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Background Anxiety disorders are common psychiatric conditions affecting children and adolescents. Although cognitive behavioral therapy and selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors have shown efficacy in treating these disorders, little is known about …

As outdoor sports continue to gain popularity, understanding the environmental factors that may influence athletes is becoming a more important aspect of medical care for team physicians. Temperature, ultraviolet light, lightning, and altitude are some of the most common elements that cause illness. Understanding how to prevent, diagnose, and promptly treat conditions caused by environmental factors is essential to optimizing athletic performance in outdoor sports and avoiding morbidity.

Background: Few reconstructive methods to treat displaced acromioclavicular separations have been evaluated using kinematic data.

Hypothesis: The modified Weaver-Dunn reconstruction restores intact acromioclavicular joint motion during passive scapular plane abduction.

Study Design: Controlled laboratory study.

Methods: Acromioclavicular joint motion was recorded during passive humeral elevation in 3 states: an intact shoulder, an “injured” state in which the acromioclavicular and coracoclavicular ligaments were transected, and finally in a reconstructed state using a modified Weaver-Dunn reconstruction. Measurements were taken with an electromagnetic motion analysis system attached to rigid pins placed in the clavicle, scapula, humerus, and sternum during passive scapular plane humeral elevation.

Results: Total translatory motion of the acromioclavicular joint in the cut state was significantly greater than both the intact and reconstructed states in the medial/lateral (intact, 4.3 mm; cut, 7.9 mm; reconstructed, 2.6 mm), anterior/posterior (intact, 4.8 mm; cut, 6.1 mm; reconstructed, 4.9 mm), and superior/inferior (intact, 4.1 mm; cut, 8.0 mm; reconstructed, 4.8 mm) directions. The maximum and minimum positions of the reconstructed state were significantly more anterior and inferior than in the intact state. A significant increase in acromioclavicular axial rotation was also found between the intact and cut state.

Conclusion: The modified Weaver-Dunn reconstruction was found to restore motion of the acromioclavicular joint to near-intact values, but created a more anterior and inferior position of the clavicle with respect to the acromion.

Clinical Relevance: These kinematic data support the modified Weaver-Dunn reconstruction as a kinematically sound procedure to treat displaced acromioclavicular joint injuries.

Background: Tendon Doppler flow may be associated with tendon pain in symptomatic patients, but the relationship between Doppler flow and pain among athletes who are still competing is unclear.

Hypothesis: Among active athletes, Doppler flow may partly reflect tendon adaptation to increased mechanical load and/or asymptomatic tendinopathy.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.

Methods: The Achilles tendons of 61 badminton players (24 elite, 37 recreational) were examined with gray-scale and color Doppler ultrasound. Achilles tendon pain and activity level (badminton training, badminton playing, badminton years) were measured.

Results: Doppler flow was not associated with current Achilles tendon pain but was associated with an increased anteroposterior tendon diameter (an indicator of tendinopathy) (P = .02). Athletes who had been playing badminton for longer were more likely to have Doppler flow (P < .01), and there was a trend toward an association between a greater number of badminton playing hours per week and Doppler flow (P = .07).

Conclusion: Achilles tendon Doppler flow appears to be a sign of asymptomatic tendinopathy rather than pain among active athletes. The association between weekly badminton hours and badminton years and Doppler flow suggests that Doppler flow may be a response to mechanical load in this cohort.

Background: Recently we retrospectively collected clinical data to predict hamstring graft diameter. Prospective data collection will improve and further define prediction of hamstring graft size.

Hypothesis: Clinical anthropometric data can be used to predict hamstring graft size.

Study Design: Cohort study (prevalence); Level of evidence, 1.

Methods: Fifty consecutive patients with anterior cruciate ligament deficiency scheduled for reconstruction using hamstring autograft were prospectively evaluated. Preoperatively we recorded height, weight, body mass index, age, gender, leg length, thigh length, shank length, bilateral thigh circumference, and Tegner score. Intraoperative measurements of both the gracilis and semitendinosus tendons were made, including absolute length before fashioning the graft and final diameter of the quadrupled graft using sizing tubes calibrated to 0.5 mm. Bivariate correlation coefficients (Pearson r) were calculated to identify relationships among clinical data and intraoperatively measured hamstring graft length and diameter.

Results: Strongest correlations for graft lengths were height and leg length measurements. Shorter persons with shorter leg, thigh, and shank lengths tended to have shorter gracilis and semitendinosus grafts. Likewise, the strongest correlations for graft diameter were weight and thigh circumference. Self-reported activity level and age did not correlate. Gender comparison revealed that women who were shorter, lighter, and had smaller body mass indices were more likely to have smaller graft diameters and shorter graft lengths.

Conclusion: Patients weighing less than 50 kg, less than 140 cm in height, with less than 37 cm thigh circumference, and with body mass index less than 18 should be considered at high risk for having a quadrupled hamstring graft diameter less than 7 mm. When separated by gender, small graft diameters are most likely in older, short, female subjects with small thigh circumferences or young, skinny, male subjects with small thigh circumferences and low body mass index. Common clinical measurements can be used for preoperative identification of patients at risk for insufficient graft tissue and would be useful for patient counseling and alternative graft source planning.