Frontiers in Sports and Active Living最新文献

Introduction: This systematic review summarizes the efficacy of conservative treatment strategies on pain and function in runners with iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS), a prevalent running injury constituting about 10% of all running-related injuries. The multifactorial nature of ITBS necessitates diverse treatment approaches; yet, a consensus on an optimal conservative regimen remains unreported. This review seeks to update and expand upon existing literature with recent rehabilitative approaches.

Methods: A systematic search was conducted in Medline, Web of Science, and CINHAL databases, from inception to June 31, 2024. Inclusion criteria were: (1) reporting of conservative treatments for ITBS in adult runners and (2) pain and function defined as main outcome parameters. The methodological quality was evaluated using the NIH Quality Assessment Tool.

Results: Thirteen out of 616 records met the inclusion criteria (201 participants), including five randomized controlled trials, one case-control study, one pre-test post-test study, and six case studies. Different active and passive treatment strategies were applied as single (five studies) or combined (eight studies) treatments. The average methodological quality was deemed good. Large between-study heterogeneity was present, impeding a meta-analysis to be performed. Hip abductor strengthening (HAS) exercise emerged as a common strategy. The intervention effects on pain reduction ranged from 27% to 100%, and functional improvement from 10% to 57%, over 2 to 8 weeks.

Conclusion: A conservative treatment approach incorporating HAS exercises, possibly augmented by shockwave or manual therapy, is effective for mitigating pain and enhancing function in ITBS-afflicted runners. Finally, the potential of emerging strategies like gait retraining requires further exploration through rigorous trials and comprehensive evidence. Addressing these gaps could refine ITBS management, enhancing treatment outcomes and facilitating runners' return to sport.

Youths are in the process of figuring out answers to the question "who am I?" and young athletes are searching for athletic identity in interaction with their friends, teammates, coaches, and so on. This study explores athletes' presentations of athletic identity based on 24 interviews with ambitious young athletes attending upper secondary sport schools. Anchored in Goffman's theory of the self and the presentation of the self, as well as Markus and Nurius' concept of possible selves, the study views identity as socially constructed in interaction. Utilising this theoretical perspective alongside thematic analysis resulted in four themes that reveal characteristics that are deemed central in an athletic identity. First, the theme I am a dutiful athlete constitutes integral facets of the athletes' self-presentation as committed and diligent individuals. The interviews also bring to light variations in the athletes' attitudes and approaches towards these expectations and concepts. The remaining three themes: I must be unique, We must be unique, and I must have fun, illustrate how being a performing athlete extends beyond duties tied to training, resting, and eating. While the findings suggest the existence of certain dominant and desirable characteristics in an athletic identity, they also highlight variations in identities, emphasising negotiation and flexibility in handling the athlete role.

Introduction: We aimed to better understand longitudinal physical activity experiences among initially active adolescents and to identify and describe distinct physical activity profiles.

Methods: A sample of 23 physically active participants [52% female; mean age = 12.2 (0.6) years at study inception] were selected from the MATCH study to take part in this nested qualitative descriptive study. Participants were interviewed once a year for six years. Following individual-level analyses, profiles were identified based on similarity of longitudinal experiences.

Results: Four profiles captured participants' experiences: Independents (those who progressively seek activities that cater to their pursuit of autonomy); Multitaskers (those who participate in many different sports as an integral part of their lifestyle); Specialists (those who are dedicated to becoming the best they can be at one sport); Undecided (those who take part in physical activity to occupy time).

Discussion: The exploration of longitudinal physical activity experiences led to the identification of distinct profiles that could be targets for tailored interventions, theory development, and participation models.

