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Return to sport after muscle injury

  • Muscle Injuries (SJ McNeill Ingham, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Skeletal muscle injuries are among the most common sports-related injuries that result in time lost from practice and competition. The cellular response to muscle injury can often result in changes made to the muscle fibers as well as the surrounding extracellular matrix during repair. This can negatively affect the force and range of the injured muscle even after the patient’s return to play. Diagnosis of skeletal muscle injury involves both history and physical examinations; imaging modalities including ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can also be used to assess the extent of injury. Current research is investigating potential methods, including clinical factors and MRI, by which to predict a patient’s return to sports. Overall, function of acutely injured muscles seems to improve with time. Current treatment methods for skeletal muscle injuries include injections of steroids, anesthetics, and platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Other proposed methods involve inhibitors of key players in fibrotic pathways, such as transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß and angiotensin II, as well as muscle-derived stem cells.

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Conflict of Interest

Stephanie Wong, Anne Ning, Carlin Lee, and Brian T. Feeley declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California, 1500 Owens Ave, Box 3004, San Francisco, CA, 94127, USA

    Stephanie Wong, Anne Ning, Carlin Lee & Brian T. Feeley

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  1. Stephanie Wong
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  2. Anne Ning
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  3. Carlin Lee
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  4. Brian T. Feeley
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Correspondence to Brian T. Feeley.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Muscle Injuries

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Wong, S., Ning, A., Lee, C. et al. Return to sport after muscle injury. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med 8, 168–175 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12178-015-9262-2

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