The NBA & GE Healthcare Announce First Round Research Winners to Address Prevention, Diagnosis & Treatment of Musculoskeletal...
May 05 2016 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
- More than $1.5 million awarded as part
of unique NBA/GE Healthcare Sports Medicine and Orthopedics
Collaboration
- Six research proposals on tendinopathy
from North America, Europe and Australia represent first funded
projects
- Call for second round of research
proposals focused on myotendinous injuries, including hamstring and
calf injuries, to come out in June
The National Basketball Association (NBA) and GE Healthcare
(NYSE: GE) today announced the first round of winning research
proposals submitted to their Sports Medicine and Orthopedics
Collaboration. Launched in the summer of 2015, this strategic
collaboration is funding research to address the prevention,
diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal injuries* affecting NBA
players and everyday athletes. The collaboration is directed by a
Strategic Advisory Board led by Dr. John DiFiori, the NBA’s
Director of Sports Medicine, and an NBA/GE Healthcare steering
committee.
This first round of research proposals focused on the natural
history, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of tendinopathy.
“Tendinopathy – and specifically that involving the patellar tendon
– is a common issue among basketball players at all levels,” said
Dr. DiFiori, who also served as co-chair for this call for
proposals. “The NBA is pleased to work with GE Healthcare to fund
additional research in this area to increase our understanding of
this condition as we seek to improve health outcomes and limit the
impact on athletic performance for NBA players and the general
population.”
Using a competitive application process with a rigorous
scientific review, six winning proposals were selected from a group
of nearly 70. The following awardees include research teams from
leading academic and healthcare institutions across three
continents:
- La Trobe University (Dr. Jill Cook)
– Patellar Tendon Pathology, Its Development and Relationship with
Pain in Elite Athletes. Investigators from La Trobe University
and the University of Newcastle in Australia, as well as Tulane
University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in the
United States, propose a novel imaging method to investigate the
relationship between pain and change in tendon structure – in both
adult and adolescent athletes. This study will also evaluate how
certain exercises can immediately impact pain, help avoid missed
games, and make athletes’ tendons stronger.
- University of Calgary (Dr. W. Brent
Edwards) – Towards the Real-time Monitoring of Tendon Strain and
Cumulative Damage to Minimize the Risk of Patellar
Tendinopathy. Using advanced imaging techniques and
biomechanical measurements to quantify tendon properties,
researchers from the University of Calgary, in collaboration with
adidas and Robbins, Inc., will assess the influence of playing
surfaces and footwear on the risk of patellar tendinopathy and
develop a wearable technology to monitor tendon loading during
play.
- University of Calgary (Dr. Carolyn
Emery) – Prevention of Patellar and Achilles Tendinopathies in
Youth Basketball. Dr. Emery and her team of experts aim to
identify risk factors for patella and other tendon-related injuries
in young players, explore self-monitoring and reporting programs,
and assess the impact of a basketball-specific neuromuscular
training program, all of which could have a long-term impact on
young athletes and help them avoid premature exit from sport
participation.
- University of Wisconsin-Madison (Dr.
Kenneth Lee) – Platelet-Rich Plasma Therapy for Patellar
Tendinopathy: A Randomized Controlled Trial Correlating Clinical,
Biomechanical and Novel Imaging Biomarkers. Dr. Lee and his
team of researchers aim to work with college basketball players to
evaluate the effectiveness of a non-surgical intervention for
treating patellar tendinopathy (also known as “jumper’s knee”) by
comparing the use of concentrated platelets containing healing
growth factors in a controlled study. They will also track the
healing changes of the patellar tendon using new MRI and ultrasound
imaging techniques.
- Hospital for Special Surgery (Dr. O.
Kenechi Nwawka) – Prospective Longitudinal Assessment of
Patellar Tendinopathy in Elite Basketball Players Using
Quantitative Imaging with Correlation to Symptoms and Functional
Analysis. Leveraging advanced medical imaging technology
including ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),
researchers at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery aim to
characterize the changes in the patellar tendon over the course of
a basketball season, thus providing predictive information to
identify players at an increased risk of developing
tendinopathy.
- Erasmus University Medical Center,
Rotterdam (Dr. Edwin H.G. Oei) – Progressive
Tendon-loading Exercise Therapy for Patellar Tendinopathy in
Jumping Athletes: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial Evaluated
with Advanced 3D Ultrashort Echo Time MRI. Researchers from
Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with support from the
Netherlands Basketball Federation, will use a novel MRI technique
called ‘ultrashort echo time MRI’ to evaluate a new graduated,
non-invasive exercise therapy for “jumper’s knee” that requires no
specific equipment. Such an approach could result in increased
tendon and muscle strength and pain relief.
“NBA players are among the best in the world, and the NBA is
committed to their health and well-being, which is why we’re
excited to team up with GE Healthcare and leading researchers for
the benefit of the players and our game,” said David Weiss, NBA
Vice President and Assistant General Counsel. “The projects we’re
announcing today include important areas of focus for the NBA
including injury prevention and youth health, as well as advanced
technologies and methods such as new approaches to imaging,
wearable technology and biomechanics.”
John M. Sabol, PhD, Chief Scientist for GE Healthcare’s Global
Research Organization, noted, “The collaboration between GE
Healthcare and the NBA has provided a unique opportunity to do high
impact research. This call for proposals attracted dozens of
high-quality submissions from leading tendinopathy researchers.
Selection of the winning projects was a challenging task, relying
on an independent scientific review panel of 22 academic and
clinical experts to evaluate the scientific merit of the submitted
research projects.”
Beyond the upcoming myotendinous injury call for proposals,
future calls from the NBA/GE Healthcare Collaboration may address
bone stress injuries, articular cartilage injury, and other
important musculoskeletal issues affecting NBA players. For more
information about the first round of winning research proposals and
future funding opportunities, please visit
https://ge2.brightidea.com/GENBACFP.
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and
services to meet the demand for increased access, enhanced quality
and more affordable healthcare around the world. GE (NYSE: GE)
works on things that matter - great people and technologies taking
on tough challenges. From medical imaging, software &
IT, patient monitoring and diagnostics to drug discovery,
biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and performance
improvement solutions, GE Healthcare helps medical professionals
deliver great healthcare to their patients. For more information,
visit our website www.gehealthcare.com.
About the NBA
The NBA is a global sports and media business built around three
professional sports leagues: The National Basketball Association,
the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the NBA
Development League. The league has established a major
international presence with games and programming in 215 countries
and territories in 49 languages, and NBA merchandise for sale in
more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents. NBA
rosters at the start of the 2015-16 season featured 100
international players from 37 countries and territories. NBA
Digital’s assets include NBA.com and the NBA app, which achieved
record traffic during the 2014-15 season, as well as NBA TV. The
NBA has created one of the largest social media communities in the
world, with more than one billion likes and followers globally
across all league, team, and player platforms. Through NBA Cares,
the league addresses important social issues by working with
internationally recognized youth-serving organizations that support
education, youth and family development, and health-related
causes.
*Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are injuries or disorders of
the muscles, nerves, tendons, joints, cartilage, and disorders of
the nerves, tendons, muscles and supporting structures of the upper
and lower limbs, neck, and lower back that are caused, precipitated
or exacerbated by sudden exertion or prolonged exposure to physical
factors such as repetition, force, vibration, or awkward
posture. Source: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/programs/msd/
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GE HealthcareBenjamin
Fox414-721-4013Benjamin.Fox@ge.comorNBAJoanna
Shapiro212-407-8884JShapiro@nba.com
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