Abstract
The return to sports after muscle injury is a very delicate and problematic moment of the entire rehabilitation program. In fact, in general, this decision relies on a few objective data that can facilitate and properly address the choice. On the other hand, the policy to be maintained as part of the sports medicine is to try to recover the athlete in the least time as possible while minimizing, in the same time, the risk of recurrence. However, if in a sedentary person, or at least for a person who has low functional demands, the end of the rehabilitative after muscle injury may coincide with the anatomical healing of the lesion site. For an athlete, this may not be the case.
Athletes, especially professional athletes, have extremely high functional requirements, and the rehabilitative process may not be considered concluded until there is optimal recovery of muscular function. For all of these reasons it is clear that the decision of an athlete’s return to the field after muscle injury should try to rest, as much as possible, on objective data that will help the medical staff in this difficult choice.
In this work we will present, although schematically, the guidelines on which to make the decision of return to the field and, at the same time, their scientific rationale of use.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Australian football: Australian football (Australian rules, aussie rules, footy) is the national Australian sport and the most practiced and followed athletic activity in Australia. It is played between two teams of 18 players (with four reserves with flying substitutions) on cricket fields or other fields of an oval form. These fields vary in dimension; they may be as long as 185 m, and as wide as 155 m. They thus represent the largest game fields used in the different forms of football and almost four times larger than a football pitch. The players may pass the ball in two ways: with a kick or a handball pass. A kick is the propulsion of the ball with any part of the leg below the knee; a handball pass is done by holding the ball in one hand and hitting it with the other, closed in a fist. Any other way of passing the ball is forbidden, unless it is constricted by the game situation (e.g., acquiring a stray ball from other players). Game out does not exist; thus, the passes may occur in any direction, just as the players may position themselves on the field wherever they like.
- 2.
In football, by dominant limb we mean the limb usually used by the athlete to kick (QFA National Test Protocol).
References
Sewar H, Orchard J, Hazard H, Collinson D (1993) Football injuries in Australia at the elite level. M J Aust 159(5):298–301
Drezner J (2003) Practical management of hamstring injuries. Clin J Sport Med 13:48–52
Askling C, Karlsson J, Thorstensson A (2003) Hamstring injury occurrence in elite soccer players after preseason strength training with eccentric overload. Scand J Med Sci Sports 13:244–250
Dvorak J, Junge A, Chomiak J, Graf-Baumann T, Peterson L, Rösch D, Hodgson R (2000) Risk factor analysis for injuries in football players. Possibilities for a prevention program. Am Ortho Soc Sports Med 28(5):69–74
Hawkins RD, Hulse MA, Wilkinson C, Hodson A, Gibson M (2001) The association football medical research programme. An audit of injuries in professional football. British J Sport Med 35:43–47
Woods C, Hawkins RD, Maltby S, Hulse M, Thomas A, Hodson A (2004) The football association medical research programme: an audit on injuries in professional football analysis of hamstring injuries. British J Sport Med 38:36–41
Devlin L (2000) Recurrent posterior thigh symptoms detrimental to performance in rugby union. Predisposing factor. Sport Med 29(4):273–287
Orchard J, Best T (2002) The management of muscle strain injuries: an early return versus the risk of recurrence. Clin J Sport Med 12:3–5
Orchard J, Seward H (2000) Epidemiology of injuries in the Australian Football League, seasons 1997–2000. Br J Sports Med 36:39–45
Orchard J, Seward H (2004) AFL injury report 2003. J Sci Med Sport 7:264–265
Heiderscheit BC, Sherry MA, Silder A, Chumanov ES, Thelen DG (2010) Hamstring strain injuries: recommendations for diagnosis, rehabilitation, and injury prevention. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 40(2):67–81
Upton PA, Noakes TD, Jurits JM (1996) Thermal pants may reduce the risk of recurrent hamstring injuries in rugby players. British J Sport Med 30:57–60
Arnason A, Sigurdsson SB, Gudmundsson A, Holme I, Engebretsen L, Bahr R (2004) Risk factors for injuries in football. Am J Sports Med 32:5S–16S
Connell D, Schneider-Kolsky M, Hoving J (2004) Longitudinal study comparing sonographic and MRI assessments of acute and healing hamstring injuries. AJR Am J Roentgenol 183:975–984
Pomeranz SJ, Heidt RS Jr (1993) MR imaging in the prognostication of hamstring injury: work in progress. Radiology 189:897–900
Slavotinek J, Verrall G, Fon G (2002) Hamstring injury in athletes: using MR imaging measurements to compare extent of muscle injury with amount of time lost from competition. AJR Am J Roentgenol 179:1621–1628
Gibbs N, Cross T, Cameron M (2004) The accuracy of MRI in predicting recovery and recurrence of acute grade one hamstring muscle strains within the same season in Australian Rules football players. J Sci Med Sport 7:248–258
Burkett LN (1970) Causative factors in hamstring strains. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2:39–42
Heiser TM, Weber J, Sullivan G et al (1984) Prophylaxis and management of hamstring muscle injuries in intercollegiate football players. Am J Sports Med 12:368–370
Yamamoto T (1993) Relationship between hamstring strains and leg muscle strength: a follow-up study of collegiate track and field athletes. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 33:194–199
Jonhagen S, Nemeth G, Eriksson E (1994) Hamstring injuries in sprinters: the role of concentric and eccentric hamstring muscle strength and flexibility. Am J Sports Med 22:262–266
Orchard J, Marsden J, Lord S (1997) Preseason hamstring muscle weakness associated with hamstring muscle injury in Australian footballers. Am J Sports Med 25:81–85
Croisier J, Forthomme B, Namurois M (2002) Hamstring muscle strain recurrence and strength performance disorders. Am J Sports Med 30:199–203
Lv F, Tang J, Luo Y, Ban Y, Wu R, Tian J, Yu T, Xie X, Li T (2012) Muscle crush injury of extremity: quantitative elastography with supersonic shear imaging. Ultrasound Med Biol 38(5):795–802
Bisciotti GN (2000) Per ritrovare la funzionalità. Sport e medicina 6:43–47
Brockett C, Morgan D, Proske U (2001) Human hamstrings adapt to eccentric exercise by changing optimum length. Med Sci Sports Exerc 33:783–790
Brockett C, Morgan D, Proske U (2004) Predicting hamstring strain injury in elite athletes. Med Sci Sports Exerc 36:379–387
Bisciotti GN. (2003). A avaliação funcional dos atletas. Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Therapy, University Estacio de Sa de Puerto Alegre (BR). October 15th 2003. Lecture notes, Estacio de Sa (Ed). Vol 3, p 35
Sherry M, Best T (2004) A comparison of 2 rehabilitation programs in the treatment of acute hamstring strains. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 34:116–125
Orchard J, Farhart P, Leopold C (2004) Lumbar spine region pathology and hamstring and calf injuries in athletes: is there a connection? Br J Sports Med 38:502–504
Orchard J, Best TM, Verral GM (2005) Return to play following muscle strain. Clin J Sport Med 15:436–441
Chomiak J, Junge A, Peterson L, Dvorak J (2000) Severe injuries in football players. Influencing factors. Am J Sports Med 28(5 Suppl):S58–S68
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bisciotti, G.N. (2015). Return to Play After a Muscle Lesion. In: Volpi, P. (eds) Football Traumatology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18245-2_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18245-2_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-18244-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-18245-2
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)