Concussion among athletes is an issue of growing concern, with efforts underway to improve detection, diagnosis, and treatment. Success depends on communication by athletes, as brain-related symptoms are often not outwardly visible. Education programs to increase reporting behavior have not been successful to date. In accordance with the socioecological approach to health, we argue that multiple levels of influence on student athletes must be addressed, and report a multi-dimensional, mixed-methods research project conducted to identify possible points of intervention into changing the culture of concussion-injury reporting among collegiate athletes. Using quantitative, qualitative and interpretive methods, we examine the individual-level vested interests athletes have in reporting or not reporting concussion symptoms, and how these interests interact with community-level team culture and interpersonal relationships , and social-level cultural narratives to influence concussion-reporting behavior. Our findings confirm the viability of this approach, identifying immediacy, separation of responsibility and pain-enduring story systems as particularly salient elements. We conclude that competing performance versus safety value structures, reflected in cultural narratives and team culture, create mixed-messages for athletes, which are resolved in favor of performance because athletes perceive concussion injuries to be of low immediacy.
The purpose was to determine differences in acute and chronic hydration status in female student-athletes (n = 40) practicing in moderate, dry conditions (17–25 °C, 30–57% humidity) indoors and outdoors. Body weight and urine samples were recorded before and after exercise as well as fluid intake. Sweat rates expressed as median and interquartile range did not differ, but fluid intake was significantly higher during indoor (0.64 [0.50, 0.83] L/h) vs. outdoor conditions (0.51 [0.43, 0.63] L/h), p = 0.001. Fluid intake compensated for indoor sweat rate but not outdoors. When exercising indoors, 49% of the student-athletes reported urine specific gravity (USG) values >1.020, and 24% of the day after morning samples were scored ≥4 on the color chart rating. The percentages increased to 58% and 31%, respectively, when exercising outdoors (p > 0.05). Thus, fluid intake was higher indoors vs. outdoors but sweat rate did not differ among athletes. Yet, chronic hydration status was impaired in more than 50% of the student-athletes with a discrepancy between USG scores and urine color scores identifying underhydration. This suggest that 24-h fluid intake should be taken into account and that hydration protocols may need to be tailored individually based on urine USG values. Practice location (indoors vs. outdoors) may further complicate hydration protocols.
Background: Effects of internal and external workloads (IL, EL) on lower limb soft-tissue injuries (LLSTI) risk in male soccer players has been described, the relationships remain unclear in collegiate female (soccer players. Objective: The purpose was to examine the mean difference in IL and EL in LLSTI between non-injured and injured groups (N-IG and IG). Method: 20 collegiate female soccer players (age: 19.2±1.2years; height: 168.2±7.3cm; body mass: 41.0±17.9kg) were included for 14 week competitive season. IL included average heart rate (Avg-HR) and high heart rate zone. EL included total distance, average speed (Avg-Spd), and high-speed running distance. Injuries were counted if (a) they were LLSTI and muscular/ligamentous strains or tears and tendon problems, and (b) the players missed more than one match or training session. Acute (7-day simple average) and chronic (21-day simple average) IL and EL were calculated in the IG while the mean of acute (7-day) and chronic (21-day) IL and EL were computed in the NIG. Acute Chronic Workload Ratio (ACWR) was calculated as the ratio of acute and chronic IL and EL. Results: Seven LLSTI occurred over 14 weeks. The acute Avg-HR and ACWR of Avg-Spd were significantly higher in the IG than the N-IG (p=0.001 and 0.024). IL and EL in the IG were placed below or above the mean of the N-IG. Conclusion: LLSTI might occur at high and low workloads in collegiate female soccer players. This may support the use of micro-technology to monitor workload based on individual player’s threshold to reduce LLSTI.
Wardenaar, FC, Ortega-Santos, CP, Vento, K, Beaumont, JS, Griffin, SC, Johnston, C, and Kavouras, SA. A 5-day heat acclimation program improves heat stress indicators while maintaining exercise capacity. J Strength Cond Res 35(5): 1279–1286, 2021—This study aimed to evaluate whether a daily 60 minutes isothermic biking protocol during a 5-day period could improve physiological heat acclimation and exercise performance capacity in partially acclimated subjects. A quasi-experimental study consisted of an intervention (INT, n = 7) and control (CON, n = 7) group completing 2 12 minutes Cooper tests (pre-CT on day 1 and post-CT on day 7) and a heat stress test (HST, on day 9). INT performed additional intensive exercise 1 hour per day on days 1–5, whereas CON did not. During CTs and HST, core temperature (Tc, telemetric capsule), skin temperature (Tsk, sensors at neck, right shoulder, left hand, and right shin), and heart rate (HR, chest strap) were continuously monitored and baseline, average, peak, and increment were calculated. During the HST, the INT group showed a smaller baseline-peak Tc increment (INT 0.88 ± 0.27 vs. CON 1.64 ± 0.90° C, p = 0.02), a lower HR peak (150.2 ± 12.6 vs. 173.0 ± 16.8 b·min−1, p = 0.02), and lower Tsk peak (36.47 ± 0.62 vs. 36.54 ± 0.46° C, p = 0.04). There was a nonsignificant, but practical difference based on a moderate effect size for change in pre-CT to post-CT performance of nearly +2.7 ± 12.3% in INT and −3.0 ± 8.5% in CON (p = 0.32 and d = 0.51), and HST distance covered resulting in a nonsignificant difference of 464 ± 849 m between INT and CON (p = 0.38 and d = 0.44). In conclusion a short-term 5-day heat acclimation program including 300 minutes of extra exercise resulted in positive physiological adaptions to heat stress, as indicated by lower core temperature and HR in comparison with a control group.
Intercollegiate athletics occupies a unique place in higher education, but little is known about administrators working in this area. This chapter proposes a functional definition of “mid‐level” in the context of college sports, describes the prevalence of these jobs nationally, and summarizes key factors associated with mid‐level employment in intercollegiate athletics departments.
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