Number Of Sports Research Articles

Biceps femoris architecture: the association with injury and response to training

First I looked to see if two-dimensional ultrasound could show us anything new in the battle against hamstring strain injuries (HSI), mainly in those with a history of injury, but...

Identification of temporal factors related to shot performance for indoor recurve archery

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to investigate the temporal phases of the archery shot cycle that distinguish the arrows distance from centre, in an attempt to understand critical factors that affect performance. Fifteen archers of varying ability each performed 30 shots at 18 m. Fourteen potential predictor variables were measured for statistical modelling by stepwise multiple linear regression. The results show that pre-shot time (pre-performance routine), follow-through time (post-performance routine), aiming time, speed of the arrow and the %variation in clicker-release time, account for 7.7% of the variation in predicting shot performance. The results have implications for practice demonstrating factors that coaches should focus on to develop their athletes. Further work on pre-, but more importantly, post-performance routines are needed generally within sport research as they are lacking and have been shown to be important contributing factors in a number of sports.

Scope of Review, Standard of Review and Authority to Grant a Remedy: An Analysis of Three Policy-Based Rules in a Sport-Specific Arbitration Process

With an increasing number of sport disputes being heard by way of arbitration, some have called it a ‘growth industry’. Much has been written on the relative benefits of sport-specific arbitration processes as compared to the litigation process but few contributions have probed more deeply to address the function and design of such a process. The purpose of this paper is to examine how certain prescribed rules of an arbitration process can serve as instruments of sport policy.Three rules of the arbitration process, each of which goes beyond a basic rule of procedure operation and has important policy implications for the sport organisation and sport in general, are discussed. The three rules relate to the proper scope of review of the adjudicator, the standard of review to be used in defining an error and the scope of authority of the adjudicator in crafting a remedy. Each of the rules can affect not just the outcome of a decision, but also the role decision-makers play within the sport organisation.The underlying premise of this paper is the view that the arbitration process and, more specifically, the rules of arbitration should be designed to support and to facilitate the desired function of independent sport arbitration. What that function is must be considered in light of the sport organisation’s own governance and policy-making role. Policy-based rules of procedure such as the three discussed here, can either support that role or make incursions into the independent functioning of the sport organisation.

Judgments of Nonverbal Behaviour by Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder: Can they Detect Signs of Winning and Losing from Brief Video Clips?

Typically developing children are able to judge who is winning or losing from very short clips of video footage of behaviour between active match play across a number of sports. Inferences from "thin slices" (short video clips) allow participants to make complex judgments about the meaning of posture, gesture and body language. This study extends the use of the thin slice research paradigm to children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We tested 38 children with ASD, in two age groups: 15 participants aged 5-8years and 23 participants aged 9-13years. We found that the children with ASD had a rate of accuracy similar to that of typically developing peers tested in a previous study.

Predicting the Evolution of Sports Federation Membership: AnImportant Tool to Asses National Governing Bodies’ Strategic Planning

Quantifying the potential market of sports licenses is key in order for National Governing Bodies of sport (NGBs) to be able to design good strategic planning. We compared the classical methods of univariate prediction and the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) methods. Reliability of the available data was verified with the Time Series Regression with ARIMA Noise, Missing and Outliers (TRAMO) method, and the existence of a trend was verified using Daniel’s test. For the purposes of this study—the researches collected and analysed secondary data from a 40-year series in 45 sports in Spain covering a very long period of time in a variety of sport disciplines. The study shows that, with the available data, short-and mid-term forecasting is possible in a number of sports, but not in all of them. It also proves that Holt’s classical method of exponential smoothing is the one that yields best results. Golf, Basketball, Athletics and Hunting NGB show worrying prospects of decline levels and need an immediate change in the strategic plans. Other than for forecasting the evolution of athletes in the mid-term in order to improve strategic planning in NGBs, the present findings can be useful for public authorities to define their aid policies for NGBs, and they can also helpcompanies in the industry to anticipate market developments.

Quantifying Emergency Department Visits From Sport and Recreation: Focus on the Lower Extremity and Knee, 1997-2009.

