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The aim of this study was to examine the depiction of mental illness with elite athletes. Mental illness has long been a sensitive object in the public's eye, but in recent years that has started to shift and the subject has destigmatized. More and more people are open and talk about their inner problems. But in one group in society the development has not been up to pace, and that is elite athletes. The study has also looked at the difference between tabloid and daily press. The theoretical framework was constructed by using the agenda setting theory, the framing theory, theories of media logic and the thoughts of news evaluation. The method used in the study was critical discourse analysis, and used in the way through out by Norman Fairclough and his three dimensional modell. A total of 38 articles from the newspapers Dagens Nyheter, Svenska dagbladet, Aftonbladet and Expressen was analyzed. The analysis found that the papers tend to portray mental illness as a negative major problem of today's society. A majority of the articles analyzed tended put the athlete aspect of the person in limelight, rather than letting the athlete just be a suffering person. They way the papers achieved to sustain the image of being a unbeatable hero by reminding the audience about the athletic achievements won, when the athlete was presented in the article. Keywords: Johan Franzén, Jenny Rissveds, mental illness, depression, concussions, concussion, eating disorder and eating disorders.

The overall goal of my research was to advance our understanding of the potential for novel compliant flooring systems to reduce the risk for fall-related injuries in older adults, including fall-related traumatic brain injury (TBI). This entailed an assessment of how these floors affect the competing demands of fall-related TBI – impact severity attenuation in concert with minimal concomitant impairments to balance control and postural stability. Two studies are included as part of this thesis. The first study used a mechanical drop tower to assess the effects of four traditional flooring systems and six novel compliant flooring conditions on the impact dynamics of a surrogate headform during the impact phase of simulated ‘worst- case’ head impacts. The second study entailed an assessment of the effect of two traditional and three novel compliant floors on the initial phase of the compensatory balance reactions of older adult men and women living in a residential-care facility environment following an externally induced perturbation using a tether-release paradigm. Overall, this thesis demonstrates that novel compliant floors substantially attenuate the forces and accelerations applied to the head during simulated worst- case impacts when compared to traditional flooring surfaces such as vinyl and carpet with underpadding. These benefits are achieved without compromising indices of balance control, supported by the finding that parameters characterizing early compensatory balance reactions were unaffected by the novel compliant floors tested. This work supports the introduction of pilot installations of novel compliant flooring systems into environments with high incidences of falls to test their effectiveness at reducing fall-related injuries in clinical settings.

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the between-day reliability of selected force-time curve indices and the activity onset of selected neck muscles in the performance of maximal, isometric contractions in five different directions. The measures extracted are deemed important for future investigations aimed at exploring the role of cervical musculature in reduction of concussion occurrences in sports. Twenty eight physically active male participants performed two testing sessions separated by 7-8 days. In each testing session, force and surface electromyography (EMG) data were recorded simultaneously in a custom-made testing apparatus whilst subjects performed four randomized maximal isometric efforts in extension, flexion, and left and right lateral bending and protraction. The variables examined were the peak force, rate of force development (RFD), time to 50% of peak force and bilateral activity onset of the splenius capitis, upper trapezius, and sternocleidomastoid. For all variables, reliability was assessed by: 1) difference scores between the testing sessions and corresponding 95% confidence intervals; 2) standard error of measurement (SEM), expressed in either the original units of measurement, or as a coefficient of variation; and, 3) Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). The results indicated that for all variables, in all testing directions, no differences in scores were observed between the first and second testing sessions. The precision of measurement for all measures, barring muscle onsets obtained in protraction, was deemed acceptable for future clinical application. ICC score ranges for force-time curve-based measurements were high (< 0.90), while for muscle onsets, the ICC ranges are low to moderate (0.23 -0.79). Based on these results, it was concluded that, in highly active male participants, a dedicated familiarization session for the elimination of potential learning effects is not required. In addition, for the majority of testing directions, the force-time curve-based variables as well as muscle activity onsets are recorded with a sufficiently high level of precision, which make them prime candidates for utilization in future investigations concerned with quantitative assessment of cervical musculature function. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2009-09-23 01:23:12.324

The overall goal of my research was to advance our understanding of the potential for novel compliant flooring systems to reduce the risk for fall-related injuries in older adults, including fall-related traumatic brain injury (TBI). This entailed an assessment of how these floors affect the competing demands of fall-related TBI – impact severity attenuation in concert with minimal concomitant impairments to balance control and postural stability. Two studies are included as part of this thesis. The first study used a mechanical drop tower to assess the effects of four traditional flooring systems and six novel compliant flooring conditions on the impact dynamics of a surrogate headform during the impact phase of simulated ‘worst- case’ head impacts. The second study entailed an assessment of the effect of two traditional and three novel compliant floors on the initial phase of the compensatory balance reactions of older adult men and women living in a residential-care facility environment following an externally induced perturbation using a tether-release paradigm. Overall, this thesis demonstrates that novel compliant floors substantially attenuate the forces and accelerations applied to the head during simulated worst- case impacts when compared to traditional flooring surfaces such as vinyl and carpet with underpadding. These benefits are achieved without compromising indices of balance control, supported by the finding that parameters characterizing early compensatory balance reactions were unaffected by the novel compliant floors tested. This work supports the introduction of pilot installations of novel compliant flooring systems into environments with high incidences of falls to test their effectiveness at reducing fall-related injuries in clinical settings.

