Syfte och frågeställningar  1. Finns det ett samband mellan tiden mellan fotisättningarna (främre respektive bakre fot) och sparkhastigheten?  2. Hur påverkar bakre fotens kontakttid sparkhastigheten?  3. Hur påverkar den vertikala kraften på främre respektive bakre fot sparkhastigheten?  4. Hur påverkar tiden till uppnådd maximal vertikalkraft på främre respektive bakre fot sparkhastigheten?  Syftet med studien var att inom testgruppen undersöka hur kontakttid och belastningskaraktär påverkar sparkhastigheten i en rundspark som föregås av ett step.    Metod  Studien innefattar analys av en rundsparkteknik med föregående horisontell förflyttning i lateral riktning från utgångsposition. Rörelsen benämns i studien som step. Testgruppen utgjordes av 5 Svenska elit Taekwondoutövare, men pga tekniska problem begränsades gruppen till 3 personer (2 män 1 kvinna). Rörelseförloppet fasindelades i 3 huvudfaser och 2 underfaser (1-stepfas, 2.1-kontaktfas 1, 2.2-kontaktfas 2 och 3-sparkfas). Tid och sträcka i fas 1 och 3 genomfördes med hjälp av höghastighetskamera (Casio Exilim High speed, Casio computer Co. Ltd, Japan.). Vertikalkraft och tid på höger respektive vänster fot mättes med kraftplattor (DBA dual-forceplate systems, Sverige).  Resultat  Resultatet visade att det inom testgruppen inte fanns något samband mellan sparkhastighet och tid mellan fotisättningarna. Däremot fanns en tendens till att bakre fotens kontakttid påverkar sparkhastigheten (kort tid = hög sparkhastighet). Det fanns också tendenser till samband mellan hög sparkhastighet och hög maximal vertikalkraft samt tid till denna (time to peak force) på stödjefoten. Dessa tendenser sågs inte på sparkfoten.  Slutsats  Resultaten indikerar att det finns tendenser till att kort kontakttid på sparkfoten samt förmågan att under kort tid generera hög vertikalkraft på stödjefoten är av betydelse för optimering av sparkhastighet. Resultaten bör dock ses som mycket preliminära och behöver konfirmeras med studier på ett större material.

Aim. Accurate correlations between a wide range of physical fitness measures and occupational demands are needed in order to identify specific fitness tests and training needs for firefighters. Methods. Forty-eight experienced, professional firefighters (29 ± 7.24 yrs) participated in fitness and job performance testing sessions each spaced a week apart. Analysis was performed using Pearson moment correlation coefficients and multiple linear regression with alpha set at p≤.05. Results. Significant correlations (p≤.01) were found between a job performance task (Revised Grinder) and the following: lean muscle mass (r = -.69), overall fitness (r = -.62), height (r = -.62), strength endurance: deadlift (r = -.54), bent-over row (r = -.51), bench press (r = -.51), shoulder press (r = -.46); maximal strength: hand grip strength (r = -.57), bench press (r = -.51), anaerobic capacity: 400m (r = .50), and aerobic capacity: multistage shuttle run (r = -.46). Multiple linear regression determined that lean muscle mass and aerobic capacity account for 82% of the variation in the job performance task. Conclusion. It is apparent that firefighting taxes virtually all aspects of physical fitness. This data can help the exercise specialist choose appropriate tests and prescribe specific fitness programmes for firefighters. Traditional firefighter exercise programmes focusing mainly on cardiovascular fitness should be replaced with physical conditioning programmes that address all components of fitness. Cardiovascular fitness testing should include the performance of job-related tasks to improve test validity. / Thesis (M.Sport Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2012.

