Effect of a sand or firm-surface walking program on health, strength, and fitness in women 60-75 years old.

The effects of 8 wk of soft-sand (n = 19) and firm-surface walking (n = 19) on blood lipids, submaximal fitness (8-min walk at 4.5 km/hr), and leg strength in elderly (60+ yr), sedentary women were studied. Significant main time effects (p < .005) were found for blood lipids. The surface interaction effect for high-density lipoprotein approached significance (p = .052), with a tendency for higher levels in the sand group postintervention (p = .06). Neither group reported significant differences across time for submaximal oxygen consumption (p = .223), but a greater percentage reduction in heart-rate response to the 8-min walk was reported in the sand group (p = .016). Knee strength did not change in either group, whereas hip strength significantly improved in both groups (p = .0001), with larger effect sizes reported in the sand group. Overall, both groups showed improvements in blood lipids, fitness, and strength, with strength changes being slightly higher in the sand-walking group.

Selected physical capacity norms for Australian football players at the non-elite level.

Australian football is a popular male team sport that consists mainly of participants competing at the non-elite level. The main purpose of this study was to compare in non-elite Australian football players competing in sub-elite and community leagues, selected physical capacities recognised as predictors of lower extremity injury in Australian football and/or other sports. Participants were 143 adult (mean age of 22.2 years) male Western Australian footballers from the Western Australian Football League (WAFL) (sub-elite) and the Western Australian Amateur Football League (WAAFL) (community). During the 2005 regular playing season participants completed a questionnaire and a physical measurement testing session. The physical testing session involved the following lower extremity measures: generalised joint laxity, leg length discrepancy, presence of Morton's toe, foot arch, hamstring flexibility and static balance. Football players from the sub-elite and community leagues did not differ significantly in any of the physical testing session measures or in the questionnaire items relating to injury number in the past 12 months and lower limb preventative device use. However, they did differ in some measures with players from the sub-elite league significantly more likely to stretch after a match and training, and to have a designated stretching leader at their club. While players from the community league were significantly more likely to smoke and to participate in sports additional to Australian football. Although the selected physical capacities did not differ between the sub-elite and community players in this study, future research should be aimed at identifying differences for a greater number of physical capacities, including skill and endurance, while utilising a larger sample.

Simplifying the star excursion balance test: analyses of subjects with and without chronic ankle instability.

STUDY DESIGN: Case control study. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study are: (1) to perform factor analyses on data from the 8 components of the star excursion balance test (SEBT) in subjects with and without chronic ankle instability (CAI) in an effort to reduce the number of components of the SEBT, (2) to assess the relationships between performance of the different reach directions using correlation analyses, and (3) to determine which components of the SEBT are most affected by CAI. BACKGROUND: The SEBT is a series of 8 lower-extremity-reaching tasks purported to be useful in identifying lower extremity functional deficits. METHODS AND MEASURES: Forty-eight young adults with unilateral CAI (22 males, 26 females; mean +/- SD age, 20.9 +/- 3.2 years; mean +/- SD height, 173.6 +/- 11.1 cm; mean +/- SD mass, 80.1 +/- 22.1 kg) and 39 controls (23 males, 16 females; mean +/- SD age, 20.7 +/- 2.4 years; mean +/- SD height, 174.1 +/- 12.9 cm; mean +/- SD mass, 75.1 +/- 18.6 kg) performed 3 trials of the 8 tasks with each of their limbs. Separate exploratory factor analyses were performed on data for involved limbs of the CAI group, uninvolved limbs of the CAI and control groups, and both limbs of the CAI and control groups. Pearson product moment correlations were calculated to identify the relationships between the different reach directions. A series of eight 2 x 2 analyses of variance were calculated to determine the influence of group (CAI, control) and side (involved, uninvolved) on performance of the 8 tasks. RESULTS: For all 3 factor analyses, only 1 factor in each analysis produced an eigenvalue greater than 1 and the posteromedial reach score was the most strongly correlated task with the computed factor (alpha > .90), although all 8 tasks produced alpha scores greater than .67. Bivariate correlations between specific reach directions ranged from .40 to .91. Subjects with CAI reached significantly less on the anteromedial, medial, and posteromedial directions when balancing on their involved limbs compared to their uninvolved limbs and the side-matched limbs of controls. CONCLUSIONS: The posteromedial component of the SEBT is highly representative of the performance of all 8 components of the test in limbs with and without CAI. There is considerable redundancy in the 8 tasks. The anteromedial, medial, and posteromedial reach tasks may be used clinically to test for functional deficits related to CAI in lieu of testing all 8 tasks. There is a need for a hypothesis-driven study to confirm the results of this exploratory study.

Lower extremity malalignments and anterior cruciate ligament injury history.

To identify if lower extremity malalignments were associated with increased propensity of a history of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures in males and females using a case control design. Twenty subjects (10 males, 10 females) had a history of ACL injury and twenty (10 males, 10 females) had no history of ACL injury. Subjects were assessed for navicular drop, quadriceps angle, pelvic tilt, hip internal and external rotation range of motion, and true and apparent leg length discrepancies. Statistical analysis was performed to identify differences in these measures in regard to injury history and gender, and to identify if any of these measures were predictive of ACL injury history. Increased navicular drop and anterior pelvic tilt were found to be statistically significant predictors of ACL injury history regardless of gender. Limbs that had previously suffered ACL ruptures were found to have increased navicular drop and anterior pelvic tilt compared to uninjured limbs. Based on the results of this retrospective study, the lower extremity malalignments examined do not appear to predispose females to tearing their ACLs more than males. Key PointsHyperpronation and greater anterior pelvic tilt were the two malalignments most associated with history of ACL injury.Females had larger quadriceps angles than males, but this measure was not significantly related to ACL injury history.Not all structural differences between genders help explain the increased risk of ACL injuries in female athletes.