Exertion Tests and Regenerative Therapies Advance Sports Medicine Recovery
A UTSW study shows post-exertion gait analysis can reveal lingering deficits in concussed youths, while UCLA Health expands biologic and regenerative therapies for athletes. These advances aim to improve recovery and return-to-play decisions.
Two recent developments in sports medicine are providing new tools for athlete recovery: a post-exertion gait-analysis protocol may better reveal lingering deficits in youths after concussions, and UCLA Health is expanding access to biologic and regenerative therapies for athletes at all levels.
A study published in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine by researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center and Scottish Rite for Children found significant differences in walking patterns and cognitive abilities of concussed youths after an experimental exertion protocol. Between 1 million and 2 million children under age 18 experience sports-related concussions each year in the U.S., and those who return to physical activity too quickly are at risk of prolonged recovery and higher rates of musculoskeletal injuries. The research team tested 30 young patients who had been cleared to return to play. Participants rode a stationary bike for 10 minutes at 70% of maximum heart rate, then repeated a series of 10-meter walks, including a simple walk, a dual-task walk while repeating number sequences backward, and a multitask walk while typing sentences into a smart device. After exertion, participants completed the second simple walk significantly more slowly and with shorter steps than the first. Multitask sentence completion improved from 77% pre-exertion to 90% post-exertion. The researchers said post-exertion gait analysis with cognitive tasks could allow clinicians greater insight into brain recovery. Standard physical exams typically rely on symptom abatement and do not test movement control in complex environments. The study builds on ConTex, a concussion registry launched by UTSW in 2015.
Separately, UCLA Health sports medicine specialists are offering treatments once reserved for professional athletes to 'weekend warrior' adults and high-school athletes. Blood flow restriction (BFR) therapy, used as part of standard rehabilitation protocols since 2016, helps reduce muscle atrophy and allows athletes to regain strength more quickly after injury. Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has consistently shortened recovery timelines for injuries like tendinopathy and bone contusions to nearly half, and focused shockwave therapy can now reach deeper tissues. UCLA Health researchers were recently awarded a $3.5 million grant from the US Department of Defense for a randomized clinical trial evaluating ESWT for bone stress injuries, to be conducted at UCLA Health and three other institutions.
The UCLA Health team also uses orthobiologics, including hyaluronic acid injections for mild to moderate osteoarthritis, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) for cartilage breakdown and tendinosis, and alpha-2 macroglobulin (A2M), an anti-inflammatory derived from platelet-poor plasma. PRP stimulates a healing response by signaling natural stem cells, while A2M acts like a sponge to soak up inflammatory molecules, offering minimally invasive options with minimal downtime.