Introduction Heart rate variability (HRV) is regarded as a useful, non-invasive method for investigating the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Over the past decade there has been an increase in the number of HRV investigations in the disciplines of medical, sport and exercise science. Despite the extensive use of HRV in investigations of ANS functioning, there are questions relating to the reliability of the technique. Therefore, HRV reliability studies for different population groups have been advocated. Furthermore, research on gender differences in HRV is contradictory. This has resulted in the need to investigate gender characteristics in HRV. Objectives The objective of this study was to evaluate the reliability of short-term (5min) recordings of HRV, and to determine the association between HRV and gender. Methods Forty four physically active students (n= 21, age= 21.17 (1.55) males and n=23, age= 19.75 (1.76) females) participated in the study. Heart rate variability parameters were determined from five minute recording of interbeat intervals (IBI) using a Suunto t6 heart rate monitor (HRM). Testing was repeated over 4 consecutive days under the same conditions. The following HRV time and frequency domain measures were calculated using Kubios HRV Software Version 2.0: mean heart rate (HR), standard deviation of normal to normal intervals (SDNN), root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD), percentage of beats that changed more than 50 ms from the previous beat (pNN50), low frequency in normalized units (LFnu), high frequency in normalized units (HFnu) and low frequency to high frequency ratio in normalized units (LF/HFnu ratio). The data was summarized using routine descriptive statistics. Relative reliability was calculated using interclass correlation coefficients (ICC) (ICC of >0.80 indicated good to excellent reliability) and absolute reliability using typical error of measurement (TEM) and TEM as a percentage of the mean score (TEM%). This statistical measures were computed for days 2 vs 3 (REL 1), 3 vs 4 (REL 2). Day 1 was used as a familiarization day. An unpaired T-test was used to determine whether there were any differences between males and females for the above HRV parameters. Significance was set at p .0.05. Results The ICCs for both REL 1 and REL 2 indicated good to excellent (ICC >0.8) reliability for IBIs and pNN50 for the time domain results. In general, the time domain results had a higher relative reliability than the frequency domain results. Males had an overall lower relative reliability than females for frequency domain parameters. Absolute reliability for REL 2 showed a slightly lower TEM value as compared to REL 1.The largest gender differences in TEM were seen in the frequency domain parameters. Specifically, for males, the TEM was higher than females for the LF/HFnu ratio (REL 2: 116%), the HFnu (REL 1: 90%) and the LFnu (REL 1: 68%). Overall the TEM% was relatively high in most HRV parameters specifically for LF/HFnu (REL 1: 31.4% females and 48.1% males; REL 2: 29.7% females and 40.4% males). These findings indicate that males have decreased absolute reliability compared to females and that random error is greater in men for the frequency domain parameters. Gender differences illustrated significant differences for resting HR (16% higher in females (p < 0.0001)), IBIs (21% higher in females (p <0.0001)) and LF/HFnu ratio (41% higher in males (p = 0.003)). The findings indicate that females have higher total HRV. Conclusions Short term recordings of HRV over consecutive days using the Suunto t6 HRM and Kubios custom HRV software are reliable depending on the HRV parameter being analysed. Overall, the relative reliability results suggest that HRV using the Suunto t6 and Kubios is good. However, the absolute reliability results suggest low reliability. In particular, males demonstrated a poorer absolute reliability (high TEM and TEM%) than females, suggesting a larger day to day random error in males. Furthermore, specific HRV measures differed between males and females demonstrating that females have higher parasympathetic modulation compared to men. The overall higher HRV in females could explain the possible cardio-protective mechanism observed in premenopausal women. Key words: Heart rate variability, Parasympathetic, Reliability, Interbeat Intervals / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

