Injury prevalence and associated factors among Japanese lacrosse collegiate athletes.

Context: Sports injuries have a substantial impact on athletes' performance and health. To reduce the risk of an injury occurring, the prevalence, localization, and severity need to be established. Objective: To examine the prevalence of sports injuries in collegiate lacrosse athletes. Design: Descriptive epidemiological study using online survey design. Setting: Japanese universities associated with UNIVAS. Participants: A total of 1,689 Japanese collegiate lacrosse athletes, 978 females and 701 males. Main outcome measures: Athletes were surveyed on the injuries within the previous year, their severity, localization, and onset characteristics. The support of an athletic trainer and its association with the odds of sustaining an injury was assessed. Factors related to injuries were explored. Results: One-year prevalence of injuries was 42%. Male sex, higher year at the university, and support from an athletic trainer were identified as factors related to higher odds of sustaining an injury and practicing at least 5 days per week was associated with lower odds of sustaining an injury. Conclusions: Male sex athletes, and athletes at the higher year at university are especially at risk of sustaining a lacrosse injury. The aspects of training (e.g., frequency, volume) should be investigated across the athlete development process to address these findings. Further investigation is needed to determine the extent to which the support of athletic trainers affects both the frequency and severity of injuries in lacrosse athletes.

Controlling Behavior, Sex Bias and Coaching Success in Japanese Track and Field.

Coaching athletes is a complex and lengthy process. Recently, attention has been given to coaches over-controlling behavior toward the athletes' personal lives and possible sex bias, but the impact of these behaviors on coaching success is unclear. An anonymous survey was answered by 412 track and field coaches (male: 369; female: 43), comprising questions regarding controlling behaviors, sex bias, and personal background. A Chi-square test and logistic regression were performed to determine the factors related to the coach's characteristics and their success in coaching athletes (to national vs. non-national level). The results showed that controlling behaviors and sex-bias-related beliefs were present. The coaches who coached national-level athletes were more likely to be older, more experienced, and were national level athletes themselves. More national-level coaches reported controlling behaviors but fewer held sex bias beliefs than the non-national level coaches. However, the strength of these beliefs (scores for controlling behavior and sex bias) was not related to the coaching success.

Prevalence of and Factors Associated with Sports Injuries in 11,000 Japanese Collegiate Athletes.

BACKGROUND: To establish the 1-year prevalence of sports injuries and explore associations of various factors with a sports injury in Japanese collegiate athletes. METHODS: The data were collected through a web-based survey of Japanese collegiate athletes associated with UNIVAS (Japan Association for University Athletics and Sport). The survey questions asked about athletes' personal characteristics, sports participation, and injuries sustained within the previous year. Follow-up questions on the details regarding the three most serious injuries were asked. Differences in proportions of athlete characteristics between males and females and between injured and uninjured were explored with the chi-square test. Factors associated with sustaining an injury were determined with regression analysis. RESULTS: The prevalence of injuries among Japanese collegiate athletes is high, and most of the sustained injuries require athletes to take a considerable time off training and competition indicating their severity. Athletes from year two and higher at the university, overweight or obese, training more often per week, and with longer sports experience were more likely to sustain an injury within the previous year. CONCLUSIONS: There is compelling evidence to suggest that excessive training and insufficient recovery may be contributing to their increased risk of injury. These findings underscore the importance of implementing evidence-based training programs and recovery strategies to mitigate injury risk and optimize performance outcomes among this population.

Can We Go Online for Sports Injury Prevention? A Systematic Review of English-Language Websites with Exercise-Based Sports Injury Risk Reduction Programmes.

