Research Report Abstracts - Gesundheit

WPT2011, Research Report Abstracts eS947
Patients in the medical exercise group performed a total
of 9 exercises consisting of 3 global exercises using a stationary
bike and 6 semiglobal and local exercises doing 3
sets of 30 repetitions of each exercise. The medical exercise
group received 3 treatments a week over 3 months.
The patients were supervised and the exercises were individually
tailored and graded according to the clinical status.
The partial arthroscopy consisted of meniscectomy, and the
patients did not get systematic postoperative rehabilitation.
Patients were assessed at inclusion and end of treatment,
the arthroscopy group three months after surgery. Pain was
measured using a visual analogue scale (VAS), function was
registered using the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome
Score (KOOS) and mental status with Hospital Anxiety and
Depression (HAD) Scale.
Analysis: Differences between the groups were analyzed
using a one-tailed independent-sample t-test.
Results: There were no statistical differences between the
two groups at baseline. During treatment 4 patients (18%)
dropped out; 3 from the exercise group and 1 from the
arthroscopy group. At end of treatment there were no statistically
differences between the two groups.
Conclusions: With the low number of participants in mind,
in patients with non-traumatic meniscal injury, arthroscopy
was not superior to medical exercise therapy alone in terms
of knee pain and overall daily function. Medical exercise
therapy might be an efficient treatment approach and should
be considered as a treatment alternative.
Implications: In light of the present results from this pilot
study, high dosage medical exercise therapy could be recommended
as a preferred treatment, at least before surgery.
The therapist should supervise the patient constantly in progression
of the exercises, according to the patients’ clinical
picture. Further research should be completed as randomized
controlled trials, and also include postoperative treatment and
osteoarthritis.
Keywords: Knee pain; Exercise therapy; Arthroscopy
Funding acknowledgements: None.
Ethics approval: Ethical approval was acquired from the
Human Review Committee (Trondheim, Norway).
Research Report Poster Display
Number: RR-PO-212-22-Tue Tuesday 21 June 13:00
RAI: Exhibit Halls 2&3
ALTERED HAMSTRING STRENGTH PROFILE IN
GAELIC FOOTBALLERS WITH A PREVIOUS
HAMSTRING INJURY
O’Sullivan K., Mackey C.
University of Limerick, Physiotherapy Department, Limerick,
Ireland
Purpose: To determine whether significant deficits in the
concentric and eccentric hamstring and quadriceps strength
profile, including altered hamstring angle to peak torque
(AngPT), are present among Gaelic footballers with a history
of previous hamstring injury.
Relevance: Identifying such deficits, particularly in hamstring
AngPT, would further support the proposal that
rehabilitation programmes focussed on eccentric rehabilitation
may be warranted in hamstring rehabilitation.
Participants: 18 male Gaelic footballers (nine previously
injured, nine controls).
Methods: Concentric hamstring and quadriceps peak torque
at 60 and 180 degrees/second ( ◦ /seconds) and eccentric hamstring
PT at 30 ◦ /seconds were measured using an isokinetic
dynamometer. Hamstring AngPT, as well as hamstring and
quadriceps PT and PT ratios were analysed.
Analysis: Paired t-tests were used to compare the injured
and uninjured limbs of the injured subjects. Since there
was no significant difference between the dominant and
non-dominant values in the control group (paired t-test; all
p > 0.05), independent t-tests were used to compare the average
of the two limbs of the control subjects to the injured
limbs of the injured subjects.
Results: For previously injured limbs, hamstring AngPT
occurred at significantly shorter muscle lengths (p = 0.038)
than for the contralateral uninjured limbs in eccentric testing
only. There were no other significant differences (p > 0.05) at
any velocity, for within-subject or between-subject comparisons.
Conclusions: The results showed that the previously injured
hamstrings generated their eccentric hamstring AngPT at
significantly shorter muscle lengths than the contralateral
hamstrings. The results imply footballers with a previous
hamstring injury who have returned to full participation may
remain at increased risk of re-injury because of an alteration
in their eccentric hamstring AngPT.
Implications: The results support the use of eccentric exercise
programmes in the management of hamstring injury as
these have been shown to shift the AngPT towards longer
muscle lengths.
Keywords: Hamstring; Injury; Angle to peak torque
Funding acknowledgements: None.
Ethics approval: The study was approved by the University
of Limerick research ethics committee.