ATHLETES: OVERUSE MRI of Overuse INJURIES VERY COMMON Injury in the Elite Athlete • Muscle William B. Morrison, M.D. Associate Professor of • Joints Radiology Thomas Jefferson • Tendon University Hospital Philadelphia, PA USA • Ligament • Bone
[email protected] How is this Relevant to My Practice? • High performance athletes get similar injuries as ‘regular’ people… but: – More of them, & at a younger age MUSCLE / SOFT TISSUE – More commonly imaged – Secondary gain involved INJURY • All the cases here are high performance athletes – but most injuries are conventional • Exceptions – Some weird sport-specific patterns of stress and other injuries – Acute injuries as opposed to overuse •Overuse –DOMS Muscle Injury Delayed Onset Muscle • Acute injury Soreness (DOMS) – Tendon – Myotendinous junction • All athletes are susceptible if they – Muscle belly change training regimen • Athletes tend to work out intensely – leads to muscle injury • Rarely imaged (“no pain no gain”) – Weightlifting / aerobic exercise – 24hr later – soreness – Can be severe, even look like a tear 1 Acute Muscle Injury • Direct → muscle belly, esp quadriceps T2 – esp rugby, football • Indirect → myotendinous junction – eccentric contraction – sudden acceleration / DOMS: Lateral gastrocnemius deceleration Finding can be subtle, even with T2 and fat sat Professional football player Acute Injury – T1 Quadriceps hematoma Muscle belly injury Myotendinous Unit Hit with helmet • Myotendinous Junction – ‘weak link’ of normal myotendinous complex T2 – Common place for injury – Most common mechanism: eccentric contraction (muscle lengthens and contracts at the same High time) T1 = blood Gastrocnemius tear: Grade 1 Muscle Strain “V” sign • Ill-defined edema T2 T1 STIR Weishaupt D, JCAT 2001; 25:677 2 Gd Gd can help identify Grade 2 Muscle Strain subtle muscle injury AKA “Partial Tear” STIR Professional baseball player Grade 1 strain Sartorius m.