By anchoring on the self-determination theory in an Ethiopian context, this study tried to establish the basic need satisfaction sport scales (BNSSS) reliability and validity. Despite the scale's usefulness in measuring athletes' psychological need fulfillment during a sporting event, no study has proven the scale's validity in a setting of Ethiopian sports. To validate the BNSSS scale, confirmatory factor analysis was used in the study. The 20 items of the BNSSS questionnaire's English translation are divided into five categories: relatedness, competence, autonomy-perceived locus of internal causality, autonomy-choice, and volition. Senior language experts translated the BNSSS questionnaire into Amharic. The Amharic version of the instrument was used to gather data from 321 athletes, 174 men, and 147 women, with a mean age of 23.34 22.59 and a standard deviation of 5.08 and mean age 5.32; a standard deviation of 2.33 year of experience in their sports from four baseball games. With a Cronbach's alpha value ranging from 0.848 to 0.882 (IPLOC to Volition respectively) across the five subscales and, the results confirm the reliability of the BNSSS for evaluating satisfaction with basic needs and motivation among Ethiopian athletes." The result demonstrated an acceptable fit with the data (CFI, = 0.958, GFI, = 0.933, RMR, = 0.76, RMSEA, = 0.39) as well as internal consistency. All of the components' Cronbach's alpha values met expectations. The instrument's Amharic translation was thus valid and reliable for determining the extent to which Ethiopian athletes' basic needs were met.

Introduction: Muscle fatigue, characterized by diminished force production and contraction sustainability, can impair muscle coordination and increase joint instability. Differing force profiles used in fatiguing tasks, such as prolonged eccentric trunk protocols, might provide insights into individualized strategies and resulting spinal stability. Thus, this study assessed individual differences in fatigue characteristics during an eccentric trunk flexion-extension protocol in a population of asymptomatic individuals.

Methods: Twelve participants (2 f/10 m, 29 ± 4 years, 78.4 ± 16.9 kg, 1.76 ± 0.10 m) performed an eccentric trunk flexion and extension protocol on an isokinetic dynamometer (45° flexion to 10° extension; 60°/s), with final analysis on 8 participants for trunk flexion and 11 for trunk extension due to data exclusions. Participants engaged in a maximal all-out (AO) task for 2 min. Each participant's torque output (Nm) was assessed on a repetition-by-repetition basis, and smoothened by a moving average of 5 repetitions. Individual time profiles for reaching fatigue thresholds (10%, 15%, 20% and 30% reduction of initial torque output), and inter subject variability (by coefficient of variation, CV in %) were assessed throughout the AO task. Further, percentage torque reduction and variability were assessed at mid (1-minute) and end (2-minute) of task.

Results: On average, for flexor and extensor muscles combined, participants reached a force reduction of 10% within 23.2 ± 19.1 s, of 15% within 44.9 ± 19.6 s, of 20% in 62.4 ± 26.3 s, and of 30% within 79.2 ± 21.8 s. The variability between individuals for the timepoint of reaching the defined torque thresholds was assessed by CV ranged between 23.4% and 103.8% for trunk flexor muscles, and between 28.4% and 56.5% for trunk extensor muscles.

Discussion: A reduction of up to 20% was seen on average for all participants within 1-minute of eccentric trunk flexion and extension. Different inter-individual force output profiles were seen throughout the AO protocol, potentially related to physiological, skill-based, technical, adaptational, and/or motivational factors. The increase in fatigue resulted in a reduction in variability among individuals. A 2-minute protocol effectively induced pronounced fatigue, offering insights into individual force profiles and strategies.

Aim: The aim of this study is to understand the development of windsports and the challenges faced by wind-based leisure activities.

Methods: The socio-historical dynamics behind the development of wind leisure are analysed on the basis of specialised tourism blogs, as well as a field study carried out in the Northeast Region of Brazil, combining ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews with 6 wind leisure enthusiasts. All the data is processed using the serious leisure perspective tools developed by Stebbins, and the body ecology tools developed by Andrieu et al.

Results: The results show that wind sports provide a dual continuum. First of all, there are the practitioners, from Neophyte to Devotee Worker. Then there is the junction between land, water and air, where wind practices ensure a dual aesthetic. On the one hand, riders are united by a community of flow, emotion and sensation mediated by their relationship with the wind and the creation of play materials (waves, lagoons, trade winds). On the other hand, the tourist development of these practices serves a political narrative based on postcard aesthetics, enabling wind concessions to be traded for the development of wind farms.

Conclusion: this original research calls for a more systematic exploration of wind practices and the hybridisation of natural elements, which seems to illustrate the crisis that modern sport and its institutions are going through today.

