Alan T Rankin

Alan T Rankin
Sport NI Sports Institute · Sports Medicine

Bachelor of Medicine

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56
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Skills and Expertise

Publications

Publications (56)
Article
Historically, women have participated in elite sports for the past century, yet a perception persists that elite sports are incompatible with motherhood. There is a lack of consensus and sport-specific guidance on the upper limits of exercise during these periods. Arguably, this creates a conservative ambiguity for mothers who were active before pr...
Article
Purpose Adolescent athletes who sustain a sports-related concussion may experience a prolonged recovery period. Evidence suggests female athletes and those with a history of previous concussion may have an extended recovery period, spanning multiple weeks to months. The purpose of this study was to track recovery from a concussion across patient-re...
Article
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Objectives To provide an overview of the outcome measures currently used after sports-related concussion (SRC) in adolescents, categorising by the constructs they assess, follow-up duration and their feasibility of use. Design Scoping review. Data sources We searched three electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL). We also undertook citat...
Article
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Background Concussion diagnosis is based on subjective assessment of several nonspecific clinical signs and symptoms with no objective test to aid in diagnosis. The pupillary system, in particular the pupil light reflexes (PLR) has attracted plausible consideration in this area, given its complex neural circuitry and autonomic function. Aim To ass...
Article
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The pelvic floor and its associated disorders are a unique and often overlooked aspect of women's rugby. This review discusses relevant biopsychosocial considerations specific to the pelvic floor and rugby. Pelvic floor disorders can present at any time across the female lifespan but are more prevalent during pregnancy and postpartum. This is due t...
Article
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Background Accurate concussion monitoring requires access to preinjury baseline data. This is particularly important in adolescent athletes who have a high risk of concussion and are prone to prolonged recovery. As Rugby Union is governed by similar laws for men and women, it is also an ideal population to rigorously examine the impact of biologica...
Article
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Background: Concussion examination is based primarily on clinical evaluation and symptomatic reporting. Pupillary light reflex (PLR) metrics may provide an objective physiological marker to inform concussion diagnosis and recovery, but few studies have assessed PLR, and normative data are lacking, particularly for adolescents. Aim: To capture PLR d...
Conference Paper
Introduction Changes to the pupillary light reflex (PLR) have been demonstrated in traumatic brain injury and in adolescents with a history of concussion. Assessment of changes to the PLR following concussion has been proposed as a potential biomarker. Objectives Assessment of the reliability of PLR measurements in a cohort of elite female athlete...
Article
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Introduction Sport-related concussion is one of the most common injuries in adolescent rugby players with evidence of prolonged recovery in some concussed athletes. Concussion is a complex pathophysiological process that can affect a variety of subsystems with multifactorial presentation. Most research on adolescents recovery after concussion focus...
Article
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Background/Aims The impact of COVID-19 has not been previously documented in an elite sporting population. Previous reports have documented cardiorespiratory sequelae in athletes, and expert opinion-based guidance is generally employed in their rehabilitation. However, there still persists a lack of information on how COVID-19 affects elite athlete...
Article
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Infographic addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the athletic population.
Article
Background: Postpartum women frequently engage in running. In the absence of official guidance on returning-to-running postpartum, physical therapists rely on clinical experience alongside the available literature. Subsequently , the traditional evaluation of postpartum readiness for running tends to focus on musculoskeletal factors. This clinical...
Poster
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Dutch translation of our Considerations for returning to running postnatal infographic
Poster
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Considerations in returning to running postnatal (Croatian)
Poster
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Considerations for the postnatal runner (Latvian)
Article
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1. Introduction This infographic outlines considerations for athletes and their teams around vaccination against the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) virus. There are currently three vaccines approved for use in the United Kingdom (UK); Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Oxford/AstraZenica. It is important for athletes and their physicians to be aware of the poten...
Article
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Introduction Participation in collision sports such as rugby union has inherent risk of injury. The aim of this study was to examine injury patterns and risk factors in adolescent rugby players (U15 years). Methods A prospective injury surveillance study was undertaken involving 26 schools (599 male rugby players, mean age 14.7y). Data were collec...
Article
Full-text available
Background Sports-related concussion is a worldwide problem. There is a concern that an initial concussion can cause prolonged subclinical disturbances to sensorimotor function that increase the risk of subsequent injury. The primary aim of this study was to examine whether a history of sports-related concussion has effects on static and dynamic ba...
Article
Full-text available
This infographic outlines evidence- based recommendations on COVID-19 reverse transcriptase PCR (RT- PCR) testing in elite sport settings, aiming to protect personal and population health, and acknowledging resources and expertise that are often available in elite sport. Public health recommendations vary by country and region, and protocol deci-si...
Article
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Infographic on how to manage a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case in elite sport.
Article
Physiotherapy has long followed a standard script. The patient is seen in-person at a clinic, a subjective history is taken and the physiotherapist completes a physical examination consisting of strength, range of motion, functional testing, etc to determine the cause of injury and prescribe an appropriate treatment plan. For running injuries, this...
Poster
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French translation of the infographic created from 'Returning to running postnatal - guidelines for medical, health and fitness professionals managing this population'
Poster
