Impact of physical activity and mechanical loading on biomarkers typically used in osteoarthritis assessment: current concepts and knowledge gaps.

There is an ongoing need to develop prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers for osteoarthritis (OA). Understanding how biomarkers change in response to physical activity may be vital for understanding if a patient has a joint that is failing to adapt to a given loading stimulus. The purpose of this review is to describe how biomarker changes after joint loading may help detect early OA and determine prognosis.

Biochemical Response to a Moderate Running Bout in Participants With or Without a History of Acute Knee Injury.

Context:   Individuals with an acute knee-injury history are 4 times more likely to develop knee osteoarthritis than those without a prior knee injury, and it is unknown why. Individuals with an injury history may exhibit aberrant changes in tissue turnover after physical activity (eg, running), which could lead to osteoarthritis, but this has yet to be determined among young, physically active individuals.

Objective:   To determine collagen degradation and synthesis and inflammatory biomarker concentration levels before exercise and changes in response to an acute running bout in injured participants compared with healthy control participants.

Physical activity levels and quality of life relate to collagen turnover and inflammation changes after running.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether an association existed between self-reported symptom and function scores and tissue turnover or inflammatory biomarker changes after a running bout among individuals with and without an acute knee-injury history. A pre-test/post-test prospective cohort study design (Level II) of 22 participants was conducted. Eleven physically active individuals with a history of anterior cruciate ligament surgery and/or meniscus surgery within 4 years of study participation were matched to 11 healthy control participants.

Prevalence of Radiographic Knee Osteoarthritis After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction, With or Without Meniscectomy: An Evidence-Based Practice Article.

Unlabelled: Reference:  Claes S, Hermie L, Verdonk R, Bellemans J, Verdonk P. Is osteoarthritis an inevitable consequence of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction? A meta-analysis. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc.

Is Participation in Certain Sports Associated With Knee Osteoarthritis? A Systematic Review.

Objective:   Information regarding the relative risks of developing knee osteoarthritis (OA) as a result of sport participation is critical for shaping public health messages and for informing knee-OA prevention strategies. The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the association between participation in specific sports and knee OA.

Data Sources:   We completed a systematic literature search in September 2012 using 6 bibliographic databases (PubMed; Ovid MEDLINE; Journals@Ovid; American College of Physicians Journal Club; Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Review, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects; and Ovid HealthStar), manual searches (4 journals), and reference lists (56 articles).

Tibiofemoral Osteoarthritis After Surgical or Nonsurgical Treatment of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Rupture: A Systematic Review.

Objective:   To determine if surgical or nonsurgical treatment of anterior cruciate ligament rupture affects the prevalence of posttraumatic tibiofemoral osteoarthritis (OA).

Data Sources:   Studies published between 1983 and April 2012 were identified via EBSCOhost and OVID. Reference lists were then screened in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement.

Five-year clinical outcomes of a randomized trial of anterior cruciate ligament treatment strategies: an evidence-based practice paper.

Reference/citation: Frobell RB, Roos HP, Roos EM, Roemer FW, Ranstam J, Lohmander LS. Treatment for acute anterior cruciate ligament tear: five year outcome of randomised trial. BMJ.

Saline-assisted aspirations for collecting synovial fluid from noneffused knees: technique and validation.

Context: To better understand why a knee develops osteoarthritis after joint trauma we need to assess the local biochemical changes. Unfortunately, it is challenging to obtain synovial fluid from a knee with no effusion.

Objective: To describe the authors' protocol for aspirating synovial fluid from noneffused knees.

Medication and supplement use for managing joint symptoms among patients with knee and hip osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional study.

Background: The purpose was to determine the professionally-guided and self-guided medication and supplement use for joint symptom management among patients with knee and/or hip osteoarthritis (OA) in an urban hospital-based outpatient orthopedic practice.

Methods: The study design was cross-sectional. Patients diagnosed by radiographs and clinical symptoms with knee and/or hip OA were recruited from an inner-city hospital-based outpatient orthopaedic office.

Consequences of pediatric obesity on the foot and ankle complex.

Background: Anthropometric status can influence gait biomechanics, but there is relatively little published research regarding foot and ankle characteristics in the obese pediatric population. We sought to compare the structural and functional characteristics of the foot and ankle complex in obese and non-obese children.

Methods: Twenty healthy children (ten obese and ten normal weight) were recruited for a cross-sectional research study.

Biochemical comparison of osteoarthritic knees with and without effusion.

Background: Several symptom-relieving interventions have been shown to be efficacious among osteoarthritis (OA) patients with knee effusion; however, not every symptomatic knee OA patient has clinical effusion. Results may be over-generalized since it is unclear if effused knees represent a unique pathological condition or subset compared to knees without effusion. The primary purpose of this study was to determine if biochemical differences existed between OA knees with and without effusion.

Reliability and validity of three quality rating instruments for systematic reviews of observational studies.

To assess the inter-rater reliability, validity, and inter-instrument agreement of the three quality rating instruments for observational studies. Inter-rater reliability, criterion validity, and inter-instrument reliability were assessed for three quality rating scales, the Downs and Black (D&B), Newcastle-Ottawa (NOS), and Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), using a sample of 23 observational studies of musculoskeletal health outcomes. Inter-rater reliability for the D&B (Intraclass correlations [ICC] = 0.

Joint inflammation and early degeneration induced by high-force reaching are attenuated by ibuprofen in an animal model of work-related musculoskeletal disorder.

