The Graston Technique® is a common treatment that combines a warm-up, Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM), stretching, and strengthening protocols. The treatment is commonly chosen by clinicians to treat musculoskeletal injuries. The purpose of this study was to determine how the Graston Technique® is used in clinical practice by certified athletic trainers to compare to recommendations made by the Graston Technique®. Factors such as time, expense, lack of training in the Graston Technique®, availability of resources, and an overall lack of evidence-based recommendations may have influenced inconsistencies in clinical practice. Although the technique is not always performed according to recommendations, these findings suggest both clinicians and patients report objective and subjective improvements when treating musculoskeletal pathologies regardless of the techniques used.

Title: Walking step coordination characteristic comparison for walking on running simulator and off-road walking. Objectives: Goal of the thesis is to measure, analyze and evaluate data of activity and involvement of lower limb muscles for offroad walking and walking on running simulator. The measured characteristic will be intra-individually and extra-individually compared. Method: Surface polyelectromyography method for data measurement and kineziological movement analysis method for values comparison are used in the thesis. Ten muscles of lower limb (2  5 muscles on left and right lower limb) were chosen. Results: Ten lower limb muscles were chosen and their activity for walking on running simulator and offroad walking was measured by surface polyelectromyography method on ten sportsmen. The results indicate that chosen muscles participate on monitored movement. The analysis shows that the muscles activity follows the same order for each of tested sportsmen independently on the external condition (running simulator and offroad walking). The thesis that correlation of measured values is higher for running simulator have been confirmed. But m.gluteus.med. and m.glut.max. have variation in the activity of the involvement in the field and on the treadmill. Similar results have also m.vastus med....

Title: Reasons why children in pubescence (age 14 - 18) terminate their sport activity at judo competitions Objective: Goal of my dissertation work is to find out possible reasons why children terminate their sport activity at judo competitions in pubescence. Methods: A survey sent to 42 judo trainers and 21 children helped to find out the reasons why children terminate their sport activity at competitions at the age 14 - 18. Results: We have found out that the main reasons are feeling of anxiety before the match, lack of time and demanding studies at high school and university out of the hometown. Keywords: reasons for termination of the sport activity at competitions, trainer, judo, motivation

Background: The rate of overweight and obesity among adolescents aged 12-19 years has quadrupled since 1980. Reducing obesity is a key public health priority, as obesity is associated with individual and population-level health and economic consequences. Afterschool-based obesity prevention programs that aim to develop nutrition and culinary self-efficacy have shown promise. However, the level of aptitude among program instructors is directly correlated with student success, suggesting the importance of effective train-the-trainer (TTT) mechanisms for implementing and scaling up these strategies. Pink and Dude Chefs (PDC) is an afterschool nutrition education and culinary skills program for middle-school adolescents aged between 11-14 years. The PDC online TTT platform trains lay instructors on program content and preparation, lesson delivery, and classroom and kitchen safety. Trained instructors deliver PDC lessons on topics ranging from macronutrients and USDA MyPlate to knife skills and food preparation. The literature on online TTT models and instructor impact on student outcomes is limited and the PDC online training mechanism has not been evaluated. The current project sought to address these critical gaps with the aim of creating the most effective intervention model. Methods: This project was implemented in Santa Maria, Guadalupe, and New Cuyama, California from Fall 2015 to Spring 2016. Eleven instructors and 68 middle school students participated and comprehensive surveys were used to evaluate instructor and student outcomes. Results: Instructors’ performance on all three domains (food and kitchen safety, program knowledge, and overall knowledge) increased following training (45%, 63%, and 53%, respectively), all p≤0.01. Students outcomes (food and kitchen safety, nutrition knowledge, and overall knowledge) also improved following participation (14%, 33%, and 23%, respectively), all p≤0.001. Impact analyses revealed that students with instructors who scored high in overall knowledge performed better than students with low-scoring instructors (p=0.01). Conclusion: If obesity prevention programs that incorporate online TTT mechanisms, such as PDC, continue to show promising outcomes for both instructors and adolescents, larger scale efforts may contribute to decreasing the public health and economic burdens associated with obesity.

The ANPT (Air Navigation Procedures Trainer) is a navigation simulator being developed by Litton Systems (Canada) Limited. The ANPT design is based on the use of two ECLIPSE S/200 minicomputers to supply the background monitoring necessary for the system. This reports deals with the implementation of the software for the processor that will control the navigation simulation hardware of the ANPT. Two major sections of the implementation are covered: the organization phase which details the modules needed to control the hardware and to communicate with the other processor, and the integration phase in which the various modules are linked together with each other and with the hardware in order to obtain a cycling system. The problems that could be encountered during system integration will be discussed along with possible solutions to these problems. / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

The purpose of this study was to increase knowledge of the effects of prenatal substance use and to introduce the special nutritional needs of pregnancy in two counties in a region with high rates of low birth weight and prenatal substance abuse. A comparison of the efficacy of the educational program being delivered by a registered dietitian or by a group of high school students trained by the dietitian was performed. One hundred six high school students participated in the program and took identical pre- and posttests. The tests were compared to measure knowledge gain and were analyzed by paired t-tests. All respondents demonstrated a statistically significant increase in knowledge. The group receiving instruction from the registered dietitian and the group receiving instruction from the trained high school students demonstrated virtually identical gains in knowledge as measured by the testing instruments.