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La maman est-elle à au moins 3 mois après l'accouchement? Vous pouvez continuer le test si vous êtes à plus de 6 semaines de post partum mais les recommandations pour reprendre la course à pied sont d'attendre au minimum 3 mois après l'accouchement Vous pouvez continuer le questionnaire-Retour potentiel à la course à pied si les tests préconisés so...
Article
Running is an increasingly popular form of physical activity with many women now continuing to run throughout their pregnancies.1 Consequently, many women may want to return to running or take this up as part of an active lifestyle following childbirth. Profound physical and physiological changes accompany pregnancy,2 and subsequent tissue healing...
Poster
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Estonian translation of Infographic "Considerations to guide return to postnatal running" which was created from "Returning to running postnatal - guidance for medical, health and fitness professionals managing this population".
Poster
Full-text available
An estonian translation of the infographic "Examples of exercise progression in the postnatal runner" which was created from "Returning to running postnatal - guidelines for medical, health and fitness professionals managing this population".
Poster
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Background: In high-level adult athletes, injury incidences and characteristics have been reported during international championships and during one season. Youth track and field athletes are also exposed to injury risk, although less information is available on this specific population, as well as on illness risk. Aim: To determine the prevalence...
Article
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Background: In high-level adult athletes, injury incidences and characteristics have been reported during international championships and during one season. Youth track and field athletes are also exposed to injury risk, although less information is available on this specific population, as well as on illness risk. Aim: To determine the prevalence...
Article
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Objectives: The gut microbiome has begun to be characterised in athlete groups, albeit, to date, only across a subset of sports. This study aimed to determine if the gut microbiome and metabolome differed across sports classification groups (SCGs) among elite Irish athletes, many of whom were participating in the 2016 Summer Olympics. Methods: F...
Article
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Our recent BJSM editorial stressed that it is ‘time for action’ regarding sports nutrition oral health1. Oral health is poor in elite athletes and is consistently associated with performance impacts as we have shown across studies involving more than 800 athletes2-4. This situation exists despite poor oral health being preventable with well evidenc...
Conference Paper
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Aim: Orthopaedic trauma is common with sports participation and fractures and dislocations comprise a significant proportion of sports injuries. The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiology of sporting injury seen at a regional orthopaedic referral centre. Methods: All cases presenting to a regional orthopaedic ''fracture clinic'' for...
Article
Objectives: To establish patterns of subsequent injury in U18 rugby, to quantify the burden of within season injury recurrence. Design: Secondary analysis of prospective data. Setting: 28 Schools in Ireland. Participants: 825 male rugby players (aged 15-18 years). Main outcome measures: Subsequent injuries were classified as: new, local or...
Article
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The human intestinal tract is home to approximately 100 trillion microbes with the majority of these residing in the colon. Most microbes in the human intestinal tract are bacteria but archaea, fungi, protozoans and a large population of viruses are also present.1 These microbes have a vast array of functions including vitamin production, fibre dig...
Presentation
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Rugby Injury Surveillance In Ulster Schools
Article
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Objective To examine injury patterns in adolescent rugby players and determine factors associated with injury risk. Design Prospective injury surveillance study. Setting N=28 Grammar Schools in Ulster, Ireland (2014–2015 playing season). Participants 825 adolescent rugby players, across in 28 school first XV rugby squads; mean age 16.9 years. Main...
Presentation
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RISUS: Rugby Injury Surveillance In Ulster Schools- fracture demographics 2014/2015
Presentation
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Nutritional supplementation practices in Ulster Schools Rugby
Article
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Chronic hip and groin pain offers a diagnostic challenge for the sports medicine practitioner. Recent consensus suggests diagnostic categorization based on 5 clinical entities: hip joint-, adductor-, pubic bone stress injury-, iliopsoas-, or abdominal wall-related pathology. However, their prevalence patterns and coexistence in an active population...
Article
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We read Carter’s editorial with much interest.1In the past year, few subjects in sport have generated as much interest as injuries and concussions in school rugby. This is particularly true for Northern Ireland, where two catastrophic injuries recently occurred.The current lack of comprehensive, clear, and coherent data from a surveillance study is...
Conference Paper
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History: An 8-year-old girl presents to the emergency department 1 h after head injury. She sustained a blow to the left frontal area during a fall from standing height unto grass while running. There was a suggestion of a similar mild head injury a fortnight previously. Examination: Initial evaluation revealed a Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) of 15/15....
Article
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A case is presented of a 24-year-old man who sustained a forceful blow to the right side of the abdomen during a tackle while playing rugby union. The patient was thought to be "winded" and could not play on. He sought medical attention several hours later at the local hospital where initial evaluation revealed mild right iliac fossa tenderness wit...
Conference Paper
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Aim: Poor outcome from anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction has been attributed to trauma, diagnostic and technical error, infection and failure of graft incorporation. The aim of this study was to review the cases of ACL revision surgery in this tertiary regional referral centre in order to analyse the reasons for failure in this partic...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
013 RHABDOMYOLYSIS AND CONSERVATIVELY MANAGED BILATERAL COMPARTMENT SYNDROME OF THE THIGHS FOLLOWING STRENUOUS EXERCISE A. Rankin, J. Maxwell.Department of Emergency Medicine, Craigavon Area Hospital Craigavon, Portadown, Northern Ireland Case Report: Exertional rhabdomyolysis is a well established but uncommon presentation to the accident and eme...

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