Biomedical subjects

S Taimela

Publications and source records attributed to S Taimela.

78 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

PubMed1990

Intrinsic risk factors and athletic injuries.

The benefits of physical activity are widely known. However, the risk of a musculoskeletal injury is an unfavourable consequence in physical training. Age, gender, injury history, body size, local anatomy and biomechanics, aerobic fitness, muscle strength, imbalance and tightness, ligamentous laxity, central motor control, psychological and psychosocial factors as well as general mental ability are factors in the predisposition to injury. Junior (15 to 16 years) and senior athletes seem to be at a higher risk of injury in many types of sport. However, the relationship between age and injuries apparently depends on both the type and intensity of activity practiced. The majority of injured athletes in many studies have been males. Men are, however, more likely to participate in vigorous exercise and sport and it is not known if men are at a generally higher risk of injury when the exposure is taken into account. Certain lesions, such as sprains, strains and dislocations, tend to recur. Previous injuries may necessarily not cause a repetition of injury if treated adequately, but certain individuals may be at a higher risk of injury due to injury-prone biological characteristics. Excessive height and weight have been shown to predispose to stress injuries in physical training. Idiopathic or acquired abnormalities in the anatomy or biomechanics in any joint may lead to a local injury. However, physical requirements vary widely between different types of activity and predisposition to injury due to anatomical or biomechanical factors seems to be characteristic for each type of exercise. Lack of fitness, muscle weakness, joint looseness and poor general flexibility have been suggested as factors in the outcome of athletic injuries but no definite conclusions can be made on the basis of the existing literature. Long simple reaction times to visual stimuli and long choice reaction times to visual stimuli have recently been related to musculoskeletal injuries. No exceptional personality dimension in injury proneness as a whole has been found and the results from specific groups cannot be extrapolated generally. Accumulation of life stress apparently predisposes to an athletic injury. Musculoskeletal injuries seem to be more common in subjects with lower scores in intelligence tests but no causation has been shown yet. Altogether, a complex network of risk factors for athletic injuries has been found. However, no prospective study including all the recognised injury risk factors has been presented in the literature.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Relation between speed of reaction and psychometric tests of mental ability in musculoskeletal injury-prone subjects.

Long reaction time (RT), long choice reaction time (CRT), and low scores on psychometric tests of mental ability (MA) have in previous studies been related to musculoskeletal injuries. There has been controversy concerning the relation between slow reaction and low-grade MA recently, the old hypothesis of negative correlation between RT and MA being discussed. The aim of this study was to analyze the relation between speed of reaction and MA. For a sample of 123 volunteer healthy young men simple RT, choice RT, and spatial (block design), verbal and arithmetic components of MA were tested. A principal component analysis was performed and the factor matrix was rotated orthogonally using the varimax method. Two factors were extracted accounting for 73% of the total variance in data space. The mental ability factor, which was responsible for 70% of the variance in factor space, was comprised of components of MA and choice RT. The speed of reaction factor accounted for the remaining 30% of the variance in factor space and was comprised of simple and choice RTs. As choice RT had significant loading on the mental ability factor, the subjects having scores in the lowest quartile on both choice RT and MA total score were compared with the independent expected value by using the chi-squared test. The results of low-grade MA and slow choice reaction were not independent. Accordingly, the results do not support the entire distinction between traditional mental ability or convergent thinking and speed of reaction in normal subjects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Accident Proneness↗

PubMed1990

Motor ability and personality with reference to soccer injuries.

Thirty-seven male soccer players performed a series of motor ability tests and answered the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (the 16PF). A past-injury examination and interview was performed by a physician and occurrence of injuries was followed up prospectively for one year. Stepwise regression analyses revealed significant associations between past injuries and long reaction time as well as personality factors N (astute) and H (shy). We conclude that both weakness of motor abilities, especially long reaction time, and a specific personality type may predispose a player to soccer injuries.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

A simple preservative for flow cytometric DNA analysis.

A solution containing citric acid buffered saline (CABS) and 99% ethanol (E) 1:1 was used for preserving cells for flow cytometric DNA analysis. DNA histograms obtained from fine needle biopsy aspirates and preserved in CABS+E had a similar mean coefficient of variation (CV) as was obtained from aspirates taken in CABS (3.3 vs. 3.4%) and a clearly smaller mean CV than was obtained from aspirates preserved in 50% ethanol (mean 4.8%, P less than .0001). Aspirates taken in CABS more often contained a small (less than 3,000) number of cells as compared with aspirates preserved either in CABS+E or ethanol (P less than .0001). Since preservation of cells in CABS+E allows long-term storage of samples and results in a decreased number of insufficient samples as compared with buffered saline and in an enhanced resolution as compared with 50% ethanol, CABS+E is recommended for preservation of cytological samples to be analyzed for DNA content with flow cytometry.

Biopsy, Needle↗

PubMed1989

Patellofemoral relationships in recurrent patellar dislocation.

Magnetic resonance imaging was used to analyse the patellofemoral relationships during the first 30 degrees of knee flexion in women with recurrent patellar dislocation. The patellofemoral joints were imaged both sagittally and axially with the knee flexed 0 degrees, 10 degrees, 20 degrees, and 30 degrees. At the beginning of knee flexion the sulcus angle was greater than in unaffected women, the lateral patellofemoral angle was smaller, the patella displaced further laterally, tilted more laterally and the congruence angle was directed more laterally. At 30 degrees of knee flexion these differences were less marked than at 0 degree to 10 degrees. Logistic regression analysis showed that the sulcus angle at 10 degrees of knee flexion was the most diagnostic feature, indicating that there is an anatomical predisposition to recurrent dislocation and that pathological patellar tracking starts from the beginning of flexion. Traditional sunrise radiographic films taken at 25 degrees to 30 degrees knee flexion clearly miss diagnostically important information.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Lumbar mobility and low back pain during adolescence. A longitudinal three-year follow-up study in athletes and controls.

In this 3-year longitudinal study, we studied lumbar mobility and the occurrence of low back pain among 98 adolescents who were free of previous severe low back pain: 33 nonathletes (16 boys, 17 girls), 34 boy athletes (ice hockey and soccer players) and 31 girl athletes (figure skaters and gymnasts). During the followup, low back pain lasting longer than 1 week was reported by 29 athletes (15 boys and 14 girls) and by 6 nonathletes (3 boys and 3 girls). In multivariate analyses, participation in sports and low maximal lumbar flexion at the baseline predicted low back pain during the followup among boys; however, these factors accounted for only 16% of the variability between the groups with and without low back pain. Among girls, decreased range of motion in the lower lumbar segments, low maximal lumbar extension, and high body weight at the baseline were predictive of low back pain during the followup, accounting for 31% of the variability between the groups. The girls in the lowest tertile of maximal lumbar extension at baseline had a relative risk of 3.4 to have future low back pain compared with those in the highest tertile. We conclude that the low individual physiologic maximum of lower segment lumbar extension mobility may cause overloading of the low back among athletes involved in sports with frequent maximal lumbar extension and that it predicts future low back pain.

Adolescent↗