Background: Understanding individual ovarian hormone cycles and their relationship with health, performance and injuries is highly important to practitioners supporting female athletes. Venous blood sampling is the current gold standard for measuring the ovarian hormones, but the invasive nature of this method presents a major barrier in sport environments. Saliva analysis may offer an alternative method as it is non-invasive, allowing the sample to be collected "in situ", with relative ease, necessary in applied sport environments.

Objective: The aims of this study were: (i) To compare the concentration of progesterone between capillary blood and saliva, (ii) To assess the efficacy of weekly measurements of progesterone for determining if ovulation has occurred in elite eumenorrheic football players, and (iii) To establish a saliva criteria cut-off for establishing ovulation and assessing the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy values of the method.

Methodology: Twenty-one professional and semi-professional, Spanish league female football players (18.6 ± 1.5 years, 58.1 ± 6.0 kg, 164.0 ± 4.8 cm) with natural menstrual cycles, completed the study. Capillary blood and saliva samples were collected from each participant on twelve occasions each separated by at least 7 days. All samples were collected in the morning, following an overnight fast.

Results: According to luteal phase serum progesterone concentrations, 11 out of 21 (52%) players presented with menstrual irregularities (oligomenorrheic n = 6, anovulatory n = 4, amenorrhoeic n = 1). A significant correlation was observed between plasma and saliva progesterone in the estimated eumenorrheic group (r = 0.80, p = <0.001, 95% CI 0.72-0.86). The association between serum and saliva progesterone was weaker in the oligomenorrheic group (r = 0.47, p = <0.001, 95% CI 0.27-0.64) and was not present in the anovulatory or amenorrhoeic groups.

Conclusions: Salivary measurements of progesterone are well correlated with capillary blood when taken during eumenorrheic menstrual cycles and presents a viable, non-invasive method of establishing characteristic progesterone fluctuations in applied sport settings. The strength of the association appears to be concentration dependent. A luteal phase saliva progesterone (P4) >50 pg/ml and >1.5× follicular baseline has good sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy to indicate ovulation compared to established criteria for serum progesterone.

Introduction: This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Project SCORE intervention in fostering Positive Youth Development (PYD) within competitive youth sport settings in Portugal. Project SCORE is an online PYD-focused tool developed to assist coaches in promoting the 4Cs-competence, confidence, connection, and character-within their coaching.

Methods: The research involved 13 coaches and 70 youth athletes from football and rowing teams. Methodologically, this study analyzed the pre- and post- Project SCORE intervention data, assessing the perceptions of coaches and athletes towards the development of the 4Cs.

Results: Results indicated significant improvements in athletes' perceptions of 4Cs post-intervention, and among coaches' perceptions, there was a significant improvement in the practice and transfer of life skills. Particularly, coaches showed enhanced abilities in fostering life skills and facilitating the transfer of these skills to competitive environments, although some dimensions like sport climate did not sustain positive changes.

Discussion: The findings highlight the benefits of customized PYD-based programs in competitive youth sports and suggest the need for further research to enhance their widespread and consistent implementation.

Dating back to when the inventor of the game, James Naismith, developed a mentoring relationship with John McClendon one of the African American pioneers in basketball (founder of the "fast-break"), there are countless examples of these intersections. Entering the college basketball culture as the most decorated recruiting class in National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball history, the University of Michigan Fab Five's legacy catalyzes a new era of American basketball culture. Gracefully talented, the Fab Five abruptly disrupted the institution of basketball, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and the identity of basketball athletes globally. This paper presents a sociocultural exploration of the residual impact of the Fab Five's legacy. As authentic, confident, and culturally competent, the five young men intentionally resisted and acknowledged the intersections of race, culture, and class within the college basketball culture. We critically assess the evolution of basketball culture, grounded by the sociocultural experiences of the Fab Five, imprinting upon contemporary generations of college basketball programs and their player. Through these experiences, the Fab Five's success through conflict, during their short stint in college basketball and beyond their professional careers trailblazed a path for the modern-day basketball athlete. Known for their style of play, their expression of fashion on and off the court, and eagerness to talk smack, the Fab Five backed up their talk with performance. Their performance on and off the court, revolutionized the culture of basketball; Even more, American society. The Fab Five's legacy is the cultural catalyst for basketball culture on all levels.