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We aimed to examine systematically the available evidence on risk factors of low back pain (LBP) in athletes. We performed search without language restriction in PubMed, Ovid, Google Scholar, Scopus, and CINAHL. Longitudinal studies that examined possible risk factors of LBP in athletes were included in this systematic review. Based on methodological quality of studies, a best-evidence synthesis was conducted. Seven longitudinal studies were included, four of which had high methodological quality. Results showed that previous LBP, decreased lumbar flexion, and decreased lumbar extension are positively associated with LBP. There was moderate evidence for hip flexor tightness and high body weight as a risk factor. We found insufficient evidence for association between forward bending, previous injury, and amount of training per week, active years, age, and sex with LBP. In conclusion this study would provide a list of risk factors for LBP in athletes, though it showed a strong evidence for only a few including decrease lumbar flexion or extension, previous LBP, and high body weight. This review indicated a high heterogeneity of study characteristics including assessed risk factors and statistical techniques might limit the quality of evidence.

Context:Motor impairments in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been frequently reported. In this review, we narrow our focus on postural control impairments to summarize current literature for patterns, underlying mechanisms, and determinants of posture in this population.Evidence Acquisition:A literature search was conducted through Medline, ISI web of Knowledge, Scopus and Google Scholar to include studies between 1992 and February 2013.Results:Individuals with ASD have problems in maintaining postural control in infancy that well persists into later years. However, the patterns and underlying mechanisms are still unclear.Conclusions:Examining postural control as an endophenotype or early diagnostic marker of autism is a conceptual premise which should be considered in future investigations. At the end of the review, methodological recommendations on the assessment of postural control have also been provided.

Context:There is an increasing interest to detect how exercise affects depression symptoms. Although recent findings confirm the positive effect of exercise on depression, there is no clear guideline regarding advice on exercise for patients with depression. The following review aims at presenting the contemporary literature regarding the nature of depression, exercise, the underlying mechanisms and the management of an exercise program in individuals with depression.Evidence Acquisition:We searched electronic databases including Cochrane Library, PubMed, ISI web of knowledge and PsychInfo (from January 2000 to October 2014). We reviewed the systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and large-scale randomized control trials on effects of exercise on depression.Results:Recent evidence has emerged on characteristics of effective exercise programs and those patients with depression that will most benefit from the exercise programs. However due to the methodological weaknesses and inconsistencies of studies, conclusions must be made with caution.Conclusions:We have provided a number of recommendations for clinicians and researchers who plan to use exercise protocols in depression.

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In a randomized controlled trial we examined the effect of acupuncture on anxiety of the adolescent football players prior to the competition using psychological and physiological markers. A total of 45 athletes were equally allocated to either acupuncture group, sham group, or wait-list control group. Thereafter, all participants were asked to complete an anxiety questionnaire before and after the intervention. Their heart rate and skin conductance were also examined before and after the intervention. The results of ANOVA on posttest scores showed that acupuncture had a significant effect on cognitive anxiety (p = 0.001) and somatic anxiety (p < 0.001) but not on self-confidence (p > 0.05). Furthermore, the results showed that acupuncture significantly decreased the skin conductance in acupuncture group compared to sham group (p = 0.006) and wait-list control group (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the results suggested that acupuncture has the capacity to decrease cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety prior to competition in adolescent athletes, while this was accompanied by significant physiological changes. This trial is registered with IRCT138904074264N1 (IRCT is a Primary Registry in the WHO Registry Network).