Medicine and science in sports and exercise
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Med Sci Sports Exerc · Mar 1998
Review Case ReportsRupture of pectoralis major during parallel bar dips: case report and review.
Rupture of the pectoralis major muscle is an uncommon athletic injury that can result in both functional and cosmetic deficiency. To date, most ruptures occurring in athletes have occurred while performing bench press or overhead lifting maneuvers. We describe a case of a pectoralis major rupture occurring while performing weighted parallel bar dips. ⋯ A partial or complete tear of the pectoralis major muscle is a rare event and is often not easily detected on physical examination. Surgical repair is currently recommended to restore previous levels of strength and to correct the resulting cosmetic defect. Repair is rarely necessary to perform the normal activities of daily living.
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Med Sci Sports Exerc · Feb 1998
Quantitative intramuscular myoelectric activity of lumbar portions of psoas and the abdominal wall during a wide variety of tasks.
Since most previous reports of EMG activation profiles from psoas and the abdominal wall have been qualitative, the objective of this work was to document myoelectric activity from these deep muscles. This knowledge is required to assist in choosing specific training exercises and for making rehabilitation decisions that require knowledge of normalized and calibrated muscle activation levels in different tasks. ⋯ Consideration of deep muscle activity, provided in this report, is important for choosing the most appropriate rehabilitation and training program for an individual. Specific guidance is provided for choosing the best abdominal exercise, together with activation profiles during lifting, during twisting, and during hip rotation.
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Med Sci Sports Exerc · Feb 1998
Respiratory sinus arrhythmia and cardiovascular neural regulation in athletes.
Studies using spectral analysis of cardiovascular variability as a noninvasive means for assessing autonomic nervous system activity have provided controversial results in athletes. One reason is that a slow breathing rate--a common feature in athletes--affects spectral estimation because it causes the low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) components to overlap. Low-frequency power increases during sympathetic activation; high-frequency corresponds to respiratory sinus arrhythmia. ⋯ None of the breathing conditions significantly changed mean heart rate, arterial blood pressure, or spectral total power of cardiovascular variability. In conclusion, when power spectral analysis is used for assessing autonomic activity in athletes, respiration should be standardized at 15 breaths x min(-1). Controlled respiration at this rate leaves autonomic nervous system activity unchanged.
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Med Sci Sports Exerc · Sep 1997
Prospective screening of 5,615 high school athletes for risk of sudden cardiac death.
Sudden cardiac death among high school athletes is a very infrequent though tragic occurrence. Despite widespread preparticipation screening for known causes of this event, the frequency has not changed. The ECG is an acknowledged sensitive screening tool for the common causes of sudden cardiac death in young athletes. ⋯ Specificity was 97.8% for an abbreviated cardiac history and auscultation/inspection and 97.7% for ECG. Overall, the ECG was a much more effective screening tool than cardiac history and auscultation/inspection in detecting cardiovascular abnormalities requiring further tests before approval for participation in sports could be given. ECG and cardiovascular history/ausculation/inspection had similar specificity ECG was efficiently performed on large groups of high school athletes.
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Med Sci Sports Exerc · Aug 1997
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialNaturally occurring muscle pain during exercise: assessment and experimental evidence.
The objectives were: (i) to present a method for assessing muscle pain during exercise, (ii) to provide reliability and validity data in support of the measurement tool, (iii) to test whether leg muscle pain threshold during exercise was related to a commonly used measure of pain threshold pain during test, (iv) to examine the relationship between pain and exertion ratings, (v) to test whether leg muscle pain is related to performance, and (vi) to test whether a large dose of aspirin would delay leg muscle pain threshold and/or reduce pain ratings during exercise. In study 1, seven females and seven males completed three 1-min cycling bouts at three different randomly ordered power outputs. Pain was assessed using a 10-point pain scale. ⋯ Paired t-tests revealed no differences between conditions for the measures of exercise intensity at pain threshold [aspirin vs placebo mean (+/- SD)]: power output: 150 (+/- 60.3 W) versus 153.5 (+/- 64.8 W); VO2: 21.3 (+/- 8.6 mL.kg-1.min-1) versus 22.1 (+/- 10.0 mL.kg-1.min-1); and RPE: 10.9 (+/- 3.1) versus 11.4 (+/- 2.9). Repeated measures ANOVA revealed no significant condition main effect or condition by trial interaction for pain responses during recovery or during exercise at 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100% of each condition's peak power output. It is concluded that the perception of leg muscle pain intensity during cycle ergometry: (i) is reliably and validly measured using the developed 10-point pain scale, (ii) covaries as a function of objective exercise stimuli such as power output, (iii) is distinct from RPE, (iv) is unrelated to performance of the type employed here, and (v) is not altered by the ingestion of 20 mg.kg-1 acetylsalicylic acid 1 h prior to the exercise bout.