During a 1-year period 100 badminton players were registered and treated in the casualty ward of Randers City Hospital, Denmark. The injuries to the badminton players constituted 5% of all sports injuries registered during the same period in the casualty wardl'2. At follow-up questionnaires were sent to all participants. Replies were received from 89 patients. Over the same period all sports participants in the hospital catchment area (30 254) were registered according to their sport affiliation (2620 badminton players -1650 men and 970 women). Of those injured 58% were men (mean age 31 years) and 42% were women (mean age 25 years). Of the injuries 55% occurred in club players, the remainder occurring during company and school sports activities. The active players were classified into three groups according to age: Group 1 under 18 years (31%); Group 218-25 years (16%); Group 3 more than 25 years (53%). According to the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 17% of the injuries were classified as minor, 56% as moderate, and 27% as severe, respectively. Of the severe injuries (AIS = 3) 56% were found in the oldest age group. AIS correlated with time absent from sport (P <0.001). Nine players (9%) reported that earlier injuries had influenced the actual accident. Most players (96%) trained one to three times a week. Sprains were the injury most commonly diagnosed (56%), fractures accounted for 5%, tom ankle ligaments were found in 10%, and 13% had ruptures to the Achilles tendon. Overall, 21% were admitted to hospital. None of the patients treated as inpatients was kept in hospital for more than 7 days. The injury caused 56% of players to be absent from work of whom 23% were absent for more than 3 weeks. After the injury 12% of the players gave up their sport, and only 4% restarted their training/sport within 1 week. As many as 28% had to avoid training and playing in matches for 8 weeks or more.Keywords: Badminton injuries, prospective study, epidemiology, traumatology, Abbreviated Injury Scale, socioeconomic consequences Participation in all kinds of sports activities has increased considerably during the past decade. In Denmark there is a long tradition of badminton. More than 170 000 players are organized into 650 clubs.Badmintoon is an indiviidual, non-contact sport requiring jumps, lunges, quick changes of direction and rapid arm movements. Most severe injuries are related to the lower limbs3. The aim of the present study was to describe the frequency, severity and pattern of badminton injuries in a population based study and to estimate the sports and socioeconomic consequences to the players. Materials and methodsThe study consisted of 100 badminton injuries registered during 1 year in the casualty ward, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Randers city hospital, Denmark -the only hospital in a well defined geographical area representative of the country as a whole. Of the total sports injuries' 1, 5% were due to badminton. During the same period the total number of injuries registered was 17700 among a population of...

Thin slice CT revealed very high nonunion rates after uninstrumented spinal fusion in older patients. DC-stimulation was not effective in increasing fusion rates in this patient population. The achievement of a solid fusion was associated with superior functional outcome.

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Older people are at increased risk of non-union after spinal fusion, but little is known about the factors determining the quality of the fusion mass in this patient group. The aim of this study was to investigate fusion mass bone quality after uninstrumented spinal fusion and to evaluate if it could be improved by additional direct current (DC) electrical stimulation. A multicenter RCT compared 40 and 100 lA DC stimulation with a control group of uninstrumented posterolateral fusion in patients older than 60 years. This report comprised 80 patients who underwent DEXA scanning at the 1 year follow-up. The study population consisted of 29 men with a mean age of 72 years (range 62-85) and 51 women with a mean age of 72 years (range 61-84). All patients underwent DEXA scanning of their fusion mass. Fusion rate was assessed at the 2 year follow-up using thin slice CT scanning. DC electrical stimulation did not improve fusion mass bone quality. Smokers had lower fusion mass BMD (0.447 g/cm 2 ) compared to non-smokers (0.517 g/cm 2 ) (P = 0.086). Women had lower fusion mass BMD (0.460 g/ cm 2 ) compared to men (0.552 g/cm 2 ) (P = 0.057). Using linear regression, fusion mass bone quality, measured as BMD, was significantly influenced by gender, age of the patient, bone density of the remaining part of the lumbar spine, amount of bone graft applied and smoking. Fusion rates in this cohort was 34% in the control group and 33 and 43% in the 40 and 100 lA groups, respectively (not significant). Patients classified as fused after 2 years had significant higher fusion mass BMD at 1 year (0.592 vs. 0.466 g/cm 2 , P = 0.0001). Fusion mass bone quality in older patients depends on several factors. Special attention should be given to women with manifest or borderline osteoporosis. Furthermore, bone graft materials with inductive potential might be considered for this patient population.

We aimed to evaluate broad-range PCR and subsequent sequencing compared to conventional culture in the diagnosis of spinal infection. The method was a prospective study of all patients admitted to Aarhus University Hospital for surgery during a 12-months period with a clinically diagnosed infection of the spine. Samples from patients undergoing surgery for non-infectious causes (malignancy etc.) were included as control group. Specimens were submitted to conventional culture and molecular investigation with 16S rRNA gene amplification and sequence analysis. 38 patients were included in the study (clinically diagnosed spinal infections=18; non-infectious diseases=20). The specificity was excellent for both culture and PCR (95% and 100%, respectively). A true culture positive result was obtained in 50% of patients (9/18) and 61% was positive (11/18) by broad-range PCR. When combined, culture and PCR allowed for a microbiological diagnosis in 72% of patients (13/18). A positive culture was found only in patients treated < or =7 d compared to < or =16 d for PCR. However, PCR and culture result were equally negatively affected by duration of treatment. The combination of culture and broad-range PCR substantially adds to the number of microbiological diagnoses obtained, and improves the clinician's opportunity to tailor therapy to individual patients.