Kati Pasanen
University of Calgary, Kinesiology, Faculty Member
Research Interests:
The popularity of organized sports, especially team sports is growing among youth. High training volume and intensity at early age may predispose young athletes to overuse injuries. To examine the occurrence, nature and severity of... more
The popularity of organized sports, especially team sports is growing among youth. High training volume and intensity at early age may predispose young athletes to overuse injuries. To examine the occurrence, nature and severity of overuse injuries in youth basketball and floorball. A descriptive retrospective study. Finnish youth basketball and floorball. 406 athletes (mean age 15.9, SD 2.0) from six basketball and floorball clubs (210 basketball and 196 floorball players). Self-reported history of overuse injuries over the preceding 12-month period. Data was obtained from a questionnaire. The severity of injuries was defined according to time-loss from full-time game or training. 172 overuse injuries (sustained by 139 players) were reported. Basketball players sustained 97 and floorball players 75 overuse injuries. Injury incidence in basketball was 1.1 and in floorball 0.8 injuries/1000h of exposure. Most of the overuse injuries involved the lower extremities (72% of all injuries...
Research Interests: Engineering and Education
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The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of low back pain (LBP) in young female and male basketball and floorball players. Cross-sectional study. Nine basketball teams and 9 floorball teams from Tampere city... more
The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of low back pain (LBP) in young female and male basketball and floorball players. Cross-sectional study. Nine basketball teams and 9 floorball teams from Tampere city district, Finland. Four hundred one young female and male players (mean age: 15.8 ± 1.9 years). Age, gender, sport, and family history of musculoskeletal disorders were assessed as risk factors for LBP. Adjustment was made on team level to avoid random effects associated with a team. Information of players' background factors and LBP episodes was collected by a structured questionnaire. Forty-four percentage of the basketball players and 62% of floorball players had suffered from LBP during the previous 12 months. Prevalence of LBP during the previous year was significantly higher among floorball players (P = 0.001). In both sports, prevalence of pain symptoms was the highest during the competitive playing season. Family history of musculoskeletal disorders [OR (odds ratio), 2.02, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.22-3.34] and higher age (OR, 1.22, 95% CI, 1.05-1.41) were associated with LBP in players. The study attested that LBP is a relatively common complaint in young team sport players. Targeted measures to examine causes, risk factors, and prevention of LBP in youth sports are needed.
Objective To investigate whether a neuromuscular training programme is effective in preventing non-contact leg injuries in female floorball players. Design Cluster randomised controlled study. Setting 28 top level female floorball teams... more
Objective To investigate whether a neuromuscular training programme is effective in preventing non-contact leg injuries in female floorball players. Design Cluster randomised controlled study. Setting 28 top level female floorball teams in Finland. Participants 457 players (mean age 24 years)—256 (14 teams)intheinterventiongroupand201(14teams)inthe control group—followed up for one league season (six months). Intervention A neuromuscular training programme to enhance players'motor skillsand
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Knee valgus angles have been identified as important predictors of ACL injury risk. To screen for athletes with poor dynamic knee stability simple field tests are needed. Purpose of this study was to find out if the subjective assessment... more
Knee valgus angles have been identified as important predictors of ACL injury risk. To screen for athletes with poor dynamic knee stability simple field tests are needed. Purpose of this study was to find out if the subjective assessment of knee control in the single-leg squat task correlates with the two-dimensional video analysis of frontal plane knee angles. Single-measure. The study took place at the UKK Institute, in Tampere, Finland from April 2011 to May 2013. 480 floorball, basketball, ice-hockey and volleyball players, out of which 283 were females (mean age 17 years, SD 4) and 197 were males (mean age 16 years, SD 2) . The subject's ability to control the knee during the single-leg squat was assessed by an observer from the front side of the subject. The subjects squatted down to a 90 degree knee flexion angle. A scale from 0 to 2, where 0 equals "good performance" and 2 "poor performance", was used. Frontal plane knee angles were calculated for eac...
