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BJSM Online First, published on October 28, 2011 as 10.1136/bjsports-2011-090447
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Reurink Article
G, Goudswaard GJ, Tol author
JL, et al. Br(or their
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(2011). doi:10.1136/bjsports-2011-090447 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd under licence.
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Reurink G, Goudswaard GJ, Tol JL, et al. Br J Sports Med (2011). doi:10.1136/bjsports-2011-090447 3 of 7
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full active knee extension compared with the uninjured side Stretching and resistance exercises versus agility and
earlier than the group that performed a less intensive stretch- trunk stabilisation exercises
ing programme (respectively 5.57±0.71 days and 7.32±0.525 Sherry and Best 31 found no signifi cant difference in time to
days). Time needed for rehabilitation was also significantly RTS (p=0.2455) between a group performing stretching and
(p<0.001) shorter in the intensive stretching group (13.27±0.71 isolated progressive hamstring resistance exercises and a
days) than the less intensive stretching group (15.05±0.81 group performing progressive agility and trunk stabilisation
days). exercises (37.4±27.6 days and 22.2±8.3 days, respectively).
This study reported significant re-injury rates in favour
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs of the progressive agility and trunk stabilisation group
Reynolds et al30 found no statistically significant effect of at 2 weeks (p=0.0343) and at 1 year (p=0.0059) after RTS.
treatment with NSAIDs (meclofenamate and diclofenac) on At 2 weeks, six (54.5%) of the 11 patients in the stretch-
pain score and isokinetic hamstring testing (peak torque, aver- ing and isolated progressive hamstring resistance exercises
age power and total work) compared with placebo. Pain scores group had a hamstring re-injury compared with none of the
measured with a visual analogue scale after 1 week were 13 patients in the progressive agility and trunk stabilisa-
7.9±6.6, 8.8±7.7 and 3.9±3.3 for the meclofenamate, diclofenac tion. At 1 year, re-injury rate was 70% (7/10) in the stretch-
and placebo group, respectively. ing and isolated progressive hamstring resistance exercises
Adverse events were reported by 13 patients (29%): 12 group and 7.7% (1/13) in the progressive agility and trunk
gastrointestinal and one headache. Adverse events were stabilisation exercises group.
reported by five of 13 patients (38%) in the meclofena-
mate group, six of 17 patients (35%) in the diclofenac DISCUSSION
group, and two of 14 patients (14%) in the placebo group. This systematic review shows limited evidence for a posi-
No statistical analysis was performed on the number of tive effect of stretching, agility and trunk stability exercises,
adverse events. intramuscular actovegin injections and slump stretching in the
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management of acute hamstring injuries. Limited evidence resulted in fewer re-injuries at 2 weeks and 1 year follow-up.
was found that there is no effect for NSAIDs and manipula- The re-injury rate of 70% at 1 year follow-up found in the pro-
tion of the sacroiliac joint. gressive resistance and stretching group in the study of Sherry
Only six studies met the criteria for inclusion in this system- and Best is higher than reported in the literature for hamstring
atic review—two CCTs27 28 and four RCTs26 29 – 31—of which injuries.7 32 33 This may indicate that the rehabilitation pro-
two were classified as high quality. These six studies all inves- gramme in this group has a detrimental effect on the rehabili-
tigated different interventions, thereby limiting comparison of tation outcome.
the studies and pooling of the results. There is limited evidence that the use of NSAIDs has no
Despite hamstring injuries being very common in the athletic effect on pain scores and isokinetic strength testing in acute
population, this comprehensive systematic literature search hamstring injuries. Similar to these results, a number of reviews
revealed a lack of high quality studies on their management. All found NSAIDs to be no more effective than placebo in the
interventions reported in these clinical studies have been inves- management of acute soft tissue injuries.9 10 34 Furthermore,
tigated once, limiting the amount of evidence on their efficacy. concerns have been raised about the possible harmful effect of
There was limited evidence for a positive effect of stretching NSAIDs on muscle healing after acute injury, because of delay-
on the time required for rehabilitation. Malliaropoulos et al 29 ing muscle regeneration and promoting fibrosis. 34 35 Despite
reported a positive effect of static stretching on the rehabilita- the widespread use of NSAIDs in acute muscle injuries, there
tion time. In contrast, the group that performed stretching and is no evidence for their efficacy for hamstring injuries.
