International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

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Dear Colleagues,

Optimal athletic training should lead to a high level of performance, but usually, the high volume of repetition and a lack of variety in movement patterns can result in muscle imbalance, altering tissue stress, which leads to injury. Moreover, in the literature, it was reported that tissues which are overloaded are prone to micro trauma, which causes decreases in muscle strength and endurance, manifested as increased muscle fatigue. Returning to sport after injury is often a difficult and time-consuming process. An important issue is that previous injury strongly increases the risk of future tissue damage; therefore, many athletes who have been cleared to return to sports after injury still lack complete motor control and coordination.

However, it is crucial to understand the underlying mechanisms of sports injury, which allow for successive treatment, rehabilitation or sport training individualization. There is a need to define the key performance indicators in the return to sport monitoring process and to develop guidelines for effective therapeutic intervention after injuries. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to highlight the explanations for alterations in the musculoskeletal system, particularly emphasizing mechanisms of tissue overload and injury from the biomechanical, rehabilitation and sport perspective. Research papers that provide empirical evidence for new explanations of musculoskeletal system athletic training, tissue overload, injury risk factors and treatment methods as well as theoretical papers that introduce new explanations are encouraged.

Dr. Łukasz Oleksy
Guest Editor

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Keywords

tissue overload
biomechanics of microtrauma
sport injury
rehabilitation
injury risk
RTP
RTS

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 2466 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Frontal Plane Neurokinematic Mechanisms Stabilizing the Knee and the Pelvis during Unilateral Countermovement Jump in Young Trained Males

by Kitty Vadász, Mátyás Varga, Balázs Sebesi, Tibor Hortobágyi, Zsolt Murlasits, Tamás Atlasz, Ádám Fésüs and Márk Váczi

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(1), 220; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010220 - 23 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1468

Abstract

(1) The unilateral countermovement jump is commonly used to examine frontal plane kinetics during unilateral loading and to identify athletes with an increased risk of lower limb injuries. In the present study, we examined the biomechanical mechanisms of knee and pelvis stabilization during unilateral vertical jumps. (2) Healthy males performed jumps on a force plate with the dominant leg. Activity of the dominant-side gluteus medius and the contralateral-side quadratus lumborum and erector spinae muscles was recorded with surface EMG. The EMG data were normalized to the EMG activity recorded during maximal voluntary isometric hip abduction and lateral trunk flexion contractions. During jumps, the propulsive impulse was measured, and the pelvis and thigh segmental orientation angles in the frontal plane were recorded and synchronized with the EMG data. (3) The magnitude of knee valgus during the jump did not correlate with hip abduction force, but negatively correlated with gluteus medius activity. This correlation became stronger when gluteus medius activity was normalized to hip abduction force. Propulsive impulse did not correlate with any neuromechanical measurement. (4) We conclude that hip abduction force itself does not regulate the magnitude of knee valgus during unilateral jumps; rather, the gluteus medius should be highly activated to increase frontal-plane knee joint stability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomechanics in Sports Injury Management: Injury Risk, Return to Sport, Intervention Guidelines)

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12 pages, 387 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does Cycling Training Reduce Quality of Functional Movement Motor Patterns and Dynamic Postural Control in Adolescent Cyclists? A Pilot Study

by Bartosz Zając, Anna Mika, Paulina Katarzyna Gaj and Tadeusz Ambroży

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12109; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912109 - 24 Sep 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1595

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess whether cycling training may influence quality of functional movement patterns and dynamic postural control. We also sought to determine if the Functional Movement Screen and Lower Quarter Y-balance tests could be predictive of injury risk among adolescent road cyclists. Twenty-three male road cyclists, aged 15–18 years, were involved in the study. Quality of functional movement patterns was assessed using the Functional Movement Screen test (FMS). Dynamic postural control was evaluated using the Lower Quarter Y-balance test (YBT-LQ). Information on injury occurrence was collected through a retrospective survey. The results showed the highest percentage of scores equalling 0 and 1 (>30% in total) in two FMS component tests: the hurdle step and trunk stability push-up. The results also demonstrated a low injury predictive value of the Functional Movement Screen (cut-off <14/21 composite score) and the Lower Quarter Y-balance test (cut-off <94% composite score and >4 cm reach distance asymmetry) in adolescent road cyclists. The most important information obtained from this study is that youth road cyclists may have functional deficits within the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex and the trunk, while neither the FMS nor the YBT-LQ test are not recommended for injury risk screening in cyclists. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomechanics in Sports Injury Management: Injury Risk, Return to Sport, Intervention Guidelines)

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