Research Interests: Engineering and Education
BACKROUND: It is expected that every second runner has a running-related overuse injury each year. The knee joint and Achilles tendon are the most commonly injured sites covering both about one fifth of all running related injuries.(1)... more
BACKROUND: It is expected that every second runner has a running-related overuse injury each year. The knee joint and Achilles tendon are the most commonly injured sites covering both about one fifth of all running related injuries.(1) Runners can be categorized into rearfoot strikers, mid-foot strikers or forefoot strikers based on the landing strategy at the instant of initial ground contact. Forefoot or mid-foot striking has been shown to reduce impact peak and loading rate of the ground reaction force during early stance phase.(2) Furthermore, the finding of the recent study suggest that forefoot striking may potentially decrease the risk of running-related injuries.(3) However, the effect of runner's foot striking pattern on the ankle and especially on the knee loading is poorly understood. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine whether runners with forefoot striking exhibit different lower limb loading profile than runners who use rearfoot strike pattern. Nine...
Research Interests: Engineering and Education
Low back pain (LBP) is a common complaint in general population affecting both genders and almost all age-groups. LBP is a common problem in sports as well, even in younger populations. LBP is prone to recur, thus there is a need for... more
Low back pain (LBP) is a common complaint in general population affecting both genders and almost all age-groups. LBP is a common problem in sports as well, even in younger populations. LBP is prone to recur, thus there is a need for studies on the early phases of the problem in different sports. To investigate the prevalence, nature, severity and risk factors of self-reported LBP in young team sport players. A retrospective cross-sectional study. Finnish female and male basketball, floorball, ice hockey and volleyball teams. This study is a part of an ongoing cohort study exploring risk factors for sports injuries. Players from 22 teams, a total of 464 young players (16±1.9 years), have been included. Players' gender, age, sport and family LBP history were assessed as risk factors. Prevalence of LBP provided by a standardized Nordic questionnaire. LBP was defined: ache, pain or discomfort of lumbar region with or without radiation to one or both legs. 255 (54.9 %) of all player...
Research Interests: Engineering and Education
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To investigate whether a 6-month neuromuscular warm-up programme could improve muscle power, balance, speed and agility. Cluster randomised controlled study. 27 top level female floorball teams in Finland. 222 players (mean age 24 years);... more
To investigate whether a 6-month neuromuscular warm-up programme could improve muscle power, balance, speed and agility. Cluster randomised controlled study. 27 top level female floorball teams in Finland. 222 players (mean age 24 years); 119 in the intervention group and 103 in the control group were followed-up for one league season (6 months). A neuromuscular warm-up programme included sports-specific running technique, balance, jumping and strengthening exercises. The teams were advised to use the programme 1-3 times per week through the league season. One training session took approximately 25 min. Performance tests were assessed before and after the 6-month intervention and included static jump, countermovement jump, jumping over a bar, standing on a bar and figure-of-eight running. At 6 months, significant between-group differences were found in two outcome measures: jumping over a bar (number of jumps in 15 s) and standing on a bar (number of balance losses in 60 s). These differences were 2.3 jumps (95% CI 0.8 to 3.8, p = 0.003), favouring the intervention group, and -0.4 balance losses (95% CI -0.8 to 0.0, p = 0.050), again in favour of the intervention group. A neuromuscular warm-up programme improved the floorball players' sideways jumping speed and static balance. The exercises were also safe to perform and can thus be recommended for weekly training of floorball players. ISRCTN26550281.
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The knee joint is the most common site for injury among younger people, the injury often resulting in expensive (surgical) treatment, long-term rehabilitation and permanent functional impairment and disability. We investigated the... more
The knee joint is the most common site for injury among younger people, the injury often resulting in expensive (surgical) treatment, long-term rehabilitation and permanent functional impairment and disability. We investigated the incidence and risk factors for a major knee-ligament injury in an adolescent Finnish population. A population-based cohort of 46 472 adolescents was followed for an average of 9 years. All patients hospitalised with the diagnosis of anterior or posterior cruciate ligament injury (ACL or PCL injury) were included in the analysis. 265 (0.6%) people (194 male and 71 female subjects) from the total cohort of 46 472 were treated for a cruciate ligament injury of the knee during the follow-up period, giving an injury incidence of 60.9 (95% CI 53.6 to 68.2) per 100 000 person-years. When the socioeconomic, health and lifestyle background variables were taken into account, the adjusted hazard ratio for a cruciate ligament injury of the knee was 8.5 (95% CI 4.3 to 16.4) for female and 4.0 (95% CI 2.7 to 6.1) for male subjects who participated in organised sports > or =4 times/week. The general risk for a cruciate ligament injury of the knee is relatively low among adolescents and young adults, but participation in organised sports increases the risk significantly. The risk is especially high in active young women. Preventive measures should be adopted to decrease the short-term and long-term burden of these severe injuries.