Due to the physically intense nature of the activity, drummers (i.e., percussionists who play the drum set) are exposed to a variety of factors, including hand-arm vibration (HAV), that put them at ...increased risk of developing playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs). The purpose of this study was to examine HAV exposure in drummers through realistic playing scenarios. Specifically, this study examined vibrations (i.e., frequency-weighted RMS accelerations) recorded at the hands. Six male drummers played three songs of their choosing with one accelerometer placed on the right hand, then repeated the same three songs with the accelerometer placed on the left hand (average playing time of 11.9 minutes per set). Extrapolated A(8) values A(8)e were calculated based on the participants’ self-reported typical daily playing time and were compared to the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) action limit (AL: 2.5 m/s2) and threshold limit value (TLV: 5.0 m/s2) for HAV exposure. Drummers experienced an average A(8)e of 5.7 m/s2 in the left hand and 6.7 m/s2 in the right hand, which exceeded the ACGIH AL (2.5 m/s2) and TLV (5.0 m/s2) values. Three of the six participants registered A(8) values that exceeded the AL and TLV within the data collection session alone (i.e., without extrapolating based on typical daily playing time). The results demonstrated that drummers are exposed to 8-hour equivalent HAV magnitudes that are similar to those recorded during industrial and athletic tasks. Further HAV exposure analyses with larger sample sizes and incorporating more realistic playing scenarios (i.e., live concert performances) across multiple musical genres and varying drummer skill levels are warranted.
Introduction: During the development of endurance athletes, it is important to be able to achieve consistent progression of abilities while simultaneously avoiding overtraining. While generic models ...of training fit many athletes, they also cause other athletes to overexert themselves or prevent them from maximizing adaptations to training. Current methods of estimating the intensity of workouts for individuals involve access to an exercise performance lab, relatively expensive equipment, and performing in lab conditions. Many endurance athletes do not have a practical way of performing these tests and others do not desire to be regularly tested in a lab. Alternative methods to determine training intensity outside of a lab setting are scarce. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a practical way for endurance runners to determine the training intensity that they should be training at to allow for consistent physiological adaptation without causing the onset of overtraining syndrome. More specifically, this thesis sought to determine whether the minimum exercise intensity required to promote physiological adaptation could be found and whether this minimum intensity could be found at different altitudes. Methods: The minimum intensity of each participant was found by performing pre-and post-testing of stimulus workouts to determine if a 15-second or greater per mile faster running pace was achieved from the beginning of the study. The pre-and post-testing consisted of four days of 50-minute runs at a heart rate average of 150 bpm. The average running pace of the first four easy running days was compared to the average running pace of the third and fourth easy days after each stimulus run. Each stimulus run was 50 minutes in length and consisted of the first 25 minutes being run in a similar way to every easy run, which meant that the participants often had a heart rate average under 150 bpm for this section. The second 25 minutes of the first stimulus run was performed at a heart rate intensity of 160 bpm and if no adaptation to that stimulus run was observed, then the intensity of the last 25 minutes was increased by 5 bpm. This pattern was repeated until a physiological adaptation was observed or until the participant could no longer perform the study. Results: The researcher found the minimum intensity heart rate for seven of the nine participants (171 bpm, 175 bpm, 170bpm, 175 bpm, 164 bpm, 161 bpm, and 160 bpm for participants 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 respectively). For these seven participants, an increase in the easy day running pace after the physiological adaptation ranged from 2.73% faster to 6.24% faster than the pre-test easy day running pace. The average number of stimulus runs to cause physiological adaptation was 2.57 with a range of one to four stimulus runs. The minimum intensity heart rate for participants 4 and 9 could not be determined. Conclusion: From the findings of this study, it is possible to determine the minimum intensity to promote overload over the course of a short-term endurance program. Further, it is possible to find this minimum intensity for most athletes and there may be greater potential to find the minimum intensity of more athletes if the protocol is modified to include participants that may adapt to heart rate intensities lower than 160 bpm. The minimum intensity to promote overload could be found at different altitudes, however, the researcher suggests that a larger sample size of case studies would be more effective in supporting these findings.
