RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Artistic swimming is a highly challenging discipline, requiring physical skills and creativity. There are almost no published data on trauma. We aimed to assess the incidence and the nature of injuries in artistic swimmers. DESIGN: An 11-year retrospective single-center cohort study. SETTING: Department of Sport Medicine of a University Hospital. PATIENTS: One hundred and twenty-four elite female artistic swimmers aged 12.9 ± 1.6 years. INTERVENTIONS: The cohort was divided into 3 groups according to the competition categories (from 9 to 12 years old called "future", 12-15 years old called "youth", 15-19 years old called "junior"). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Injury rate per season and per athlete was assessed. RESULTS: The injury rate was 0.95 injuries/season/athlete and 1.05 injuries/1000 hours of practice. The most frequent injuries were rotator cuff tendinopathy (13.6%), acute low back pain (13.6%), and patellofemoral syndrome (11.9%). Swimmers in the youth and junior categories had significantly more injuries than those in the future category (P = 0.009), possibly because of more training hours (P < 0.001). Twelve major injuries occurred, all in the same group of youth swimmers. CONCLUSION: This is the first study investigating trauma during artistic swimming practice. A better knowledge of the main injuries is necessary for the physician to provide optimal care for athletes and to develop prevention. Attention should be particularly paid to the swimmers' shoulders and knees.
RESUMO
Clinical history and physical examination are usually not sufficient to diagnose leg chronic exertional compartment syndrome (CECS). Two predictive clinical models have been proposed. The first model by De Bruijn et al. is displayed as a nomogram that predicts the probability of CECS according to a risk score. The second model by Fouasson-Chailloux et al. combines two signs (post-effort muscle hardness on palpation or hernia). To evaluate those models, we performed a prospective study on patients who were referred for possible CECS. 201 patients underwent intra-compartmental pressure at 1-min post-exercise (CECS if ≥ 30 mmHg) - 115 had CECS. For the De Bruijn et al. model, the risk score was 7.5±2.2 in the CECS group and 4.6±1.7 in the non-CECS group (p<0.001) with an area under the ROC curve of 0.85. The model accuracy was 80% with a sensitivity of 82% and a specificity of 78%. Concerning Fouasson-Chailloux et al. model, the accuracy was 86%; the sensitivity and the specificity were 75 and 98%, respectively. The De Bruijn et al. model was a good collective model but less efficient in individual application. In patients having both muscle hardness and hernia, we could clinically make the diagnosis of CECS.