Sport and Traditions of Feminist Theory involves a philosophical examination of the opportunities that are offered to females who seek authority in sporting participation, by an examination of the ideas that emanate from various streams of feminist thought. Chapter One introduces the concepts of oppression and authority in sport for females. It also introduces Rortian pragmatism, and four strands of feminist thought which will be utilised throughout the thesis; liberal, standpoint, poststructural and Foucauldian feminism. Finally it briefly suggests the potentials for each of these feminisms to explain and alter the situation of women in sport. Chapter Two is an elaboration of Rortian liberalism. It explains the concepts of anti-foundationalism, the private-public split and the ideal liberal society. These ideas are then applied to an understanding of the opportunities for freedom in sport. Sport is viewed as a symbolic language medium where athletes have the opportunity to express their private freedom through idiosyncratic action. The chapter then goes on to address feminist concerns with Rortian pragmatism. It will be suggested that the female position in society forces a reformulation of Rortian pragmatism to include the possibility of collective expressions of freedom, and to recognise the systematic oppression of women in, and by, society. The female athlete must negotiate the unenviable position of performing in a practice that has a long history of male control over sporting discourses, and female exclusion from, or incorporation into, those sporting discourses. A feminist -reformed, Rortian pragmatism gives the female some tools with which to break down male control and produce individual and collective changes in the language; practice and theory of sport. Chapter Three is a selective history of feminist politics and female participation in sport. The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate that strong poetry; i.e. collective and individual language changes which increased the opportunity for females to speak with authority, were often the result of both contingent conditions in society, and the whims of the dominant class of males. Yet two important points should be made; firstly, within that limited area of freedom in both politics and sport, women did recreate themselves and their society, and secondly, the public discourse about female athleticism throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries suggests a genealogy of ideas which continues to limit female athletic participation and authority. It would be naïve to suggest that this history of ideas about female athleticism would be broken down simply by legislative change which allows for wider female participation in sport. Chapter Four investigates one mechanism of gaining authority for females in society and sport, the liberal intervention of equal opportunities. It has been suggested by radical and postmodern feminisms that such an intervention is inadequate because it leaves in place the structure of ideas that oppress females in the first place. Critiques of liberal feminist interventions in sport likewise suggest that such interventions maintain the maleness of reason in sport. Females are asked to participate and be judged in sports that have a male history and male structure of control. However, because Rortian pragmatism recognises that sport is a symbolic medium, liberal interventions should not be discarded. There are a number of sports which women either are not allowed to play or are discouraged from playing. The liberal intervention may allow women to participate in sport, and gain authority through their local and specific languages of participation. Chapter Five is an application of feminist standpoint theories to women's authority in sport. Feminist standpoints will be suggested as an important method for doubting the certainty of gendered truth statements in sport and society. The truth statements, which oppress women in sport reporting, and reinforce different modes of sport participation, will be deconstructed using feminist standpoint theories. Rortian pragmatism offers tools with which alternate candidates for truth status may be produced and disseminated throughout the sporting world. These alternatives may grant women greater authority in performing and talking about sports. Chapter Six will look at the postmodern and Foucauldian treatments of the female body as another mechanism of challenging the his-story about female athletes, which continues to limit both their participation in sports and their commentary about sports. It will be suggested that the fuzziness of the athletic body allows women all sorts of opportunities to challenge the maleness of authority in sport. One case study, which will be particularly investigated here, is the suggestion that women athletes could look at drugs as a mechanism for approaching the narrowly defined -by men- participation standards of male athletes. And as authority in sport is partially granted on the basis of objective sporting performance, females should view the drug ban as potentially a piece of phallocentric legislation designed to maintain male power. Other case studies that could be investigated at a later date are the suspicions about genetic engineering and virtual reality sport, and the distaste for female athletes aborting before sporting performance. Are these suspicions and distaste mechanisms of the control of the female athlete's performance which females should oppose? The final chapter summarises the opportunities that a reformed Rortian pragmatism, reformed by the female question, provides for females in sport. Sport as a bodily activity may offer some potentials and obstacles that are not present in theoretical activities like education and politics. This is not to imply a dualism, but simply to suggest that sport, like dance and theatre, is an activity where the body's movements and actions are symbolically communicative.

Within athletic domains, athletic identity is a cognitive structure guiding and organising how the person processes self-related information (Brewer, Van Raalte, & Linder, 1993). Being one of the domains of the self-concept, athletic identity is the “degree of importance, strength, and exclusivity attached to the athlete role that is maintained by the athletes and influenced by environment” (p. 39; Cieslak, 2005). Previous studies have shown that athletic identity is related to various psychological processes such as identity foreclosure and the emotional reactions of athletes to injuries (Grove, Lavallee, & Gordon, 1997). The Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS) is a 10-item quantitative inventory measuring the level of athletic identity (Brewer, Van Raalte, & Linder, 1993). Throughout the past decade, researchers have been examining the psychometric properties and factor structures of the AIMS with samples mainly from English-speaking societies (Brewer & Cornelius, 2001; Hale, James, & Stambulova, 1999). This thesis consisted of two studies. The first one investigated the internal consistency and factor structure of the AIMS within a Hong Kong Chinese sample by performing confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) and Cronbach’s alphas. The author constructed a Chinese version of the AIMS and administered it to 186 Hong Kong athletes. The CFAs showed that multi-dimensional models were better fits than the original unidimenional model. The goodness-of-fit indices of three previously suggested models (and one simplified model) were either above or extremely close to acceptable levels. Considering the possible cultural influences and translation processes, the findings are substantial. In this study, the author also discusses the cultural differences in terms of each factor and overall athletic identity scores. The second study followed up the results of the first study and further explored the construct of athletic identity through qualitative interviews. The author, who was also the interviewer, recruited 13 Hong Kong athletes for in-depth interviews exploring their life experiences of being athletes in Hong Kong. The results revealed that some contributing elements of the participants’ athletic identities seemed well represented by the AIMS items and factors, such as recognition from others (i.e., social identity), sport-related goals, dysphoric emotions associated with injury (i.e., negative affectivity), and perceived importance of sport (i.e., exclusivity). Some themes from the interviews, however, were not represented in the items or factors of the AIMS. For some participants, appearance and accoutrements, such as clothing and equipment, formed part of their overall athletic identities. Also, the author found that the participants’ fantasies about professional athletes were major features of the interviews. These results showed that various cultural characteristics in Hong Kong may influence the development of the participants’ self-identities including athletic identities. The author employed the theory of self-construals (Markus & Kitayama, 1991) and features of Hong Kong culture to explain the results. In the general discussion, the author also discussed the AIMS items, the factor structure, and their connections with Hong Kong athletes’ experiences, based on the qualitative findings. The author recommended some possible items for further development of the AIMS.