Few authors have reported nationally representative data on the number of sport and recreation (SR) injuries resulting in emergency department (ED) visitation. The existing studies have only provided 1 or 2 years of data and are not longitudinal in nature. To use a novel algorithmic approach to determine if ED visitation is due to SR, resulting in a substantially larger longitudinal dataset. Descriptive epidemiology study. Hospital. The National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, a stratified random-sample survey of US hospital EDs was combined for years 1997-2009. There were 15 699 unweighted patient visits determined to be from SR. A custom algorithm classified SR visits based on the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification E-code and pattern recognition of narrative text. Sport and recreation visits were assessed by age and categorized according to broad injury classifications. Additional quantification was performed on SR visits for lower extremity and knee-specific injuries. Sample weights were applied to provide national annual estimates. Annually, 4 243 000 ED visits resulted from SR. The largest classification of injury from SR was sprains and strains (896 000/y). Males had substantially more SR-related ED visits than females (2 929 000/y versus 1 314 000/y). For patients 10-49 years old, 1 093 000 lower extremity and 169 000 knee-specific injury visits annually were from SR. For both injury types, males had a higher rate of ED visitation; however, females had 25% and 39% greater odds of visitation for lower extremity and knee-specific injury, respectively. The burden on the health system of ED visits from SR was substantial. Males presented in the ED at a higher rate for SR injury, though females had a higher proportion of lower extremity and knee-specific injury ED visitations from SR. This longitudinal analysis of population-level data provides the information to target research on specific subpopulations to mitigate SR injury.

Performance in sports--With specific emphasis on the effect of intensified training.

Performance in most sports is determined by the athlete's technical, tactical, physiological and psychological/social characteristics. In the present article, the physical aspect will be evaluated with a focus on what limits performance, and how training can be conducted to improve performance. Specifically how intensified training, i.e., increasing the amount of aerobic high-intensity and speed endurance training, affects physiological adaptations and performance of trained subjects. Periods of speed endurance training do improve performance in events lasting 30 s-4 min, and when combined with aerobic high-intensity sessions, also performance during longer events. Athletes in team sports involving intense exercise actions and endurance aspects, such as soccer and basketball, can also benefit from intensified training. Speed endurance training does reduce energy expenditure and increase expression of muscle Na(+), K(+) pump α subunits, which may preserve muscle cell excitability and delay fatigue development during intense exercise. When various types of training are conducted in the same period (concurrent training), as done in a number of sports, one type of training may blunt the effect of other types of training. It is not, however, clear how various training modalities are affecting each other, and this issue should be addressed in future studies.

Relationships between jump and sprint performance in first-class county cricketers

Objectives: Research across a number of sports has identified a meaningful relationship between jump and sprint performance. The aim of this study was to investigate these relationships in first-class county cricketers. Design and Methods: Using a within-subjects repeated measures design, sixteen male cricketers (23.8 ± 3.7 years; body mass, 85.40 ± 9.37 kg; height, 185.34 ± 6.90 cm) performed countermovement jumps (CMJ), depth drop jumps (DDJ), and 20m sprints on three separate occasions. Results: Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) demonstrated a high within- (ICC ≥0.936; p≤0.001) and between- (ICC ≥0.807; p≤0.001) session reliability for all tests. Low smallest detectable differences (SDD), between-sessions, were observed for CMJ height (5.26%) and sprint times (2.72-5.80%). CMJ height demonstrated the strongest correlation with 20m sprint time (r = - 0.741, p = 0.006, power = 0.99), whereas DDJ reactive strength index demonstrated a moderate, although non-significant relationship with 20m sprint time (r = - 0.495, p>0.05, power = 0.70). Conclusion: The results demonstrate that athletes with a higher CMJ performance demonstrate quicker 20m sprint time. These findings also imply that the acceleration phase of a sprint may involve the slow stretch shortening cycle (SSC) to a greater extent than the fast SSC. Strength and conditioning coaches should, therefore, focus on enhancing these attributes through the development of maximal strength and enhancement of SSC ability through the use of appropriate plyometric tasks. Additionally, when identifying performance changes in CMJ height and 5, 10 and 20 m sprint times, changes of >5.26%, 5.80%, 2.98%, and 2.72%, respectively, signify a meaningful change.

