Preliminary Report on the Train the Brain Project, Part II: Neuroplasticity of Augmented Neuromuscular Training and Improved Injury-Risk Biomechanics.

Context: Neuromuscular training (NMT) facilitates the acquisition of new movement patterns that reduce the anterior cruciate ligament injury risk. However, the neural mechanisms underlying these changes are unknown.

Objective: To determine the relationship between brain activation and biomechanical changes after NMT with biofeedback.

Sex Moderates the Relationship between Perceptual-Motor Function and Single-Leg Squatting Mechanics.

To examine the isolated and combined effects of sex and perceptual-motor function on single-leg squatting mechanics in males and females. We employed a cross-sectional design in a research laboratory. Fifty-eight females (22.

A preliminary investigation of the effects of patellar displacement on brain activation and perceived pain in young females with patellofemoral pain.

Objectives: To identify the neural substrates of a clinician-based test and associated pain perception in young female athletes with patellofemoral pain.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Methods: Females with patellofemoral pain (n = 14; 14.

Attitudes and behaviors of physical activity in children: Findings from the Play, Lifestyle & Activity in Youth (PLAY) Questionnaire.

Background: The identified domains of child physical literacy include knowledge/understanding, behavior, motivation/confidence, and physical competency. Understanding physical literacy is critical to moving forward intervention efforts surrounding physical inactivity.

Objectives: To investigate physical literacy domains by presenting responses to the Play, Lifestyle & Activity in Youth (PLAY) questionnaire and analyze the relationship between comparable questions in the child and parent sections.

Quantification of Global Myoelectric Spatial Activations to Delineate Normal Hamstring Function at Progressive Running Speeds: A Technical Report.

Schlink, BR, Nordin, AD, Diekfuss, JA, and Myer, GD. Quantification of global myoelectric spatial activations to delineate normal hamstring function at progressive running speeds: A technical report. J Strength Cond Res 36(3): 867-870, 2022-Hamstring function is critical to maintain sport performance, and strain injuries to the biceps femoris muscle commonly force an athlete to withdraw from their sport while the muscle heals.

The Effects of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms on the Association between Head Impacts and Post-Season Neurocognitive and Behavioral Outcomes.

Objective: Having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a risk factor for concussion that impacts concussion diagnosis and recovery. The relationship between ADHD and repetitive subconcussive head impacts on neurocognitive and behavioral outcomes is less well known. This study evaluated the role of ADHD as a moderator of the association between repetitive head impacts on neurocognitive test performance and behavioral concussion symptoms over the course of an athletic season.

Effect of Subconcussive Head Impact Exposure and Jugular Vein Compression on Behavioral and Cognitive Outcomes after a Single Season of High-School Football: A Prospective Longitudinal Trial.

This prospective longitudinal trial aimed to (1) determine the role of head impact exposure on behavioral/cognitive outcomes, and (2) assess the protective effect(s) of a jugular vein compression (JVC) collar on behavioral/cognitive outcomes after one season of high-school football. Participants included 284 male high-school football players aged 13-18 years enrolled from seven Midwestern high-schools. Schools were allocated to the JVC collar intervention (four teams, 140 players) or no collar/no intervention control (three teams, 144 players) condition.

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Newer Helmet Designs with Emergent Shell and Padding Technologies Versus Older Helmet Models for Preserving White Matter Following a Season of High School Football.

We aimed to objectively compare the effects of wearing newer, higher-ranked football helmets (HRank) vs. wearing older, lower-ranked helmets (LRank) on pre- to post-season alterations to neuroimaging-derived metrics of athletes' white matter. Fifty-four high-school athletes wore an HRank helmet, and 62 athletes wore an LRank helmet during their competitive football season and completed pre- and post-season diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).

Relationship Between Cognitive Performance and Lower Extremity Biomechanics: Implications for Sports-Related Concussion.

Background: Collegiate athletes with prior sports-related concussion (SRC) are at increased risk for lower extremity (LE) injuries; however, the biomechanical and cognitive mechanisms underlying the SRC-LE injury relationship are not well understood.

