Rugby players are often prone to several types of injuries occurring at different body locations, in particular at head, neck, knee and ankle [1, 2]. ACL injury is very common and usually leads to a reconstruction surgery: a quick rehabilitation program is crucial for the full recovery of elite players as they are fundamental to their teams. So it is very important to define an individual rehabilitative program and to monitor periodically its effects in order to apply possible adjustments during its development and to speed up the full recovery process. Moreover, individualized protocols allow to maintain and often increase the strength of the injured body segments. Aim of the present work was to evaluate how repeated motion capture analysis applied to a combination of gait tests (kinematics and kinetics) and specific training exercises could objectively identify and quantify the recovery progresses of an elite rugby player after ACL reconstruction. A professional rugby player volunteered for 5 test sessions: the first was with the left knee injured; the following 4 sessions started 4 weeks after the surgery with intervals of 1 week. A motion capture system (BTS®-Italy) with six infrared cameras was employed to record kinematics data at 60Hz on each session. Reflective markers were placed on trunk (4), arms (4), hands (2), pelvis (2 at PSIS), great trochanters (2), knees (4), ankles (2) and feet (4).Ground reaction forces (GRFs) were recorded by means of two Kistler® force platforms working at 960Hz. Each test session consisted in 3 different tests: a static test (to measure the GRFs distribution between the two legs), a gait test (to study kinematics and kinetics of the stride cycle during the rehabilitation steps) and squat tests with/without overload (to quantify differences between eccentric and concentric phase). Kinematics data allowed to objectively quantify parameters such as vertical excursion of great trochanters and ankles during gait and squat. Kinetics data allowed to quantitatively describe GRFs with specific attention to vertical force. In this way it was possible to control the player’s condition during the rehabilitation program in order to refine the rehabilitation activities and to reduce the time of recovery. Results showed an increase of the injured leg ankle vertical excursion of 30% after 3 weeks and a progressive recovery of symmetry between the two legs in squat exercise. References 1. Gabbett T.J. (2002) Physiological characteristics of junior and senior rugby league players. Br. J. Sports Med. 36 (5): 334-339. 2. Holtzhausen L.J. et al. (2006) The incidence and nature of Injuries in South African Rugby Players in the Rugby Super 12 Competition. S. Afr. Med. J. 96 (12): 1260-1265.

Evaluation of a rehabilitation protocol by repeated motion capture analysis after ACL reconstruction: a single subject study in rugby

NARDELLO, Francesca;
2008-01-01

Abstract

Rugby players are often prone to several types of injuries occurring at different body locations, in particular at head, neck, knee and ankle [1, 2]. ACL injury is very common and usually leads to a reconstruction surgery: a quick rehabilitation program is crucial for the full recovery of elite players as they are fundamental to their teams. So it is very important to define an individual rehabilitative program and to monitor periodically its effects in order to apply possible adjustments during its development and to speed up the full recovery process. Moreover, individualized protocols allow to maintain and often increase the strength of the injured body segments. Aim of the present work was to evaluate how repeated motion capture analysis applied to a combination of gait tests (kinematics and kinetics) and specific training exercises could objectively identify and quantify the recovery progresses of an elite rugby player after ACL reconstruction. A professional rugby player volunteered for 5 test sessions: the first was with the left knee injured; the following 4 sessions started 4 weeks after the surgery with intervals of 1 week. A motion capture system (BTS®-Italy) with six infrared cameras was employed to record kinematics data at 60Hz on each session. Reflective markers were placed on trunk (4), arms (4), hands (2), pelvis (2 at PSIS), great trochanters (2), knees (4), ankles (2) and feet (4).Ground reaction forces (GRFs) were recorded by means of two Kistler® force platforms working at 960Hz. Each test session consisted in 3 different tests: a static test (to measure the GRFs distribution between the two legs), a gait test (to study kinematics and kinetics of the stride cycle during the rehabilitation steps) and squat tests with/without overload (to quantify differences between eccentric and concentric phase). Kinematics data allowed to objectively quantify parameters such as vertical excursion of great trochanters and ankles during gait and squat. Kinetics data allowed to quantitatively describe GRFs with specific attention to vertical force. In this way it was possible to control the player’s condition during the rehabilitation program in order to refine the rehabilitation activities and to reduce the time of recovery. Results showed an increase of the injured leg ankle vertical excursion of 30% after 3 weeks and a progressive recovery of symmetry between the two legs in squat exercise. References 1. Gabbett T.J. (2002) Physiological characteristics of junior and senior rugby league players. Br. J. Sports Med. 36 (5): 334-339. 2. Holtzhausen L.J. et al. (2006) The incidence and nature of Injuries in South African Rugby Players in the Rugby Super 12 Competition. S. Afr. Med. J. 96 (12): 1260-1265.
2008
rygby; injury; rehabilitation
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11562/340795
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