Affect Sports Performance Research Articles

Preparticipation examination of the adolescent athlete: part 1.

1. Jordan D. Metzl, MD* 1. 2. *Medical Director, The Sports Medicine Institute for Young Athletes; Assistant Attending Physician, Sports Medicine Service, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY. Objectives After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. Discuss the importance of preparticipation screening of young athletes. 2. Delineate the importance of the sports grading system. 3. List key points in the medical and family history that can affect sports performance and sports safety. This series of two articles for Pediatrics in Review addresses the preparticipation examination (PPE) as a method of screening adolescents for athletic participation. The first article addresses implementing the PPE as a screening tool and the important issues in the medical and family history portion of the examination. The second article, to be published next month, covers the medical and orthopedic examination portions of the PPE. Together, these two articles delineate a comprehensive approach to the safe and effective screening of the adolescent athlete. A sample PPE form is included at the end of the second article. The number of adolescent athletes participating in organized sports continues to increase yearly in the United States, now totaling more than 14 million. Sports involvement is important for teenagers, teaching lessons such as leadership skills and group dynamics that are important for success in later life. Sports participation also encourages a dedication to physical fitness, which is especially important in the United States, where the incidence of pediatric and adolescent obesity has more than doubled over the past 30 years. Pediatricians, concerned with the healthy development of their teenage patients, should view the trend toward increasing sports involvement extremely favorably. The pediatrician traditionally has provided medical clearance for young athletes involved in organized sports prior to the beginning of each sports season. In past years, this process was limited in scope and effectiveness, often addressing issues of general health such as cardiac and pulmonary disease, but offering minimal input about musculoskeletal pathology. Pediatric training programs, most of which offer …

Positive and negative stimuli in relation to tennis players' reaction time.

Research has indicated that negative and positive thoughts may affect sport performance. The purpose of this analogue study was to assess whether negative and positive stimuli influenced tennis performance similar to positive and negative thought. The reaction time (RT) of 40 competitive tennis players was measured during a timed response to a tennis ball rotating in a topspin, sidespin, or backspin direction on the computer screen. Immediately prior to the ball presentation, a phrase (accessory stimulus) was presented visually or aurally. The accessory stimulus provided either positive (e.g., 'nice shot') or negative information (e.g., 'bad shot') followed by the subject's name. Analysis showed a main effect only for the type of spin. The slowest RT occurred when responding to a tennis ball rotating in a backspin direction. A significant interaction was found for the sensory modality (audition vs vision) and polarity (positive vs negative) of the accessory stimulus. RT to negative stimuli was slowest when the accessory stimulus was presented aurally. The quickest RT to positive stimuli occurred when the accessory stimulus was presented aurally. These results indicated that negative and positive stimuli, when presented aurally, affected performance as positive and negative thoughts measured in other studies. Not measured was whether negative and positive stimuli actually produce the negative and positive thoughts, respectively, that have been reported to affect performance.

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE STIMULI IN RELATION TO TENNIS PLAYERS' REACTION TIME

Research has indicated that negative and positive thoughts may affect sport performance. The purpose of this analogue study was to assess whether negative and positive stimuli influenced tennis performance similar to positive and negative thought. The reaction time (RT) of 40 competitive tennis players was measured during a timed response to a tennis ball rotating in a topspin, sidespin, or backspin direction on the computer screen. Immediately prior to the ball presentation, a phrase (accessory stimulus) was presented visually or aurally. The accessory stimulus provided either positive (e.g., ‘nice shot’) or negative information (e.g., ‘bad shot’) followed by the subject's name. Analysis showed a main effect only for the type of spin. The slowest RT occurred when responding to a tennis ball rotating in a backspin direction. A significant interaction was found for the sensory modality (audition vs vision) and polarity (positive vs negative) of the accessory stimulus. RT to negative stimuli was slowest when the accessory stimulus was presented aurally. The quickest RT to positive stimuli occurred when the accessory stimulus was presented aurally. These results indicated that negative and positive stimuli, when presented aurally, affected performance as positive and negative thoughts measured in other studies. Not measured was whether negative and positive stimuli actually produce the negative and positive thoughts, respectively, that have been reported to affect performance.

Physical Activity and Epilepsy

Exercise has important benefits for Patients who have epilepsy, but several factors must be considered when making activity recommendations. Seizures during sports activity are rare, and exercise may have antiepileptic effects acutely, but physicians, coaches, and parents should know what to do if a seizure occurs. Many sports activities are permissible as long as patients avoid overexertion, dehydration, and hypoglycemia. Some antiepileptic drugs may adversely affect sports performance, and exercise in turn may reduce serum drug levels by increasing circulating liver enzymes.

