Browsing by Author "Bayrak, A."

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Citation - Scopus: 2
Evaluation of Deep Learning Models for Lower Extremity Muscle Segmentation in Thermal Imaging
(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2023) Ergene, M.C.; Bayrak, A.; Çevik, M.; Ceylan, M.
Competition and market size in sports are constantly increasing. In this case, one of the biggest problems of sports clubs is athlete injuries. Especially in football, athlete injury costs are very high. However, most injuries are non-contact and preventable. Sports medicine specialists utilise many medical imaging methods for the prevention of sports injuries. Thermography is an imaging method that has been used in the examination of sports injuries in recent years. Fast and accurate segmentation of muscle regions in thermal images enables more objective analyses. In this study, lower extremity thermal images were taken from football players of a super league club for a certain period of time. From these raw thermal images, 9 different muscle groups of the athletes were labelled and a dataset was created. U-Net, FPN, Linknet and PSPNet segmentation models were trained with this dataset. IoU, F1, Precision, Recall, Precision, Recall evaluation metrics were used to evaluate these models. In the separate models trained for each muscle group, the IoU value achieved over 95% success. When the results of the study are analysed, it is discussed that these segmentation models can be used as a critical tool in injury analysis and evaluation in athletes. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Thermal Asymmetry in Football Players Following Ankle Injury: Findings Related to Training Load
(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2026) Bayrak, A.; Çevik, M.; Ceylan, M.
The Objective: This study aimed to evaluate, at two time points (the 1st and 14th training days), the effects of training provocation on thermal asymmetry in football players with and without a lateral ankle sprain (LAS) injury history. Methods: Twenty-seven football players from the U-19 squad of a Turkish Süper Lig club were included. Athletes were divided into two groups by injury history: with LAS injury history (n = 10) and without LAS injury history (n = 17). On the 1st and 14th training days, pre-training and post-training infrared thermographic images were obtained. For the ankle, patellar tendon, calf medialis, calf lateralis, and tibialis anterior regions, the side-to-side temperature difference (ΔT) and the post-training change (ΔPost–Pre) were calculated. Results: On the first day, athletes with LAS injury history showed a marked increase in ΔT at the ankle (+0.19 ℃) and patellar tendon (+0.22 ℃), whereas a decrease was observed in the control group. On the fourteenth day, ΔT values were elevated from pre-training in the injury-history group and expanded toward the calf muscles (calf medialis +0.07 ℃; calf lateralis +0.06 ℃). Tibialis anterior exhibited a decrease in both groups. Conclusion: In football players with LAS injury history, thermal asymmetry that emerges acutely at the joint–tendon level with training load extends to the muscle level over two weeks. This pattern indicates lasting alterations in neuromuscular control and load distribution. AI-assisted thermography can sensitively reveal such asymmetries and may serve as a valuable tool for individualized load management and injury prevention strategies during return-to-play. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.
Citation - WoS: 2
Citation - Scopus: 3
Thermography Method Under the Influence of Exercise in the Detection of Muscle Injuries: Sartorius Muscle Case Report
(Churchill Livingstone, 2024) Bayrak, A.; Ergene, M.C.; Ceylan, M.
Background: The aim of this study was to determine the level of participation in the training of the athlete who applied to the clinic with pain by infrared thermography. Symptoms of sartorius muscle (SM) injury are like rectus femoris injuries. Case scenario: Grade I SM injury of a 23-year-old male football player was determined by thermographic diagnosis. Taking a resting thermal image before the training of the player reported a pain in the upper thigh region. Outcomes: Since both legs were equally loaded, in accordance with the method we developed, the thermal image was taken again after a 10-min cycling program with 30–40% resistance. The heat maps of legs seen in the pre- and post-training images were analyzed. There was no asymmetrical finding indicating injury in the resting thermographic evaluation, but asymmetric findings showing the injury in the region of SM were obtained in the repeated thermographic imaging after the 10-min cycling program. Grade I SM injury was detected by MRI afterwards. Conclusion: Even if there is no sign of asymmetry in the resting thermography of football players having signs of pain, the injured muscle should be provoked with a safe exercise program and the thermal image should be retaken. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd