Assessing Head Acceleration Events in Female Community Rugby Union Players: A Cohort Study Using Instrumented Mouthguards.

Background: The rapid growth of women's rugby union has underscored the need for female-specific player welfare protocols, particularly regarding the risk of head injuries. Instrumented mouthguards (iMGs) play a vital role in gathering comprehensive data on head acceleration events (HAEs), including their frequency, magnitude, and spatial distribution during games and training. By doing so, iMGs offer valuable context for circumstances in women's matches that may increase player risk.

When to Pull the Trigger: Conceptual Considerations for Approximating Head Acceleration Events Using Instrumented Mouthguards.

Head acceleration events (HAEs) are acceleration responses of the head following external short-duration collisions. The potential risk of brain injury from a single high-magnitude HAE or repeated occurrences makes them a significant concern in sport. Instrumented mouthguards (iMGs) can approximate HAEs.

Instrumented Mouthguards in Elite-Level Men's and Women's Rugby Union: The Incidence and Propensity of Head Acceleration Events in Matches.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine head acceleration event (HAE) propensity and incidence during elite-level men's and women's rugby union matches.

Methods: Instrumented mouthguards (iMGs) were fitted in 92 male and 72 female players from nine elite-level clubs and three international teams. Data were collected during 406 player matches (239 male, 167 female) using iMGs and video analysis.

Head Acceleration Events in Male Community Rugby Players: An Observational Cohort Study across Four Playing Grades, from Under-13 to Senior Men.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the cumulative head acceleration event (HAE) exposure in male rugby players from the Under-13 (U13) to senior club level over 4 weeks of matches and training during the 2021 community rugby season.

Methods: This prospective, observational cohort study involved 328 male rugby players. Players were representative of four playing grades: U13 (N = 60, age 12.

Digital Technologies for Women's Pelvic Floor Muscle Training to Manage Urinary Incontinence Across Their Life Course: Scoping Review.

Background: Women with urinary incontinence (UI) may consider using digital technologies (DTs) to guide pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) to help manage their symptoms. DTs that deliver PFMT programs are readily available, yet uncertainty exists regarding whether they are scientifically valid, appropriate, and culturally relevant and meet the needs of women at specific life stages.

Objective: This scoping review aims to provide a narrative synthesis of DTs used for PFMT to manage UI in women across their life course.

Anticipatory head control mechanisms in response to impact perturbations: An investigation of club rugby players with and without a history of concussion injury.

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to examine rugby players anticipatory and compensatory head control during predictable and unpredictable impact events.

Methods: An observational cross-sectional study design. Fifty-one (17_healthy 34_concussion) male rugby players were exposed to external predictable and unpredictable impact perturbations at mid-chest level.

Influence of the frame of reference on head acceleration events recorded by instrumented mouthguards in community rugby players.

Objectives: To highlight the need for standardisation in the communication of head impact telemetry from instrumented mouthguards (iMG). The purpose of this study is to examine how the frame of reference for reporting head acceleration events (HAE) may affect the interpretation of head impacts recorded from iMGs in community rugby players.

Methods: An analytical investigation of 825 video verified HAEs recorded from male community players during 5 rugby match exposures.

Management of women with pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain: an international Delphi study.

Objectives: Pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PPGP) contributes to significant prenatal and postpartum impairments; however, various clinical practices exist around the conservative treatment of this condition. This study sought to reach a consensus on the essential components of PPGP management through an international Delphi survey of experts in women's health.

Design And Participants: Eighty-seven international experts in the field of PPGP were invited to participate and surveyed over three rounds.

A multivariate model for predicting PPGP considering postural adjustment parameters.

Background: Prospective studies have described evidence about the risk of developing pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PPGP) such as, parity, previous history of low back and pelvic girdle pain. No previous studies have prospectively associated PPGP with postural control.

Aim: This study aimed to identify postural control predictors of PPGP during pregnancy.

