ArticleInsights into imaging2022
MRI findings prior to return to play as predictors of reinjury in professional athletes: a novel decision-making tool.
Article in Insights into imaging, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07012408 (Muscle Injury Return To Play Design in Football; Effects of Backward Design Versus Forward Design . A Randomized Controlled Trial), which is not on this map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Muscle Injury Return To Play Design in Football; Effects of Backward Design Versus Forward Design . A Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Return-to-Play Criteria Following Lower Limb Muscle Injuries in Soccer: A Systematic Review with Evidence Synthesis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Transverse Process Fractures in Athletes: Mechanisms, Management and Return-to-Play Considerations.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- Imaging and Clinical Factors Associated With Return to Play and Recurrence After Quadriceps Muscle Strain Injury.Sports health · 2026Article
- Imaging characterization of sports-related hamstring injuries.Skeletal radiology · 2026Review
- Clustering analysis of hamstring injuries-A pilot study to determine phenogroups based on injury characteristics and recovery duration.Journal of experimental orthopaedics · 2026Article
- Quadriceps Injuries in Major League Soccer: A 10-Year Analysis of Injury Rate, Return-to-Play, and Performance Metrics.Arthroscopy, sports medicine, and rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Imaging in the diagnosis and characterization of tennis leg.Skeletal radiology · 2026Review
- The "Bunny Tail" Lesion: An MRI Pattern of Proximal Biceps Femoris Tendon Injury With Rapid Return to Play in Elite Soccer Players-a Retrospective Observational Case Series.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- Residual imaging abnormalities after acute hamstring strain injury: implications for return-to-sport decision-making.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Review
- Muscle or Fascial System Lesion (Part II): The Medial Gastrocnemius and the "Tennis Leg" Paradigm.Cureus · 2025Review
- Review
- Histological Definition of Skeletal Muscle Injury: A Guide to Nomenclature Along the Connective Tissue Sheath/Structure.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Review
- The Structure, Function, and Adaptation of Lower-Limb Aponeuroses: Implications for Myo-Aponeurotic Injury.Sports medicine - open · 2024Review
- Magnetic resonance classification proposal for medial gastrocnemius muscle injuries.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2024Review
- Relationships between quantitative magnetic resonance imaging measures at the time of return to sport and clinical outcomes following acute hamstring strain injury.Journal of biomechanics · 2024Article
- Baseline clinical and MRI risk factors for hamstring reinjury showing the value of performing baseline MRI and delaying return to play: a multicentre, prospective cohort of 330 acute hamstring injuries.British journal of sports medicine · 2024Article
- Managing Lower Limb Muscle Reinjuries in Athletes: From Risk Factors to Return-to-Play Strategies.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2023Review
- Intramuscular Tendon Injuries of the Hamstring Muscles: A More Severe Variant? A Narrative Review.Sports medicine - open · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBecause MRI has shown great accuracy in assessing acute muscle injuries, identification of risk factors for reinjury before return to play (RTP) in professional athletes during the healing process could be very relevant. We assessed the value of MRI findings prior to RTP as predictors of reinjury.
methodsRetrospective observational study of 59 professional athletes, mean age 26 years, with first-time acute muscle injury and successful rehabilitation ready to RTP. They underwent MRI within 6 days of the injury and within 7 days prior to RTP. The primary outcome was reinjury. Risk of reinjury was assessed using radiological signs in control MRI scans before RTP. The risk was classified as low, medium or high when none, one or two radiological signs were observed, respectively.
resultsReinjury occurred in 9 participants, with a rate of 15.2%. None of the baseline MRI-related variables was significantly associated with reinjury. In the control MRI scan performed within 7 days prior to RTP, three independent findings were significantly associated with reinjury. These included transversal and/or mixed connective tissue gap (p = 0.002), intermuscular oedema (p = 0.015) and callus gap (p = 0.046). In the predictive model of the risk of reinjury, the presence of two of these radiological signs, together with interstitial feathery oedema, was associated with a high risk of recurrence (OR 29.58, 95% CI 3.86-226.64; p = 0.001).
conclusionsIn professional athletes with acute muscle injuries of the lower limbs successfully rehabilitated, some radiological signs on MRI performed shortly before RTP were associated with a high risk of reinjury.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.