TY - JOUR T1 - Italian consensus conference on guidelines for conservative treatment on lower limb muscle injuries in athlete JF - BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine JO - BMJ OPEN SP EX MED DO - 10.1136/bmjsem-2017-000323 VL - 4 IS - 1 SP - e000323 AU - Gian Nicola Bisciotti AU - Piero Volpi AU - Maurizio Amato AU - Giampietro Alberti AU - Francesco Allegra AU - Alessandro Aprato AU - Matteo Artina AU - Alessio Auci AU - Corrado Bait AU - Gian Matteo Bastieri AU - Luca Balzarini AU - Andrea Belli AU - Gianandrea Bellini AU - Pierfrancesco Bettinsoli AU - Alessandro Bisciotti AU - Andrea Bisciotti AU - Stefano Bona AU - Lorenzo Brambilla AU - Marco Bresciani AU - Michele Buffoli AU - Filippo Calanna AU - Gian Luigi Canata AU - Davide Cardinali AU - Giulia Carimati AU - Gabriella Cassaghi AU - Enrico Cautero AU - Emanuele Cena AU - Barbara Corradini AU - Alessandro Corsini AU - Cristina D'Agostino AU - Massimo De Donato AU - Giacomo Delle Rose AU - Francesco Di Marzo AU - Francesco Di Pietto AU - Drapchind Enrica AU - Cristiano Eirale AU - Luigi Febbrari AU - Paolo Ferrua AU - Andrea Foglia AU - Alberto Galbiati AU - Alberto Gheza AU - Carlo Giammattei AU - Francesco Masia AU - Gianluca Melegati AU - Biagio Moretti AU - Lorenzo Moretti AU - Roberto Niccolai AU - Antonio Orgiani AU - Claudio Orizio AU - Andrea Pantalone AU - Federica Parra AU - Paolo Patroni AU - Maria Teresa Pereira Ruiz AU - Marzio Perri AU - Stefano Petrillo AU - Luca Pulici AU - Alessandro Quaglia AU - Luca Ricciotti AU - Francesco Rosa AU - Nicola Sasso AU - Claudio Sprenger AU - Chiara Tarantola AU - Fabio Gianpaolo Tenconi AU - Fabio Tosi AU - Michele Trainini AU - Agostino Tucciarone AU - Ali Yekdah AU - Zarko Vuckovic AU - Raul Zini AU - Karim Chamari Y1 - 2018/05/01 UR - http://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/4/1/e000323.abstract N2 - Provide the state of the art concerning (1) biology and aetiology, (2) classification, (3) clinical assessment and (4) conservative treatment of lower limb muscle injuries (MI) in athletes. Seventy international experts with different medical backgrounds participated in the consensus conference. They discussed and approved a consensus composed of four sections which are presented in these documents. This paper represents a synthesis of the consensus conference, the following four sections are discussed: (i) The biology and aetiology of MIs. A definition of MI was formulated and some key points concerning physiology and pathogenesis of MIs were discussed. (ii) The MI classification. A classification of MIs was proposed. (iii) The MI clinical assessment, in which were discussed anamnesis, inspection and clinical examination and are provided the relative guidelines. (iv) The MI conservative treatment, in which are provided the guidelines for conservative treatment based on the severity of the lesion. Furthermore, instrumental therapy and pharmacological treatment were discussed. Knowledge of the aetiology and biology of MIs is an essential prerequisite in order to plan and conduct a rehabilitation plan. Another important aspect is the use of a rational MI classification on prognostic values. We propose a classification based on radiological investigations performed by ultrasonography and MRI strongly linked to prognostic factors. Furthermore, the consensus conference results will able to provide fundamental guidelines for diagnostic and rehabilitation practice, also considering instrumental therapy and pharmacological treatment of MI. Expert opinion, level IV. ER -