Background Mental Practice (MP), "the cognitive rehearsal of a task in the absence of overt physical movement," has been used successfully in teaching and rehearsing complex psychomotor tasks in several domains, including sports; music; and recently, in surgical skills acquisition. This study investigates the implementation of MP on performance of a neurodynamic skill in third year undergraduate Physiotherapy students. Method: It was a randomized control trial (single-blind) conducted in a Physiotherapy institute. A convenient sample of 40 III year undergraduate students who were novice for the topic were recruited. Some important preliminary steps involved development and validation of the tools used in the study viz. an audio script to guide mental imagery practice and an OSPE checklist to assess the outcome. The OSPE checklist was procedural specific for ULNT-1 and included stations for cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains. A neurodynamic skill (ULNT-1 Median nerve) was taught to all the students (n = 38, 2 drop outs) by a teacher as a didactic lecture followed by physical practice which was supervised and guided by the same teacher. After randomization, the intervention group (n = 19) received MP guided by a structured audio script as a single session for 20 minutes delivered to all the participants together in a group. The control group participants (n = 19) intended to serve as a basis of comparison and received no intervention. Pre- and post-intervention assessment was done by a set of examiners who were blinded to the intervention. Comparative analysis was done within the group using Wilcoxon sign rank test and between the groups using unpaired t test. Results MP group showed significant improvement in cognitive, psychomotor, affective domain and total score of OSPE post intervention whereas the control group did not show significant difference except for the total score. Between group comparison showed significant differences in all the domains and total score in favor of the MP group. Also, the extent of improvement (effect size calculated using Cohen’s d) was more in the mental practice group than in the control group. Conclusion MP as an adjunct to physical practice is a time-and cost-effective strategy to augment traditional training and enhance performance of a neurodynamic skill in Physiotherapy students. This preliminary evidence supported by robust scientific base and ease of integration should facilitate adoption of MP in Physiotherapy education. We recommend future studies to further explore the potential of this promising tool.
Tennis players have repeatedly been shown to present with signs of dehydration before training or competition. To date no study has investigated the role of post-exercise rehydration in tennis players. Therefore the aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of a post-training rehydration strategy on markers of hydration status in high-performance tennis players. Using a nonblinded randomised crossover design the participants (12 male elite tennis players; mean±SD; age 21±2 years, national ranking 13±8; range 2-25) completed their normal daily training and dietary routine followed by ad libitium consumption (CON) of a commercially available carbohydrate-electrolyte solution (Lucozade Sport Hydro Active PLUS; 4 g carbohydrate and 91 mg sodium per 100 ml) or 20 ml per kg body mass (EXP) of the same solution. An array of markers of hydration status were assessed after rest days (baseline) and each training and intervention day (CON, EXP) including but not limited to: urine osmolality (first morning void, freezing point depression method); total body water, intra and extracellular water (multifrequency bioelectrical impedance). All markers of hydration status were measured in the morning before any activity or meals and normalised as a percentage of baseline. A magnitude-based inferences approach1 was used to determine the main effect of the intervention on the markers of hydration status. The mean (±SD% normalised to baseline) in CON vs EXP for urine osmolality, total body water, extracellular and intracellular water were 104±25% vs 95±31%; 99±2% vs 100±2%; 100±2% vs 102±7% and 98±5% vs 100±2%. The probability of a beneficial or positive effect on these markers of hydration status was 87%, 67%, 84% and 59%, respectively. The probability of a harmful or negative effect was 2%, 3%, 8% and 4%, respectively. Therefore this post-exercise rehydration intervention has an unclear effect as the probability of a negative effect on these markers of hydration status was too great.
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