Objective: To determine the difference in effectiveness of positional release therapy (PRT) compared with therapeutic massage (TM) in treating trigger and tender points in the upper trapezius muscle. Background: Trigger points in the upper trapezius muscle are common and can be painful. Therapeutic massage is a more traditional treatment method for this condition while PRT is relatively new. Design and Setting: A randomized-group design was used to examine the differences between the 2 treatments for reducing pain and muscle tension. Subjects: Sixty healthy subjects (males = 24, females = 36; age = 27.1 ± 8.8 years; wt = 75.2 ± 17.9 kg; ht = 172.8 ± 9.7 cm) presenting with upper trapezius pain and a trigger point. Subjects were randomly assigned to the TM group or the PRT group. Measurements: Presence of upper trapezius trigger points was found via palpation by a clinician. Level of pain was measured by a visual analog scale (VAS) and pain pressure threshold (PPT) was assessed by a pressure algometer. Muscle thickness was measured by B-mode ultrasound (US) and muscle tension was measured by shear-wave elastography (SWE). Subjects were measured pretreatment and posttreatment and 48 hours later. Results: All measurements showed significant improvements for both treatments. Positional release therapy was more effective (p = 0.05) at reducing pain at day 2 and was able to maintain the pain loss. The SWE and US showed no difference between the treatment groups. There was no significant difference in PPT, but PRT PPT increased each visit while TM dropped significantly at day 2 (p = .003). Conclusion: Both treatments showed a significant ability to reduce pain and acutely decrease muscle stiffness (as measured by SWE) but there were few differences between the treatments. However, there appeared to be a slight benefit for pain reduction with PRT up to 2 days posttreatment.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Kinesio-Taping (KT) in golf-induced chronic low-back pain management. The golfing population continues to grow each year, and the risks of golf-induced chronic low back pain (CLBP) remain high. The Kinesio-taping technique is a non-invasive treatment intervention utilized in sports injury rehabilitation and prevention. Due to the lack of research on KT in golf-related injuries, this study addresses the injury mechanism of golf-induced CLBP and the proposed physiological mechanism and therapeutic effects on the musculoskeletal system of KT. This study is a comprehensive review of the golf swing, prevalence and risk factors of golf induced CLBP, treatment modalities for non-specific low back pain, and the use of KT in sports medicine and healthcare settings. The target population of this study includes active adults and older adults who are at risk or currently experiencing CLBP and those who may golf professionally or recreationally. The literature search (February- October 2022) was performed using multiple databases, including UCF Libraries, PubMed, GoogleScholar, SagePub, ScienceDirect, and Ebscohost. Keywords employed by this research include "low back*" "golf*" or "golf swing*" "Kinesio-tape*" or "Kinesio-taping*" and "pain*" or "injury*". Search results were carefully screened, and relevant literature was selected for this study. A total of 78 scientific studies were included in this review. This literature review found insufficient empirical evidence to support the application of KT in golf-induced low back pain management. Although the subjects' contextual effects should not be overlooked, the reasoning behind how KT physiologically affects target injury sites remains unclear. Further research is suggested to examine the effectiveness of KT in treating golf induced CLBP.

