Proprioceptive information appear to play an important role in stability and movements of shoulder joint in sporting activities especially in tennis. The purpose of this study was to measure the shoulder proprioceptive differences, and assess proprioceptive sense between dominant and non-dominant shoulders between male tennis players and controls between ages 14 - 16. 15 young male tennis players with a mean age 14.6 &plusmn / 0.7 years and 15 young male sedentary individuals with a mean age 14.8 &plusmn / 0.9 years participated in this cross-sectional descriptive study. Average height, weight, and BMI of the players were 169.4 &plusmn / 5.9 cm., 63.9 &plusmn / 5.5 kg., and 22.2 &plusmn / 1.0 kg/m2 respectively. Mean height, weight, and BMI of the non-players were 168.3 &plusmn / 5.3 cm., 64.4 &plusmn / 10.2 kg., and 23.1 &plusmn / 3.9 kg/m2 respectively. Proprioceptive sense was measured with an isokinetic dynamometer. Measurements were made in two positions: &lsquo / sitting&rsquo / versus &lsquo / standing&rsquo / for service, forehand, and backhand positions. Differences between players and control groups were investigated by MANOVA. Paired t-test was used to evaluate differences between dominant and non-dominant shoulders and sitting and standing positions. There was no statistically difference between players and non-players in means of age, body height, weight, and BMI. The study revealed the following results: 1) There was a significant difference between shoulder proprioceptive senses of players and controls (p &lt / 0.05) at service, forehand, and backhand positions. 2) Significant difference between dominant and non-dominant shoulders at 15&ordm / and 30&ordm / was not observed (p &lt / 0.05). 3) No significant difference was observed between sitting and standing positions at 30&ordm / (p &lt / 0.05). It was concluded that tennis players had better proprioceptive sense than their age matched sedentary controls.

Physical changes such as impairment flexibility, balance, muscle strength and reaction time occur with aging. Regular lifetime physical activity appears to delay these factors. The purpose of this study was to determine if 12 weeks Pilates exercise could improve dynamic balance, reaction time, flexibility, muscle strength, bone density and quality of life in 65+ years old women and to investigate the changes of these parameters in a year follow up. Thirty out of a hundred women living in a Residential House in Ankara were enrolled in the study. Participants attended a 12-week series of one-hour Pilates exercise meeting three times per week. Dynamic balance, flexibility, reaction time, number of falls, muscle strength, bone mineral density, quality of life and anxiety were measured before and after exercise. Results showed that flexibility, balance, simple and choice reaction time, muscle strength, number of falls, quality of life and beck anxiety scores significantly improved in the exercise group. In addition, after a year of follow up, there were prominent decreases in simple reaction time and muscle strength, choice reaction time, number of falls and bone mineral density in control group while there were no evident changes in exercise group. Furthermore, there were significant relationships of balance with muscle strength, choice reaction time and anxiety.As the result of this study, it can be concluded that Pilates exercise can be efficient for preventing falls, increasing muscle strength and dynamic balance, flexibility, reaction time and decreasing anxiety while increasing quality of life. In the long term, Pilates exercise may have very positive effects on bone mineral density.

Endocannabinoid and immune system alterations at moderate (18 m/min) and endurance (32 m/min) exercise intensities were assessed and compared to controls. Rats were exercised for 60 minutes/day, 5 days/week for 16 weeks. Immune effector cell proportions (T cell subtypes, B cells, NK cells, and neutrophils) and endocannabinoid serum levels were determined. Anandamide (ANA) and 2 arachidonyl-glycerol (2-AG) serum levels increased with endurance type of exercise. mRNA expression of the CB1 receptor increased together with ANA in the same group. Apoptotic index increased while immune effector cells responded divergently. B lymphocyte percentage decreased while T lymphocyte and NK cell percentage increased in blood. CD8+ subtypes increased whereas CD11b+ cell and CD25+ cell numbers decreased in the spleen in the endurance type of exercise group. Rats were grouped as the control, the endurance type of exercise, the AM281 (CB1 receptor antagonist) and the AM281+AM630 (CB2 receptor antagonist) groups in the second part of the study. Flow cytometry and microarray analyses of the spleen and the thymus were conducted. Endurance type of exercise associated significantly to immunological changes particularly to that of the T lymphocytes. T lymphocytes increased whereas cytolytic T lymphocytes decreased in blood. T cell and double positive T cell percentages significantly increased in the spleen. Activated T cells and NK like T cells furthermore decreased in the spleen. AM281 and/or AM630 could partially reverse the effect of exercise in blood but not in the spleen. Alterations in the thymus were not observed. Exercise altered 302 genes, some of them related with the immune system. Up-regulation of heat-shock protein coding genes was the most significant ones.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different joint positions, rotator cuff muscle fatigue and experience on shoulder proprioceptive sense among male volleyball players. The participants of the study were 20 experienced (Mage= 20.7 &amp / #61617 / 2.8) and 20 inexperienced (Mage= 17.1 &amp / #61617 / 1.0) male volleyball players being members of first league volleyball teams. Measurements were made by Biodex System 3 pro (Biodex Medical Systems, Inc., New York, USA) and only dominant extremities were assessed. Shoulder proprioceptive sense was determined by measuring participant&rsquo / s perception of joint position sense with the joint at 90&amp / #61616 / abduction, external rotation and 90&amp / #61616 / abduction, neutral rotation. Participants were tested at a speed of 2 deg/s before and after exercising on an isokinetic testing machine until fatigued. Fatigue protocol was practiced at 60 deg/s and it was terminated when the internal rotation maximal peak torque decreased by 50%. There was significant difference between proprioceptive sense of inexperienced volleyball players at 10&amp / #61616 / -20&amp / #61616 / (p&lt / .01) and 15&amp / #61616 / -20&amp / #61616 / (p&lt / .05) in external rotation before fatigue. The difference between before and after fatigue proprioceptive sense of experienced volleyball players at 20&amp / #61616 / (p&lt / .05) was found statistically significant, whereas the significant difference was observed between before and after fatigue proprioceptive sense of inexperienced players at 10&amp / #61616 / (p&lt / .01) and 15&amp / #61616 / (p&lt / .05) in internal rotation. It was concluded that the effect of fatigue on proprioceptive sense is related with experience, but experience itself had no effect on proprioceptive sense.