Sharp pain in a normal Achilles tendon of a professional female football player was related to a plantaris tendon in a rare position: a case report

Background Plantaris tendinopathy and plantaris-associated Achilles tendinopathy can be responsible for chronic pain in the Achilles tendon midportion, often accompanied by medial tenderness. As conservative treatments are less successful for this patient group, proper diagnosis is important for decision making. This report presents a case with plantaris tendinopathy in a rare (superficial) location. Case presentation This article describes a pain history and treatment timeline of a professional Swedish female soccer player (32 years old, Northern European ethnicity, white) who suffered from sharp pain in the Achilles tendon midportion and tenderness on the medial and superficial side for about 2 years. Conservative treatments, including eccentric exercises, were not successful and, to some extent, even caused additional irritation in that region. Ultrasound showed a wide and thick plantaris tendon located on the superficial side of the Achilles tendon midportion. The patient was surgically treated with local removal of the plantaris tendon. After surgery there was a relatively quick (4–6 weeks) rehabilitation, with immediate weight bearing, gradual increased loading, and return to running activities after 4 weeks. At follow-up at 8 weeks, the patient was running and had not experienced any further episodes of sharp pain during change of direction or sprinting. Conclusions The plantaris tendon should be considered as a possible source of Achilles tendon pain. This case study demonstrates that the plantaris tendon can be found in unexpected (superficial) positions and needs to be carefully visualized during clinical and imaging examinations.

Influencias socioculturales que enfrenta la mujer futbolista en el departamento de Puno (Sociocultural influences faced by female soccer players in the department of Puno)

La mujer en el fútbol en las últimas décadas ha tenido grandes avances por su práctica deportiva y apoyo familiar, lo que le ha permitido ganar espacio en el fútbol. La investigación asumió el paradigma cualitativo, con diseño etnográfico mediante 31 entrevistas y dos grupos focales, se ha analizado las influencias socioculturales que enfrenta la mujer futbolista en la liga amateur de Puno-Perú. Algunos resultados de esta investigación señalan que existen influencias socioculturales que enfrenta la mujer futbolista y está asociada con las barreras sociales de desigualdad social y provienen de condiciones económicas media y baja, refieren no recibir apoyo por parte de los directivos y medios de comunicación, además reflejan haber recibido actitudes machistas y estigmas por su género y jugar al fútbol, siendo catalogadas como marimachos y que todos estos aspectos no les limita su práctica del fútbol. Se concluye que en la autoidentificación la mujer puneña muestra su propia personalidad, tiene confianza y maneja su propia vida y se resalta el papel de los padres de familia en la iniciación, práctica y permanencia del fútbol femenino. Abstract. Women in soccer in recent decades have made great strides due to their sports practice and family support, which has allowed them to gain space in soccer. The research assumed the qualitative paradigm, with an ethnographic design through 31 interviews and two focus groups, the sociocultural influences faced by the female soccer player in the amateur league of Puno-Peru have been analyzed. Some results of this research indicate that there are sociocultural influences faced by the female soccer player and is associated with social barriers of social inequality and come from medium and low economic conditions, they refer not receiving support from managers and the media, they also reflect having received macho attitudes and stigmas due to their gender and playing soccer, being classified as tomboys and that all these aspects do not limit their practice of soccer. It is concluded that in self-identification the woman from Puno shows her own personality, has confidence and manages her own life and the role of parents in the initiation, practice and permanence of women's football is highlighted.

Age-Group Differences in Reactive Strength and Measures of Intra-day Reliability in Female International Footballers

The aim of this present study was to compare the reactive strength index (RSI) characteristics and trial to trial reliability of U17, U19 and Senior female international soccer players. Fifty – seven elite female soccer player participated in the study, (age: 18.1 + 3.1 years; height: 167.5 + 6.3 cm; weight: 61.84 + 7.7 kg). Participants performed 3 maximal repetitions of the 10/5 repeated jump test (10/5RJT) following a specific warm-up and familiarisation protocol. Senior players possessed higher levels of RSI with large effect size present when compared with the U17 (P= 0.043, ES = .97) and U19 (ES = 0.85) age groups. Trivial differences (ES = 0.17) in RSI existed between the U17 and U19 age categories. Trial-to-trial analyses demonstrated 10/5 RJT RSI to possess adequate levels of reliability with a range of mean coefficients of variance (CV) of 3.1 – 7.3 % and intraclass correlation (ICC) between 0.95 – 0.98 present across all three age groups. However, large variations in the between – athlete CV for RSI were revealed ranging from 1 – 27 %, 0.4 – 10.3%, and 1 – 7 % for U17, U19 and senior age groups respectively. These results suggest that age group can distinguish reactive strength capabilities. In addition, female international footballers with higher levels of RSI appear to produce more reliable measures of RSI via the 10/5 RJT.

Nonunion of a Stress Fracture at the Base of the Second Metatarsal in a Soccer Player Treated by Osteosynthesis with the Bridging Plate Fixation Technique

Background. A stress fracture of the second metatarsal base in soccer players is extremely rare. In this case study, we report a nonunion of a stress fracture at the base of the second metatarsal in a female soccer player who had persistent pain despite continued conservative treatment, who then was treated with the bridging plate fixation technique. Case Report. A 19-year-old female college soccer player complained of pain on the dorsum of her right midfoot during a game without history of trauma and was conservatively treated for 6 months. Radiographic examination showed an oblique fracture with small bone fragment at the proximal base of the second metatarsal and computed tomography demonstrated sclerotic change around the fracture site. We diagnosed her with nonunion of a stress fracture at the base of the second metatarsal and performed operative treatments using autogenous cancellous iliac bone grafting and plate fixation bridging a second metatarsal and medial cuneiform with a locking plate. At 4 months after the initial surgery, she was able to return to playing soccer at preinjury level without complications or pain. Conclusion. We report a rare case of nonunion of a stress fracture at the base of the second metatarsal in a female soccer player without underlying diseases. Surgical treatment was applied, because the conservative treatment was ineffective for 6 months and led to nonunion. The plate fixation technique bridging the second metatarsal and medial cuneiform was a useful option to attain the bone fusion for small fracture fragment for a treatment of nonunion of a stress fracture at the base of the second metatarsal.

Association between running quality and loads seen with accelerometry data obtained from female soccer players

BACKGROUND: Global positioning system (GPS) data, when obtained from athletes offers unique information on their performance. Given the information GPS data provides, it is important to identify data most pertinent to an athlete’s performance. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated a GPS-based running quality variable to predict the variance in total player load (TPL) and player load per minute (PLPM) from female soccer player (n= 26) data. METHODS: Running quality was the ratio of the displacement per minute to total distance covered. TPL was quantified as the sum of velocity change rates in all three planes of motion, while PLPM was a ratio of load generated per minute of activity. RESULTS: With a logarithmic transformation of TPL data, a Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis revealed running quality accounted for significant (r=-0.65) amounts of our criterion’s variance, which implied higher running quality led to lower log (TPL) values. With PLPM as our dependent variable, running quality correlated with significant (r= 0.63) amounts of our criterion’s variance. CONCLUSIONS: Movement efficiency appears to be an important contributor to our correlations. We suggest running quality be examined as a correlate to performance in other sports in which running is crucial to success.