Prospective studies on risk factors for lower extremity injury are reviewed. Many intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors have been implicated; however, there is little agreement with respect to the findings. Future prospective studies are needed using sufficient sample sizes of males and females, including collection of exposure data, and using established methods for identifying and classifying injury severity to conclusively determine addtional risk factors for lower extremity injury.

These data show efficacy for this cherry juice in decreasing some of the symptoms of exercise induced muscle damage. Most notably, strength loss averaged over the four days after eccentric exercise was 22% with the placebo but only 4% with the cherry juice.

Unfamiliar, predominantly eccentric exercise, frequently results in muscle damage. A repeated bout of similar eccentric exercise results in less damage and is referred to as the 'repeated bout effect'. Despite numerous studies that have clearly demonstrated the repeated bout effect, there is little consensus as to the actual mechanism. In general, the adaptation has been attributed to neural, connective tissue or cellular adaptations. Other possible mechanisms include, adaptation in excitation-contraction coupling or adaptation in the inflammatory response. The 'neural theory' predicts that the initial damage is a result of high stress on a relatively small number of active fast-twitch fibres. For the repeated bout, an increase in motor unit activation and/or a shift to slow-twitch fibre activation distributes the contractile stress over a larger number of active fibres. Although eccentric training results in marked increases in motor unit activation, specific adaptations to a single bout of eccentric exercise have not been examined. The 'connective tissue theory' predicts that muscle damage occurs when the noncontractile connective tissue elements are disrupted and myofibrillar integrity is lost. Indirect evidence suggests that remodelling of the intermediate filaments and/or increased intramuscular connective tissue are responsible for the repeated bout effect. The 'cellular theory' predicts that muscle damage is the result of irreversible sarcomere strain during eccentric contractions. Sarcomere lengths are thought to be highly non-uniform during eccentric contractions, with some sarcomeres stretched beyond myofilament overlap. Loss of contractile integrity results in sarcomere strain and is seen as the initial stage of damage. Some data suggest that an increase in the number of sarcomeres connected in series, following an initial bout, reduces sarcomere strain during a repeated bout and limits the subsequent damage. It is unlikely that one theory can explain all of the various observations of the repeated bout effect found in the literature. That the phenomenon occurs in electrically stimulated contractions in an animal model precludes an exclusive neural adaptation. Connective tissue and cellular adaptations are unlikely explanations when the repeated bout effect is demonstrated prior to full recovery, and when the fact that the initial bout does not have to cause appreciable damage in order to provide a protective effect is considered. It is possible that the repeated bout effect occurs through the interaction of various neural, connective tissue and cellular factors that are dependent on the particulars of the eccentric exercise bout and the specific muscle groups involved.

Eccentric exercise continues to receive attention as a productive means of exercise. Coupled with this has been the heightened study of the damage that occurs in early stages of exposure to eccentric exercise. This is commonly referred to as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). To date, a sound and consistent treatment for DOMS has not been established. Although multiple practices exist for the treatment of DOMS, few have scientific support. Suggested treatments for DOMS are numerous and include pharmaceuticals, herbal remedies, stretching, massage, nutritional supplements, and many more. DOMS is particularly prevalent in resistance training; hence, this article may be of particular interest to the coach, trainer, or physical therapist to aid in selection of efficient treatments. First, we briefly review eccentric exercise and its characteristics and then proceed to a scientific and systematic overview and evaluation of treatments for DOMS. We have classified treatments into 3 sections, namely, pharmacological, conventional rehabilitation approaches, and a third section that collectively evaluates multiple additional practiced treatments. Literature that addresses most directly the question regarding the effectiveness of a particular treatment has been selected. The reader will note that selected treatments such as anti-inflammatory drugs and antioxidants appear to have a potential in the treatment of DOMS. Other conventional approaches, such as massage, ultrasound, and stretching appear less promising.

