The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristics of pre-existing physical factors associated with the onset of Osgood-Schlatter disease (OSD) in junior soccer players. Fifty-nine junior soccer players of the elementary school were included in this study. The boys who had been diagnosed as OSD were excluded. At the time of the first investigation, the subjects were examined through physical evaluation and an ultrasonography. The subjects were followed up one and a half years, and the tibial tuberosity was classified according to the growth stages using the ultrasonography. After the end of follow-up period, the subjects were divided into two groups, those with signs and symptoms of OSD that appeared during the follow up period and those without that. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for the comparison between OSD group’s and control group’s initial assessments. The players who were followed up for one and half years were 38 people. 5 knees of the 4 players were clinically diagnosed as OSD (OSD group), and the remaining 34 players with no symptoms of the OSD constituted the control group. The range of the bilateral hip external rotation, straight leg raise of the non-dominant side, and knee flexion in the OSD group were significantly lower than those in the control group (p < 0.05). We concluded that a decrease in specific joint flexibility might be related with the onset of OSD.

Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury often occurs as a result of knee valgus collapse during landing or pivoting in sports activity. Previous studies reported that the risk of ACL injuries was reduced by jump and balance training, and those training can be effective as the prevention program for the ACL injuries. But those studies often focused on only adult athletes, and there are few studies focused on junior athletes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the pattern of landing movement in junior athletes, and to verify the effect of the prevention program. One-hundred and ten junior basketball players (boys; 61, girls;49, age ranging 12 to 15) were subjected in this study. We measured the knee flexion, valgus angles and jump height during continuous vertical jump. After measuring, they executed a prevention program for 12 weeks. The motion pattern of the knee during jump test were compaired between before and after prevention program. Female athletes showed greater knee valgus angle at initial landing phase and grater maximum knee valgus angle than those of males. As a result of the prevention program, maximum knee valgus angle was significantly decreased in female athletes. The greater angle of knee valgus in female may increase the risk of ACL injuries. Present study suggests that the prevention program is useful for reducing the risk of ACL injury. Increment of jump height in male players after this program might be considered that this training program has also an effect of performance improvement.

Methods: We investigated patients who underwent surgical intervention for LL-OVC (L3, L4, and/or L5) with symptomatic foraminal and/or central stenosis from eight spine centers. Only patients with a minimum follow-up duration of 1 year were included. We developed new criteria to grade vertebral collapse severity (grade 1, 0%–25%; grade 2, 25%–50%; grade 3, 50%–75%; and grade 4, 75%–100%). The clinical features and outcomes were compared based on the collapse grade and surgical procedures performed (i.e., decompression alone, posterior lateral fusion [PLF], lateral interbody fusion [LIF], posterior/transforaminal interbody fusion [PLIF/TLIF], or vertebral column resection [VCR]). Results: In this study, 59 patients (average age, 77.4 years) were included. The average follow-up period was 24.6 months. The clinical outcome score (Japanese Orthopaedic Association score) was more favorable in the LIF and PLIF/TLIF groups than in the decompression alone, PLF, and VCR groups. The use of VCR was associated with a high rate of revision surgery (57.1%). No significant difference in clinical outcomes was observed between the collapse grades; however, grade 4 collapse was associated with a high rate of revision surgery (40.0%). Conclusions When treating LL-OVC, appropriate instrumented reconstruction with rigid intervertebral stability is necessary. According to our newly developed criteria, LIF may be a surgical option for any collapse grade. The use of VCR for grade 4 collapse is associated with a high rate of revision.

Methods: A retrospective multicenter study was conducted. The study participants included 345 patients who underwent surgery for spinal metastases from 2010 to 2020 at nine referral spine centers in Japan. Data for each patient were extracted from medical records. To identify the factors predicting survival prognosis after surgery, univariate analyses were performed using a Cox proportional hazards model. Results: The mean age was 65.9 years. Common primary tumors were lung (n=72), prostate (n=61), and breast (n=39), and 67.8% (n=234) presented with osteolytic lesions. The epidural spinal cord compression scale score 2 or 3 was recognized in 79.0% (n=271). Frankel grade A paralysis accounted for 1.4% (n=5), and 73.3% (n=253) were categorized as intermediate or high risk according to the new Katagiri score. The overall survival rates were -71.0% at 6 months, 57.4% at 12, and 43.3% at 24. In the univariate analysis, Frankel grade A (hazard ratio [HR], 3.59; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.23–10.50; p<0.05), intermediate risk (HR, 3.34; 95% CI, 2.10–5.32; p<0.01), and high risk (HR, 7.77; 95% CI, 4.72–12.8; p<0.01) in the new Katagiri score were significantly associated with poor survival. On the contrary, postoperative chemotherapy (HR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.15–0.36; p<0.01), radiation therapy (HR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.26–0.70; p<0.01), and both adjuvant therapy (HR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.14–0.32; p<0.01) were suggested to improve survival. Conclusions Surgical indications for patients with Frankel grade A or intermediate or high risk in the new Katagiri score should be carefully considered because of poor survival. Chemotherapy or radiation therapy should be considered after surgery for better survival.