Rotationsmodell
The joints and particularly the knee are among the body regions of football players that are most at risk. In recent years it has been possible to considerably enhance cure rates, above all of injuries of the ACL, by applying novel methods. "The ACL plays a major role in the knee: It ensures knee stability and reduces strain on cartilage. Without ligaments, the muscle will tire prematurely and the knee joint will lose stability. Methods commonly applied until recently to restore this function could only be used for specific types of sport", says sports orthopaedist Prof. Dr. Gobert Skrbensky from the Medical University of Vienna (MUV). Thanks to new studies conducted by MedUni Vienna it has been proven clearly that double channel reconstruction of the ligament provides better results precisely for the sports-type-specific strain exerted on the knee when playing football. "Our kinematic studies have shown that it is precisely the restoration of rotation stability that is important for shooting the ball in soccer games: This is clearly more successful with the new double channel ligament reconstruction. For specifying the exact placement of drills, computer-aided navigation can be used, which optimally complements surgical experience and enables intraoperational measurements."
Bow legs protect from ligament injuries - women more at riskThe risk to suffer such an injury depends on many factors. Bow legs (genu varum) are one of these factors. "Today we know that footballers tend to be bow-legged particularly if they often played football already at a young age. A Swiss study has revealed that 87% of all former professional football players were bow-legged", reports Univ. Dr. Gobert Skrbensky, summarising the outcome of an event on sports surgery by the MUV's Department of Orthopaedics. Reasons include, on the one hand, one-sided training, which leads to increased muscular pull and causes this malposition. "However, much more important is probably an overstrain on the epiphyseal growth plate immediately below the knee joint. This leads to growth reduction on the inner side of the tibia whereas growth on the outer side is not disturbed in the same manner." This has positive effects on the strain exerted on ligaments because bow legs protect them. Ligament injuries additionally show strong gender-specific factors. People with knock-knees (genu valgum) tend to suffer injuries of the inner collateral ligaments and ACL ruptures more frequently, therefore women are more frequently affected by these injuries in football. In addition, the hormone estrogen mainly between the 10th and 14th day of the cycle has a significantly negative impact on the ligament quality. Presentation of latest findings at symposium In the beginning of June, national and international scientists held lectures on specific symptoms connected with the game of football at the MedUni Vienna, within the framework of a major further training event chaired by Prof. Dr. Gobert Skrbensky and OA Dr. Michael Matzner. Their topics ranged from "Typical changes of the lumbar spine of football professionals" to answers to the question: "Can headers cause brain damage?" The most recent sports-type-specific symposiums organised by the Division of Sports Orthopaedics of the MUV's University Department of Orthopaedics within the framework of the training for the Sports Physicians Diploma included the themes of golfing and horse-riding.