The purpose of the study was to examine the burnout potential of certified athletic trainers (ATCs) working in the regions of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. To determine burnout potential, the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey was used. Permission to modify the inventory was obtained from CPP, Inc. Participants for the research study were identified by searching the NATA membership directory, state athletic training websites and state licensure websites. Sixty-seven ATCs were emailed invitations to participate. Fifty surveys were completed. Of these 50, five were eliminated from statistical analysis. Therefore, 45 surveys were satisfactorily completed producing a usable return rate of 67%. Results of the study indicated that Certified Athletic Trainers in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee reported burnout potential that is similar to other allied health professions. Both the Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization dimensions were in the average range. However, subjects did report high Personal Accomplishment scores that were statistically significantly different from other allied health professions. A significant difference was also found between males and females in the Emotional Exhaustion dimension. No differences were identified among ATCs who worked in different employment settings. The top sources of stress for the entire population were working too many hours (33), salary (30), coaches (27), family conflict (22), and lack of physical resources (18). Even when the data were sorted by gender, many of the variables remained the same. The top 5 sources of stress for female ATCs were: coaches (16), working too many hours (11), salary (12), lack of respect (9), and lack of physical resources (9). The top sources of stress for males were too many hours (22), family conflicts (19), salary (18), coaches (11), and lack of resources (9) respectively.

Very little research is available to identify how attire in the athletic training field impacts perceptions of professional knowledge and competence. The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of attire on high school athletic directors’ perceptions of an athletic trainer’s professional knowledge and competence. The researcher emailed a questionnaire to ninety-four high school athletic directors from the state of California. The questionnaire measured the effect of attire on the perceptions of skills, knowledge, approachability, experience, education level, overall competence, and representation of an athletic trainer and focused on the difference between khaki attire, professional attire, and workout attire in relationship to perceived knowledge and competence. The respondents rated khaki attire highest followed by professional attire and workout attire when evaluating skills, approachability, overall competence, experience, and knowledge. Representation and education level rated khaki attire as the highest, followed by professional attire, and workout attire rated the lowest. These results indicate khaki attire as the most appropriate attire for high school athletic trainers to wear to achieve the highest perceptions of competence and knowledge from high school athletic directors.

Background: The importance of nutrition on athletic performance is evident. Athletic trainers (ATs), nutritionists/RDs, strength and conditioning specialists (SCSs), and other athletic department personnel may be available to student-athletes and can be solicited for nutrition advice. Multiple studies have found that although some universities have a sports nutritionist on staff, student-athletes approached an AT most often for nutrition advice rather than an SCS, nutritionist or other person. ATs have the necessary education to provide proper nutrition information to student-athletes; however, it is not the primary role of an AT. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the quantity, quality and variety of nutrition support offered to Division I student-athletes who participate in football. Additionally, the purpose was to gain the perspective of the AT with regard to their role in educating football players on basic nutrition principles. Design: Cross sectional. Setting: Participants completed a web-based questionnaire. Patients or Other Participants: 253 Division I institutions were identified; from those institutions 120 head ATs were randomly chosen to receive the questionnaire. Responses from 30 (25%) head ATs (Football Bowl Subdivision 53.6%; Football Championship Subdivision 46.4%) were analyzed. Results: A majority (69%, n=20) of the institutions provided access to a nutritionist/RD. When asked who they believed student-athletes would solicit nutritional advice from first, respondents ranked their answers as follows: AT (n=11, 36.7%), SCS (n=10, 33.3%), nutritionist/RD (n=7, 23.3%), and coach (n=2, 6.7%). However, in the Likert scale questions, participants felt between neutral and slight agreement regarding their own responsibility, or that overall, ATs should feel responsible to teach nutrition or promote proper eating habits. In another question, participants were asked who is responsible for educating football players about nutrition at their institution and were able to select more than one response. Participants felt that all three professionals had a fairly high level of responsibility (SCS n=26, 86.7%; AT n=23, 76.7%; nutritionist/RD n=21, 70%). ATs ranked their perception of who helped with management of specific medical issues as follows: AT (n=26, 86.7%), nutritionist/RD (n=21, 70%), physician (n=18, 60%), and SCS (n=3, 10%). FBS institutions seem to provide more nutrition services compared to FCS institutions; 73.7% of FBS institutions are providing access to a nutritionist/RD and whereas only 26.5% of FCS institution provide this service. Conclusions: ATs from our study strongly agreed that nutrition plays an important role in performance. As shown in previous studies, ATs and SCSs were found to be the primary sources of nutrition information for student-athletes in Division I settings. This study gathered the AT’s perspective and perceived roles regarding where student-athletes receive nutrition information from most often. The ATs in this study confirmed that they felt the ATs and SCSs were primarily approached for nutrition advice. Although these ATs responded that the SCSs, ATs, and nutritionist/RDs were all responsible to educate football players at their institutions, the ATs answers were conflicting when they said that they did not feel the ATs role should be responsible for educating football players on nutrition and performance. Because ATs did perceive themselves as qualified, it is suggested that they may feel another professional of the sports medicine team is more appropriate to fill this role. A sports medicine team consisting of ATs, SCSs, nutritionists/RDs and physicians should work together to promote the benefits of nutrition and provide optimal services within their professional scope of their practice. In the absence of one or more professional, effective knowledge and communication must be maintained to assure that the roles of nutrition services are still provided to football players.

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