[The incidence of disk changes in volleyball players. The magnetic resonance findings]
- PMID: 1788427
[The incidence of disk changes in volleyball players. The magnetic resonance findings]
Abstract
In order to evaluate the to potential hazards related to athletic functional overload on the intervertebral disk we studied with MRI the incidence of intervertebral disk abnormalities in a group of 45 volunteers who had been playing professional volleyball for 3-7 years. As a control group we examined with MRI 30 professional swimmers as well. Among the volley-ball players the incidence of intervertebral disk alterations was 44.4%; they were represented by 8 cases of disk degeneration, 11 cases of bulging and 9 disk herniations (in 8 patients the simultaneous presence of more than one lesion was observed). In the control group the incidence of such lesions was 20%. The obtained results were correlated with the clinical findings and the age of the athletes. Among the 26 athletes with back pain only 13 had positive findings at MRI, while among the 19 asymptomatic athletes 7 showed lesions detectable with MRI. As for age, we observed that the younger athletes (17-19 years) had positive MRI findings in 38.5% of cases, while the players in the age group ranging from 23 to 26 years, had positive MRI findings in 56.2% of cases. The analysis of the different types of training of the volley-ball players and the control group, showed that 19 volley-ball players who followed appropriate training procedures had positive MRI findings in 21.1% of cases (in the control group the percentage was 20%). Among the 26 athletes who were trained with exercises that caused significant functional overload, 16 had intervertebral disk lesions at MRI (61.5%). Moreover, our data showed that the correlation of the incidence of disk lesions with the type of training (and relative varying degree of overload) is definitely more important than the one existing with the age of volley-ball players and the overall period of their athletic activity. MRI proved to be a useful technique for the early assessment of the intervertebral disk damage caused by an incorrect training in young athletes, even when asymptomatic.
Similar articles
-
Prevalence and pattern of lumbar magnetic resonance imaging changes in a population study of one thousand forty-three individuals.Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2009 Apr 20;34(9):934-40. doi: 10.1097/BRS.0b013e3181a01b3f. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2009. PMID: 19532001
-
Magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine in people without back pain.N Engl J Med. 1994 Jul 14;331(2):69-73. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199407143310201. N Engl J Med. 1994. PMID: 8208267
-
Lumbar intervertebral disk degeneration in athletes.Am J Sports Med. 2009 Jan;37(1):149-55. doi: 10.1177/0363546508323252. Epub 2008 Sep 17. Am J Sports Med. 2009. PMID: 18799691
-
Magnetic resonance imaging showed no signs of overuse or permanent injury to the lumbar sacral spine during a Special Forces training course.Spine J. 2008 Jul-Aug;8(4):578-83. doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2007.01.001. Epub 2007 Mar 2. Spine J. 2008. PMID: 17433780
-
Volleyball injuries.Curr Sports Med Rep. 2012 Sep-Oct;11(5):251-6. doi: 10.1249/JSR.0b013e3182699037. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2012. PMID: 22965348 Review.
Cited by 8 articles
-
Physical function characteristics in Japanese high school volleyball players with low back pain: A case-controlled study.Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 Nov 13;99(46):e23178. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000023178. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020. PMID: 33181694 Free PMC article.
-
MRI-detected spinal disc degenerative changes in athletes participating in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Olympics games.BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2020 Jan 20;21(1):45. doi: 10.1186/s12891-020-3057-3. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2020. PMID: 31959161 Free PMC article.
-
Factors associated with low back pain in elite high school volleyball players.J Phys Ther Sci. 2019 Aug;31(8):675-681. doi: 10.1589/jpts.31.675. Epub 2019 Aug 9. J Phys Ther Sci. 2019. PMID: 31528008 Free PMC article.
-
Prevalence of back pain in a group of elite athletes exposed to repetitive overhead activity.PLoS One. 2019 Jan 24;14(1):e0210429. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210429. eCollection 2019. PLoS One. 2019. PMID: 30677044 Free PMC article.
-
Does elite swimming accelerate lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration and increase low back pain? A cross-sectional comparison.Eur Spine J. 2016 Sep;25(9):2849-55. doi: 10.1007/s00586-016-4642-x. Epub 2016 Jun 11. Eur Spine J. 2016. PMID: 27289544
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Medical
Research Materials