We used our voluntary rat model of reaching and grasping to study the effect of performing a high-repetition and high-force (HRHF) task for 12 weeks on wrist joints. We also studied the effectiveness of ibuprofen, administered in the last 8 weeks, in attenuating HRHF-induced changes in these joints. With HRHF task performance, ED1+ and COX2+ cells were present in subchondral radius, carpal bones and synovium; IL-1alpha and TNF-alpha increased in distal radius/ulna/carpal bones; chondrocytes stained with Terminal deoxynucleotidyl Transferase- (TDT-) mediated dUTP-biotin nick end-labeling (TUNEL) increased in wrist articular cartilages; superficial structural changes (e.

The potential of multiple synovial-fluid protein-concentration analyses in the assessment of knee osteoarthritis.

Context: Joint trauma is a risk factor for osteoarthritis (OA), which is becoming an increasingly important orthopedic concern for athletes and nonathletes alike. For advances in OA prevention, diagnosis, and treatment to occur, a greater understanding of the biochemical environment of the affected joint is needed.

Objective: To demonstrate the potential of a biochemical technique to enhance our understanding of and diagnostic capabilities for osteoarthritis.

Clinical usefulness of the Ottawa Ankle Rules for detecting fractures of the ankle and midfoot.

Reference:: Bachmann LM, Kolb E, Koller MT, Steurer J, ter Riet G. Accuracy of Ottawa Ankle Rules to exclude fractures of the ankle and mid-foot: systematic review. .

Body size and walking cadence affect lower extremity joint power in children's gait.

Obese children move less and with greater difficulty than normal-weight counterparts but expend comparable energy. Increased metabolic costs have been attributed to poor biomechanics but few studies have investigated the influence of obesity on mechanical demands of gait. This study sought to assess three-dimensional lower extremity joint powers in two walking cadences in 28 obese and normal-weight children.

Effects of pediatric obesity on joint kinematics and kinetics during 2 walking cadences.

Unlabelled: Shultz SP, Sitler MR, Tierney RT, Hillstrom HJ, Song J. Effects of pediatric obesity on joint kinematics and kinetics during 2 walking cadences.

Objective: To determine whether differences existed in lower-extremity joint biomechanics during self-selected walking cadence (SW) and fast walking cadence (FW) in overweight- and normal-weight children.

Is osteoarthritis a heterogeneous disease that can be stratified into subsets?

Osteoarthritis is a heterogeneous disease characterized by variable clinical features, biochemical/genetic characteristics, and responses to treatments. To optimize palliative effects of current treatments and develop efficacious disease-modifying interventions, treatments may need to be tailored to the individual or a subset of osteoarthritic joints. The purpose of this review is to explore the current literature on the clinical and physiological variability in osteoarthritis and potential for stratifying patients.

Stiffness regulation and muscle-recruitment strategies of the shoulder in response to external rotation perturbations.

Background: The complex interactions between capsuloligamentous structures and muscle-recruitment strategies that maintain glenohumeral stability remain unclear. The purposes of the present study were to determine whether stiffness regulation and muscle-activation strategies differed under varying joint positions and levels of contraction in the shoulder and to determine the relationship between generalized joint laxity, glenohumeral joint laxity, and joint stiffness.

Methods: Forty healthy, physically active subjects with a mean age (and standard deviation) of 25.

Effectiveness of prophylactic hyperextension elbow braces on limiting active and passive elbow extension prephysiological and postphysiological loading.

Study Design: Experimental 3-factor design with repeated measures on all factors.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of 3 prophylactic hyperextension elbow braces on limiting active and passive elbow extension before and after exercise.

Background: Prophylactic hyperextension elbow braces are used to protect the joint against excessive extension, but their effectiveness for this purpose has not been determined.

Dehydration and symptoms of delayed-onset muscle soreness in normothermic men.

Context: A dehydrated individual who performs eccentric exercise may exacerbate skeletal muscle damage, leading to structural, contractile, and enzymatic protein denaturation, in addition to the myofiber and connective damage resulting from the eccentric muscle tension.

Objective: To identify the effects of dehydration on 5 physiologic characteristics of delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) in normothermic men after an eccentric exercise perturbation.

Design: Randomized group test-retest design.

Resistance training and head-neck segment dynamic stabilization in male and female collegiate soccer players.

Context: Cervical resistance training has been purported to aid in reducing the severity of brain injuries in athletes.

Objective: To determine the effect of an 8-week resistance-training program on head-neck segment dynamic stabilization in male and female collegiate soccer players.

Design: Pretest and posttest control group design.

Dehydration and symptoms of delayed-onset muscle soreness in hyperthermic males.

Context: Exercise in the heat produces cellular conditions that may leave skeletal muscle susceptible to exercise-induced microdamage. Delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is a clinical model of contraction-induced skeletal muscle injury.

Objective: To determine whether thermoregulation during exercise heat stress adversely affects muscle injury and the accompanying DOMS.

Gender comparisons of dynamic restraint and motor skill in children.

Objectives: To assess differences in neuromuscular dynamic restraint between high-skilled and low-skilled prepubescent girls and boys. To determine the contribution of sport experience and physical characteristics to motor skill.

Subjects: Nineteen girls and 17 boys (8.

Gender differences in head-neck segment dynamic stabilization during head acceleration.

Purpose: Recent epidemiological research has revealed that gender differences exist in concussion incidence but no study has investigated why females may be at greater risk of concussion. Our purpose was to determine whether gender differences existed in head-neck segment kinematic and neuromuscular control variables responses to an external force application with and without neck muscle preactivation.

Methods: Forty (20 females and 20 males) physically active volunteers participated in the study.