Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction in Adolescents: A Systematic Review

Background: Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction is an established surgical technique to restore UCL deficiency, especially in the overhead throwing athlete. Over the past decade, the number of patients requiring UCL reconstruction has increased significantly, particularly in the adolescent patient population. Return-to-play rates after UCL reconstruction reported in the literature have ranged from 33% to 92%, and a recent systematic review noted a return-to-play rate of 89.40% in all high school athletes. Purpose: To evaluate the outcomes, particularly return-to-play rates and subjective outcome scores, of UCL reconstruction of the elbow in adolescent throwing athletes. Study Design: Systematic review. Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted via the electronic databases Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane. Studies that reported on outcomes, particularly return-to-play rates, in adolescent throwing athletes met the inclusion criteria and were included in our analysis. Studies that did not report on adolescent throwing athletes and studies that reported on adolescent throwing athletes but did not specify the return-to-play outcomes for these athletes were excluded from our analysis. Results: Nine studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. There were 404 baseball players and 10 javelin throwers included in our analysis. A total of 349 of the 414 patients (84.30%) were successfully able to return to play at the same level of competition or higher. Successful rates of return to prior performance ranged from 66.67% to 91.49% in our analysis. Javelin throwers had a mean 80.00% rate of return to prior performance, while baseball players had a mean return-to-play rate of 84.40%. Complications were evaluated for 8 (88.9%) studies and 283 (68.4%) patients. There were 11 (3.9%) reported complications and 5 (1.8%) reoperations. Conclusion: The findings of this systematic review revealed that adolescent patients are generally able to return to their preinjury level of performance or higher with limited complications. Further investigation is necessary to determine long-term outcomes for return to play after UCL reconstruction of the elbow in adolescent throwing athletes.

Angular Kinematics and Physical Fitness Analysis of Tall height and Short Height Javelin Throwers- A Case Study of The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan

This study was designed to compare the physical fitness and angular position of the university level javelin throwers. Eight tall height and (n = 08) short height javelin throwers were selected for data collection. A handgrip dynamometer, stadiometer, and weight balance were used for the measurements of physical fitness. Two video cameras a Kinovea software was utilized for video analysis of the Javelin throws. The selected variables were stature, body mass, standing broad jump, maximum bench press handgrip strength, the javelin throw distance. The angle of knee joint, elbow joints, and stride length was selected variables while performing the javelin throw. An independent t-test was applied to find mean difference among tall and short height javelin thrower. The result showed the distance of javelin throw, handgrip strength, maximum bench press, vertical jump, and standing broad jump of tall height throwers were significantly higher than short height javelin throwers. On the other hand, the tall height throwers were also significantly higher in extension of right elbow, right knee, and stride length than the short height at the time of the javelin release from hand. It was concluded the longer arms, body mass, and angular kinematics of javelin throwers are associated with the better performance. It is suggested the physical fitness would be include in the selection of javelin throw and angular movement of the right knee and elbow focused on training of javelin thrower.

Injury Prevention for Javelin Athletes using Sensors and IoT

The main idea of this dissertation was to understand the inter-relationships among Biomechanical parameters which describes for javelin throwing execution and wounds continued by javelin throwers. One of the multi-joint, complex track and field throwing events is javelin throw, which needs great coordination on physiological and movement parameters. Current Javelin throwers mainly concentrate on muscular strength and the control to throw the javelin at long distance with high speed. But, it is essential for both men and women javelin throwers to effectively transfer run-up momentum and throwing arm action into great release speed and to control the release. A Great joint power was seen in spear hurlers were related with developments of the shoulder and elbow which is the system for lance tossing damage. These parameters may be modified to decrease injury risk without affecting the performance to achieve maximum throwing distance. Now a day technological advancements are increasing at a faster face, but the utilization of technologies in various sectors is very low. Considering the possible injuries to could occur, this system has been proposed for the welfare of javelin throwers. This indicates whenever the athletes commit a mistake while throwing the javelin which in-turn prevents further injuries through feedback mechanism using the sensor, IoT and Mobile App. The real-time monitoring of injury parameter and providing feedbacks become tremendous potentials for maximizing athlete’s performances

Issues of Training Evaluation at Javelin Throwers

Starting with the assumption that if the means used during the training of the high performing javelin throwers are the suitable ones, then, the competition results will be the echo of the consigned effort.The objective of this research is mainly to correlate the foremost means that were used with the result from the contest and to supervise the physical training before the reference competition.The methods used to investigate the utility were the pedagogic observation,the method of measurements and tests, the statistical processing of the data and the the graphic interpretation of the resulted data. Four of the best javelin throwers in Romania were monitored during a centralized cantonment, with the software „Polar Team” and the results of the control tests during a 3-month training session together with the final competiton result were taken into account. The usage of the software in training may offer the throwers information about the stage of their training and the biological echo of the effort they provided. Regarding the training means used, some of them may be redundant but others can be quite relevant in the obtaining of the sport result: dumbbell snatch, long jump without momentum.Putting aside these means would lead to a better management of the effort and to the preservation of the energy so as to facilitate the restoration.

Accelerated decline in javelin throwing performance in master athletes 70 years and older – does change in technique play a role?

Background: Wile many older adults are immobile, frail and inactive, others still participate in competitive sports. As in sprinting and endurance running, the world records of javelin throwing decrease with increasing age. It is, however, not clear 1)whether this ageing-related decline is linear or, as in sprint performance, accelerates beyond the age of 69, and 2) to what extent frailty-related changes in throwing technique contribute to the decreasing performance in old javelin throwers. Methods: We plotted the current world records against age and assessed the performance of 27 male javelin throwers 70 years and older during three master athletics championships. Three to six throws were filmed, and the best throw of each athlete selected. A step-wise linear regression was applied to assess the contribution of age, angle of release, angle of attitude , angle of attack, elbow angle just before the pull and the number of steps in the approach run, to performance. Results: The ageing-related decline in javelin-throw performance accelerated after the age of 69 years. Age was the main predictor of performance (adjusted R 2 =0.68), with a small contribution of elbow angle (adjusted R 2 increased to 0.76) and angle of attack (R 2 =0.82; all P<0.001) in the older athletes. None of the technique-related parameters correlated with age. Discussion: The ageing-related decline in javelin throwing performance was accelerated after the age of 69 years. Although the technique had some influence on javelin throwing performance, the accelerated decline in 70 + -year-old athletes was not associated with an ageing-related change in throwing technique.