Balance tests are commonly used in clinical practice with applicability in injury prevention and return to sport decisions. While most sports injuries occur in a changing environment where reacting to a non-planned stimulus is of great importance, these balance tests only evaluate pre-planned movements without taking these dynamics environmental aspects into account. Therefore, the goal of this paper was to describe the development of a clinician-friendly test that respects these contextual interactions and to describe the test protocol of an adapted Y-balance test that includes environmental perception and decision-making.
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Self‐regulatory skills: Are they helpful in the prevention of overuse injuries in talented tennis players?
Talented athletes use metacognitive skills to improve their performance. Also, it is known that these skills are important for managing one's health. The goal of this study was to identify the relationship between metacognitive skills and overuse injuries in talented tennis players.
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Injury prevention by app or paper? Athletes say both options are fine.
Better late than never .. this one was published some months ago, but we failed to share it yet. The “Strengthen Your Ankle” neuromuscular training program has been thoroughly studied over the past 8 years. This process evaluation is a part of a randomized controlled trial that examined both the short- and long-term effectiveness of this particular program. Although it was shown previously that the program, available both in a printed booklet and as a mobile app, is able to effectively reduce the number of recurrent ankle sprains, participants’ compliance with the program is an ongoing challenge. This process evaluation explored participants’ opinions regarding both methods of delivery.
Read MorePlayers’ Experiences of Barriers and Facilitators of the Immediate Management of Rugby-Related Acute Spinal Cord Injury
Another one of our qualitative studies just got published. It is good to see that the value and importance of this important methodology is gaining attention. In this study Marelise Badenhorst applied a qualitative approach to describe rugby players’ perceptions of the immediate management of rugby-related acute spinal cord injuries (ASCIs). These findings are relevant for all rugby stakeholders and may help shape education, awareness, and future policy around the immediate management of ASCIs.
Read MoreNo evidence-based criteria exist to inform return to sport decisions after lateral ankle sprains
Just published in Sports Medicine, this systematic review was to identify prospective studies that used a criteria-based return to sport (RTS) decision-making process for patients with lateral ankle sprain (LAS) injury. We found that currently there are no published evidence-based criteria to inform RTS decisions for patients with an LAS injury. A narrative synthesis proposed a number of variables that could be used to develop a criteria-based RTS decision paradigm.
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