Traumatic brain injury is a topic that in recent years has received increased scrutiny by the media and is viewed as a cause for public health concern in athletes that are participating in contact sports. There has been an apparent rise in the reported number of traumatic brain injuries over the last decade possibly due to a number of factors such as an increase in enrollment of sports and suspected better understanding of brain injury in the sports world. Direct or indirect impact forces applied involving acceleration/deceleration and linear/angular forces primarily cause trauma to the brain. This insult results in evident diffuse axonal and focal injuries to varying degrees in brain tissue. The spectrum of pathophysiology in traumatic brain injury involves structural, neurochemical, metabolic, vascular, inflammatory, immunologic, and ultimately cell death, which plays a hand directly in the nonspecific presentation of symptoms reported by athletes as well as the progression of recovery. Traumatic brain injury is typically associated with short- and long-term sequelae, however, inducing repetitive episodes of trauma over a career, as may happen in sports, may lead to a progressive neurodegenerative disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy has been known to affect boxers previously, but in recent years the attention has shifted and found this disease in athletes from other sports. The spectrum of disease in chronic traumatic encephalopathy involves a progressive tauopathy that spreads across different regions of the brain in a classified four staged grading system. Several risk factors have been identified in placing athletes at risk for traumatic brain episodes, however no risk factors have been directly linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Much information is lacking in a complete understanding of traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, therefore emphasizing the importance of further research and consistently improving modifications in the protocols for assessment, recognition, management, and return to play criteria for injured athletes. Furthermore, despite the gaps in knowledge, preventative measures should serve a particular role in reducing the incidence of detected traumatic brain injuries, which should include policy changes, sport rule changes, and especially changes to the accepted sports culture through mandatory education.

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Ice hockey is a contact sport with a high risk of brain injuries such as concussions. This is a serious health concern and there is a need of better understanding of the relationship between the kinematics of the head and concussions. The velocity and the direction of impact are factors that might affect the severity of the concussions. Therefore the understanding of concussions can be improved by extracting velocities from video analysis. In this thesis a prototype to extract 3D velocities from one single camera view was developed by using target tracking algorithms and homography. A validation of the method was done where the mean error was estimated to 21.7%. The prototype evaluated 60 cases of tackles where 30 resulted in concussions and the other 30 tackles did not result in concussions. No significant difference in the velocities between the two groups could be found. The mean velocity for the tackles that resulted in concussions were 6.55 m/s for the attacking player and 4.59 m/s for the injured player. The prototype was also compared with velocities extracted through SkillSpector from a previous bachelor thesis. There was a significant difference between the velocities compiled with SkillSpector and the developed prototype in this thesis. A validation of SkillSpector was also made, which showed that it had a mean error of 37.4%. / Ishockey är en kontaktsport med hög risk för hjärnskador, så som hjärnskakningar. Detta är ett stort hälsoproblem och det finns ett behov av större förståelse mellan huvudets kinematik och hjärnskakningar. Hastigheten och riktningen av kollisionerna är faktorer som kan påverka svårighetsgraden av hjärnskakningarna. Därför kan förståelsen av hjärnskakningar förbättras genom att extrahera hastigheter med videoanalys. I denna rapport utvecklades en prototyp för att ta fram 3D hastigheter från en kameravinkel genom att använda målsökningsalgoritmer och homografi. En validering av prototypen gjordes där medelfelet uppskattades till 21.7%. Prototypen utvärderade även 60 fall av tacklingar där 30 resulterade hjärnskakningar och där de andra 30 tacklingarna inte resulterade i hjärnskakningar. Ingen signifikant skillnad mellan de två grupperna kunde påvisas. Medelhastigheten för tacklingarna som resulterade i hjärnskakning var 6.55 m/s för den attackerande spelaren och 4.59 m/s för den skadade spelaren. Prototypen jämfördes också med hastigheter som tagits fram med SkillSpector i ett tidigare kandidatexamensarbete. Det var en signifikant skillnad mellan de hastigheter som togs fram med prototypen och de som tog fram med SkillSpector. En validering av SkillSpector gjordes också, som visade att medelfelet var 37.4%.

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