BRINGING SCIENCE TO TREATMENT
Taiwanese luge athlete Lien Te-an works out REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Injured athletes often bang away at the same exercises with each therapy session, adding weights and reps when tolerated. A crowded therapy schedule may mean knee group and shoulder group doing the same prescribed exercises each day. Researchers from Brazil wondered if changing up a workout routine would enhance exercise results. They randomly assigned 17 healthy males with resistance training experience to either an experimental or control group. Both groups participated in an eight-week resistance training program and performed four sessions per week. The control group participated in a traditional weight training regimen with the load increasing every two weeks. The experimental group participated in different, randomly selected exercises during each session. The experimental group’s exercises still followed a pattern of pushing and pulling exercises for the upper body and anterior and posterior chain activities for the lower body.
Pre and post-intervention outcomes of psychological readiness, muscle thickness, body composition, and maximal dynamic strength were measured using the Situational Motivation Scale, ultrasound imaging, anthropometric methods, and 1RM strength testing. Both interventions showed improvement in muscle thickness, with no significant differences between groups. Body composition did not change significantly after the intervention in either group. Maximal strength improved significantly in both groups, with no significant difference between the groups. However, the experimental group showed significant moderate increases in their motivation to participate in training, while the control group decreased in this area. The difference between the groups was significant.
It is disheartening to see athletes return to sport too early because they are bored with rehab. They fail to understand the importance of the continued monitored training once they are ‘healed’ and cleared by their physician. Playing before they are ready increases the likelihood of repeated injury. This study showed that varying exercises still provides enough resistance to gain muscle strength and size while keeping the athlete engaged. This approach challenges the clinician to plan treatments, record sessions, and monitor the athlete’s progress on a more individual level. Doing so, however, may keep the athlete engaged enough to complete their rehab course before returning to sport.
in Email Newsletters, Tools and technology
Inflammation is having a moment. Perhaps due to COVID-19 and the puzzling inflammatory cascade, all health practitioners are diving a bit deeper into the role of inflammation in illness and healing. With that in mind, we present this review of the function of inflammation in acute musculoskeletal injuries. An understanding of injury starts with a... MORE
Trevor Langford explores practical methods for assessing specific sporting movements, and how appropriate feedback can help an athlete improve movement quality. Athletes frequently train under stress and fatigue, which can lead to low motivation and poorly executed techniques(1). Fortunately, verbal and kinematic feedback related to technique execution enhances performance in athletes who are less conscientious(2).... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Leg injuries, Prevent
Studies looking at muscle activation often rely on surface electromyography (sEMG) readings to determine muscle functionality. New technology, however, enables scientists to get a more accurate picture of muscle contractions. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provides a better measurement of muscle activation by recording the T2 relaxation time of tissue water. Scientists from Australia used... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Hip injuries
Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) primarily strikes young male athletes. The syndrome is often best managed with surgical correction. However, it’s important to understand how FAI affects the biomechanics of those who try a conservative approach. Researchers at Marquette University realized that gait assessment alone doesn’t mimic the extreme hip motion needed in sport(1). Therefore, they enrolled... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Musculoskeletal injuries
Up to 80% of runners suffer from an injuries at some time during their careers(1). Most injuries occur due to training errors, such as too much chronic load or increasing acute load too rapidly(1). However, a new narrative review attributes running injuries to the reliance on footwear. The authors of the narrative review propose that... MORE
in Diagnose & Treat, Email Newsletters, Knee injuries
Adolescence is often a period of rapid growth for most children. Because bones grow faster than muscles, this growth can lead to tension from the tendons at their insertion on the bone, causing an apophysitis. One of the most difficult-to-treat conditions related to such growth is Osgood-Schlatter Disease (OSD), an apophysitis at the tibial tuberosity.... MORE
