Epidemiology And Treatment Of Training-related Injuries

Purpose: To assess the incidence and characteristic of training-related injuries in national fencing team, special forces and armored forces . To evaluate preliminary results of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) and endoscopic-assisted surgical technique for patients suffering from tendinosis and analysis the therapeutic efficacy of microfracture technique under arthroscopy for patients with articular cartilage lesions.Methods: Investigate 144 players in national fencing team, 223 soldiers in special forces and 324 soldiers in armored forces about the training-related injuries, analysis characteristic of the injuries.Patients suffering from tendinosis were treated with extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) or endoscopic-assisted surgical technique.Patients with articular cartilage lesions were treated by microfracture technique under arthroscopy.Results: 65.3% of fencing players reported that they had been injured while training and there were 0.85 injuries per person; in special forces, the overall rates of injury was 43.5%, with 0.6 injuries per person; the prevalence of injuries in armored forces was 36.1% with 0.42 injuries per person.The rate of injuries in lower extremity were higher than upper extremity in all three groups, and the most commonly injured areas of the body was knee joint, with 43.4% 26.9% and 19.3%,respectively The main type of injuries in national fencing team,special forces and armored forces were tendinosis(34.4%), ligement injury(20.1%) and stress fracture(14.2%),lumbar muscle strain(46.7%), respectively. The most general treatment of training-related injuries was physical therapy,manoeuvre and medicine, with the efficiency between 31-51%, operation was the most useful treatment, but rarely used.Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT)was a useful method for tendinosis,with efficiency of 72.1%,and the VAS scores were decreased 6.5 in the last follow-up.The pain symptom of patients who suffered from tendinosis were disappeared after endoscopic-assisted surgery. At the time of the latest follow-up, 79.7% of patients who with articular cartilage lesions in knees were satisfied withthe results after microfracture surgery. According to Lysholm knee evaluation system, the mean scores was improved from 43 points preoperatively to 88 points postoperatively.Conclusion: The training-related injuries was common,and had a seriouse influence in training of fencing team and forces.Extracorporeal shock wave therapy(ESWT) and endoscopic-assisted surgical technique was useful methods for tendinosis,and arthroscopic microfrature is simple and effective to repair of articular cartilage lesions of knee joint.