Radar technology has the potential for providing new insights into maximal horizontal deceleration ability. This study aimed to investigate the intra- and inter-day reliability and sensitivity of kinematic and kinetic variables obtained from a novel, maximal horizontal deceleration test, using radar technology. Thirty-eight university sport athletes completed testing for intra-day analysis. Twelve of these participants also completed the deceleration test on a second day for inter-day analysis. The maximal horizontal deceleration test required participants to decelerate maximally following 20 m maximal horizontal sprint acceleration. Reliability was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and coefficient of variation (CV%). Sensitivity was evaluated by comparing typical error (TE) to the smallest worthwhile change (SWC). A number of kinematic and kinetic variables had good (ICC > 0.75, CV < 10%) overall intra-day reliability, and were sensitive to detect small-to-moderate changes in deceleration performance after a single familiarisation session. Only kinetic variables had good overall inter-day reliability and were sensitive to detect moderate changes in deceleration performance. The utilisation of this test protocol to assess maximal horizontal deceleration can provide new insights into individual maximal horizontal deceleration capabilities. Future work using this or similar approaches may provide insights into the neuromuscular performance qualities needed to decelerate maximally.
Wondering what life was like inside the bubble for National Women’s Soccer League players at the NWSL Challenge Cup? Sky Blue FC goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan was kind enough to grant The Equalizer an exclusive look at the day-to-day as her team made a run to the semifinals. [video, 6:26]
Auriemma, who turned 66 in March, says he’s not apprehensive about coaching during the pandemic, though he did joke, “Maybe I should be.” He said doesn’t know how anything, including the college basketball season, will look a few months from now and he isn’t optimistic that basketball will start on time.
Objectives We investigated the management of travel fatigue and jet lag in athlete populations by evaluating studies that have applied non-pharmacological interventions (exercise, sleep, light and nutrition), and pharmacological interventions (melatonin, sedatives, stimulants, melatonin analogues, glucocorticoids and antihistamines) following long-haul transmeridian travel-based, or laboratory-based circadian system phase-shifts.
Design Systematic review
Eligibility criteria
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs), and non-RCTs including experimental studies and observational studies, exploring interventions to manage travel fatigue and jet lag involving actual travel-based or laboratory-based phase-shifts. Studies included participants who were athletes, except for interventions rendering no athlete studies, then the search was expanded to include studies on healthy populations.
Data sources Electronic searches in PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Google Scholar and SPORTDiscus from inception to March 2019. We assessed included articles for risk of bias, methodological quality, level of evidence and quality of evidence.
Results Twenty-two articles were included: 8 non-RCTs and 14 RCTs. No relevant travel fatigue papers were found. For jet lag, only 12 athlete-specific studies were available (six non-RCTs, six RCTs). In total (athletes and healthy populations), 11 non-pharmacological studies (participants 600; intervention group 290; four non-RCTs, seven RCTs) and 11 pharmacological studies (participants 1202; intervention group 870; four non-RCTs, seven RCTs) were included. For non-pharmacological interventions, seven studies across interventions related to actual travel and four to simulated travel. For pharmacological interventions, eight studies were based on actual travel and three on simulated travel.
Conclusions We found no literature pertaining to the management of travel fatigue. Evidence for the successful management of jet lag in athletes was of low quality. More field-based studies specifically on athlete populations are required with a multifaceted approach, better design and implementation to draw valid conclusions.
… Some 60% of respondents in the BBC Elite British Sportswomen’s Survey said their performance had been affected by their period, and they had missed training or competitions because of it.
However, 40% said they did not feel comfortable discussing their period with coaches and a number take the contraceptive pill to control their menstrual cycle.
A Silicon Valley startup is using machine learning to create individualized fitness plans designed to reduce injury risk.
Why it matters: Musculoskeletal injuries are a major cause of lost time for both athletes and members of the military. A platform like Sparta Science that can leverage machine learning to identify weak points before an injury could result in major health care savings.
How it works: Subjects carry out three different kinds of fitness assessments on Sparta’s force plates: one involving balance, one involving the plank position and one involving a jump.
Radar technology has the potential for providing new insights into maximal horizontal deceleration ability. This study aimed to investigate the intra- and inter-day reliability and sensitivity of kinematic and kinetic variables obtained from a novel, maximal horizontal deceleration test, using radar technology. Thirty-eight university sport athletes completed testing for intra-day analysis. Twelve of these participants also completed the deceleration test on a second day for inter-day analysis. The maximal horizontal deceleration test required participants to decelerate maximally following 20 m maximal horizontal sprint acceleration. Reliability was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and coefficient of variation (CV%). Sensitivity was evaluated by comparing typical error (TE) to the smallest worthwhile change (SWC). A number of kinematic and kinetic variables had good (ICC > 0.75, CV < 10%) overall intra-day reliability, and were sensitive to detect small-to-moderate changes in deceleration performance after a single familiarisation session. Only kinetic variables had good overall inter-day reliability and were sensitive to detect moderate changes in deceleration performance. The utilisation of this test protocol to assess maximal horizontal deceleration can provide new insights into individual maximal horizontal deceleration capabilities. Future work using this or similar approaches may provide insights into the neuromuscular performance qualities needed to decelerate maximally.