Monitoring intracranial pressure (ICP) has become an important practice in patients with elevated ICP (e.g., traumatic brain injury) to improve patient outcome. However, little information exists ...surrounding chronic, but sub-clinical elevations in ICP, which may stem from classic cardiovascular risk factors, such as elevated blood pressure (BP). The current methods to assess ICP are invasive and costly; but optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) and blood flow pulsatility (pulsatility index; PI) are promising non-invasive techniques, both of which have been reported to strongly correlate with invasive measures of ICP in pathology. However, the interactions of BP, ONSD and PI in otherwise healthy adults, remains undetermined. Accordingly, the purpose of this investigation was to determine the relationship between ONSD, PI and BP, and to highlight possible sex differences in a population of young healthy adults. Sixteen participants (6 females) underwent assessment of arterial BP, ONSD (left and right eyes) and PI (left common carotid artery) using ultrasound. There was a strong correlation between mean ONSD (left and right eye combined) and PI (R=0.735, p=0.001). There was no significant relationship between PI and BP (R=0.058, p=0.832) or ONSD and BP (R=0.272, p=0.309). Additionally, there was a significant difference between males and females for mean ONSD, whereby males demonstrated a larger diameter (males=0.4860.110 vs. females=0.3530.062cm; p=0.018), but there was no significant difference in PI between males and females (males=2.3630.613 vs. females=1.9500.196; p=0.136). Results of this study confirm the relationship between ONSD and PI in a healthy population. While ICP was not directly assessed in the current study, the strong associations between ONSD and PI suggest that their combined assessment may be employed as a tenable surrogate to non-invasively measure ICP when the invasive measure of ICP is unfeasible.
This study examined the effect of repetitions per set as a function of changing load (percentage of one-repetition maximum) on the accuracy of intraset repetitions in reserve (RIR) predictions in the ...back squat and bench press. Twelve resistance trained men completed three multi-set back squat and bench press training sessions that differed in the number of target repetitions (session 1: 10 repetitions; session 2: 8 repetitions; session 3: 6 repetitions). The last set of each session was performed until muscular failure in which subjects verbally indicated when they perceived 4 RIR and 1 RIR. For each RIR prediction, RIRDIFF perceived RIR - actual RIR was calculated. Differences in RIRDIFF were analyzed using both raw RIRDIFF (including positive and negative values) and absolute RIRDIFF (absolute values) via MANOVA and factorial ANOVA. The model controlled for the covariates session-type, percentage of 1RM, and total repetitions per set. Overall, RIR accuracy at the predicted 1 RIR was significantly greater (i.e., lower absolute RIRDIFF) than at the predicted 4 RIR in both the bench press (4 RIR: 1.00 ± 0.18 vs. 1 RIR: 0.69 ± 0.12; p = 0.028) and the squat (4 RIR: 1.43 ± 0.31 vs. 1 RIR: 0.79 ± 0.26; p = 0.007). No covariates significantly affected RIR accuracy (p = 0.085 – 0.518) at the predicted 1 RIR. However, at the predicted 4 RIR, the covariate repetitions per set affected raw RIRDIFF in both the squat (p = 0.007) and bench press (p < 0.001), indicating that subjects tended to overpredict RIR in lower repetition sets and underpredict RIR in higher repetition sets.These results indicate that trained men can predict RIR close to failure within <1 repetition of error and under various conditions. Further, trained men may overpredict RIR in lower repetition sets and underpredict RIR in higher repetition sets when training further from failure.
