For the purpose of the project tasks we needed a validate clinical tools. We cross-culturally adapted Oxford Knee Score (OKS) and Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS) questionnaires to the Slovenian-speaking community. We evaluated OKS and LEFS psychometric characteristics in 123 participants, from where 78 patients and 45 healthy age-matched controls. The questionnaires were assessed two times with one week apart to investigate the test–retest reliability. Significant differences were observed between the two groups. Where patients had greater body mass index, they were less functional, weaker, had greater knee pain and scored lower on both questionnaires. Additionally, correlation analysis showed that OKS-Slo and LEFS-Slo correlated almost perfectly (correlation coefficient [CC]?=?.968, p?(?0.001). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for both the OKS-Slo and LEFS-Slo ranged between 0.87 and 0.99, while the interclass correlation coefficient was excellent; i.e., 0.99. Finally, both questionnaires proved to be unidimensional measures. The Slovenian version of both questionnaires is feasible, valid and reliable for use in clinical studies in Slovenia.
COBISS.SI-ID: 22315011
Electromechanical efficiency (EME) of skeletal muscle represents the dissociation between the mechanomyographic (MMG) to electromyographic (EMG) amplitudes and was commonly used in clinical settings (e.g. muscle disease, atrophy, rehabilitation). However, due to lower reliability and of both MMG and EMG as well as lower validity of MMG we aimed to establish the intra-day, inter-day and inter-rater reliability of modified EME. Reliability was examined for maximal soleus twitch amplitudes of tensiomyographic (Dm) and M-wave (Mptp) responses, as well as for EME derived as Dm/Mptp, in 18 athletes in three consecutive days. A reliability analysis was performed with calculations of bias, random error, standard error of measurement, coefficient of variation (CV), intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and minimal detectable change with a 95% confidence interval. Average ICCs ranged from 0.92 (Dm) to 0.97 (Mptp), 0.88 (Dm) to 0.92 EME and from 0.96 (both Dm and Mptp) to 0.98 (EME), for intra-day, inter-day and inter-rater, respectively. CV% ranged from 5.3 (Mptp) to 16.05% (EME). Our findings show that adopted EME for the use in soleus elicited twitch contraction show high to very high reliability, both absolute and relative, of all dependent variables.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1539807428
Detection of early atrophic processes after injury and during rehabilitation is of high clinical and sport performance relevance. With the use of tensiomyography (TMG), we detected early atrophic processes before overt architectural changes, and actual atrophy. Skeletal muscle mass is reduced after as little as 7 days of disuse, being even higher in top athletes. The declines in muscle mass after such short periods are of high clinical relevance as well as sport performance relevance. Standard clinical tools (e.g. MRI and ultrasound) are commonly used to evaluate injury site and decide to return to sport. We used a supervised disues study design in combination of retraining design to evaluate TMG parameters for the use in sport-related studies (rehabilitation after sport injuries). We measured vastus medialis obliquus (VMO), vastus medialis longus (VML), and biceps femoris (BF) thickness (d) and pennation angle (?) by ultrasonography, whereas twitch muscle belly displacement (Dm) and contraction time (Tc) were assessed with TMG. Tc increased only in BF and was not recovered after rehabilitation. TMG can detect early disuse related changes in muscle with higher sensitivity before overt architectural changes, and atrophy can be detected.
COBISS.SI-ID: 2534355
Before considering psychosocial outcomes to be used in our project to assess factors of sport injuries and safe return after sport injuries we performed a meta analysis. We examined the relationships between the psychosocial risk factors and injury rates and the effects of psychological-based prevention interventions on the injury risk of soccer players. A review article identified 13 eligible studies, including a total of 1149 injured soccer players aged between 14 and 36 years. Personality traits, such as trait anxiety and perceived mastery climate, along with a history of stressors, like negative-life-event stress or high level of life stress, daily hassle, and previous injury, are the main predictors of injury rates among soccer players. Also, from injury prevention studies, it has been shown that psychological-based interventions reduce injury rates (effect size?=?0.96; 95% CI 0.34–1.58; p?=?0.002) in senior soccer players. We concluded that practitioners need to ensure injured soccer players are psychologically and socially ready to play. They should also employ psychological-based interventions (i.e., mindfulness, imagery, self-talk, stress management, relaxation, goal setting) when designing injury prevention programs.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1540398276
It has been recently demonstrated that tissue flossing (TF) around the ankle joint can be effectively used to improve ankle range of motion, jump, and sprint ability. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the acute effects of TF applied using different wrapping pressures. We aimed to investigate the acute effects of TF and the degree of floss band pressure, around the upper thigh on knee range of motion, strength, and muscle contractile characteristics. In a crossover design we examined 19 athletes (age 23.8[4.8] years). Individualized wrapping pressures were applied to create conditions of high and moderate vascular occlusion, while a loose band application served as a control condition. Participants were assessed for active straight leg raise test; tensiomyography displacement and contraction time for rectus femoris, vastus medialis, and biceps femoris muscles; and maximum voluntary contractions for knee extensors and flexors for pre, after, and 30 minutes after applying the floss band. There was a statistically significant increase in maximum voluntary contractions for knee extensors and a significant shortening in rectus femoris contraction time for the moderate condition, which was associated with small to medium effects in favor of the moderate condition. There were no statistically significant changes observed between control and high conditions. The results suggest that TF around the upper thigh might have a localized as well as pressure-sensitive response, thereby improving neuromuscular function of the knee extensors.
COBISS.SI-ID: 42955779