Auditory driving of the autonomic nervous system: Listening to theta-frequency binaural beats post-exercise increases parasympathetic activation and sympathetic withdrawal.

Binaural beats are an auditory illusion perceived when two or more pure tones of similar frequencies are presented dichotically through stereo headphones. Although this phenomenon is thought to facilitate state changes (e.g.

Dual choice health insurance policy: a proposal and a cost analysis.

The central issue in the current health care reform is cost. No health care reform can be successful without putting a rein on cost while maintaining a high quality of health care service. We believe one approach to solving the cost and quality issue is to allow patients the option to choose resources that are currently underutilized.

Hypopituitarism after multiple concussions: a retrospective case study in an adolescent male.

Objective: To describe the development of hypopituitarism in an adolescent athlete after multiple concussions and to raise awareness among sports medicine clinicians concerning the growing concern of hypopituitarism in concussion injury surveillance and management.

Background: A 14-year-old, previously healthy male athlete suffered 4 head traumas over a 4-month period. The first 3 traumas were considered by the athlete to be minor and were not reported to medical personnel.

Professional practice in exercise science : the need for greater disciplinary balance.

This article describes the current outlook for professional practice for graduates majoring in exercise science. A review of professional and experimental literature reveals that graduates of undergraduate programmes in exercise science are not as prepared as they should be in order to provide professional and comprehensive advice on exercise and human performance, because of the focused academic and professional requirements of exercise physiology. In contrast to the direction of training in other allied health professions, this trend of narrowing of the exercise science curriculum to focus on exercise physiology, at the expense of other subdisciplines in kinesiology, has contributed to a decreasing scope of practice and lack of uniqueness, and has reduced the effectiveness of exercise science graduates.

Knowledge and imagery of contractile mechanisms do not improve muscle strength.

Improving performance in strength tasks requires modifications charateristic of motor skill learning, such as more efficacious motor-unit firing behavior. Because domain-specific knowledge is integral to learning and performing motor kills, the present purpose was to examine selected factors of strength-specific knowledge and effects they might have on acquiring strength. Following baseline testing for maximal strength on a knee-extension task, participants were matched by sex and strength and placed into control (n=8) and treatment (n=8) groups.

Comments on "the Feldenkrais Method: a dynamic approach to changing motor behavior".

The Feldenkrais Method has recently been discussed to fit within a dynamic systems model of human movement. One basis for this discussion is that small changes in one system--for example, enhanced body awareness--has far reaching implications across the whole of human performance. An alternative view on the Feldenkrais Method is argued here.

Sampling rate effects on surface EMG timing and amplitude measures.

Objective: To determine if oversampling the surface electromyographic signal provides any benefit in analyzing common electromyographic timing and amplitude measures used in kinesiological studies.

Design: A within subjects (n=8) repeated measures design was used to examine surface electromyographic signals captured under four contraction modes and acquired with five different analog-to-digital sampling rates.

Background: There is a growing trend to sample surface electromyography at rates higher than the Nyquist rate.

Psychophysics in functional strength and power training: review and implementation framework.

Functional training is considered to be training that attempts to mimic the specific physiological demands of real-life activities. Most approaches to functional training, though, omit important factors that contribute to physiological and neuromotor adaptations. Cognitive factors related to sports influence physiological performance, and subsequently, physiological and neuromotor adaptations.