Anticipatory postural control differs between low back pain and pelvic girdle pain patients in the absence of visual feedback.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of vision on anticipatory postural control (APA) responses in two groups of clinically diagnosed chronic low back pain patients, those with Posterior Pelvic Girdle pain and those with Non-Specific Low Back Pain compared to a matched group of healthy controls during the modified Trendelenburg task.

Methods: Seventy-eight volunteer participants (60 females and 18 males) gave informed consent to take part in this study. 39 with confirmed LBP or PGP lasting longer than 12 weeks and 39 healthy matched controls performed 40 single leg lift tasks (hip flexion to 90° as quickly as possible) with their non-dominant lower limb.

Is Pelvic Floor Dysfunction Associated With Development of Transient Low Back Pain During Prolonged Standing? A Protocol.

Background: Prolonged standing has been associated with an increased prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and is recognized as a potential workplace hazard for employees such as retail staff, assembly line workers, and healthcare personnel. Low back pain is more prevalent in women than in men, and disability due to LBP is worse in women with severe urinary incontinence. However, it is unclear whether pelvic floor dysfunction observed in stress urinary incontinence is a risk factor for LBP.

Assessing the construct validity of clinical tests to identify sacroiliac joint inflammation in patients with non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis.

Aim: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to identify sacroiliac joint (SIJ) inflammation and provide an earlier diagnosis of nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nrAxSpA). However, MRI is frequently a resource-limited examination. Our aim was to assess if a set of physical clinical tests can identify SIJ inflammation in patients with nrAxSpA.

Sex differences in anticipatory postural adjustments during rapid single leg lift.

The aim of this study was to assess the influence of sex on the kinetic, kinematic and neuromuscular correlates of anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) during a single leg lift task performed by healthy participants. Fifty healthy age and body mass index matched participants (25 women and 25 men) performed 20 single leg lift task (hip flexion to 90 ° as quickly as possible) with their dominant and their non-dominant lower limbs. A force plate was used to determine the medial-lateral displacement of the center of pressure (COP), and the initiation of weight shift (T); kinematics was used to determine leg lift (T); and electromyography was used to determine onset times from eight muscles: bilateral external oblique, internal oblique and lumbar multifidus, and unilateral (stance limb) gluteus maximus and biceps femoris.

Reliability of surface electromyography activity of gluteal and hamstring muscles during sub-maximal and maximal voluntary isometric contractions.

Background: Normalizing to a reference signal is essential when analysing and comparing electromyography signals across or within individuals. However, studies have shown that MVC testing may not be as reliable in persons with acute and chronic pain.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the test-retest reliability of the muscle activity in the biceps femoris and gluteus maximus between a novel sub-MVC and standard MVC protocols.

Innominate segment deformation during passive hip abduction and external rotation.

Background: Electromagnetic palpation-digitization technique for measurement of innominate motion involves calculation of innominate rotation using the innominate vector length in the neutral (NEUT) and combined hip abduction and external rotation (HABER) test positions. The innominate vector length [i.e.

Concurrent validity and reliability of using ground reaction force and center of pressure parameters in the determination of leg movement initiation during single leg lift.

Postural adjustment evaluations during single leg lift requires the initiation of heel lift (T1) identification. T1 measured by means of motion analyses system is the most reliable approach. However, this method involves considerable workspace, expensive cameras, and time processing data and setting up laboratory.

Gluteus medius coactivation response in field hockey players with and without low back pain.

Objectives: To examine the effect of prolonged standing on gluteus medius coactivation and to observe whether the changes in gluteus medius coactivation over time were related to the development of low back pain in elite female field hockey players.

Design: Prospective cohort design.

Methods: Participants were 39 elite female field hockey players (14 with a history of low back pain).

Role of Physical Evaluation in the Early Identification of Axial Spondyloarthritis: A Research Proposal.

