by Lucas Rafael Lopes, Giuliana Rodrigues de Souza, Rodrigo Araujo Goes, Marcus Vinicius Galvão Amaral, João Antonio Matheus Guimarães, Victor Rodrigues Amaral Cossich and Jamila Alessandra Perini
Original Research
The crisis time generated negative impacts in sports. This study aimed to investigate the main psychological symptoms and the resilience profile of Brazilian athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted, involving 474 athletes from different sports, who completed an online self-reported questionnaire about their sociodemographic and sports profile, COVID-19 clinical profile, life and health habits, profile psychological and resilience. A total of the 441 athletes (93%) reported some impairment of mental health: 81% concern, 68% stress, 63% mood change, 61% anxiety, 50% insomnia, 48% pessimism, 47% fear, 40% sadness, 13% depression, and 7% panic. The lower family income was associated with concern (p=0.02), insomnia (p=0.05), fear (p=0.05) and sadness (p=0.05). The depression was associated with lower family income (OR=3.7 CI95%=1.4-9.5), changes in financial income (OR=2 CI95%=1.1-3.8), not able to adapt training (OR=2.8 CI95%=1.5-5.0), and musculoskeletal injuries (OR=2.6 CI95%=1.1-3.8). The mean resilience score in all athletes was 130±14 points and the group with a low resilience score (up to 125 points) showed more anxiety, pessimism, concern, depression, fear, insomnia, mood change, panic, sadness, and stress. The score decreased by 1.6 points according to the cumulative psychological outcome (p<0.01). The years of sports practice and weekly training hours were associated with higher resilience scores (above 140 points). The identification of factors associated with the presence of negative psychological symptoms and the resilience of athletes can help monitor post-pandemic mental health, promoting the well-being and quality of life of these individuals, optimizing sports performance, and mitigating the occurrence of injuries.
American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2023, 11(1), 22-28. DOI: 10.12691/ajssm-11-1-3
Pub. Date: July 30, 2023
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by Jocelyn E. Arnett, Robert W. Smith, Tyler J. Neltner, John Paul V. Anders, Dolores G. Ortega, Terry J. Housh, Richard J. Schmidt and Glen O. Johnson
Original Research
The purpose of this study was to compare the composite, inter-individual, and intra-individual differences in the fatigue-induced torque, electromyographic (EMG), and mechanomyographic (MMG) patterns of responses during sustained, isometric fatiguing tasks anchored to a rating of perceived exertion (RPE) at elbow joint angles (JA) of 75° and 125°. Nine women (age: 21.0±3.0 yrs; height: 169.3±8.1 cm; body mass: 68.4±7.4 kg) performed 2,3s forearm flexion maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVIC) before and after sustained, isometric forearm flexion tasks anchored to RPE = 8 to task failure (defined as torque reduced to zero) at JA75 and JA125. The EMG and MMG signals were recorded from the biceps brachii (BB). Polynomial regression analyses (linear and quadratic) were performed to examine the patterns for the torque, neuromuscular responses, and neuromuscular efficiency (NME) vs. time relationships. Six, separate 2 (Joint Angle: 75° vs 125°) x 2 (Time: Initial vs 5%TTF) repeated measures ANOVAs were performed to assess the mean differences for the torque and neuromuscular parameters values between the initial value and the value at 5%TTF. At JA75, there were significant (p≤0.05) negative torque (quadratic), EMG amplitude (AMP) (linear), EMG mean power frequency (MPF) (quadratic), MMG MPF (linear), and NME (linear) vs. time relationships. At JA125, there were significant (p≤0.05) negative torque (quadratic), EMG AMP (quadratic), EMG MPF (linear), MMG MPF (linear), and NME (linear) vs. time relationships. MMG AMP, however, did not change across time (p≥0.05) at JA75 or JA125. The individual neuromuscular responses varied from the composite data within and between JA75 and JA125. These findings indicated that for torque, joint angle did not affect the composite and individual responses when anchored to RPE = 8. There was, however, substantial inter- and intra-individual variability in the neuromuscular responses that may be specific to the joint angle at which the tasks were performed.
American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2023, 11(1), 7-21. DOI: 10.12691/ajssm-11-1-2
Pub. Date: May 29, 2023
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by Salah Mohamed El Sayed
A 16 year old male football player presented with right anterior knee pain of 3 days duration that was accompanied by tenderness, mild swelling and painful walking after falling down to the ground during a sport game. Right knee joint X-ray revealed no bone fractures or displacement. Orthopedic evaluation revealed no suspicion of a meniscus lesion or cruciate ligaments injuries and there was no need for additional investigations, or an MRI. Biochemically, liver and kidney function tests were normal. Response to non-steroidal analgesics was not satisfactory. The patient was experiencing severe pain upon knee squatting and was not able to do regular walking and knee bending during regular walking. Treatment was initiated using Al-hijamah (wet cupping therapy of prophetic medicine). Al-hijamah works via clearing the tissues and blood from causative pathological substances e.g. pain-causing substances as inflammatory substances, prostaglandins, substance P and others according to the evidence-based Taibah mechanism (Taibah theory). Importantly, cupping therapy was reported to increase the production of heat shock proteins and endogenous opioids (β-endorphins) that act as pain-killers. Cupping therapy is also reported to decrease the serum level of the pain-related substance P. Some previous studies have reported that skin puncturing during Al-hijamah increased the release of endogenous opioids such as endorphins, enkephalins, and dynorphins, which intensified the cupping therapy-induced analgesic effects. Al-hijamah was performed via applying a single medium-sized cup at the tender area at the frontal lower aspect of the right patella that included the whole painful area. The pain immediately resolved and the patient took rest for about 2 days and returned to normal activities including a return to playing football. The patient reported complete resolution of the symptoms in one week’s time with no symptoms recurrence on follow up for several months later. In conclusion, Al-hijamah is a wonderful promising conservative management for treating minor sports trauma and associated pain.
American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2023, 11(1), 1-6. DOI: 10.12691/ajssm-11-1-1
Pub. Date: April 26, 2023
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