The purpose of this study was to examine the influential factors involved in Division III college football recruiting. Furthermore, both Division III college football players and coaches rated a ...variety of factors to determine if any discrepancies exist between what players and coaches rate as influential during the college-selection process. Statement of ProblemThere is a considerable amount of research for college football recruiting and general college sports recruiting. However, most of the data in the current literature consists of studies that examined recruiting and the different choice factors from the perspectives of student-athletes choosing among Division I institutions. None of these studies include the perspectives of college coaches and what they determine to be influential factors for players during recruiting. Sources of DataAn anonymous 6-point Likert Scale survey was created using a list of 27 pre-determined choice factors and then distributed via email to 246 Division III college football head coaches across the United States. In the emails, coaches were asked to participate in the study by sharing the attached survey with all members of their current football staff and player roster. For data analysis, a Mann-Whitney U test was done using SPSS software to compare the responses of the two groups. Conclusion ReachedThe players’ and coaches’ ratings of eight of the 27 choice factors were significantly different. Furthermore, the players appeared to place more value in academic-related factors whereas the coaches seemed to value athletic-related ones. This may indicate that a disconnect exists between what NCAA Division III college football players and coaches find important in the college-selection process.
Background: Health related quality of life (HRQOL), a measure of perceived quality of health is significantly related to current and future health. Handgrip strength (HGS) asymmetry is an aspect of ...muscle function that can be measured using handheld dynamometry. While several studies have examined relationships between HGS asymmetry and HRQOL, few have used nationally-representative data, and none have used Canadian data. The aim of this study, therefore, was to examine the association between HGS asymmetry and HRQOL in a nationally-representative sample of Canadian adults.Methods: A secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from cycles 5 and 6 (2016–17 and 2018–19) of the Canadian Health Measure Surveys (CHMS) dataset was performed for adults (aged 18–79 years). HGS asymmetry was calculated as the ratio between the maximum HGS scores for the strongest and weakest hands. HRQOL was measured using the Health Utility Index. Crude and covariate-adjusted logistic regression models were used to quantify the relationships between HGS asymmetry and HRQOL.Results: This study showed that HGS asymmetry was significantly associated with poor HRQOL in Canadian adults. Relative to individuals without asymmetry, adults with ≥21% asymmetry had 1.80 (95%CI: 1.26–2.56) greater odds for poor overall HRQOL after adjustment for covariates. In addition, adults with ≥21% HGS asymmetry had 3.29 (95%CI: 1.37–7.91) greater odds for poor mobility.Conclusions: These findings may be important for clinical screening and population health surveillance. We recommend that HGS asymmetry be included as a standard part of clinical practice and continue to be used in national health surveillance systems.Keywords: Hand grip strength, Grip strength, Hand grip asymmetry, Health related quality of life (HRQOL), Quality of life (QOL), Well-being, Health Utility Index (HUI), Canadian, Canada
Objective: This study aimed at understanding parent’s perceptions about co-participation of physical activity with their preschooler and compared these perceptions between White and Black, ...Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) parents. Methods: A sample of 30 parents of preschool-aged children (2-to-5-years-old) were interviewed on their current physical activity interactions with their child and what future activities they would want to do. Results: The sample included both BIPOC (n=16) and White (n=14) parents. All parents were mothers with the majority of them being married and over half met physical activity recommendations. Parents mentioned it was important to be active with their child, especially given the amount of technology present in today’s society. Physical activity co-participation allowed bonding time, educational moments, and healthier lifestyles. Common barriers for physical activity co-participation were time, compromising for a preschoolers age and mood, resources and availability of space, weather, and health. Common facilitators mentioned were social interactions, planned physical activity events, weather, and availability of space to be active. An important and unique theme discussed by the parents was the social aspect that physical activity co-participation provided. These social aspects mentioned included: others being involved in physical activity with them, meaningful interactions between people during physical activity, and the impact on others from co-participation. Lastly, racial differences were found between the groups when examining physical activity co-participation among parents and children. Parent perceptions differed in thoughts on sedentary lifestyles in today’s society, modeling physical activity, and using physical activity as a way to help expend their child’s excess energy. White parents mentioned more concern about today’s society being more sedentary compared to BIPOC parents, whereas BIPOC parents mentioned more that modeling physical activity as important and using physical activity as a way to improve health and expend energy for their child. As for barriers, White mothers noted that distractions due to screen time was an important barrier whereas BIPOC mothers mentioned inadequate resources for physical activity and health concerns. Facilitators for physical activity co-participation only had one difference noted and that was due to availability of space for physical activity, where Whites mentioned having more space to be active and BIPOCs mentioning they would want more space to be active with their child. Lastly, regarding social aspects, White parents highlighted physical activity co-participation resulted in more educational moments, but BIPOC mothers highlighted the importance co-participation has for motivating others to be active and the need for setting goals to support future physical activity. Discussion: These findings can be used to create future interventions that meet the needs of parents and preschool-aged children when promoting physical activity co-participation. Because there were differences in perceptions between Whites and BIPOCs, certain areas should be considered over others when developing a parent-based physical activity intervention for specific races.
