Return to play after treating acute muscle injuries in elite football players with radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy

Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research

James P. M. Morgan¹  Christoph Schmitz¹  Matthias H. Brem²  Mario Hamm³ 

[1] Chair of Neuroanatomy, Institute of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Extracorporeal Shock Wave Research Unit, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany;Curathleticum Clinic, Nuremberg, Germany;Division of Trauma Surgery, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany;Task Force “Future of Professional Football”, DFL Deutsche Fussball Liga, Frankfurt, Germany;

关键词: Acute muscle injury;    Athletes;    Extracorporeal shock wave therapy;    Rehabilitation;    Return-to-play;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13018-021-02853-0

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTo compare lay-off times achieved by treating acute muscle injuries in elite football players with a multimodal therapy approach that includes a specific protocol of almost daily radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy (rESWT) with corresponding data reported in the literature.MethodsWe performed a retrospective analysis of treatments and recovery times of muscle injuries suffered by the players of an elite football team competing in the first/second German Bundesliga during one of the previous seasons.ResultsA total of 20 acute muscle injuries were diagnosed and treated in the aforementioned season, of which eight (40%) were diagnosed as Type 1a/muscular tightness injuries, five (25%) as Type 2b/muscle strain injuries, four (20%) as Type 3a/partial muscle tear injuries and three (15%) as contusions. All injuries were treated with the previously mentioned multimodal therapy approach. Compared with data reported by Ekstrand et al. (Br J Sports Med 47:769–774, 2013), lay-off times (median/mean) were shortened by 54% and 58%, respectively, in the case of Type 1a injuries, by 50% and 55%, respectively, in the case of Type 2b injuries as well as by 8% and 21%, respectively, in the case of Type 3a injuries. No adverse reactions were observed.ConclusionsOverall, the multimodal therapy approach investigated in this study is a safe and effective treatment approach for treating Type 1a and 2b acute muscle injuries amongst elite football players and may help to prevent more severe, structural muscle injuries.

【 授权许可】

CC BY