The aim of this study was to present a rationale to explore the use of clinical tests for the sacroiliac joints to detect early axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) and to suggest a protocol to validate these clinical tests. Based on the European Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatments of Pelvic Girdle Pain, we propose a set of six clinical tests to identify the likely presence of inflammation in the sacroiliac joints associated with early axial SpA. As magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the current gold standard used to identify inflammation in the sacroiliac joints, the results of the proposed set of clinical tests are compared with those from the MRI examinations.

Does repeated palpation-digitization of pelvic landmarks for measurement of innominate motion introduce a systematic error?--A psychometric investigation.

Background: Palpation-digitization technique for measurement of innominate motion involves repeated manual palpation-digitization of pelvic landmarks, which could introduce a systematic variation between subsequent trials and thereby influence final innominate angular measurement.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to quantify the effect of repeated palpation-digitization errors on overall variability of innominate vector length measurements; and to determine if there is a systematic variation between subsequent repeated trials.

Method: A single group repeated measures study, using four testers and fourteen healthy participants, was conducted.

Construct validity of clinical spinal mobility tests in ankylosing spondylitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The study aimed to determine, using systematic review and meta-analysis, the level of evidence supporting the construct validity of spinal mobility tests for assessing patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Following the guidelines proposed in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses, three sets of keywords were used for data searching: (i) ankylosing spondylitis, spondyloarthritis, spondyloarthropathy, spondylarthritis; (ii) accuracy, association, construct, correlation, Outcome Measures in Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Trials, OMERACT, truth, validity; (iii) mobility, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index-BASMI, radiography, spinal measures, cervical rotation, Schober (a further 19 keywords were used). Initially, 2558 records were identified, and from these, 21 studies were retained.

Can hip abduction and external rotation discriminate sacroiliac joint pain?

Aim: The primary aim of the study is to determine if Hip Abduction and External Rotation (HABER) test is capable of reproducing familiar pain in individuals with low back pain (LBP) of sacroiliac joint (SIJ) origin (SIJ-positive) when compared with LBP of Non-SIJ origin (SIJ-negative). If so, the secondary aim is to determine the diagnostic accuracy of HABER test against the reference standard of pain provocation tests, and to determine which increments of the HABER test has highest sensitivity and specificity for identifying SIJ-positive individuals.

Design: Single-blinded diagnostic accuracy study.

Innominate movement patterns, rotation trends and range of motion in individuals with low back pain of sacroiliac joint origin.

Background: Innominate kinematic anomalies resulting in low back pain (LBP) of sacroiliac joint (SIJ) origin (SIJ-positive), has always been a topic of contention, owing to difficultly in its evaluation. Recent technique of electromagnetic palpation-digitization has been able to accurately quantify innominate kinematics in healthy individuals.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to determine if participants with LBP of SIJ origin (SIJ-positive) demonstrate significantly different innominate kinematics than participants with LBP of non-SIJ origin (SIJ-negative).

Asymmetric pelvic bracing and altered kinematics in patients with posterior pelvic pain who present with postural muscle delay.

Background: The purpose of the study was to examine the muscle activity and hip-spine kinematics in a group of individuals diagnosed with posterior pelvic girdle pain and confirmed postural muscle delay during a repeated fast hip flexion task.

Methods: Twenty-four (12 pain and 12 control) age and sex matched participants performed a repeated fast hip flexion task to auditory signal. Surface EMG activity in the external and internal oblique, the multifidus, the gluteus maximus and biceps femoris in the stance-limb was examined for onset timing and EMG integral.

Criterion-concurrent validity of spinal mobility tests in ankylosing spondylitis: a systematic review of the literature.

Objective: To examine the level of evidence for criterion-concurrent validity of spinal mobility assessments in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

Methods: Guidelines proposed in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses were used to undertake a search strategy involving 3 sets of keywords: accura*, truth, valid*; ankylosing spondylitis, spondyloarthritis, spondyloarthropathy, spondylarthritis; mobility, spinal measure*, (a further 16 keywords with similar meaning were used). Seven databases were searched from their inception to February 2014: AMED, Embase, ProQuest, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, and Web of Science.