a suspected life-threatening injury or illness. This set of step-by-step instructions on how the emergency response team will act during an emergency details the members of the team and their roles, plus information on emergency equipment, procedures at each venue, and the transportation of a player to the hospital.
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- Lower extremity (LEX) strains, including hamstring and calf strains, are common injuries in professional football, leading to significant time lost from participation.
- A descriptive epidemiology study was conducted analyzing LEX strains among NFL players from 2015-2019, revealing that 26.7% of players experienced these injuries, primarily during preseason practices and regular season games.
- The majority of LEX strains were hamstring related, with defensive secondary players being the most affected, and punt plays showing the highest injury rates compared to other play types.
Article Synopsis
- - Hamstring strain injuries are frequent in athletes and need rehabilitation for effective recovery and to reduce reinjury risks.
- - While athletes often return to their sport within weeks, many experience performance issues and a high chance of reinjury afterward.
- - Practitioners like athletic trainers and physical therapists must understand injury causes, conduct thorough exams, and safely progress rehabilitation to enhance recovery outcomes based on current evidence.
Hamstring strain injury (HSI) may result in considerable impairment, activity limitation, and participation restriction, including time lost from competitive sports. This CPG includes sports-related overloading and overstretching injuries to myofascial or musculotendinous structures in any combination of the 3 hamstring muscles (the semitendinosus, semimembranosus, and biceps femoris). .
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- This study analyzed lower extremity compartment syndrome incidents among NFL players from 2000 to 2017, focusing on injury mechanisms, treatment methods, and recovery times.
- It found that out of 22 cases, most injuries occurred during games and were often due to direct impacts, with a majority requiring surgery.
- Despite its rarity, the study concluded that players have a favorable return-to-play rate after surgical treatment, highlighting the need for quick diagnosis by team medical staff.
Article Synopsis
- Lower extremity injuries are prevalent in the NFL, with an estimated 2006 time-loss injuries reported each season over a 4-year span, indicating a 41% injury risk for players.
- The majority of these injuries occur during games, especially in the preseason, with knee injuries being the most common type.
- Understanding these injury patterns can help refine prevention strategies and improve player health and safety in the league.
Objective: Statistical challenges exist when using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to assess traumatic axonal injury (TAI) in individual concussed athletes. The authors examined active professional American football players over a 6-year time period to study potential TAI after concussion and assess optimal methods to analyze DTI at the individual level.
Methods: Active American professional football players recruited prospectively were assessed with DTI, conventional MRI, and standard clinical workup.
Context: Athletic trainers (ATs) must be equipped with evidence to inform their clinical practice. A systematic, inclusive, and continuous process for exploring research priorities is vital to the success of ATs and, more importantly, their patients' positive outcomes.
Objective: To identify research priorities and unify research with clinical practice to improve patient care and advance the profession.
Article Synopsis
- The NFL Scouting Combine evaluates top college football prospects' medical conditions to predict their ability to participate in professional football based on their injury history.
- The study aims to identify clinical predictors associated with football-related injuries and assess the quality of existing evidence on these injuries.
- A systematic review of 32 studies revealed that players with specific injuries, like cervical spine issues and ACL reconstruction, played significantly fewer games and had shorter careers in the NFL compared to those without such injuries.
Article Synopsis
- Rotator cuff injuries are common in elite athletes, leading to pain and time away from sports, which makes effective management crucial.
- Conservative treatments like rehabilitation, anti-inflammatories, and corticosteroid injections remain the most recommended approach, with newer methods such as dry needling and biologics showing potential but needing more research.
- Evaluation of the injury is essential to tailor management strategies, which can include either rehabilitation or surgery, based on factors like the severity of the tear and the athlete's specific needs.
Background: Lower extremity muscle injuries are common in professional football. Although less common than hamstring or quadriceps injuries in National Football League (NFL) athletes, calf injuries occur with relative frequency and have not previously been studied.
Purpose: To evaluate gastrocnemius-soleus complex muscle injuries over the past 13 years from a single NFL team to determine the incidence of such injuries, their imaging characteristics, and return to play after such injuries and any correlation between imaging findings and prolonged return to play.
Background: Thumb collateral ligament injuries occur frequently in the National Football League (NFL). In the general population or in recreational athletes, pure metacarpophalangeal (MCP) abduction or adduction mechanisms yield isolated ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) and radial collateral ligament (RCL) tears, respectively, while NFL athletes may sustain combined mechanism injury patterns.
Purpose: To evaluate the incidence of simultaneous combined thumb UCL and RCL tears among all thumb MCP collateral ligament injuries in NFL athletes on a single team.
Background: Administering local anesthetic or corticosteroid injections in professional athletes to allow return to play is common but has traditionally been viewed as suspect and taboo. The skepticism surrounding therapeutic injections stems predominantly from anecdotal experience as opposed to scientific data.
Questions/purposes: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the current use of corticosteroid injections for muscle strains and ligaments sprains in the National Football League to document player's ability to return to play and possible adverse effects.
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View Article and Find Full Text PDFEpidural steroid injection for lumbar disc herniation in NFL athletes.
Med Sci Sports Exerc
February 2012
Purpose: To our knowledge, there is no published information on the efficacy of epidural steroid injections for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation in an athletic population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of epidural corticosteroid injection for treatment of lumbar disc herniation in a group of National Football League (NFL) players.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of all NFL players who underwent an epidural steroid injection at our institution for incapacitating pain secondary to an acute lumbar disc herniation (confirmed on magnetic resonance imaging) from 2003 to 2010.
Objective: To examine the effects of a maximal exercise test on cognitive function in recreational athletes.
Design: A repeated-measures design was used to compare baseline with post-cognitive function and fatigue symptoms after a maximal exercise test.
Setting: Division 1 American Midwestern University, (Michigan State University, Michigan, USA).
Saying that networks are important is stating the obvious. But harnessing the power of these seemingly invisible groups to achieve organizational goals is an elusive undertaking. Most efforts to promote collaboration are haphazard and built on the implicit philosophy that more connectivity is better.
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