This dissertation was 2 parts of investigations of various acute responses to high-volume combined accentuated eccentric loading and rest redistribution (AEL + RR). Resistance-trained men (n = 12, 25.6 ± 4.4 years, 1.77 ± 0.06 m, 81.7 ± 11.4 kg) completed a back squat (BS) 1 repetition maximum (1RM) and weight releaser familiarization session. Three BS exercise conditions (sets × repetitions × eccentric/concentric loading) comprised AEL + RR 5: 3 × (5 × 2) × 110/60%, AEL + RR 2: 3 × (2 × 5) × 110/60%, and traditional sets (TS): 3 × (1 × 10) × 60/60% 1RM. The AEL + RR 5 resulted in significantly (p < 0.05) greater concentric peak velocity (PV) (1.18 ± 0.17 m∙s–1) and power (PP) (2,304 ± 499 W) compared to AEL + RR 2 (1.11 ± 0.19 m∙s–1 and 2,148 ± 512 W) and TS (1.10 ± 0.14 m∙s–1 and 2,079 ± 388 W). Furthermore, AEL + RR 5 resulted in significantly greater PV and PP across all 10 repetitions compared to TS. Although AEL + RR 5 resulted in significantly greater concentric mean force (MF) (1,706 ± 224 N) compared with AEL + RR 2 (1,697 ± 209 N) and TS (1,685 ± 211 N), no condition by set or repetition interactions were found. The AEL + RR 5 yielded greater total volume load (sets × repetitions × eccentric + concentric loading) (6630.1 ± 1210.4 kg) compared with AEL + RR 2 (5944.3 ± 1085.2 kg) and TS (5487.0 ± 1001.7 kg). The AEL + RR 5 led to significantly (p < 0.05) greater rating of perceived exertion (RPE) after set 2 and 3 and lower blood lactate (BL) after set 3, 5-, 15-, and 25-minute post-exercise than AEL + RR 2 and TS. There was a main effect of condition for BL between AEL + RR 5 (5.11 ± 2.90 mmol∙L–1), AEL + RR 2 (6.23 ± 3.22 mmol∙L–1), and TS (6.15 ± 3.17 mmol∙L–1). In summary, AEL + RR 5 results in unique acute mechanical, physiological, and perceptual responses in high-volume BS exercise.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects a substantial percentage of reproductive-aged females. Diagnosis criteria include irregular ovulation, elevated androgens, and polycystic ovaries. PCOS often presents with metabolic and reproductive symptoms, with insulin resistance being a symptom that exacerbates metabolic issues. Exercise as a non-pharmacological intervention is featured in the literature on management of PCOS. The objective of this thesis is to explore the role of exercising in mitigating insulin resistance in women with PCOS. A search for relevant articles that included different exercise methods such as high intensity training was completed using CINAHL and Medline. High intensity training appears to have a more comprehensive effect on metabolic levels, though other exercises offer benefits. Further research should include large and diverse sample sizes, longer research duration, and focus on defining an optimal exercise guideline for women with PCOS.

Children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may not be meeting the recommended amounts of physical activity (PA) or obtain a sufficient amount of sleep, however, few studies have objectively compared PA, sedentary behavior, and sleep quality between typically developing (TD) youth, and youth with ASD. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare levels of PA, sedentary behavior, and sleep quality between youth with ASD and TD youth. Twenty-three children with ASD and 12 TD children wore the Actigraph GT9X accelerometer over seven days and nights to assess activity and sleep. Youth with ASD had significantly greater levels of sedentary behavior (p=.02), and had less sleep efficiency compared to TD youth (p=.0001). Additionally, TD youth were more likely to achieve the recommended levels of PA compared to youth with ASD (p=.003). Results suggest that youth with ASD have poorer health habits compared to TD youth. Interventions should be developed to target health behaviors in youth with ASD.

The research seeks to understand and explain the impact, if any, on the transition out of sport, based on the level of commitment to sport being a Collegiate Athlete. Interest for this study came from personal experience as an athlete, as well as knowing numerous athletes who have gone or are going through, questioning their Identity once their playing days came to an end. This study includes extant literature discussing Athletic Identity. It offers a different perspective than other studies working through grief and loss after losing the ability to play a sport. The purpose of this study is to offer possible explanations and resources to deal with the problem of Identity Crisis in a post-athletic career. Here, Identity Crisis will be defined as a “personal psychosocial conflict, especially in adolescence that involves confusion about one's social role and often a sense of loss of continuity to one's personality” (Merriam-Webster's dictionary). This is currently being brought to light with the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this study will describe the effects of transitioning out of sport through the Kübler-Ross “Grief and Loss cycle” of an athlete. This study is intended to be a resource for collegiate athletes, coaches, trainers, administrators, parents, and counselors to be better prepared to help athletes with this transition.