Sports participation of children with or without developmental delay: prediction from child and family factors.

Sports participation is beneficial to health and socioemotional adjustment in youth across development. While there is some evidence indicating lower sports participation for children with developmental delays (DD) as compared with their typically developing (TD) peers, little is known as to the predictors of this differential participation. Given the increased risk of physical and mental health difficulties for children with DD, understanding more about this disparity is important. We examined sports participation in elementary school-aged children with or without DD and examined child and family predictors of three indices of sports participation: number of sports and highest relational sport at ages 6 and 8, and consistent sports from 6 to 8. Children with TD were significantly higher on all three indicators. Mother and child factors related significantly to sports participation indices. The number of sports related positively to mother education and positive perceptions and negatively to mother employment. Relational sports were higher in boys, children with higher social skills, and lower behavior problems. In regression analyses at child age 8 that included these other variables, delay status (DD or TD) did not have a significant effect. Perspectives on varying influences on sports participation and implications for intervention are discussed.

Is There a Potential Relationship Between Prior Hamstring Strain Injury and Increased Risk for Future Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury?

Hamstring strain injuries (HSIs) are the most prevalent injury in a number of sports, and while anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are less common, they are far more severe and have long-term implications, such as an increased risk of developing osteoarthritis later in life. Given the high incidence and severity of these injuries, they are key targets of injury preventive programs in elite sport. Evidence has shown that a previous severe knee injury (including ACL injury) increases the risk of HSI; however, whether the functional deficits that occur after HSI result in an increased risk of ACL injury has yet to be considered. In this clinical commentary, we present evidence that suggests that the link between previous HSI and increased risk of ACL injury requires further investigation by drawing parallels between deficits in hamstring function after HSI and in women athletes, who are more prone to ACL injury than men athletes. Comparisons between the neuromuscular function of the male and female hamstring has shown that women display lower hamstring-to-quadriceps strength ratios during isokinetic knee flexion and extension, increased activation of the quadriceps compared with the hamstrings during a stop-jump landing task, a greater time required to reach maximal isokinetic hamstring torque, and lower integrated myoelectrical hamstring activity during a sidestep cutting maneuver. Somewhat similarly, in athletes with a history of HSI, the previously injured limb, compared with the uninjured limb, displays lower eccentric knee flexor strength, a lower hamstrings-to-quadriceps strength ratio, lower voluntary myoelectrical activity during maximal knee flexor eccentric contraction, a lower knee flexor eccentric rate of torque development, and lower voluntary myoelectrical activity during the initial portion of eccentric contraction. Given that the medial and lateral hamstrings have different actions at the knee joint in the coronal plane, which hamstring head is previously injured might also be expected to influence the likelihood of future ACL. Whether the deficits in function after HSI, as seen in laboratory-based studies, translate to deficits in hamstring function during typical injurious tasks for ACL injury has yet to be determined but should be a consideration for future work.

A Novel Device Using the Nordic Hamstring Exercise to Assess Eccentric Knee Flexor Strength: A Reliability and Retrospective Injury Study

Reliability and case-control injury study. To determine if a novel device designed to measure eccentric knee flexor strength via the Nordic hamstring exercise displays acceptable test-retest reliability; to determine normative values for eccentric knee flexor strength derived from the device in individuals without a history of hamstring strain injury (HSI); and to determine if the device can detect weakness in elite athletes with a previous history of unilateral HSI. HSI and reinjury are the most common cause of lost playing time in a number of sports. Eccentric knee flexor weakness is a major modifiable risk factor for future HSI. However, at present, there is a lack of easily accessible equipment to assess eccentric knee flexor strength. Thirty recreationally active males without a history of HSI completed the Nordic hamstring exercise on the device on 2 separate occasions. Intraclass correlation coefficients, typical error, typical error as a coefficient of variation, and minimal detectable change at a 95% confidence level were calculated. Normative strength data were determined using the most reliable measurement. An additional 20 elite athletes with a unilateral history of HSI within the previous 12 months performed the Nordic hamstring exercise on the device to determine if residual eccentric muscle weakness existed in the previously injured limb. The device displayed high to moderate reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.83-0.90; typical error, 21.7-27.5 N; typical error as a coefficient of variation, 5.8%-8.5%; minimal detectable change at a 95% confidence level, 60.1-76.2 N). Mean ± SD normative eccentric flexor strength in the uninjured group was 344.7 ± 61.1 N for the left and 361.2 ± 65.1 N for the right side. The previously injured limb was 15% weaker than the contralateral uninjured limb (mean difference, 50.3 N; 95% confidence interval: 25.7, 74.9; P<.01), 15% weaker than the normative left limb (mean difference, 50.0 N; 95% confidence interval: 1.4, 98.5; P = .04), and 18% weaker than the normative right limb (mean difference, 66.5 N; 95% confidence interval: 18.0, 115.1; P<.01). The experimental device offers a reliable method to measure eccentric knee flexor strength and strength asymmetry and to detect residual weakness in previously injured elite athletes.

