Neuromuscular retraining intervention programs: do they reduce noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injury rates in adolescent female athletes?

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify neuromuscular training intervention programs that significantly reduced the incidence of noncontact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury rates in female adolescent athletes.

Methods: A systematic search of PubMed was conducted to determine the outcome of ACL neuromuscular retraining programs in a specific population. The inclusion criteria were English language, published from 1994-2013, original clinical trials, all evidence levels, female athletes aged 19 years or younger, and noncontact ACL injury incidence rates determined by athlete-exposures.

Clinical healing rates of meniscus repairs of tears in the central-third (red-white) zone.

Purpose: To determine the clinical healing rate of repairs of meniscus tears that extend into the central one-third region and the factors that affect the outcome.

Methods: A systematic search of PubMed was conducted to determine the outcome of meniscus repairs in the red-white (R/W) zone. Inclusion criteria were as follows: English language, clinical trials published from 1996 to 2013, R/W tears analyzed separately from tears in other zones, arthroscopic suture-based repairs, and all evidence levels.

Glenohumeral chondrolysis: part I--clinical presentation and predictors of disease progression.

Purpose: The objective of this 2-part study is to report on the etiology, clinical findings, and predictors of disease progression (part I) and the results of treatment (part II) in a group of patients with glenohumeral chondrolysis.

Methods: Forty patients presented with glenohumeral chondrolysis after treatment elsewhere. Twenty patients have been followed up since their initial presentation before arthroplasty (group 1), and 20 patients were referred either for management of complications arising after prosthetic arthroplasty or for evaluation only (group 2).

Partial triceps disruption: a case report.

Partial triceps tendon disruptions are a rare injury that can lead to debilitating outcomes if misdiagnosed or managed inappropriately. The clinician should have a high index of suspicion when the mechanism involves a fall onto an outstretched arm and there is resultant elbow extension weakness along with pain and swelling. The most common location of rupture is at the tendon-osseous junction.

Midtarsal arthrodesis in the treatment of Charcot midfoot arthropathy. Surgical technique.

Background: Fracture-dislocation of the midfoot with collapse of the longitudinal arch is common in patients with neuropathic arthropathy of the foot. In this study, we describe a technique of midfoot arthrodesis with use of intramedullary axial screw fixation and review the results and complications following use of this technique.

Methods: A retrospective study of twenty-two patients who had undergone surgical reconstruction and arthrodesis to treat Charcot midfoot deformity was performed.

Lasso stitch with peroneal retinaculoplasty for repair of fractured os peroneum: a report of two cases.

Unlabelled: Fracture of the os peroneus with retraction of the peroneus longus tendon can lead to weakness, instability, and progressive foot deformity. Treatment recommendations vary and include simple immobilization, repair of the fractured ossicle, excision of part or all of the fractured ossicle with repair of the tendon and tenodesis with the peroneus brevis tendon. We present two patients treated with excision of the proximal fragment and repair of the tendon to the distal fragment with relief of pain and restoration of function.

Surgical repair of acute and chronic tibialis anterior tendon ruptures.

Background: Rupture of the tibialis anterior tendon is an uncommon disorder that can cause a substantial functional deficit as a result of loss of ankle dorsiflexion strength. We are not aware of any reports on a large clinical series of patients undergoing surgical repair of this injury.

Methods: Nineteen tibialis anterior tendon ruptures were surgically repaired in eighteen patients ranging in age from twenty-one to seventy-eight years.

Midtarsal arthrodesis in the treatment of Charcot midfoot arthropathy.

Background: Fracture-dislocation of the midfoot with collapse of the longitudinal arch is common in patients with neuropathic arthropathy of the foot. In this study, we describe a technique of midfoot arthrodesis with use of intramedullary axial screw fixation and review the results and complications following use of this technique.

Methods: A retrospective study of twenty-two patients who had undergone surgical reconstruction and arthrodesis to treat Charcot midfoot deformity was performed.

Meniscal repair and transplantation: indications, techniques, rehabilitation, and clinical outcome.

The purpose of this paper is to provide current knowledge regarding the indications, operative techniques, rehabilitation programs, and clinical outcomes of meniscus repair and transplantation procedures. Meniscus tears that occur in the periphery may be repaired using a variety of operative procedures with high success rates. Complex multiplanar tears that extend into the central one-third avascular zone can also be successfully repaired using a meticulous vertically divergent suture technique.

Reconstruction of the medial patellofemoral ligament with autologous quadriceps tendon.

In knees with insufficient or previously disrupted medial retinacular and patellofemoral ligaments caused by subluxation or dislocation, anatomic reconstruction of the medial patellofemoral ligament may be performed. This procedure involves harvesting of an 8 x 70-mm medial quadriceps tendon graft, which leaves the quadriceps tendon retinacular attachment intact and avoids patellar and femoral drill holes. This graft is passed beneath the retinaculum adjacent to the femoral epicondyle and is sutured to the medial intermuscular septum-a procedure that reproduces the medial patellofemoral ligament and is supported by imbrication of the remaining medial retinaculum.

Meniscus transplantation: indications, techniques, clinical outcomes.

Although many meniscus tears can be successfully repaired, not all are salvageable, especially if considerable tissue damage has occurred. Meniscus transplantation has been shown to be an acceptable procedure for younger patients. The primary candidate is a patient younger than age 50 years who has had a total meniscectomy and who either has pain in the tibiofemoral compartment, arthroscopic evidence of articular cartilage deterioration, or both.

Opening wedge tibial osteotomy: the 3-triangle method to correct axial alignment and tibial slope.

