Neural Mechanisms Associated With Postural Control in Collegiate Soccer and Non-Soccer Athletes.

Background And Purpose: Sport-specific training may improve postural control, while repetitive head acceleration events (RHAEs) may compromise it. Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying postural control may contextualize changes due to training and RHAE. The goal of this study was to determine whether postural sway during the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) is related to white matter organization (WMO) in collegiate athletes.

Cognitive and Behavioral Outcomes in Male and Female NCAA Soccer Athletes across Multiple Years: A CARE Consortium Study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine changes in neurocognitive, psychosocial, and balance functioning in collegiate male and female soccer players across three consecutive years of baseline testing compared with a control group of noncontact athletes.

Methods: Generalized estimating equations were used to compare changes in annual, preseason baseline measures of neurocognitive function, neurobehavioral and psychological symptoms, and postural stability between collegiate soccer players ( n = 75; 51 [68%] female soccer players) and noncontact athletes ( n = 210; 133 [63%] female noncontact athletes) across three consecutive years.

Results: Among all participants, the group-time interaction was not significant for any outcome measures.

A standardized method for quantifying and characterizing repetitive head impacts in soccer matches using video footage.

Soccer athletes experience repetitive head impacts (RHI) through purposeful heading and unintentional head impacts, which may be associated with acute and chronic brain injury. Previous soccer studies have sought to quantify and characterize RHI, but to-date no consistent, standardized methods exist. The Heads-Up Checklist (HUC), originally used for characterizing head impacts in hockey, was modified to be used in soccer (soccer HUC [SHUC]).

The relation between neck strength and psychological distress: preliminary evidence from collegiate soccer athletes.

Aim: To examine whether neck strength and symmetry are associated with psychological function in athletes with exposure to repetitive head impacts.

Methods: Collegiate soccer (n = 29) and limited/noncontact (n = 63) athletes without a history of concussion completed the Brief Symptom Inventory 18 and assessments of isometric neck strength. Neck strength symmetry was calculated as the difference in strength between opposing muscle groups.

The ENIGMA sports injury working group:- an international collaboration to further our understanding of sport-related brain injury.

Sport-related brain injury is very common, and the potential long-term effects include a wide range of neurological and psychiatric symptoms, and potentially neurodegeneration. Around the globe, researchers are conducting neuroimaging studies on primarily homogenous samples of athletes. However, neuroimaging studies are expensive and time consuming, and thus current findings from studies of sport-related brain injury are often limited by small sample sizes.

The Potential Role of the Cervical Spine in Sports-Related Concussion: Clinical Perspectives and Considerations for Risk Reduction.

Sports-related concussion (SRC) occurs due to biomechanical forces to the head or neck that can result in pathophysiological changes in the brain. The musculature of the cervical spine has been identified as one potential factor in reducing SRC risk as well as for underlying sex differences in SRC rates. Recent research has demonstrated that linear and rotational head acceleration, as well as the magnitude of force upon impact, is influenced by cervical spine biomechanics.

Acute Resistance Exercise Performance Is Negatively Impacted by Prior Aerobic Endurance Exercise.

Ratamess, NA, Kang, J, Porfido, TM, Ismaili, CP, Selamie, SN, Williams, BD, Kuper, JD, Bush, JA, and Faigenbaum, AD. Acute resistance exercise performance is negatively impacted by prior aerobic endurance exercise. J Strength Cond Res 30(10): 2667-2681, 2016-The purpose of the present study was to examine acute resistance exercise (RE) performance after 4 different aerobic endurance (AE) protocols.

Metabolic responses to whole-body vibration: effect of frequency and amplitude.

Purpose: This study assessed the effect of whole-body vibration (WBV) of varying frequency and amplitude on metabolic responses during WBV treatment and subsequent aerobic exercise.

Methods: Eight men and eight women (21.0 ± 1.