An investigation of a case of apparent mass psychogenic illness was undertaken in a midwestern electronics assembly plant. The plant employed 500 workers, of whom 80% were female. The illness outbreak involved a total of 90 female first shift workers who reported a variety of nonspecific symptoms such as headache, dizziness, and lightheadedness in response to a strange odor in the workplace. Although environmental testing revealed some localized concentrations of a few airbone contaminants, no environmental toxins were discovered that could account for the continuing outbreaks of illness. An ad hoc sample of affected and nonaffected workers was surveyed to assess the influence of psychological, sociological, and work environment factors in the outbreak. Analysis of the data revealed that affected workers reported more physical discomfort (temperature variations, poor lighting) in the workplace as well as psychological job stress (increase in workload, conflicts with supervisors) than did nonaffected workers. Moreover, affected workers scored significantly higher than nonaffected workers on personality tests measuring extraversion and hysteria traits.
Sport-related concussion is a common injury that has garnered the attention of the media and general public because of the potential for prolonged acute symptoms and increased risk for long-term impairment. Currently, a growing body of evidence supports the use of various therapies to improve recovery after a concussion. A contemporary approach to managing concussion symptoms is to use aerobic exercise as treatment. To date, several studies on both pediatric and adult patients have established that controlled aerobic exercise is a safe and effective way to rehabilitate patients experiencing delayed recovery after concussion. However, less is known about the utility of an early exercise protocol for optimizing recovery after acute concussion and reducing the risk for persistent postconcussive symptoms, particularly in pediatric populations. Thus, the purpose of our paper was to review and evaluate the available literature on the implementation of aerobic exercise for the treatment of acute pediatric concussion.
Clinicians, coaches, and trainers would benefit from a reliable and practical tool to analyze movement patterns such as a drop vertical jump (DVJ) which is often used to screen for lower extremity injury risk. Smart devices such as handheld tablets and phones offer attractive possibilities for analyzing these skills. However, little is known about the validity of using these devices in the day to day clinical or field settings where the observation and recording may often be done from different locations of by different evaluators. PURPOSE: To determine the effect of position and evaluator on the reliability of a mainstream tablet to perform a 2D frontal plane analysis of DVJs. METHODS: Six college students studying human movement analysis were arbitrarily assigned to hold one of two tablets while concurrently recording the frontal plane of a standard DVJ. The students held the tablets close to chest height while standing side by side 3.7 m in front of the DVJ landing area creating variability in tablet positioning of approximately 25 cm in vertical height, 30 cm left or right from midline, and 20 cm in front of the landing. The six students were then randomly assigned to measure left leg frontal plane projection angle (FPPA) at the instant of maximum downward displacement of the initial DVJ landing using a free video analysis app. No student analyzed the same DVJ on both tablets. In total, 90 DVJs performed by 30 college aged volunteers were analyzed. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), standard error of measurement, and minimal detectable change (MDC) were calculated. Alpha = 0.05. RESULTS: ICC between the two tablets was 0.83 (p < 0.001) with a 95% confidence interval of 0.76 to 0.88. FPPA standard error of measurement was 1.7° with a MDC of 2.4°. CONCLUSION: The exact positioning of an observer does not make a significant difference when using a tablet to capture and evaluate a DVJ and different evaluators can assess FPPA. These findings increase the practicality and reliability for using tablets to perform a 2D motion analysis of a drop jump landing.
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