BACKGROUND: Preventing sports injuries is at the forefront of sports medicine. Although effective preventive strategies in scientific literature exist, their implementation is lagging behind. The Internet could support the translation of knowledge from the literature to end-users, but the quality of the online resources would have to be assured. This online-based systematic review is to assess availability, readability, quality, and content of the websites presenting exercise-based sports injury risk reduction (prevention) programmes. Moreover, the quality of reporting and contents of the exercise programmes were assessed. METHODS: Google, Yahoo, and Bing were searched on 2 September 2018. We used 'sports injury prevention program*' and 'sports injury prevention warm-up' as search phrases. The owners/authors of the included websites were asked for further recommendations on online resources. Search updates were run in DuckDuckGo on 15 May 2020 and 22 August 2021. Eligible websites were active, in English, and contained instructions for the exercise/s aiming at sports injury prevention. Two reviewers independently screened the links and previews and performed an in-depth appraisal of included websites. The website quality was assessed using JAMA framework criteria and Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONcode) certification. The readability of websites was assessed using the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score. The reporting appraisal of exercise programmes was done using the modified Consensus on Exercise Reporting Template (CERT). RESULTS: Among 480 websites screened, 16 were eligible with an additional four recommended and nine found in search updates (29 in total). None of the websites was certified by HONcode. The overall quality of websites was low 2.1 ± 1.0/4, but overall readability was high 67 ± 17/100. The average quality of reporting of exercise programmes was low 5.79 ± 3.1/12. Websites with community input had the lowest readability, but the highest quality, and vice versa websites run by businesses had the highest readability, but the lowest quality. Eight websites presented programmes tested for effectiveness. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the quality of the websites was low, but their readability was high. Improvements required are relatively easy to implement (i.e. including the date when the website was updated, applying for HONcode certification) and extremely important (e.g. providing resources on which the website's content is based). There are some sports injury risk reduction programmes reported with high quality and effectiveness-tested available online for team sports, but none for individual sports. Trial Registration This review has been registered in the PROSPERO (CRD42019107104).

Effectiveness of extrinsic feedback for management of non-specific low back pain: a systematic review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Low back pain is the greatest cause of years lived with disability worldwide and is linked with high societal and economic burden. Neuromuscular control impairments are a common clinical presentation in patients with non-specific low back pain. Musculoskeletal physiotherapists commonly use feedback as a part of the management of low back disorders. This systematic review will aim to assess the effectiveness of extrinsic biofeedback for reducing pain, disability and recurrence of pain in patients with non-specific low back pain. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Systematic searches will be performed in CINAHL, Embase, Medline, PsycInfo, Scopus and Web of Science. We will include randomised controlled trial studies, if the study recruited patients with non-specific low back pain; compared extrinsic feedback versus either placebo or control; another intervention; or in addition to an intervention versus that intervention alone; and have used pain, disability scores or low back pain recurrence as outcome measures. We will exclude studies with designs other than randomised controlled trials. We will assess the risk of bias within included studies using the PEDro scale, and the strength of evidence using the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval and patient consent are not required since this is a systematic review based on published studies. The results of this study will be published in an international peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42017077888.

The development of an instructional video for the teaching of acupressure for pain management in acute musculoskeletal injuries: A knowledge translation study.

OBJECTIVES: To survey potential stakeholders to obtain information relevant to the production of a video on teaching acupressure for sports injury management, and gain feedback from potential users on the prototype video. DESIGN: Focus groups and online survey methods nested within a knowledge translation framework. PARTICIPANTS: Four focus groups (n = 24) were conducted, two with sports medics and two with sports physiotherapists as a part of the development of a prototype video. Nineteen stakeholders viewed the prototype video and participated in the subsequent online survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Focus groups' transcripts were analysed to develop themes using a general inductive approach. Survey data analysis incorporated quantitative and qualitative analysis. RESULTS: Three key themes concerning the design of the video emerged from the focus groups: 1) the recommendation for both demonstration and verbal instructions on the acupressure technique; 2) keeping the content of the video to a minimum; and 3) the need for professionalism in the production of the video, and highlighting the presenter's expertise and qualifications. The survey participants found the video to be clear and professional. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively these studies described the development and assessment of a user-oriented instructional video on teaching of acupressure for the management of sports injuries.