Treatment options for Achilles tendinopathy: a scoping review of preclinical studies.

Background: Achilles tendinopathy (AT) management can be difficult, given the paucity of effective treatment options and the degenerative nature of the condition. Innovative therapies for Achilles tendinopathy are therefore direly needed. New therapeutic developments predominantly begin with preclinical animal and in vitro studies to understand the effects at the molecular level and to evaluate toxicity.

Mental health symptoms among Dutch elite athletes and their coaches: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To establish the prevalence of mental health symptoms (MHSs ) among Dutch elite athletes and their coaches, to examine the association between potential contributing factors and MHS among Dutch elite athletes and their coaches and to explore the view and needs of Dutch elite athletes and their coaches regarding mental health resources and support.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by distributing an electronic questionnaire based on validated screening questionnaires for the assessment of MHS.

Results: In total, 156 athletes (55 % female) and 95 coaches (79 % male) across various sports participated in this study.

Baseline clinical and MRI risk factors for hamstring reinjury showing the value of performing baseline MRI and delaying return to play: a multicentre, prospective cohort of 330 acute hamstring injuries.

Objectives: Studies identifying clinical and MRI reinjury risk factors are limited by relatively small sample sizes. This study aimed to examine the association between baseline clinical and MRI findings with the incidence of hamstring reinjuries using a large multicentre dataset.

Methods: We merged data from four prospective studies (three randomised controlled trials and one ongoing prospective case series) from Qatar and the Netherlands.

Long-term cardiac follow-up of athletes infected with SARS-CoV-2 after resumption of elite-level sports.

Objective: Longitudinal consequences and potential interactions of COVID-19 and elite-level sports and exercise are unclear. Therefore, we determined the long-term detrimental cardiac effects of the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 infection and the highest level of sports and exercise.

Methods: This prospective controlled study included elite athletes from the Evaluation of Lifetime participation in Intensive Top-level sports and Exercise cohort.

Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections for the Treatment of Ankle Osteoarthritis.

Background: Ankle osteoarthritis is debilitating and usually affects relatively young people, often as a result of previous ankle traumas, frequently occurring in sports. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections for ankle osteoarthritis have shown no evidence of benefit over the course of 26 weeks. Previous studies on PRP for knee osteoarthritis showed that clinically significant improvements with PRP occurred between 6 to 12 months in the absence of initial benefit.

ELITE: rationale and design of a longitudinal elite athlete, extreme cardiovascular phenotyping, prospective cohort study.

Introduction: The cardiovascular benefits of physical exercise are well-known. However, vigorous exercise has also been associated with adverse cardiac effects. To improve our understanding of cardiovascular adaptation to exercise versus maladaptation and pathology, the limits of adaptation should be firmly established using state-of-the-art diagnostic modalities.

Comparing Functional Motor Control Exercises With Therapeutic Exercise in Wrestlers With Iliotibial Band Syndrome.

Context: Iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS) is a common overuse injury in runners with parallels to our findings of overuse in Greco Roman wrestlers. Despite research indicating coordination and movement-based factors about the hip, no studies were found using functional motor control (FMC) in runners or wrestlers with ITBS. Thus, we compared FMC exercises and therapeutic exercises (TEs) on pain, function, muscle strength, and range of motion (ROM) in national-level Greco Roman wrestlers with ITBS.

Proximal hamstring tendon avulsions: comparable clinical outcomes of operative and non-operative treatment at 1-year follow-up using a shared decision-making model.

Objective: To prospectively evaluate 1-year clinical and radiological outcomes after operative and non-operative treatment of proximal hamstring tendon avulsions.

Methods: Patients with an MRI-confirmed proximal hamstring tendon avulsion were included. Operative or non-operative treatment was selected by a shared decision-making process.

Effect of Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections vs Placebo on Ankle Symptoms and Function in Patients With Ankle Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Approximately 3.4% of adults have ankle (tibiotalar) osteoarthritis and, among younger patients, ankle osteoarthritis is more common than knee and hip osteoarthritis. Few effective nonsurgical interventions exist, but platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections are widely used, with some evidence of efficacy in knee osteoarthritis.

Performance and thermoregulation of Dutch Olympic and Paralympic athletes exercising in the heat: Rationale and design of the Thermo Tokyo study: The journal toolbox.

The environmental conditions during the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games are expected to be challenging, which increases the risk for participating athletes to develop heat-related illnesses and experience performance loss. To allow safe and optimal exercise performance of Dutch elite athletes, the Thermo Tokyo study aimed to determine thermoregulatory responses and performance loss among elite athletes during exercise in the heat, and to identify personal, sports-related, and environmental factors that contribute to the magnitude of these outcomes. For this purpose, Dutch Olympic and Paralympic athletes performed two personalized incremental exercise tests in simulated control (15°C, relative humidity (RH) 50%) and Tokyo (32°C, RH 75%) conditions, during which exercise performance and (thermo)physiological parameters were obtained.

Autologous stem cell therapy in knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials.

Objective: Stem cell therapy is increasingly used for knee osteoarthritis (KOA). We aimed to review the evidence of autologous mesenchymal stem cell therapy on pain, function and severity on imaging in KOA.

Design: Systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

Foot Orthoses Enhance the Effectiveness of Exercise, Shockwave, and Ice Therapy in the Management of Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome.

Objective: Our aim was to assess the effects of adding arch-support foot-orthoses (ASFO) to a multimodal therapeutic intervention on the perception of pain and improvement of recovery from medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) in recreational runners.

Design: A prospective randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Sport training and medical centers.

A 12-month prospective cohort study on symptoms of mental health disorders among Dutch former elite athletes.

