The Acute Effects of Foam Rolling and Dynamic Stretching on Athletic Performance: A Critically Appraised Topic.

Clinical Scenario: Dynamic stretching and foam rolling are commonly used by athletes to reduce injury and enhance recovery, thereby improving athletic performance. In contrast to dynamic stretching, little research has been conducted on the acute effects of foam rolling as part of the preexercise warm-up routine. Previously, when researchers implemented foam rolling with static stretching as a warm-up, some found that foam rolling slightly improved flexibility and performance outcomes.

Lack of neuromuscular origins of adaptation after a long-term stretching program.

Context: Static stretching is commonly used during the treatment and rehabilitation of orthopedic injuries to increase joint range of motion (ROM) and muscle flexibility. Understanding the physiological adaptations that occur in the neuromuscular system as a result of long-term stretching may provide insight into the mechanisms responsible for changes in flexibility.

Objective: To examine possible neurological origins and adaptations in the Ia-reflex pathway that allow for increases in flexibility in ankle ROM, by evaluating the reduction in the synaptic transmission of Ia afferents to the motoneuron pool.

Validity and reliability of limits-of-stability testing: a comparison of 2 postural stability evaluation devices.

Context: A lack of published comparisons between measures from commercially available computerized posturography devices and the outcome measures used to define the limits of stability (LOS) makes meaningful interpretation of dynamic postural stability measures difficult.

Objectives: To compare postural stability measures between and within devices to establish concurrent and construct validity and to determine test-retest reliability for LOS measures generated by the NeuroCom Smart Balance Master and the Biodex Balance System.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Intersession reliability of Hoffmann reflex gain and presynaptic inhibition in the human soleus muscle.

Unlabelled: Hayes BT, Hicks-Little CA, Harter RA, Widrick JJ, Hoffman MA. Intersession reliability of Hoffmann reflex gain and presynaptic inhibition in the human soleus muscle.

Objective: To determine the day-to-day reliability of Hoffmann reflex (H-reflex) gain and presynaptic inhibition of spinal reflexes in the human soleus muscle.

The interrelationships among sex hormone concentrations, motoneuron excitability, and anterior tibial displacement in women and men.

Context: Sex hormone fluctuations have been implicated as a contributing factor to the high rates of noncontact injury to the anterior cruciate ligament in females.

Objective: To determine the strength of the relationships among variables of sex hormone concentrations, motoneuron excitability, and anterior tibial displacement (ATD) in women and men and to determine if these relationships differ between the sexes.

Design: Cohort study.

Shoulder joint position sense after thermal, open, and arthroscopic capsulorrhaphy for recurrent anterior instability.

Identifying the optimal surgical treatment for recurrent, anterior glenohumeral instability remains a challenge. Our purpose was to compare shoulder joint position sense among open, arthroscopic, and thermal capsulorrhaphy patients after repair of recurrent anterior instability and to compare these patients to healthy, control subjects. Sixty-seven adults (45 post-surgical patients, 22 controls) volunteered to participate in the study.