Evaluating Player Strategies in the Design of a Hot Hand Game

AbstractThe user’s strategy and their approach to decisionmaking are two important concerns when designing user-centric software. While decision-making and strategy are key factors in a wide range of business systems from stock market trading to medical diagnosis, in this paper we focus on the role these factors play in a serious computer game. Players may adopt individual strategies when playing a computer game. Furthermore, different approaches to playing the game may impact on the effectiveness of the core mechanics designed into the game play. In this paper we investigate player strategy in relation to two serious games designed for studying the ‘hot hand’. The ‘hot hand’ is an interesting psychological phenomenon originally studied in sports such as basketball. The study of ‘hot hand’ promises to shed further light on cognitive decision-making tasks applicable to domains beyond sport. The ‘hot hand’ suggests that players sometimes display above average performance, get on a hot streak, or develop ‘hot hands’. Although this is a widely held belief, analysis of data in a number of sports has produced mixed findings. While this lack of evidence may indicate belief in the hot hand is a cognitive fallacy, alternate views have suggested that the player’s strategy, confidence, and risk-taking may account for the difficulty of measuring the hot hand. Unfortunately, it is difficult to objectively measure and quantify the amount of risk taking in a sporting contest. Therefore to investigate this phenomenon more closely we developed novel, tailor-made computer games that allow rigorous empirical study of ‘hot hands’. The design of such games has some specific design requirements. The gameplay needs to allow players to perform a sequence of repeated challenges, where they either fail or succeed with about equal likelihood. Importantly the design also needs to allow players to choose a strategy entailing more or less risk in response to their current performance. In this paper we compare two hot hand game designs by collecting empirical data that captures player performance in terms of success and level of difficulty (as gauged by response time). We then use a variety of analytical and visualization techniques to study player strategies in these games. This allows us to detect a key design flaw the first game and validate the design of the second game for use in further studies of the hot hand phenomenon.

Performance Milestones in the Development of Expertise: Are They Critical?

Fifty-seven female netballers completed a training history profile to examine whether the achievement of performance milestones and/or accumulation of sport-specific practice were indicative of an athlete's level of expertise. Similar to previous research, results revealed that expert and developmental athletes accumulated a greater number of hours in netball-specific practice relative to the recreational participants, but did not differ in the number of sports played or hours accumulated in non-netball specific practice. Interestingly, some performance milestones were achieved by the expert and developmental athletes earlier than the recreational participants, however, the developmental athletes achieved a number of milestones at an earlier age than the experts. These findings are discussed in relation to contemporary models of skill development, namely deliberate practice (Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch-Römer, 1993) and the developmental model of sport participation (Côté, 1999) and the underpinning socio-environmental factors that may influence sport participation and subsequent development of expertise.

