Asian Journal of Sports Medicine
Volume:13 Issue: 1, Mar 2022

Despite it being purported that acute, prolonged maximal periods of exercise may impair visual performance, little/no research on this topic is forthcoming. In fact, research has demonstrated that sub-maximal and maximal acute exercise may actually improve cognitive and sensory tasks and thus possibly improve visual performance.

This study aimed to ascertain the influence of an acute, prolonged maximal bout of exercise on visual performance.

A quantitative study was undertaken with 60 untrained males being divided into a control group (CON; n = 30) or treatment group (TRE; n = 30). Both groups completed a baseline vision test battery consisting of accommodation facility, saccadic eye movement, speed of recognition, peripheral awareness, visual memory, and hand-eye coordination using the following tests; Hart Near Far Rock, saccadic eye movement, evasion, accumulator, flash memory and Ball Wall Toss tests. Two weeks later, participants returned for follow-up testing using the same vision test battery, with the TRE participants first engaging in a standardized incremental maximal treadmill protocol immediately prior to their vision testing.

Following the incremental maximal treadmill protocol, statistical analyses indicated that statistically significant (P≤0.05) differences existed for accommodation facility, saccadic eye movements, speed of recognition, hand-eye coordination, peripheral awareness, and visual memory between pre-test and after the aerobic treatment (P = 0.00 for all measures).

This study indicates that an acute, prolonged maximal bout of running improves visual performance. As such, an appropriate prolonged maximal warm-up may be required as opposed to a standardized and general warm-up when preparing an athlete for visual skills training or for participation in an athletic event that requires optimal visual performance.

This study aimed to develop the decisional balance scale for dietary behavior appropriate for college athletes and to examine the scale for reliability and validity.

The cross-sectional study was performed using a self-report questionnaire for college athletes who belong to the sports club of a university located in Ibaraki, Japan, from October to December 2014. The final sample comprised 982 college athletes (704 males and 278 females) aged 18 to 22 years. Following item selection by exploratory factor analysis, the scale’s reliability and validity were examined by internal consistency, confirmatory factor analysis, and association of stage of change with the scale score. Furthermore, a retest for 378 athletes was conducted after about a 3-week interval.

Nine items (4 troublesome items, 3 repressed items, 2 compulsory items) classified for three types of burden factors were obtained through factor analysis. There were significant differences according to the stage of change in the troublesome and repressed factors (P < 0.05), consistent with the transtheoretical model. As a result of confirmatory factor analysis with two factors, excluding the compulsory factor, we obtained higher goodness of fit (GFI = 0.99, AGFI = 0.97, CFI = 0.97, RMSEA = 0.06). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and the intra-class correlation in each factor were as follows: troublesome = 0.73/0.66, repressed = 0.69/0.61. In addition, we observed moderate consistency for the retesting stage of change (kappa coefficient = 0.50).

The present study suggested sufficient reliability and validity, which were confirmed in the burden scale for dietary behavior appropriate for college athletes.

Obesity and overweight are among serious global epidemics that significantly threaten human health, especially among women.

This study aimed to assess the concurrent effects of 6-week caffeine supplementation with moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on weight and body fat among overweight women.

Thirty overweight females (age: 36.47 ± 6.48 years; BMI: 27.61 ± 1.54 kg/m2 ; mean ± SD) with a sedentary lifestyle were recruited to the study. The participants were randomly allocated to the experimental group, EC (exercise + caffeine) group, who took 100 milligrams of caffeine of the “API” brand supplement 30 minutes before exercise training (n = 15) or control group, EP (exercise + placebo) (n = 15). All participants performed moderate-intensity aerobic exercise with an intensity of 40 to 60% of heart rate reserve based on the individual’s exercise test for 30 minutes, three days a week for six weeks. Measurements, including the percentage of body fat, waist circumference, and skinfold (suprailiac, abdominal), were done two times, at baseline and after six weeks of exercising.

There were no significant differences between control and experimental groups related to weight (P = 0.22), percentage body fat (P = 0.88), and other measurements after six weeks.

6 weeks of caffeine supplementation combined with moderate-intensity aerobic exercise without dietary interventions couldn’t make a significant reduction in weight and central or total body fat among overweight women.