progressive resistance in the study of Sherry and Best showed Kornberg and Lew27 reported a reduced number of games
a tendency to prolonged rehabilitation time compared with missed with the use of stretching of neural structures
the agility and trunk stabilisation group. However, no conclu- (slump stretching) in athletes with grade I hamstring injuries
sions can be drawn on the effect of stretching as an isolated and a positive slump test. Grade I injury was defi ned as pain
intervention from the results of Sherry and Best 31 because and tenderness in the hamstring, pain and decreased strength
resistance exercise was another variable that may influence on isometric contraction, and decreased hamstring length.
the outcome besides stretching. Diagnosis was not confi rmed by ultrasound or MRI. In the
There is limited evidence that agility and trunk stabilisation experimental group treated with the slump stretching tech-
exercises compared with progressive resistance and stretching nique, 11 of the 12 athletes missed no games. Compared with
Reurink G, Goudswaard GJ, Tol JL, et al. Br J Sports Med (2011). doi:10.1136/bjsports-2011-090447 5 of 7
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rehabilitation times for grade I injuries found in the literature, study of injection of platelet-rich plasma for muscle injuries,
it is remarkable that these players did not miss any games. This including hamstring injuries, was excluded because the control
raises the question whether these injuries actually contained group used was a retrospective analysis of patients treated previ-
hamstring muscle pathology or whether there was another ously. Additional shortcomings of this study are lack of blinding,
cause of the injury, such as neural tension pathology. no quantification of lesions, and no follow-up after RTS.23
Cibulka et al 26 reported an increase in peak hamstring Surgical treatment has been advocated to repair complete
torque after manipulation of the sacroiliac joint measured ruptures of the hamstring muscles and is increasingly used in
with a pre- and post-intervention test. Peak hamstring torque the management of these injuries.16 36 37 Although a surgical
did not increase in the control group. However, there was a intervention was not an exclusion criterion, no studies on sur-
baseline difference in peak hamstring torque in favour of gical treatment of acute hamstring injuries were included in
the control group. At the post-test, the groups were similar. the analysis of this systematic review. In the literature search,
This significant baseline difference makes the interpretation no prospective controlled studies on surgical interventions for
of the outcome difficult and causes a substantial risk of bias. acute hamstring injuries were identified. This highlights the
Furthermore, there are several other limitations in this study: lack of high quality scientific evidence in the surgical manage-
no information is provided about the sport activity of the par- ment of acute hamstring injuries.
ticipants, the criteria for the diagnosis of sacroiliac dysfunction
are not clear, and there is no rehabilitation outcome presented FUTURE DIRECTIONS
in measurements of time to RTS and re-injuries. This systematic review highlights a lack of good quality stud-
In recent years, injection therapies, such as actovegin8 28 and ies on the treatment of acute hamstring injuries. Common
growth factor,15 23 have gained popularity for the treatment of methodological limitations are small number of participants,
muscle injuries. Lee et al 28 reported a significantly shorter reha- lack of an appropriate control group, lack of randomisation and
bilitation time for treatment of acute hamstring injuries with lack of blinding of patients, therapists and assessors.
actovegin compared with no injection therapy. However, there Grading systems are used for classification of severity of
is a substantial risk of bias in this study due to serious meth- acute hamstring injuries. 38 39 However, there seems to be
odological limitations: no randomisation, no blinding, and the no uniform classification system for these injuries: grading
allocation of patients who refused the injection therapy to the is performed using clinical examination, 27 28 31 MRI38 and/
control group. Therefore no conclusions can be drawn about or ultrasound. 29 39 In a general sense, these grading systems
the efficacy of actovegin injections for hamstring injuries. share common classification categories (grade 0, no abnor-
Injection of growth factors has been proposed as a new treat- mality; grade 1, no/minimal tear; grade 2, partial tear; grade
ment modality for muscle injuries.15 23 No studies on growth fac- 3, total rupture), but the precise defi nitions vary between
tor injections met the inclusion criteria of this review. Another the classification systems. The exact distinction between
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Review
no, minimal and partial tear is not uniform. Of the studies 9. Almekinders LC. Anti-inflammatory treatment of muscular injuries in sport.
included, four graded the injuries using different classification An update of recent studies. Sports Med 1999;28:383 – 8.
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Competing interests None. 2004;36:756 – 9.
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Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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