Hybrid markerless tracking of complex articulated motion in golf swings

Sports video tracking is a research topic that has attained increasing attention due to its high commercial potential. A number of sports, including tennis, soccer, gymnastics, running, golf, badminton and cricket have been utilised to display the novel ideas in sports motion tracking. The main challenge associated with this research concerns the extraction of a highly complex articulated motion from a video scene. Our research focuses on the development of a markerless human motion tracking system that tracks the major body parts of an athlete straight from a sports broadcast video. We proposed a hybrid tracking method, which consists of a combination of three algorithms (pyramidal Lucas-Kanade optical flow (LK), normalised correlation-based template matching and background subtraction), to track the golfer's head, body, hands, shoulders, knees and feet during a full swing. We then match, track and map the results onto a 2D articulated human stick model to represent the pose of the golfer over time. Our work was tested using two video broadcasts of a golfer, and we obtained satisfactory results. The current outcomes of this research can play an important role in enhancing the performance of a golfer, provide vital information to sports medicine practitioners by providing technically sound guidance on movements and should assist to diminish the risk of golfing injuries.

Risk factors in the development of exercise related groin pain: A systematic review

Introduction: Groin pain is a commonly diagnosed injury in a number of sports and often progresses into a chronic condition that has traditionally been difficult to manage and rehabilitate. Managing athletes and preventing initial injury is an important measure to limit the impact of any injury. In an attempt to identify those more susceptible to groin pain a number of studies have investigated the risk factors related to the development of groin pain. A number of systematic reviews have been conducted in this area, however some methodological issues and the period of time since the last review warranted an updated systematic review into the risk factors relating to the development of groin pain.

Postconcussion Syndrome: A Review of Pathophysiology and Potential Nonpharmacological Approaches to Treatment

The incidence of all-cause concussions in the United States is estimated to range from 1.6 to 3.8 million annually, with the reported number of sport- or recreation-related concussions increasing dramatically, especially in youth sports.1,2 Additionally, the use of roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan has propelled the incidence of concussion and other traumatic brain injuries to the highest levels ever encountered by the US military. As a result, there has also been a marked increase in postconcussion syndrome (PCS) and the associated cognitive, emotional, and memory disabilities associated with the condition. Unfortunately, however, there have been no significant advancements in the understanding or treatment of PCS for decades. The current management of PCS mainly consists of rest, reduction of sensory inputs, and treating symptoms as needed. Recently, researchers investigating the underlying mechanisms of PCS have proposed that activation of the immune inflammatory response may be an underlying pathophysiology that occurs in those who experience prolonged symptoms after a concussion. This article reviews the literature and summarizes the immune inflammatory response known as immunoexcitotoxicity. This article also discusses the use of nonpharmacological agents for the management of PCS that directly address this underlying mechanism.

Anthropometric outcomes associated with a primary school-based health promotion programme in the Italian city of Parma

The City Council of Parma and allied partners launched a programme based on professionally guided physical exercise and nutritional education in all primary schools of the metropolitan area, with a total of 7,000 children involved, ranging from 6 to 10 years of age. One scientific end-point of the programme was the definition of the parameter(s) most associated with increased physical activity and potential modification of eating habits. To this purpose we studied in a cohort of 2,151 9-year-old children the associations among BMI, fat mass (FM), breakfast eating and the amount of physical activity, the most relevant variables that characterize lifestyle. There was a consistent significant inverse correlation between FM and physical activity and a significant correlation between FM and breakfast skipping. When sorted by BMI, an inverse significant correlation was found between FM and physical activity in boys, except in those underweight. In girls, a significant correlation was found in those of normal weight, but not in those overweight or obese. The number of sports practised was related to FM only in overweight and obese boys. Breakfast skipping was significantly correlated with FM only in underweight girls. Taken together, our data show that FM can be used to accurately evaluate physical activity and eating habits in children, and suggest that, in preventive health programmes, the fundamental parameter to pay attention to is the amount rather than the type of physical activity.