Objectives: The primary objectives of the study were to (i) establish the 12-month incidence and comorbidity of symptoms of mental health disorders (distress, anxiety/depression, sleep disturbance, alcohol misuse, disordered eating) among Dutch former elite athletes and (ii) explore the potential relationship with the stressors involuntary retirement, recent life events, career dissatisfaction. The secondary objective was to investigate whether the incidence of symptoms of mental health disorders and their potential relationship with stressors are related to duration since retirement.

Methods: An observational prospective cohort study with a 12-month follow-up was conducted among Dutch former elite athletes.

Incidence of Acute Hamstring Injuries in Soccer: A Systematic Review of 13 Studies Involving More Than 3800 Athletes With 2 Million Sport Exposure Hours.

Objective: To estimate the incidence and recurrence rates of acute hamstring injuries in all levels of soccer.

Design: Epidemiology systematic review.

Literature Search: We searched the PubMed (including MEDLINE), CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials electronic databases.

Is high soleus muscle activity during the stance phase of the running cycle a potential risk factor for the development of medial tibial stress syndrome? A prospective study.

To assess the impact of lower-leg muscle activity during the stance phase of running on the development of medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS), in 123 healthy participants (18.2 ± 0.8 years), dynamic and static foot posture, and soleus and tibialis anterior muscle activity during the stance phase of running were measured before a 17-week track- and field-course.

Complete resolution of a hamstring intramuscular tendon injury on MRI is not necessary for a clinically successful return to play.

Background: Clinical decision-making around intramuscular tendon injuries of the hamstrings is a controversial topic in sports medicine. For this injury, MRI at return to play (RTP) might improve RTP decision-making; however, no studies have investigated this.

Objective: Our objectives were to describe MRI characteristics at RTP, to evaluate healing and to examine the association of MRI characteristics at RTP with reinjury for clinically recovered hamstring intramuscular tendon injuries.

Efficacy of Stem Cell Therapy for Tendon Disorders: A Systematic Review.

Background: Stem cell therapy is an emerging treatment for tendon disorders.

Purpose: To systematically review the efficacy of stem cell therapy for patients with tendon disorders.

Study Design: Systematic review; Level of evidence, 4.

Dim light, sleep tight, and wake up bright - Sleep optimization in athletes by means of light regulation.

Despite an elevated recovery need, research indicates that athletes often exhibit relatively poor sleep. Timing and consolidation of sleep is driven by the circadian system, which requires periodic light-dark exposure for stable entrainment to the 24-hour day, but is often disturbed due to underexposure to light in the morning (e.g.

Effectiveness of an e-health tennis-specific injury prevention programme: randomised controlled trial in adult recreational tennis players.

Background: Despite reported injury rates of up to 3 per 1000 hours exposure, there are no evidence-based prevention programmes in tennis.

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of an e-health prevention programme for reducing tennis injury prevalence.

Study Design: Two-arm, researcher-blinded randomised controlled trial.

Effects of Natural Between-Days Variation in Sleep on Elite Athletes' Psychomotor Vigilance and Sport-Specific Measures of Performance.

Performance capacity in athletes depends on the ability to recover from past exercise. While evidence suggests that athletic performance decreases following (partial) sleep deprivation and increases following sleep extension, it is unclear to which extent natural variation in sleep impacts performance. Sleep quantity and, for the first time, sleep stages were assessed among 98 elite athletes on three non-consecutive nights within a 7-day monitoring period, along with performance tests that were taken on standardized times each following morning.

Oral health among Dutch elite athletes prior to Rio 2016.

Objectives: Elite athletes are at high risk for poor oral health. A screening program to assess oral health and create dental awareness can improve oral health among elite athletes but has not been performed in the Netherlands before. We summarize the first results from such a screening conducted in Dutch elite athletes of the Nederlands Olympisch Committee*Nederlandse Sport Federatie (NOC*NSF, Dutch Olympic Committee).

Incidence and risk factors of medial tibial stress syndrome: a prospective study in Physical Education Teacher Education students.

Objective: Medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) is a common lower extremity overuse injury often causing long-term reduction of sports participation. This study aimed to investigate the incidence and risk factors of MTSS in first-year Dutch Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) students.

Methods: This prospective study consisted of physical measures at baseline (height, weight, fat percentage, 3000 m run test, navicular drop test, hip internal and external range of motion, hip adduction and adduction strength, single leg squat and shin palpation), an intake questionnaire at baseline (age, sport participation, presence of MTSS, MTSS history, insole use and use of supportive shoes) and an MTSS registration procedure during the academic year of 2016-2017 (10  months) using a validated questionnaire.

Microcrack-associated bone remodeling is rarely observed in biopsies from athletes with medial tibial stress syndrome.

The pathology of medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) is unknown. Studies suggest that MTSS is a bony overload injury, but histological evidence is sparse. The presence of microdamage, and its potential association with targeted remodeling, could provide evidence for the pathogenesis of MTSS.

Risk factors for musculoskeletal injuries in elite junior tennis players: a systematic review.

The objective was to systematically review the literature on risk factors and prevention programs for musculoskeletal injuries among tennis players. PubmedMedline, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane, SportDiscus were searched up to February 2017. Experts in clinical and epidemiological medicine were contacted to obtain additional studies.

Intramuscular tendon injury is not associated with an increased hamstring reinjury rate within 12 months after return to play.

Background: Acute hamstring injury that includes intramuscular tendon injury has been suggested to be associated with increased reinjury risk. These observations were based on a relatively small number of retrospectively analysed cases.

Objective: To determine whether intramuscular tendon injury is associated with higher reinjury rates in acute hamstring injury.