July brought us the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 in Switzerland, where an extraordinary display of resilience and expert medical management captured widespread admiration. England’s stalwart defender, Lucy Bronze, revealed she completed the entire tournament—including the dramatic final—with a stress fracture of the tibia and a concurrent knee injury. Her determination, paired with the meticulous injury monitoring and adaptive rehabilitation routines implemented by the England medical team, spotlight the delicate balance between athlete courage and clinical prudence.
Meanwhile, in rugby, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) confirmed it will sustain its trial policy of restricting tackles to below sternum level into the 2025–26 season, after initial results from the 2023–25 trial period showed a noticeable reduction in both injury rates and head impacts. This move underscores a growing commitment in collision sports to evidence-led rule adaptations. For sports doctors, this policy evolution emphasises the importance of longitudinal injury surveillance, biomechanical analysis, and collaboration with governing bodies to shape interventions that meaningfully enhance player safety.
As usual, we’ve gathered key insights, articles, and updates that caught our attention last month, in case you missed them. Do let us know if there’s an event you would like us to include in the next edition, or any vacancies you might wish us to highlight.
Research, Articles and Podcasts
MSK
Tennis Elbow – Efficacy of dry needling combined with eccentric exercise versus oral and topical NSAID treatment: a randomised controlled trial https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40629912/
Elbow OCD – A Difficult Diagnosis in Young Throwers https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/elbow-ocd-a-difficult-diagnosis-in-young-throwers
Chronic Low Back Pain – Cognitive functional therapy reduces pain and disability in patients, and its effects are not attributable to placebo https://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/?p=11646
Lumbar Spine – Therapeutic exercise following surgery: a narrative review https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266654842500040X
Femoroacetabular Impingement – Early MCID achievement is associated with better long‐term outcomes following arthroscopy https://esskajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ksa.12695
Femoral Acetabular Impingement Syndrome – Its impact on mental health: a physiotherapist’s perspective https://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/?p=11547
Medial Gastrocnemius Recession https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/24730114251347265
Hamstrings – Muscle architecture and microstructure changes following Nordic hamstring exercise training and detraining https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40578759/
ACL – Evaluation of a time-varying cut-off frequency low-pass filter for assessing knee joint moments and injury risk https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2024.2422724
Valgus Deformity – Functional alignment in robotic‐assisted total knee arthroplasty achieves safe coronal alignment and excellent short‐term outcomes https://esskajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ksa.12585
Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction – Infographic. Questioning the rules of engagement: a critical analysis of the use of limb symmetry index for safe return to sport https://x.com/BJSM_BMJ/status/1943183927587357005
Robotic Total Knee Arthroplasty – Coronal alignment at 90° of flexion impacts clinical outcomes https://esskajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ksa.12648
Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction – Kneeling tolerance when using quadriceps tendon autograft is superior to hamstring tendon autograft https://esskajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ksa.12583
Knee Arthroplasty – Prospective, randomised controlled trial comparing robotic arm‐assisted bi‐unicompartmental knee arthroplasty to total knee arthroplasty https://esskajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ksa.12644
Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction – High failure rate in meniscal repair when preceding anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: An analysis of two‐stage surgery for concomitant ACL injury and traumatic meniscus tear https://esskajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ksa.12593
Osteochondral Defects Of The Knee – Autologous bone grafting combined with spheroid‐based matrix‐induced autologous chondrocyte implantation: Good clinical outcomes alongside abnormal postoperative gait patterns https://esskajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ksa.12605
ACL Revision Rates – No difference between hamstring and patellar tendon autograft in patients with ACL‐R and a concurrent meniscal injury irrespective of meniscal treatment https://esskajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ksa.12592
Paediatric Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Injuries – Prevention, diagnosis and management: ReFORM synthesis of the international olympic committee consensus statement https://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/?p=11515
Acute Lateral Ankle Sprain – Heel kicking exercise rapidly improves pain and function in patients: a randomized controlled trial https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40629319/
Achilles Tendinopathy – Reducing tendon compression in insertional Achilles tendinopathy: a key to better outcomes? https://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/?p=11637
Plantar Fasciopathy – One-year trajectory of pain, function, and health-related quality of life in patients https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jfa2.70067
Lateral Osteochondral Lesions of the Talus – Clinical and radiologic outcomes following autologous osteochondral transplantation https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10711007241308576
Hallux Valgus – Coronal plane alignment of hallux valgus the medial column in isolated hallux valgus, isolated flatfoot, and combined hallux valgus-flatfoot https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10711007241308580
CARDIOLOGY
Exercise Training in Heart Failure – Clinical benefits and mechanisms https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40608852/
Cardiology Training In The UK – A JBS position statement https://heartbmj.podbean.com/e/cardiology-training-in-the-uk-a-jbs-position-statement/
Sudden Death In Female Athletes – ESC 365 – Episode 18: Heart disease risk: Framingham Heart Study insights – https://esc365.escardio.org/event/1809
GENERAL
Call For Symposia Proposals – Women’s health across life stages in football https://x.com/roaldbahr/status/1939701318601658461
