Availability of Athletic Trainers Matters in the Detection and Management of Sports-Related Concussions

The influence of athletic trainers on the incidence and management of concussion in high school athletes.

McGuine TA, Pfaller AY, Post EG, Hetzel SJ, Brooks A, and Broglio SP. J Athl Training. 2018. 52 (11): 1017-1024.

Full Text Freely Available

Take Home Message: High school athletes with a sports-related concussion are more likely to report and receive post-concussion care in schools with higher availability of an athletic trainer.

Proper reporting and care of sports-related concussion are critical for athletes returning to activity safely. However, these critical steps in concussion management often rely on having access to healthcare professionals. The availability of athletic trainers varies among high schools in the United States and it remains unknown how athletic trainer availability relates to sports-related concussion reporting and management. McGuine and colleagues completed a prospective cohort study to better understand the relationship between the availability of an athletic trainer and the reporting and treatment of sports-related concussion in secondary schools.

Is Lifestyle a Factor for Adolescents with Bony Stress Injuries?

Identifying Factors That Contribute to Adolescent Bony Stress Injuries in Secondary School Athletes: A Comparative Analysis with a Healthy Control Group.

Nussbaum ED, Bjornaraa J, Gatt CJ. Sports Health. 2019 Jan. DOI 10.1177/1941738118824293. [Epub ahead of print]
Text Freely Available

Take Home Message: Adolescent athletes with bony stress injuries are younger, smaller, compete more, sleep less, and are more stressed than their healthy peers.

Almost half of all bony stress injuries occur in individuals under 20 years of age. Clinicians could develop targeted prevention strategies for bony stress injuries in young athletes if they had a better understanding of factors that contribute to these injuries. Therefore, the authors sought to identify factors related to bony stress injuries among adolescents competing in high school sports.

Nationwide Injury Prevention is On Our Side

A Nationwide Follow-Up Survey on the Effectiveness of an Implemented Neuromuscular Training Program to Reduce Acute Knee Injuries in Soccer Players

Aman M, Larsen K, Forssblad M, Nasmark A,Walden M, & Hagglund M.  Orthop J Sports Med. Published online December 2018; DOI: 10.1177/2325967118813841

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2325967118813841

Take Home Message: The implementation of an injury prevention program nationwide was related to a reduction in knee injuries among soccer players, especially females.

Knee injuries are relatively common in soccer players and can result in considerable time loss. There are many neuromuscular training injury prevention programs, including the Knee Control Program, which reduces the number of ACL injuries among female adolescent soccer players.  Sweden implemented the Knee Control Program nationwide in 2010, which created a great opportunity to study its effectiveness at a national level. Hence, the authors evaluated the effectiveness of this program to reduce acute knee injuries among soccer players at a national level. The authors also assessed the dissemination and implementation of this program. 

Don’t Forget About the Younger Athletes!

Concussion Incidence, Duration, and Return to School and Sport in 5- to 14-Year-Old American Football Athletes

Chrisman SPD, Lowry S, Herring SA, Kroshus E, Hoopes TR, Higgins SK, Rivara FP. J Pediatr. 2018. [Epub ahead of print]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022347618315865

Take Home Message: Over a 2-year period, 5 out of every 100 youth American football players sustain a concussion, and over half of the youth were still symptomatic 21 days post-concussion.

Over 45 million youth athletes (6 to 17 years of age) participate in organized sport. Brain injuries in this population, particularly at the elementary and middle school levels, can be alarming since there is little medical coverage during their games and practices. Additionally, we know little about whether brain injuries that occur in their developing brain have negative long-term problems. Therefore, researchers collected data on concussion incidence, risk factors, duration of symptoms, and return to school and sport during 2 10-week youth fall football seasons.

Cheers! The More You Move, the More You Need to Drink

Factors influencing hydration status during a National Collegiate Athletics Association division 1 soccer preseason.

Sekiguchi Y, Adams WM, Curtis RM, Benjamin CL, Casa DJ. J Sci Med Sport. 2018. [Epub Ahead of Print].

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1440244018312453?dgcid=rss_sd_all

Take Home Message: Participants engaging in pre-season soccer training were hypohydrated during at least 80% of training sessions. An athlete who traveled a greater distance during training was more likely to experience a greater loss in body mass during training.

Maintaining proper hydration is a challenge for athletes. Dehydration can result in decreased athletic performance and potentially life-threatening complications. While the dangers of dehydration are well known, there is no literature investigating how training load and the environment affect hydration status during multiple bouts of soccer training. Therefore, Sekiguchi and colleagues investigated how training load and the environmental conditions relate to hydration status during a collegiate pre-season.

Canadian Cardiovascular Society/Canadian Heart Rhythm Society Joint Position Statement on the Cardiovascular Screening of Competitive Athletes

Canadian Cardiovascular Society/Canadian Heart Rhythm Society Joint Position Statement on the Cardiovascular Screening of Competitive Athletes

Johri AM, Poirier P, Dorian P, Fournier A, Goodman JM, McKinney J, Moulson N, Pipe A, Philippon F, Taylor T, Connelly K, Baggish AL, Krahn A, Sharma S. Can J Cardiol. 2019 Jan;35(1):1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.cjca.2018.10.016. Epub 2018 Nov 22.

Full Text Freely Available

The Canadian Cardiovascular Society released a position statement to provide “evidence-based recommendations for Canadian sporting organizations and institutions with a focus on the role of routine electrocardiogram (ECG) screening in preventing SCD [sudden cardiac death]”. The statement discusses the elements of cardiovascular screening (e.g., history, physical examination, ECG), shared-decision making (e.g., choice awareness), secondary prevention, and enhanced environment of a sports cardiology centre.

View 183 other recent position statements, consensus statements, guidelines, and recommendations related to sports medicine.

Can Advanced Imaging Show Us the Pathophysiology Following a Concussion?

Linked MRI signatures of the brain's acute and persistent response to concussion in female varsity rugby players

Manning KY, Llera A, Dekaban GA, Bartha R, Barreira C, Brown A, Fischer L, Jevremovic T, Blackney K, Doherty TJ, Fraser DD, Holmes J, Beckmann CF, Menon RS. Neuroimage Clin.2018 Dec 3. pii: S2213-1582(18)30375-9.

Full Text Freely Available

Take Home Message: Athletes in rugby have altered white matter structural and functional connectivity after a concussion and in season. Some changes may persist up to 6 months post-injury.

Researchers use advanced imaging studies (e.g., diffusion tensor imaging, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging) to assess structural and functional changes following a concussion. This can help clinicians and researchers understand if there are long-term problems after a concussion and discover potential therapeutic interventions. Unfortunately, it is challenging to interpret the complex structural and functional brain changes that occur after a concussion. Therefore, the authors used advanced analyses to examine changes in brain structure (diffuse tensor imaging) and function (resting-stage functional magnetic resonance imaging) together in 52 healthy female varsity rugby players (~20 years of age) over a five-year period (71 in season data sets, 60 off-season data sets).