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Knee Arthritis in Athletes

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Book cover Arthroscopy and Sport Injuries

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Abstract

Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease. Being exposed to a high-intensity and prolonged sports activity, athletes are particularly vulnerable to osteoarthritis as a long-term effect of such vigorous physical stress and results in irreversible pathological changes in affected joints.

The main symptoms are joint pain, stiffness, dysfunction, instability, deformity, swelling, and crepitus. These symptoms can be presented early in an athlete’s career and lead to sports dismission.

The etiology of osteoarthritis is multifactorial and not fully understood.

In this chapter, we are focusing on those mechanical factors that accelerate such process.

We will go through malalignment, loss of meniscal tissue, cartilage defects, and joint instability, focusing on conservative or surgical treatment and on the impact of such treatment on return to sports.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinica Ortopedica e Traumatologica II, Laboratorio di Biomeccanica ed Innovazione Tecnologica, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Via di Barbiano, 1/10, Bologna, 40136, Italy

    Stefano Zaffagnini & Maurilio Marcacci

  2. Clinica Ortopedica e Traumatologica II, Laboratorio di Biomeccanica ed Innovazione Tecnologica, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy

    Tommaso Roberti di Sarsina, Alberto Grassi, Federico Raggi, Tommaso Bonanzinga & Giulio Maria Marcheggiani Muccioli

Authors
  1. Stefano Zaffagnini
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  2. Tommaso Roberti di Sarsina
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  3. Alberto Grassi
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  4. Federico Raggi
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  5. Tommaso Bonanzinga
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  6. Giulio Maria Marcheggiani Muccioli
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  7. Maurilio Marcacci
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stefano Zaffagnini .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Knee Orthopedics and Sport Traumatology Unit,, Humanitas Clinical Institute IRCCS, Milan, Italy

    Piero Volpi

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Zaffagnini, S. et al. (2016). Knee Arthritis in Athletes. In: Volpi, P. (eds) Arthroscopy and Sport Injuries. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14815-1_47

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14815-1_47

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-14814-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-14815-1

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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