Gene Doping – Israeli scientists lead global effort to detect gene doping in elite athletes https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/bjqw5oisgl
AI ‘fabrications’ – GPs warned as MHRA issues yellow card appeal https://www.gponline.com/gps-warned-ai-fabrications-mhra-issues-yellow-card-appeal/article/1927656
Microplastics Risks – Microplastics discovered in human reproductive fluids https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-07-microplastics-human-reproductive-fluids.html
Do UTIs Trigger Heart Attacks or Strokes? https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/do-utis-trigger-heart-attacks-or-strokes-2025a1000i11
Effective Practice And Instruction – A skill acquisition framework for excellence https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2023.2240630#abstract
Injury And Illness Epidemiology – In elite athletes during the Olympic, Youth Olympic and Paralympic Games: a systematic review and meta-analysis https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2025/07/21/bjsports-2025-109980
Resistance Training In Pregnancy – Systematic review and meta-analysis of pregnancy, delivery, foetal and pelvic floor outcomes and call to action https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/59/16/1173
Downhill Mountain Biking – The epidemiology of injuries in at the 2023 UCI cycling world championships—a prospective cohort study of 230 elite cyclists https://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/10/4/e002270
Neuromuscular Fatigue – Cryotherapy with carbon dioxide hydrate enhances immediate recovery of muscle function https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2024.2423135
Female Health – Impact of The Menstrual Cycle on Physical Recovery after Small-Sided Games: A Crossover Study in Women’s Soccer Players https://jssm.org/volume24/iss3/cap/jssm-24-532.pdf
Women’s Sport – Why we need to talk about periods, breasts and injuries https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq53v066x52o
How Much Running Is Too Much? – Identifying high-risk running sessions in a 5200-person cohort study https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2025/07/07/bjsports-2024-109380
Player Selection – The influence of relative age and biological maturation in the Scottish football associations Club Academy Scotland https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2025.2527436
Practical Blood Flow Restriction – Stiffness of elastic cuffs affects physiological and perceptual responses but not motor performance fatigue during low external load resistance exercise https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2024.2423136
Dementia – Brain changes link found in ex-rugby players https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/brain-changes-linked-dementia-found-ex-rugby-players-2025a1000hr7
Athlete Mental Health – International Olympic Committee consensus-driven guidelines for support at sporting events https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2025/07/23/bjsports-2025-109646
IMAGING
First Metatarsal Osteotomy Healing – Preliminary radiographic classification following minimally invasive hallux valgus surgery https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/24730114251345818
Sports-Related Hip Injuries – Musculoskeletal ultrasound as a diagnostic tool https://www.cureus.com/articles/368324-musculoskeletal-ultrasound-as-a-diagnostic-tool-for-sports-related-hip-injuries#!/
Trident Sign (neurosarcoidosis) https://radiopaedia.org/articles/trident-sign-neurosarcoidosis
Ultrasound – Ultrasound as a predictor of time-loss injury for the patellar tendon, Achilles tendon and plantar fascia in division I collegiate athletes https://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/2025/05/05/ultrasound-as-a-predictor-of-time-loss-injury-for-the-patellar-tendon-achilles-tendon-and-plantar-fascia-in-division-i-collegiate-athletes/
MRI – Combined use of cleft and truncated triangle signs helps improve the preoperative diagnosis of lateral meniscus posterior root tears in patients with ACL injuries https://esskajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ksa.12597
RESOURCE ROUND-UP
Some websites, podcasts and resources you might find useful:
Guardian Caps and Sport-Related Concussion Risk in High School Football Players. EP# 567 https://bjsmbmj.podbean.com/e/guardian-caps-and-sport-related-concussion-risk-in-high-school-football-players-ep-567/
Paralympic Sports Medicine with Dr. Irfan Asif and Dr. Jonathan Finnoff. EP#575 https://bjsmbmj.podbean.com/e/paralympic-sports-medicine-with-dr-irfan-asif-and-dr-jonathan-finnoff-ep576/
SEM AROUND THE WORLD … QATAR https://blogs.bmj.com/bmjopensem/2022/03/09/sem-around-the-world-qatar/
Inside The Concussion In Sports Group Conference: Key takeaways with Prof Jon Patricios & Dr Leigh Gordon. EP#574 https://bjsmbmj.podbean.com/e/inside-the-concussion-in-sports-group-conference-key-takeaways-with-prof-jon-patricios-dr-leigh-gordon-ep574/
The Postpartum Playbook with Margie Davenport. EP#576 https://bjsmbmj.podbean.com/e/the-postpartum-playbook-with-margie-davenport-ep576/
Personal Energy Availability Questionnaire (PEAQ) https://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/2025/07/25/personal-energy-availability-questionnaire-peaq/
Radiographic Results of Percutaneous Reduction of Calcaneal Fractures and Posterior Arthroscopic Subtalar Arthrodesis (C-PASTA)” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fai-july-2025-podcast-radiographic-results-of/id1039790032?i=1000716474401
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
11th EAPC Sports Cardiology Course, 2nd September 2025, Madrid https://2025eapcsportscardiologymadrid.com/
The 45th SICOT Orthopaedic World Congress, September 3-5, 2025, Madrid, Spain https://sicot-congress.com/SICOT2025
2025 USOPC Paralympic Sports Medicine Conference, Sept 4-6, Colorado Springs & online https://teamusaevents.teamusa.org/trncl/25Para_SM_Conf/e/cp/
PROMISE 25 Conference – Protecting Mental Health in Sport + Exercise Conference, 20-21 September 2025, Edinburgh https://promiseconference.co.uk/
ESC Digital & AI Summit 2025, Thursday, 20 November – Friday, 21 November 2025 Berlin – Germany https://www.escardio.org/Congresses-Events/ESC-Digital-AI-Summit
Annual Meeting of the ESC Working Group on Myocardial & Pericardial Diseases, 28 – 29 November 2025, Trieste. https://esc365.escardio.org/event/1891
ECOSEP 9th International Congress of Sports Medicine and Dentistry, November 2025, Düsseldorf https://ecosep.eu/ecosep-9th-congress-november-2025-dusseldorf-germany/
Do let us know your feedback, and any suggestions you have for websites, apps or networks for inclusion in future bulletins.
DISCLAIMER: Horizons is intended as a helpful round-up for members of potentially interesting articles/opinions that have been shared online. SEMPRIS are not qualified to make/infer any clinical judgements, and the inclusion of content, events and resources does not imply endorsement.
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