Purpose: To examine the association between cognitive performance and LE land-and-cut biomechanics among collegiate athletes with and without a history of SRC and to determine the association among multiple cognitive testing batteries in the same athlete cohort.

Study Design: Controlled laboratory study.

Does central nervous system dysfunction underlie patellofemoral pain in young females? Examining brain functional connectivity in association with patient-reported outcomes.

Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is defined as retro- or peri-patellar knee pain without a clear structural abnormality. Unfortunately, many current treatment approaches fail to provide long-term pain relief, potentially due to an incomplete understanding of pain-disrupted sensorimotor dysfunction within the central nervous system. The purposes of this study were to evaluate brain functional connectivity in participants with and without PFP, and to determine the relationship between altered brain functional connectivity in association with patient-reported outcomes.

High School Sports-Related Concussion and the Effect of a Jugular Vein Compression Collar: A Prospective Longitudinal Investigation of Neuroimaging and Neurofunctional Outcomes.

Sports-related concussion (SRC) can exert serious acute and long-term consequences on brain microstructure, function, and behavioral outcomes. We aimed to quantify the alterations in white matter (WM) microstructure and global network organization, and the decrements in behavioral and cognitive outcomes from pre-season to post-concussion in youth athletes who experienced SRC. We also aimed to evaluate whether wearing a jugular compression neck collar, a device designed to mitigate brain "slosh" injury, would mitigate the pre-season to post-concussion alterations in neuroimaging, behavioral, and cognitive outcomes.

Systematically Increased External Loads Secured Inferior to Younger and Older Adults' Center of Mass Improves Postural Control without Compromising Functional Motor Performance.

Few studies have investigated the effect of external loads secured inferior to the center of mass (COM) on postural control and motor performance in younger and older adults. In the present study, we investigated the effect of systematically increased external loads secured inferior to the COM on young (N = 15, age [years]: M = 26.67, 45) and older adults' (N = 15, age [years]: M = 67.

Loss of Motor Stability After Sports-Related Concussion: Opportunities for Motor Learning Strategies to Reduce Musculoskeletal Injury Risk.

Current best practices to direct recovery after sports-related concussion (SRC) typically require asymptomatic presentation at both rest and during a graduated exercise progression, and cognitive performance resolution. However, this standard of care results in a significantly elevated risk for musculoskeletal (MSK) injury after return-to-sport (RTS). The elevated risk is likely secondary to, in part, residual neurophysiological and dual-task motor stability deficits that remain despite RTS.

White Matter Alteration Following SWAT Explosive Breaching Training and the Moderating Effect of a Neck Collar Device: A DTI and NODDI Study.

Introduction: Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) personnel who practice breaching with blast exposure are at risk for blast-related head trauma. We aimed to investigate the impact of low-level blast exposure on underlying white matter (WM) microstructure based on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and neurite orientation and density imaging (NODDI) in SWAT personnel before and after breacher training. Diffusion tensor imaging is an advanced MRI technique sensitive to underlying WM alterations.

The effect of attentional focus on movement accuracy in an immersive and interactive virtual reality environment.

The effects of attentional focus (AF) instruction were examined in a reciprocal aiming task implemented in a 3-dimensional, fully immersive virtual environment (VE). Within the VE, participants (N = 19) moved a cube between two targets at two paces (750 ms and 500 ms) while being asked to focus externally (EXF) and internally (INF). Performance accuracy was measured as two-dimensional error and its variability between the center of the target to the center of the cube and one-dimensional bias (undershooting/overshooting behavior in the anteroposterior and mediolateral directions).

Integrated 3D motion analysis with functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging to identify neural correlates of lower extremity movement.

Background: To better understand the neural drivers of aberrant motor control, methods are needed to identify whole brain neural correlates of isolated joints during multi-joint lower-extremity coordinated movements. This investigation aimed to identify the neural correlates of knee kinematics during a unilateral leg press task.

New Method: The current study utilized an MRI-compatible motion capture system in conjunction with a lower extremity unilateral leg press task during fMRI.