In this study, we apply the uncertainty reduction theory from communication to delineate the antecedents of consumers' trust in online product reviews. We test the competing effects of information content (argument quality) and social component (perceived background similarity) on consumers' trust in reviews. We also hypothesize that the strength of the effect is moderated by consumers' involvement. To test the hypotheses, we adopted a 2 Â 2 Â 2 repeated measures experimental design. The results show that both argument quality and perceived similarity contribute to increased trust but in varying degrees. The results provide mixed support to the moderating role of involvement. While argument quality played an important role in the high involvement mode, perceived similarity explained more variance in the low involvement mode. We discuss the implications of these results for both research and practice. Statement of exclusive submission: The authors hereby assure that this manuscript neither has been published in any journal nor is currently under consideration for inclusion in any other journal, and that it will not be submitted elsewhere until JCB has completed its review process. Figure 2. Toulmin's (1958) argumentation model applied to online reviews 98 P. Racherla et al.

We examined whether passive stiffness of an eccentrically exercising muscle group affects the subsequent symptoms of muscle damage. Passive hamstring muscle stiffness was measured during an instrumented straight-leg-raise stretch in 20 subjects (11 men and 9 women) who were subsequently classified as "stiff" (N = 7), "normal" (N = 6), or "compliant" (N = 7). Passive stiffness was 78% higher in the stiff subjects (36.2 +/- 3.3 N.m.rad(-1)) compared with the compliant subjects (20.3 +/- 1.8 N.m.rad(-1)). Subjects then performed six sets of 10 isokinetic (2.6 rad.s(-1)) submaximal (60% maximal voluntary contraction) eccentric actions of the hamstring muscle group. Symptoms of muscle damage were documented by changes in isometric hamstring muscle strength, pain, muscle tenderness, and creatine kinase activity on the following 3 days. Strength loss, pain, muscle tenderness, and creatine kinase activity were significantly greater in the stiff compared with the compliant subjects on the days after eccentric exercise. Greater symptoms of muscle damage in subjects with stiffer hamstring muscles are consistent with the sarcomere strain theory of muscle damage. The present study provides experimental evidence of an association between flexibility and muscle injury. Muscle stiffness and its clinical correlate, static flexibility, are risk factors for more severe symptoms of muscle damage after eccentric exercise.

To examine the role of skeletal loading patterns on bone mineral density (BMD), we compared eumenorrheic athletes who chronically trained by opposite forms of skeletal loading, intensive weight-bearing activity (gymnastics, n = 13), and nonweightbearing activity (swimming, n = 26) and 19 nonathletic controls. BMD (g/cm2) of the lumbar spine, femoral neck, trochanter, and whole body was assessed by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Subregion analysis of the whole body scan permitted BMD evaluation of diverse regions. Swimmers were taller (p = 0.0001), heavier (p < 0.005), and had a greater bone-free lean mass (p < 0.001) than gymnasts and nonathletic controls. When adjusted for body surface area, there was no difference in lean mass between swimmers and gymnasts, and both were higher than controls (p < 0.01). Gymnasts had a lower (p < 0.005) fat mass than swimmers and controls. There were no group differences for spine or whole body BMD, but gymnasts had higher spine BMD corrected for body mass than either swimmers or controls. Gymnasts (1.117 +/- 0.110) had higher femoral neck BMD than controls (0.974 +/- 0.105), who were higher than swimmers (0.875 +/- 0.105) (p = 0.0001). This result still applied when BMD was normalized for body weight and bone size. Trochanter BMD of gymnasts (0.898 +/- 0.130) was also higher than controls (0.784 +/- 0.097) and swimmers (0.748 +/- 0.085) (p = 0.0002), and remained higher when corrected for body mass.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Both static stretching and ballistic stretching increase range of motion, most likely as a result of enhanced stretch tolerance rather than changes in muscle elasticity. Four weeks of stretching maintain range of motion and stretch tolerance in the days after eccentric exercise.