Patellofemoral disorders represent 20–40% of all knee problems and can be one of the most common complaints in sports related injuries. These disorders are a major cause of disability, particularly in females, and in extreme cases may contribute to termination of athlete’s career and could lead to degenerative arthritic changes of the knee joint. For these reasons, disorders and in particular p...

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to compare the performance of the vertical jump task and the level of disability between the coper and non-coper athletes with an anterior cruciate ligament-minus knee. Methods: Thirty-four professional male athletes with isolated complete anterior cruciate ligament-tear (age 20-29 years and 6-12 months time past injury) were recruited in this stu...

OBJECTIVE We have previously shown the capacity of tenascin-C (TN-C) to induce inflammatory mediators and matrix degradation in vitro in human articular cartilage. The objective of the present study was to follow TN-C release into knee synovial fluid after acute joint injury or in joint disease, and to correlate TN-C levels with markers of cartilage matrix degradation and inflammation. METHOD...

BACKGROUND Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) has traditionally been reserved for young patients with functional instability. As the aging population continues to grow and embrace a more active lifestyle, it is important to determine if favorable outcomes of ACLR can be achieved in older adults. METHODS Patients greater than 50 years of age undergoing ACLR between January 2001 a...

BACKGROUND Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is often accompanied with medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury. Assessment of varus-valgus (V-V) instability in the ACL-deficient knee is crucial for the management of the concomitant ACL-collateral ligaments injury. We evaluated the V-V laxity and investigated the effect of additional posterior tibial load on the laxity in the ACL-deficient...

BACKGROUND The diagnosis of posterolateral instability of the knee is often based on a typical indirect mechanism of injury, a history of "giving way" and a positive dial test. Our search of the English literature revealed no mention of including the valgus stress test in the diagnostic protocol for posterolateral instability. HYPOTHESIS Based on our experience, we hypothesised that a medial ...

BACKGROUND The fibular collateral ligament is the primary stabilizer to varus instability of the knee. Untreated fibular collateral ligament injuries can lead to residual knee instability and can increase the risk of concurrent cruciate ligament reconstruction graft failures. Anatomic reconstructions of the fibular collateral ligament have not been biomechanically validated. PURPOSE To descri...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to investigate the pathoanatomic features of patellar instability by arthroscopically comparing patellofemoral congruence with rotation of the knee joint and/or electrical stimulation of the quadriceps (ESQ) between knees with and without patellar instability. METHODS We retrospectively examined 83 knee joints in 83 patients. The joints were classified into 2...

Avulsion fracture of the anterior tibial eminence is an uncommon injury. If bone union does not occur, knee extension will be limited by impingement of the avulsed fragment and knee instability will be induced by dysfunction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). This report describes a 55-year-old woman who experienced an avulsion fracture of the right anterior tibial eminence during recreat...

INTRODUCTION Several cases of tibial post breakage are reported in the literature. To the best of our knowledge, only three cases of NexGen knee prosthesis (Zimmer, Warsaw, Indiana, USA) tibial post failure have been reported. CASE PRESENTATION In November 1999, a 63-year-old Caucasian woman from Italy with a history of symptomatic left knee osteoarthritis underwent a total knee arthroplasty....