Objective: Identify key flexibility and point-of-care musculoskeletal ultrasound (POCUS) measures for prognosticating return-to-play (RTP) following a first hamstring strain injury (HSI) and informing the clinical decision-making process.
Design: Exploratory prospective cohort study.
Setting: Sport medicine and rehabilitation clinic of a Canadian university.
Participants: One hundred and sixty-seven elite Canadian university football athletes followed over 5 seasons.
Interventions: Clinical and POCUS measures collected within 7 days after HSI and preseason clinical measures.
Main Outcome Measures: Active knee extension (AKE) and Straight Leg Raise (SLR) to quantify hamstring flexibility, POCUS-related outcomes to characterize tissue alteration, and RTP until full sport resumption were documented (categorized as Early [1-40 days] or Late [>40 days] RTP).
Results: A total of 19 and 14 athletes were included in the Early RTP (mean RTP = 28.84 ± 8.62 days) and Late RTP groups (mean 51.93 ± 10.54 days), respectively, after having been diagnosed with a first HSI. For the clinical results, height and a greater flexibility asymmetry measure with the AKE or SLR when compared with both ipsilateral preseason and acute contralateral values significantly increases the chance of facing a long delay before returning to play (ie, RTP). For the POCUS-related results, the Peetrons severity score, extent of the longitudinal fibrillary alteration, and novel score lead to similar results.
Conclusions: Early hamstring flexibility asymmetry following acute HSI, particularly the AKE, along with some POCUS-related measures are valuable in prognosticating late RTP following among Canadian university football athletes.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/JSM.0000000000001230 | DOI Listing |
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