Contents

#### **Preface XI**


Maria Conforti

#### Chapter 8 **Surgical Treatment 221** Giuliano Cerulli, Enrico Sebastiani, Giacomo Placella, Matteo Maria Tei, Andrea Speziali and Pierluigi Antinolfi

Preface

Muscle injuries are one of the most common problems in sports medicine. In particular, muscle tears are one of more frequent causes of sport activity suspension. For example, in football, the most popular sport in the world, almost one on four injuries are hamstrings strain; therefore, a team composed by 25 players should expect on average 10 hamstring in‐ juries per season (Ekstrand et al., 2001). Taking into consideration all locations, muscle inju‐ ries represent nearly 1/3 of all the "time-loss injury" observed in male professional football and 92% of those affect the 4 major muscle groups of the lower limb (the quadriceps, the hamstring, the adductors and the calves). Again, a team consisting of 25 players should ex‐ pect on average 15 indirect muscle injuries per season with an average severity of 2 weeks for each injury (Eirale and Ekstrand, 2013). Despite the huge impact of muscle injuries into the majority of sports activities, evidence in the literature on their treatment and prevention is still lacking. Commonly, rehabilitation protocols of muscle injury are based on empirical data or on personal experience of the physician and/or therapist or, at best, based on ex‐ perts' opinion. For this reason, the management of these therapeutic interventions should be at least based on a precise knowledge of the biological and physiological basis of muscle injury. We believe, in fact, that only a perfect knowledge of the mechanisms of muscle repair can overcome, although not completely, to the lack of validated protocols. This conviction has led us to bring together an international pool of Sports Medicine experts able to provide the latest updates on some aspects of muscle injuries in sports. In particular, we focused our attention on the of muscle tears biology, treatment and prevention. We hope that this text‐ book may be a useful didactic tool for physicians, physical therapists, athletic trainers and

**Gian Nicola Bisciotti**

**Cristiano Eirale**

Pontremoli , Parma, La Spezia, Italy

Aspetar Hospital, Doha, Qatar

FIFA Center of Excellence, Doha, Qatar

Senior Coordinator Kinemove Rehabilitation Centers,

Lead Physiologist c/o Qatar Orthopedic and Sport Medicine Hospital,

all those engaged in this specific Sports Medicine field.

#### **Section 4 Prevention 239**


#### Chapter 11 **Muscle Injuries in Professional Soccer Players During the Month of Ramadan 305** Karim Chamari, Alexandre Dellal and Monoem Haddad