The second most common lumbosacral diagnosis in the United States is a herniation or prolapse of the intervertebral disc. Individuals with herniated discs can have a wide variety of clinical presentations, ranging from asymptomatic to severe spinal cord compression and pain. Studies suggest that an individual’s pre-existing perception of a condition is likely to influence their course of recovery. Currently, perceptions the general public holds regarding the consequences of disc herniation is unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess current views regarding disc herniations in the general population with their reported prevalence and clinical outcome. This was determined via an electronic Qualtrics survey. This survey included demographic questions, medical history questions, disk herniation perception questions, and coping/resilience questions. Upon conclusion of survey administration, data analysis was performed via JASP. A key finding of this study was that resilience levels play a major role in participant’s views on herniated intervertebral discs (p=0.040). Participants with greater resilience levels had views on disc herniations that were more consistent with the findings in the literature (p=0.018). This may implicate low resilience levels in negative catastrophizing, which can impair the recovery process for patients. Due to this, healthcare providers should further consider a patient’s mental characteristics such as resilience and coping style when administering treatment. By further educating patients on their specific prognosis for a disc herniation, providers may be able to improve their overall perception of herniated discs, leading to a possible improvement in outcome.

No description available.

<p>Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a common chronic disease that often occurs in older adults, affecting their quality of life. The purposes of this study were to examine 1) the relationship between physical activity and medial tibial cartilage volume and thickness in participants with clinical knee OA; and 2) the test-retest reliability of daily step counts produced by participants with knee OA.</p> <p>The study included 34 participants (age 60.6 ± 6.5 years; body mass index 28.5 ± 5.4 kg/m²). Dependent variables were medial tibial cartilage volume and thickness, measured from magnetic resonance images. Independent variables were average step counts and average time spent in light intensity activity, measured with an accelerometer. These data were then was analyzed using linear and second degree polynomial regression analyses to determine the relationship between dependent and independent variables along with age, sex and BMI as covariates. The test-retest reliability of step counts collected over 5 days was evaluated with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).</p> <p>Average time engaged in light intensity activity, average daily step counts, sex and age accounted for 56.3% of the variance in medial tibial cartilage volume. Age and average time in light intensity activity explained 33.2% of the variance in medial tibial cartilage thickness. Results from the second degree polynomial analyses were not significant. The ICC for the daily step counts over first 5 days of 10 hours wear time was 0.929 (95% [CI] =0.883, 0.961).</p> <p>A weak linear relationship existed between physical activity and cartilage volume and thickness within the knee joint. The greatest medial tibial cartilage volume was found in men who were engaged in longer durations of low intensity physical activity. The test-retest of step counts data by participants with knee OA was very reliable over the 5 days. Findings from this study augment current knowledge of knee OA.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

Resistance training has shifted towards a high- vs low-load training approach. Heavier loads are suggested to maximally recruit motor units and optimize strength adaptations, whereas lower loads stimulate hypertrophy. However, a majority of the research has not used a true strength range when assessing load. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to examine and determine significant differences in strength, body composition, and hormonal markers over nine weeks of high- or low-load resistance training. Secondary purposes of the current investigation were to assess and quantify training load for resistance training using sEMG sensor-embedded compression shorts. 17 recreationally-trained males were randomized into two groups with training loads of 30 or 85% 1-RM. Both groups completed nine weeks of whole-body resistance training three days per week, with exercises performed as three sets to failure per movement. Measures were collected at baseline and every three weeks after, including muscle thickness, body composition, isometrics/isokinetic strength, and hormonal status (testosterone and cortisol). Predicted 1-RM testing was performed pre- and post-training. Both groups demonstrated significant hypertrophy and strength, although the 85% showed greater improvements in the predicted 1-RM and the isokinetic peak torque values. There were also significant differences between groups for muscle load and training load as measured by the wearables, indicating the technology was able to differentiate between resistance training intensities. However, there were no changes in any of the hormonal markers either in basal levels or acutely post-exercise. Overall, our results suggest a similar hypertrophy and hormone response occurs in both low- and high-load groups when training to failure, but the high-load results in greater strength improvements and higher muscle load output when measured by wearable technology.