Medicine and science in sports and exercise
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Med Sci Sports Exerc · Aug 2015
Head Impact Exposure and Neurologic Function of Youth Football Players.
Football players are subjected to repetitive impacts that may lead to brain injury and neurologic dysfunction. Knowledge about head impact exposure (HIE) and consequent neurologic function among youth football players is limited. ⋯ This study provides a novel examination of HIE and associations with short-term neurologic function in youth football and notably contributes to the limited HIE data currently available for this population. Whereas youth football players can experience remarkably similar head impact forces as high school players, cumulative subconcussive HIE throughout one youth football season may not be detrimental to short-term clinical measures of neurologic function.
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Med Sci Sports Exerc · Aug 2015
Trunk Dynamics Are Impaired in Ballet Dancers with Back Pain but Improve with Imagery.
Trunk control is essential in ballet and may be compromised in dancers with a history of low back pain (LBP) by associated changes in motor control. This study aimed to compare trunk mechanical properties between professional ballet dancers with and without a history of LBP. As a secondary aim, we assessed whether asking dancers to use motor imagery to respond in a "fluid" manner could change the mechanical properties of the trunk and whether this was possible for both groups. ⋯ Although dancers with a history of LBP have less trunk damping than those without LBP, they have the capacity to modulate the trunk's mechanical properties to match that of pain-free dancers by increasing damping with motor imagery. These observations have potential relevance for LBP recurrence and rehabilitation.