Background: Although a change in tibial slope may occur during a medial opening wedge osteotomy, calculations have not been defined to address this problem. The authors investigated geometric factors important to correct axial alignment and tibial slope during osteotomy.

Purpose: To calculate, through 3-dimensional analysis of the proximal tibia, how the angle of the opening wedge along the anteromedial tibial cortex influences the tibial slope (sagittal plane) and valgus correction (coronal plane) during osteotomy, and to analyze the different radiographic methods reported in the literature to measure medial and lateral tibial slope.

Posterior cruciate ligament femoral insertion site characteristics. Importance for reconstructive procedures.

Background: Previous descriptions of the insertion site of the posterior cruciate ligament are inadequate.

Hypothesis: More than one reference system is required to adequately represent the anatomy of the femoral attachment.

Study Design: Descriptive anatomic study.

Arthroscopic repair of meniscal tears extending into the avascular zone in patients younger than twenty years of age.

Background: Limited data are available regarding repair results of meniscal tears extending into the central avascular region.

Hypothesis: Meniscal tears extending into the avascular region can be successfully repaired in patients less than 20 years old.

Study Design: Prospective cohort study.

Nontraumatic osteonecrosis of the humeral head.

The humeral head is the second most common site for nontraumatic osteonecrosis after the femoral head, yet it has attracted relatively little attention. Osteonecrosis is associated with many conditions, such as corticosteroid use, sickle-cell disease, alcoholism, dysbarism (or caisson disease), Gaucher's disease, and other systemic conditions. The diagnosis is a clinical and radiographic one, the latter forming the basis for its staging.

Thermal capsular shrinkage: Basic science and clinical applications.

Recently, the use of thermal energy to shrink the redundant glenohumeral joint capsule in patients with instability has generated a great deal of interest. Proponents assert that the procedure avoids the need for an open stabilization and it may be used as an adjunct to an open or arthroscopic capsulolabral repair. The use of nonablative thermal energy to shrink soft-tissue collagen appears to induce ultra-structural and mechanical changes at or above 60 degrees C.

Two-bundle posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. An in vitro analysis of graft placement and tension.

This study had two purposes: first, to determine how femoral attachment location affects the load sharing between the two bundles of a Y-type posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, and second, to determine how the bundles, separately and in combination, control posterior tibial translation throughout the full range of knee flexion. One and two-bundle reconstructions were performed in 12 cadaveric knees. The one-bundle reconstructions were attached within the femoral posterior cruciate ligament footprint at one of three locations, high and shallow (S1), mid and shallow (S2), or mid and deep (D).

Arthroscopic repair of meniscus tears extending into the avascular zone with or without anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in patients 40 years of age and older.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to prospectively determine the outcome of meniscal repairs for tears that extended into the central one-third zone of the meniscus, or had a rim width of 4 mm or greater, in a case series of patients 40 years of age and older.

Type Of Study: Prospective case series.

Materials And Methods: Thirty meniscal repairs in 29 patients were evaluated by a comprehensive examination (28 repairs) a mean of 34 months postoperatively, by follow-up arthroscopy (6 repairs) a mean of 24 months postoperatively, or both.

Prevention of permanent arthrofibrosis after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction alone or combined with associated procedures: a prospective study in 443 knees.

We prospectively determined the effectiveness of an immediate knee motion and early intervention program to prevent permanent motion limitations in a consecutive series of patients who had anterior cruciate ligament autogenous patellar tendon reconstruction for isolated rupture (219 knees) or combined with other procedures (224 knees). The subjects were placed into either a progressive or delayed rehabilitation program and were followed for at least 12 months postoperatively. At follow-up a normal range of motion (0 degrees to at least 135 degrees) was found in 436 knees (98%), and mild losses of extension (-5 degrees) were found in 7 knees.

High tibial osteotomy and ligament reconstruction for varus angulated anterior cruciate ligament-deficient knees.

In a consecutive series, we treated 41 young patients who had anterior cruciate ligament deficiency, lower limb varus angulation, and varying amounts of posterolateral ligament deficiency. Seventy-three percent of the patients (N = 30) had lost the medial meniscus and 63% (N = 26) had marked articular cartilage damage in the medial compartment. All patients were treated with high tibial osteotomy and, in the majority (N = 34), anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction a mean of 8 months later.

Assessment of sports participation levels following knee injuries.

Although there are many published instruments designed to determine outcome following the treatment of knee injuries, only a few incorporate specific assessments of sports activity level and participation into the evaluation. This article reviews 3 of the most commonly used sports activity outcome instruments: the scales devised by Tegner and Lysholm, the Hospital for Special Surgery and the International Knee Documentation Committee. Problems and potential study biases that can arise with improper questionnaire design and data reduction techniques are reviewed, and recommendations are made to correct these problems.

Rigorous statistical reliability, validity, and responsiveness testing of the Cincinnati knee rating system in 350 subjects with uninjured, injured, or anterior cruciate ligament-reconstructed knees.

Although many instruments are used to assess outcome after knee ligament reconstruction, their reliability, validity, and responsiveness have not been adequately proven. Our purpose was to assess these statistical measures in a commonly used instrument, the Cincinnati Knee Rating System. Reliability was determined from the responses of 100 subjects who completed the instrument twice, a mean of 7 days apart.

The effect of exercise and rehabilitation on anterior-posterior knee displacements after anterior cruciate ligament autograft reconstruction.

We studied the effect of rehabilitation strength training and return to activities on anterior-posterior knee displacements after patellar tendon autogenous anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. A total of 938 measurements were sequentially collected for 142 patients with the KT-2000 arthrometer. Rehabilitation included immediate knee motion and early weightbearing, light sports at 6 months, and competitive sports at 8 months or later.