Asian Journal of Sports Medicine
Volume:14 Issue: 3, Sep 2023

The training environment for handball, particularly for young athletes, was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 and 2020.

This study aimed to investigate the training sessions, injury incidence, and injury prevention program participation of youth handball teams during the COVID-19 pandemic and assess the barriers and factors influencing the motivation to perform such programs.

This retrospective questionnaire-based cohort study included participants in the national handball championship in Japan in March 2021. The respondents included 48 coaches and 745 players from 66 teams. The coaches were asked questions about changes in the training time and intensity during the pandemic. The players were asked questions about barriers and motivational factors for performing the prevention exercises.

We found that 66.7% of the teams reduced their training time during the pandemic, while 45.8% reduced their training intensity. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, 91.7% of all teams experienced game cancellations, and player contact decreased in 33.3% of the teams. The main reason for not performing these exercises was a lack of knowledge on how to perform them correctly, as reported by 52.1% of the respondents. The main motivational factors were handball movement-related exercises (51.7%) and improved physical fitness (32.7%).

The COVID-19 pandemic influenced the training sessions of Japanese youth handball teams in many ways. Education on correctly performing injury prevention program exercises is a key factor in maximizing the adoption of such programs. In addition, injury prevention exercises must be handball-specific to ensure that players are motivated to keep performing such exercises.

Fatigue is one of the risk factors for injuy in sports. As a consequence of this phenomenon, the pain threshold is reduced in the soles of the feet, leading to the improper distribution and loading of forces, which can alter the mountaineers’ walking patterns and the skeletal structure of their feet, ultimately resulting in soft tissue damage, pain, falls, and even death.

The present study aims to investigate the effect of fatigue on the pain threshold of the soles of the feet.

In this semi-experimental study, 35 mountaineers (age range = 20 - 35 years) were selected by non-random sampling method. In this research, a test was taken before and after an eight-kilometer mountaineering session at a moderate pace, and an algometer device was used to evaluate foot pain and pain threshold. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used for statistical analysis of the normality of the data distribution, and the paired sample t-test was used for data evaluation and comparison. All statistical operations were carried out using SPSS software version 24, and the significance level of the tests was considered 0.05.

According to the results, fatigue reduces the pain threshold in the soles of the feet, with the greatest effect being observed in the central region of the heel and the second toe.

The present research showed that fatigue could increase risk factors in mountaineers, hinder optimal performance, reduce the pain threshold in the soles of the feet, and increase pain sensitivity, which can affect the way of mountaineering and the pressure distribution in the soles, leading to increased risk of injuries, strains, sprains, and falls of mountaineers.

 Electromagnetic radiation has different effects on body organs, including gonads and fertility. Information about the harmful impacts of Wi-Fi radiation on the oxidant-antioxidant system of ovarian tissue is limited.

 Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the influence of eight weeks of aerobic exercise along with garlic supplements on the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and sex hormones in the ovarian tissue of rats under Wi-Fi electromagnetic radiation.

 This experimental study was performed on 40 Sprague Dawley female rats aged about 8 weeks. The animals were randomly divided into 5 groups: control, Wi-Fi radiation, aerobic exercise + Wi-Fi radiation, garlic supplement + Wi-Fi radiation, and aerobic exercise + garlic supplement + Wi-Fi radiation. Wi-Fi radiation was induced 1 h/day at a frequency of 2.45 GHz from a Wi-Fi modem. Endurance exercise was performed as three 60-minute sessions per week for 8 weeks with 50%-60% maximum running speed. Garlic supplement was given to rats for 8 weeks in drinking water at the dose of 800 mg/kg daily.

 The results of this study showed that Wi-Fi radiation led to a decrease in the SOD and GPx levels, as well as an increase in the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and MDA levels in rats (P ≤ 0.05). Moreover, garlic supplements diminished the FSH and MDA concentrations, as well as elevated the SOD levels in rats under Wi-Fi radiation. It was observed that aerobic exercise caused a decline in the FSH and MDA levels and a rise in the luteinizing hormone and SOD of the rats under Wi-Fi radiation. Furthermore, aerobic exercise along with garlic supplements reduced the FSH levels and augmented the SOD and GPx concentrations in rats under Wi-Fi radiation (P ≥ 0.05).