Many youth athletes and their parents focus specifically on baseball with the belief that it will aid with obtaining a college scholarship and maybe even reach the professional level. However, ...evidence shows that this can increase injury risk and injury in these young developing skeletons. The literature also suggests that educating parents could reduce these injuries. Using a web-based survey and educational video, this study aimed at educating parents on injury risk and prevention guidelines. A total of 32 parents completed the pre-survey, answering questions about their familiarity with potential youth injuries, current practices, and familiarity and knowledge of the Pitch Smart guidelines. Parents were then asked to watch an educational video covering potential injuries and Pitch Smart guidelines. Once viewed, parents (n=8) completed the post-survey, which asked the same knowledge questions. To increase participants, college athletes were invited to participate as well; 13 started the pre-survey but only 4 completed the post-survey. Parents increased significantly on their overall knowledge score (pre-survey: 11.6 ± 2.77, post-survey: 16.0 ± 1.60, t(7) = -5.79, p<.001) as well as injury familiarity after the educational video, while there was little improvement in the college athletes. Responses on the post-survey evaluation were positive but suggested the video was too long and could have benefited from format changes. Further research with larger samples is needed to develop effective educational programs and delivery methods.
Literature around the topic of sedentary behavior has vastly increased since 2011 as the association of this behavior and its negative effects on health are now widely known. Due to the nature of ...their work, sedentary office employees are at risk of being exposed to occupational hazards such as prolonged sitting and low back pain (LBP); consequently, their risk for cardiovascular disease, work-related musculoskeletal disorders, and ultimately pre-mature mortality increases significantly as a result of their sedentary activity. Currently, there is very little research available that discusses how physical inactivity affects LBP in sedentary office employees. Hence, the purpose of this study is to: (1) determine the prevalence of LBP pain among sedentary office employees, (2) identify the number of sedentary employees who meet the current physical activity guidelines outlined by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and mirroring Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, and (3) to determine the prevalence of LBP when engaging in different exercise types and volumes among the surveyed population. One hundred sixty-four participants completed the 36-question survey. Survey questions assessed past injuries, working history, chair type, exercise history and training frequency, sedentary habits, and pain prevalence and management. Based on the surveyed population, it was determined that 73.7% of participants experience some level of LBP when seated at work; only 8% are considered active in terms of exercise engagement and frequency, and less than 2% of the population is highly active. The majority of sedentary office employees that reported LBP are either inactive or are insufficiently active, and do not meet the physical activity guidelines.
The experiment investigated the role of anticipatory muscle activation in catching errors occurring under load uncertainty. Participants performed a ball catching task using visually identical balls ...of four weights (1=lightest, 4=heaviest) without knowing the weight of the ball on each trial. Anticipatory muscle activation was the EMG integral for the 90 ms interval between 100 ms prior to ball-hand contact and 10 ms prior to ball-hand contact. The mean and the mean coefficient of variation (CV) of anticipatory muscle activation in five muscles was compared between successful catches and catching errors for balls 1 and 4. Regarding ball 1, there were no significant differences between catching errors and successful catches. As for ball 4, the mean anticipatory muscle activation in the anterior deltoid and wrist flexor groups for both men and women were significantly smaller in catching errors than successful catches. For men as well as the men and women combined grouping, the all muscle mean anticipatory muscle activation was also significantly smaller in catching errors than successful catches. Findings support the hypothesis that errors made when attempting to catch a heavy ball under load uncertainty result from insufficient limb stiffness at ball-hand contact resulting from inadequate anticipatory muscle activation.