Determining the Contribution of the Energy Systems During Exercise

One of the most important aspects of the metabolic demand is the relative contribution of the energy systems to the total energy required for a given physical activity. Although some sports are relatively easy to be reproduced in a laboratory (e.g., running and cycling), a number of sports are much more difficult to be reproduced and studied in controlled situations. This method presents how to assess the differential contribution of the energy systems in sports that are difficult to mimic in controlled laboratory conditions. The concepts shown here can be adapted to virtually any sport.The following physiologic variables will be needed: rest oxygen consumption, exercise oxygen consumption, post-exercise oxygen consumption, rest plasma lactate concentration and post-exercise plasma peak lactate. To calculate the contribution of the aerobic metabolism, you will need the oxygen consumption at rest and during the exercise. By using the trapezoidal method, calculate the area under the curve of oxygen consumption during exercise, subtracting the area corresponding to the rest oxygen consumption. To calculate the contribution of the alactic anaerobic metabolism, the post-exercise oxygen consumption curve has to be adjusted to a mono or a bi-exponential model (chosen by the one that best fits). Then, use the terms of the fitted equation to calculate anaerobic alactic metabolism, as follows: ATP-CP metabolism = A1 (mL . s-1) x t1 (s). Finally, to calculate the contribution of the lactic anaerobic system, multiply peak plasma lactate by 3 and by the athlete’s body mass (the result in mL is then converted to L and into kJ).The method can be used for both continuous and intermittent exercise. This is a very interesting approach as it can be adapted to exercises and sports that are difficult to be mimicked in controlled environments. Also, this is the only available method capable of distinguishing the contribution of three different energy systems. Thus, the method allows the study of sports with great similarity to real situations, providing desirable ecological validity to the study.

Determining the Contribution of the Energy Systems During Exercise

One of the most important aspects of the metabolic demand is the relative contribution of the energy systems to the total energy required for a given physical activity. Although some sports are relatively easy to be reproduced in a laboratory (e.g., running and cycling), a number of sports are much more difficult to be reproduced and studied in controlled situations. This method presents how to assess the differential contribution of the energy systems in sports that are difficult to mimic in controlled laboratory conditions. The concepts shown here can be adapted to virtually any sport. The following physiologic variables will be needed: rest oxygen consumption, exercise oxygen consumption, post-exercise oxygen consumption, rest plasma lactate concentration and post-exercise plasma peak lactate. To calculate the contribution of the aerobic metabolism, you will need the oxygen consumption at rest and during the exercise. By using the trapezoidal method, calculate the area under the curve of oxygen consumption during exercise, subtracting the area corresponding to the rest oxygen consumption. To calculate the contribution of the alactic anaerobic metabolism, the post-exercise oxygen consumption curve has to be adjusted to a mono or a bi-exponential model (chosen by the one that best fits). Then, use the terms of the fitted equation to calculate anaerobic alactic metabolism, as follows: ATP-CP metabolism = A1 (mL . s-1) x t1 (s). Finally, to calculate the contribution of the lactic anaerobic system, multiply peak plasma lactate by 3 and by the athlete’s body mass (the result in mL is then converted to L and into kJ). The method can be used for both continuous and intermittent exercise. This is a very interesting approach as it can be adapted to exercises and sports that are difficult to be mimicked in controlled environments. Also, this is the only available method capable of distinguishing the contribution of three different energy systems. Thus, the method allows the study of sports with great similarity to real situations, providing desirable ecological validity to the study.

The Influence of Crowd Noise upon Judging Decisions in Muay Thai

Background: Home advantage has been demonstrated across a number of sports, yet questions still remain over the causes of the phenomenon. Crowd effects on sport officials have been one mechanism proposed in the literature. This study attempted to investigate the impact of crowd noise on home advantage by examining the influence of crowd noise on the judgement decisions of Muay Thai officials. Method: Using a repeated measures design, 10 experienced Muay Thai judges observed a video of a Muay Thai contest in two different conditions: one with and one without crowd noise. Judges recorded the number of strikes each competitor made using mechanical counters with a comparison made between conditions. Results: Judges awarded 1.23 more strikes on average in the presence of crowd noise when compared to the no crowd noise condition. Crowd noise influenced some judges greatly but other far less. The results from a within subject ANOVA analysis suggested the differences between noise conditions were statistically significant (F(1,39) = 4.513, P = . 04, η2 = . 104) as was the home advantage effect (F(1,39) = 4.087, P = .05, η2 = . 095). Conclusion: Crowd noise increased the scores of Muay Thai judges resulting in an advantage to the home competitor. Possible reasons for the findings include informational conformity, the use of a noise heuristic, cue learning or perceptual errors. Avenues for future research are offered.