Circadian variation in sports performance.

Chronobiology is the science concerned with investigations of time-dependent changes in physiological variables. Circadian rhythms refer to variations that recur every 24 hours. Many physiological circadian rhythms at rest are endogenously controlled, and persist when an individual is isolated from environmental fluctuations. Unlike physiological variables, human performance cannot be monitored continuously in order to describe circadian rhythmicity. Experimental studies of the effect of circadian rhythms on performance need to be carefully designed in order to control for serial fatigue effects and to minimise disturbances in sleep. The detection of rhythmicity in performance variables is also highly influenced by the degree of test-retest repeatability of the measuring equipment. The majority of components of sports performance, e.g. flexibility, muscle strength, short term high power output, vary with time of day in a sinusoidal manner and peak in the early evening close to the daily maximum in body temperature. Psychological tests of short term memory, heart rate-based tests of physical fitness, and prolonged submaximal exercise performance carried out in hot conditions show peak times in the morning. Heart rate-based tests of work capacity appear to peak in the morning because the heart rate responses to exercise are minimal at this time of day. Post-lunch declines are evident with performance variables such as muscle strength, especially if measured frequently enough and sequentially within a 24-hour period to cause fatigue in individuals. More research work is needed to ascertain whether performance in tasks demanding fine motor control varies with time of day. Metabolic and respiratory rhythms are flattened when exercise becomes strenuous whilst the body temperature rhythm persists during maximal exercise. Higher work-rates are selected spontaneously in the early evening. At present, it is not known whether time of day influences the responses of a set training regimen (one in which the training stimulus does not vary with time of day) for endurance, strength, or the learning of motor skills. The normal circadian rhythms can be desynchronised following a flight across several time zones or a transfer to nocturnal work shifts. Although athletes show all the symptoms of 'jet lag' (increased fatigue, disturbed sleep and circadian rhythms), more research work is needed to identify the effects of transmeridian travel on the actual performances of elite sports competitors. Such investigations would need to be chronobiological, i.e. monitor performance at several times on several post-flight days, and take into account direction of travel, time of day of competition and the various performance components involved in a particular sport. Shiftwork interferes with participation in competitive sport, although there may be greater opportunities for shiftworkers to train in the hours of daylight for individual sports such as cycling and swimming. Studies should be conducted to ascertain whether shiftwork-mediated rhythm disturbances affect sports performance. Individual differences in performance rhythms are small but significant. Circadian rhythms are larger in amplitude in physically fit individuals than sedentary individuals. Athletes over 50 years of age tend to be higher in 'morningness', habitually scheduling relatively more training in the morning and selecting relatively higher work-rates during exercise compared with young athletes. These differences should be recognised by practitioners concerned with organising the habitual regimens of athletes.

The Relationship between Observable Self-Talk and Competitive Junior Tennis Players' Match Performances

In sport psychology, there is broad interest in cognitive factors that affect sport performance. The purpose of this research was to examine one such factor, self-talk, in competitive sport performance. Twenty-four junior tennis players were observed during tournament matches. Their observable self-talk, gestures, and match scores were recorded. Players also described their positive, negative, and other thoughts on a postmatch questionnaire. A descriptive analysis of the self-talk and gestures that occurred during competition was generated. It was found that negative self-talk was associated with losing and that players who reported believing in the utility of self-talk won more points than players who did not. These results suggest that self-talk influences competitive sport outcomes. The importance of "believing" in self-talk and the potential motivational and detrimental effects of negative self-talk on performance are discussed.

Altitude and Maximum Performance in Work and Sports Activity

To what extent elevations of around 7,000 feet affect sports performance has been a topic for speculation and inquiry. Predictions based on experimental experiences at altitudes above 10,000 feet were closely verified in recent studies. Performance capabilities in events requiring relatively short bursts of energy expenditure were unaltered. Oxygen debt capacity was not affected; however, duration of recovery was expanded. Maximum physical efforts of about one minute or more showed manifest reductions of "normal" performance levels in running, swimming, and on the bicycle ergometer. Ten days of continued training improved but did not completely normalize performances. The decision to hold the Olympic Games of 1968 in Mexico City, a city with an elevation of around 2,250 meters (nearly one-half mile higher than Denver) has created a public interest in effects of higher altitudes on physical performance capabilities. Mountaineers, skiers, hunters, lumberjacks, and miners had been confronted with this problem for