Injuries of the thigh musculature (groin and hamstring tears) in popular sports such as soccer, which has approximately 200,000 professional and 240 million amateur players, are common incapacitating conditions.

Groin and hamstring injuries are often attributed to muscle imbalances (e.g., strength "deficits" / volume "asymmetries") with chronic / recalcitrant groin and hamstring tears representing clinically significant problems with respect to effective treatment and rehabilitation in amateur and professional athletes alike.

QCIF, in partnership with the Queensland Roar Football Club, Southernex Imaging Group and the University of Queensland aims to extend the utility of clinical MRI examinations of thigh injuries by developing an automated image analysis system to provide quantitative data on muscle volume asymmetry to aid improved decision-making on therapeutic treatments and the efficacy of rehabilitation programs.

Outcomes

The development of the automated image segmentation software will be performed using parallel programming for execution with high-performance computing (e.g. QCIF's 64 processor SGI Altix) and grid computing facilities.

The current project will also offer opportunities to extend national and international collaborative efforts with colleagues at CSRIO (ICT centre) and Uppsala University in Sweden (Centre for Image Analysis), respectively.

The successful implementation of a fully developed clinical system for rapid automated analysis of thigh muscle asymmetry from MRI investigations of injured or at risk athletes has a number of potential health-care and economic benefits such as:

• Providing innovative radiological services to promote cost-effective, individualised treatment and rehabilitation procedures aimed at improving the clinical management of common musculoskeletal injuries in active and athletic patients.
• Optimising - using an evidence-based approach - the medical care of professional athletes in an Australian context and the creation of a state-of-the-art sports medicine program for soccer of national and international importance.