The rapid development of wearable devices puts forward higher requirements for mass-produced integrated smart systems that incorporate multiple electric components, such as energy supplying, multisensing, and communicating. To synchronously realize continuously self-powering, multifunctional sensing, distinguish signals from different stimuli, and productively design and fabricate a large-area sensing array, an all-fabric-based self-powered pressure–temperature-sensing electronic skin (e-skin) was prepared in this study by assembling highly flexible and compressible 3D spacer fabric (SF) and the thermoelectric poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). The all-fabric-based e-skin can efficiently and accurately sense the temperature with a detection resolution of 0.1 K and a response time of 1 s, as well as pressure within a wide range of 200 Pa to 200 kPa and a fast response time of 80 ms. The electricity necessary for driving the sensor can be provided by the temperature difference between the body and environment. Notably, independent voltage and current signals can be generated and read out under the simultaneous temperature–pressure stimuli. For the first time, a real waistcoat-like e-skin with electricity-generating and pressure–temperature-sensing functions on the whole area was designed and prepared by a simple and easy to scale-up production method. All of these features make the developed all-fabric self-powered sensor have very promising applications.
Neuroimaging biomarkers that can detect white matter (WM) pathology after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and predict long-term outcome are needed to improve care and develop therapies. We used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) to investigate WM microstructure cross-sectionally and longitudinally after mTBI and correlate these with neuropsychological performance. Cross-sectionally, early decreases of fractional anisotropy and increases of mean diffusivity corresponded to WM regions with elevated free water fraction on NODDI. This elevated free water was more extensive in the patient subgroup reporting more early postconcussive symptoms. The longer-term longitudinal WM changes consisted of declining neurite density on NODDI, suggesting axonal degeneration from diffuse axonal injury for which NODDI is more sensitive than DTI. Therefore, NODDI is a more sensitive and specific biomarker than DTI for WM microstructural changes due to mTBI that merits further study for mTBI diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment monitoring.
… Many athletes are so competitive and have such self-determination that they believe they can do everything on their own. Improving your mental health, however, is best done with the support of others, like a licensed therapist. Decades of psychotherapy research and practice prove that therapy is effective in improving individuals’ mental health. Issues with body image, eating disorders, anxiety, and depression are common amongst athletes of all genders and should be addressed by a licensed mental health professional.
One of the greatest misconceptions about therapy, however, is that you need to be mentally ill in order to see a therapist. When in reality, according to Talkspace therapist Rachel O’Neill, Ph.D. LPCC-S, “Many people begin therapy in order to feel more confident and comfortable in their lives.”
Your therapist can help you set and achieve goals, and foster positive relationships with yourself and others. Often clients approach their therapists when they feel stuck in life, when they have trouble communicating in their relationships, or when they feel burnt out at work. Or, of course, when they’re struggling on the field — feeling depressed or anxious about their athletic performance — or simply dealing with demands of off-field.
Can pre-sleep protein improve exercise performance recovery?
Pre-sleep protein has shown to be digested normally and increase post-exercise muscle protein synthesis (i.e. the process driving muscle adaptations) during the night. Does this also translate to increased exercise performance recovery?
In team sports, the coach and players cannot control the final score. Luck or the rival team’s good work can lead to a bad result despite having played at an outstanding level. Perhaps that is why superstitions and mistaken beliefs of sportsmen and women play an important role in preparing players to compete.1,2 These can be small actions such as avoiding the yellow colour in the equipment or the need to step twice in a row with the right foot when entering the pitch. But this can also affect exercises included in injury prevention protocols or the proposed pre-game warm-up.
… “False stories diffused further, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth, in every category of information that we studied,” says [Sinan] Aral. “Sometimes by an order of magnitude.” For two decades, Aral has studied “social contagion” between connected users online. His work will culminate with a new book, The Hype Machine, to be published by Crown this September, on the eve of the 2020 US election. The timing is fitting, given concerns over Russian interference in the last election, as well as the political disinformation trolls continue to propagate. Not all social contagion is bad, however. “This technology has the potential for tremendous promise and tremendous peril,” says Aral. “It depends on how you use it.”