The aim of the study is to compare the results of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL-R) in people aged more than 50 and under 30 years of age.

A total of 64 patients with ACL rupture were evaluated for eligibility. Thirty-two patients with ACL rupture, aged more than 50 years (54.38 ± 1.26) were matched in all of the background factors, with 32 patients suffering from ACL rupture under 30 years old. They were followed for clinical and functional results at six and on average 45.58 months after surgery. These evaluations included the Lachman test, KT-1000, International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score, Lysholm knee score (LKS), return to exercise activity, post-operative satisfaction rate, and pain intensity based on Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and rates of extension and flexion loss.

Our findings indicated that knee stability, return to exercise activity, LKS and IKDC scores, as well as pain intensity and satisfaction were significantly improved in both groups. Indeed, the satisfaction rate of patients over 50 years at six months after surgery was less than those under 30 years (P < 0.001); however, it was approximately similar to the group under 30 years of age in the final follow-up (P > 0.05). The rate of return to sports activity was also lower in patients over 50 years.

The comparable results at the patients with < 30 years demonstrated that arthroscopic ACL-R in patients over 50 years of age with no or mild DJD has good results.

Injury and illness surveillance in sports is the first step of the injury prevention model that generates effective injury prevention measures.

To identify the incidence, severity, and causes of injuries and illness in the Thailand national team during the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

All medical encounters were documented using the International Olympic Committee (IOC) injury and illness surveillance system for multi-sport events. We recorded the daily occurrence of injuries and illnesses reported by Thailand’s medical teams over the 12 days of the competition period.

Among 980 Thai athletes (568 male and 412 female), that participated in the 30th SEA Games, a total of 105 injuries and illnesses were reported. There were 84 injuries and 21 illnesses which equated to an incidence of 86 injuries and 21 illnesses per 1000 athletes. The most commonly injured body part was the lower leg (14% of all injuries), followed by the shoulder and clavicle. Ligament sprain or rupture and contusion (25% of all injuries) were reported as the most common type of injury. Of all injuries, 56 were classified as needing medical attention (only), 26 caused performance restriction, and two caused complete-time loss. The most common athlete illness was respiratory illness (48% of all illnesses) followed by gastrointestinal illness (19% of all illnesses). One-third (7 out of 21) of athlete illnesses restricted the athlete’s performance, and the remaining 14 only required medical attention.

Overall, 8% of athletes incurred at least one injury during the competition, and 2% suffered from an illness. Lower leg injury and respiratory illness were the most common, which is similar to other multi-sport events. Based on the research data, injury prevention, especially of ligamentous sprain and lower limb injuries, should be the focus in multi-sport events.

Running is a cyclic movement requiring bilateral symmetry between the lower limbs to reduce injury risk. The assessment of side-to-side differences is often performed to detect functional deficits.

The purpose was to study side-to-side differences using clinical and running performance assessments in healthy runners (HR), runners with a history of lower limb injuries (RHI), and runners with a current lower limb injury (RLI).

Forty-three runners were recruited, with 14 participants being allocated to the HR group, 13 to the RHI group, and 16 to the RLI group. Peak vertical ground reaction force (GRF), midfoot pressure, foot rotation, and gait variability were recorded using a Zebris FDM-T treadmill analysis system. Participants were also assessed using the navicular drop test. Dependent t-tests were used to determine if any differences existed between the lower limbs within each group. One-way ANOVAs were then used to investigate the side-to-side differences between the three groups.

Significant differences were seen in navicular drop height between lower limbs within both the HR (P = 0.02) and RHI (P = 0.009) groups, and side-to-side differences in foot rotation were greatest in the RLI group (~ 34%) compared to both the RHI (~ 30.5%) and HR (~ 24%) groups. The lateral variability of the center of pressure was greatest in the RLI group (37.1 mm) compared to the RHI (28.9 mm) and HR (22.2 mm) groups.

Variability of butterfly center of pressure diagram may help identify runners at a greater risk of lower limb injury. Side-to-side differences should be expected to progressively decrease from the injured stage, through the recovery and return to sport phases. Target goals of less than 34% side-to-side difference for foot rotation and 37.1 mm for the lateral center of pressure variability may be used to help the decision-making process when considering a return to running practice.