 According to the findings of the present study, aerobic exercise and garlic supplements both have lowering effects on oxidative stress and synergistically increase antioxidants. In addition, aerobic exercise and garlic supplements alone improve the sex hormones of rats exposed to Wi-Fi radiation.

Anxiety is a psychological state of mind that affects skillful performance negatively or positively according to the type of anxiety and the way it is interpreted by the player, especially in individual games, such as badminton. On the other hand, the kinematic variables can better determine if players’ skill performance is successful.

This study aimed to determine the effect of anxiety (if any) (including anxiety types trait and state) on overhead clear skill performance regarding some kinematic variables for badminton players.

The study sample consisted of 61 beginner badminton players (with mean scores of age: 14.3 ± 1.2 years, mass: 51.20 ± 1.31 kg, height: 1.66 ± 0.10 m, training period: 3.9 ± 1.3 years), distributed to 3 groups based on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form Y questionnaire. The equivalence of these groups was calculated based on pre-test results, which were no anxiety, trait anxiety, and state anxiety.

The results showed that trait and state anxiety had negative effects on badminton players’ performance of overhead defensive clear shot skill in terms of some kinematic variables. The results also showed that the effect of trait anxiety was more negative than the effect of state anxiety.

The researchers recommend having knowledge of the level, type, and extent of anxiety, including relevant effects on the performance of beginner badminton players in all physiological, motor, and biomechanical aspects, to develop psychological rehabilitation programs that deal with anxiety according to the type, which the player can overcome.

The COVID-19 pandemic shocked the globe unexpectedly, and the elite player community was no exception. The only weapon world had to defeat it was health protocols besides vaccines. However, were these protocols effective among professional soccer players? Are they useful for a further possible pandemic?

This study assessed how adhering to health protocol affects the player’s COVID-19 serology tests (IgG and IgM), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results, and symptoms.

This study was performed on 321 professional football players from Iran Premier League during pre-season examinations. Players adhering to health protocols and COVID-19 symptoms were assessed through a questionnaire in the last 14 days and 6 months. Participants’ PCRtestsandanti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (IgGandIgM) were recorded. AP-value of less than 0.05wasregarded as significant.

Logistic regression results showed that PCR tests are 6.60 times more likely to be positive for players who often wore masks outside the camp than those who have always worn masks. On the other hand, for those who always wore a mask inside team camp, the chance of a positive IgG test was 0.17 compared to players who had never done that in the last 14 days.

Our findings suggest that in a pandemic, like COVID-19, despite negative PCR serology or having any symptoms, encouraging our professional athletes to wear masks and physical distancing of 6 feet outside the camp and at least doing these health protocols inside the team camp between training might be helpful. Other health protocols like hand hygiene might be recommended to elite football players like ordinary people. However, there is no need for extra emphasis, especially inside the team camp.

Studies assessing post-activation potentiation (PAP) responses comparing male and female athletes are conflicting.

This study investigated whether differences exist in the duration for optimal post-preload stimulus measures on performance in male and female team sport athletes.

Twenty-four participants (12 males and 12 females) participated in the study. Two familiarization sessions were conducted with each participant. Then, three experimental conditions were implemented, incorporating a standardized warm-up, followed by back squats (conditioning exercises) and varying passive recovery times of 4 min (PAP4), 8 min (PAP8), or 12 min (PAP12). Following the recovery, players performed three physical performance measures related to team sports: A countermovement jump, a modified agility t-test, and a 20-m linear sprint. The significance level was set at P < 0.05.

All performance measures were significantly greater in PAP12 than in PAP4 and PAP8 conditions in both males (1.50 to 2.95%) and females (1.09 to 5.79%) (P < 0.05). The PAP12 condition also had significantly lower values for HR (3.18 to 5.15 beats.min-1; P < 0.0005) and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) (0.63 to 1.02; P < 0.05) than PAP8 and PAP4. Males performed better on all the performance tests (19.33 to 26.34%) compared to their female counterparts (P < 0.0005).

A pre-load stimulus consisting of one set of 5 repetitions of back squat at 85% one-repetition maximum can elicit a PAP response. A 12-min passive rest after the pre-load stimulus was most beneficial in improving physical performance measures in both male and female team-sport athletes.