A detailed reply paid questionnaire was posted via surface mail to overseeing members of Australian surfboard riding clubs in May 2004. Clubs from Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland partcipated. Further participants were randomly recruited from surfing locations throughout Australia including beaches in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Participants were asked to recall injury details over a retrospective period of two years. Conclusions: Laceration is the most common surfing injury (52%), followed by contusions(36%), muscle strains or tears (4%), fractures (4%), joint sprains (3%), and joint dislocations (1%). Lower limbs are the most commonly injured area, followed by upper limbs, and the head and face. Surfing safety equipment should be designed to protect the limbs from lacerations, and aid in the prevention of serious injuries such as vertebral, facial and skull fractures. Delayed onset muscle soreness is common amongst recreational surfers. Medical doctors are the most commonly consulted health care practitioner by surfers for treatment of surfing related injury, followed by physiotherapists and Osteopaths. This minor thesis was written by post graduate students as part of the requirements of the Master of Health Science (Osteopathy) program.

This study examined the effects of music on physiological and psychological responses in Osteopathic patients who listened to relaxation music. Fifty subjects, twenty-six females and twenty-four males ranging in age from 18-51, were randomly assigned to one of two environmental settings. Participants in the control group were treated in the absence of relaxation music. The participants allocated to the experimental group received their normal osteopathic treatment whilst relaxation music played in the background. The specific music selected was shown in previous research to decrease State anxiety. Pysiological data collected before and after treatment included heart rate, respiration, diastolic blood pressure, and systolic blood pressure. Psychometric data was assessed using a Visual Analogue Scale for self-perceived relaxation. Significant differences (p<.05) were found from pre-test to post-test in the music group for heart rate, blood pressure and respiration. There were no significant differences in self-perceived tension ratings between the two groups. This minor thesis was written by post-graduate students as part of the requirements of the Master of Health Science (Osteopathy) program.

Previous research has established coaches' important role in developing elite athletes (Durand, Bush, Thomson &amp; Salmela 1996). Athlete enhancement and assisting athletes achieve “peak performance” has been a major objective for elite coaches as well as sports scientists (Williams &amp; Kendall, 2007) Despite this common goal, research also question whether sports scientists and the research they pursue really effects coaches knowledge and constitute a foundation for today and tomorrows athletic performances (Bishop 2008).  This study examined elite coaches’ needs and use of sport science research as well as the interaction between elite coaches and sport scientists. Following interviews of ten elite coaches, content analysis revealed that sport science is both a formal and informal resource of knowledge for coaches. Development of athletes is seen as the main objective of research retrieval and personal and/or direct contact with the sport scientist is considered to be the best way to assemble. Sport science research effects coaches daily work both directly and indirectly and coaches’ educational standards seem to be the key for successful research implementation. A successful interaction consists of decreasing the physical distance, mutual responsibility for contact seeking, commonly enunciation of relevant research issues and usage of different uniting links.

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Current research ideologies in sport science allow for the possibility of investigators producing statistically significant results to help fit the outcome into a predetermined theory. Additionally, under the current Neyman-Pearson statistical structure, some argue that null hypothesis significant testing (NHST) under the frequentist approach is flawed, regardless. For example, a p-value is unable to measure the probability that the studied hypothesis is true, unable to measure the size of an effect or the importance of a result, and unable to provide a good measure of evidence regarding a model or hypothesis. Many of these downfalls are key questions researchers strive to answer following an investigation. Therefore, a shift towards a magnitude-based inference model, and eventually a fully Bayesian framework, is thought to be a better fit from a statistical standpoint and may be an improved way to address biases within the literature. The goal of this article is to shed light on the current research and statistical shortcomings the field of sport science faces today, and offer potential solutions to help guide future research practices.