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The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of athletes in a competitive military sports recovery program with a specific focus on the extent to which coaches supported, or frustrated, athletes’ basic psychological needs. Eight military veteran athletes competing in parasport took part in semistructured interviews. The accounts of their experiences of working with coaches in this context and their influence on their psychological needs and well-being were thematically analyzed. Results demonstrated that coaches’ behaviors that support basic psychological needs can have positive effects on athletes’ well-being and support their wider rehabilitation. Furthermore, frustration of these needs through controlling behaviors contributed to psychological ill-being. Findings suggest practical implications to help inform coaching practice to support optimal recovery and an environment that promotes well-being.

The job of a firefighter requires high levels of physical fitness and musculoskeletal function. In the United States, firefighters experience over 60,000 injuries annually, predominantly musculoskeletal issues. Screening tests can help identify musculoskeletal dysfunction. This study aimed to establish Upper Quarter Y-Balance Test (YBT-UQ) normative data in firefighters and identify factors that influence upper extremity functional ability in this population. We found firefighters’ Upper Quarter Y-Balance Test composite scores were comparable to other physically active populations but lower than U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement personnel. Upper Quarter Y-Balance Test scores were negatively affected by increasing age and body mass and reduced shoulder mobility in our sample. These findings support the need for targeted weight loss and mobility interventions to improve functional outcomes in firefighters.

The FIFA 11+ For Kids was developed as an injury prevention program for youth soccer athletes between 7 and 13 years of age. Since its development, it has been introduced to youth soccer players worldwide, however, a critical summary of high-level randomized control trials to assist clinicians in determining how to effectively implement the program for injury prevention is lacking in the current literature. This critically appraised topic sought to determine the best practice recommendations for the implementation of the FIFA 11+ For Kids program to effectively prevent injuries in youth soccer players. A search of the literature was completed in December of 2023 using the terms “FIFA 11 for kids” and “randomized control trials” and “injury prevention.” Studies were included if they scored higher than 6/10 on the Physiotherapy Evidence Database Scale. A critical appraisal of high-level randomized control trials found that clinicians can use the FIFA 11+ For Kids as an effective injury prevention program for youth soccer players when factors including the frequency of application, the time needed to complete the program, compliance with the program, and training of team personal who lead the program are considered.

Older adults walk with less push-off power than younger adults. Principally attributed to plantar flexor dysfunction, growing evidence implicates interactions between the foot and ankle as critical for generating effective push-off. Our purposes were to measure age effects on foot–ankle mechanical transmission (FAMT, ie, the ratio between metatarsal phalangeal extension and medial gastrocnemius fascicle length change), and its association with ankle push-off during walking. We hypothesized that (1) FAMT would be lesser in older adults and (2) lesser FAMT would positively correlate with slower preferred speeds and reduced ankle push-off intensity. Fourteen younger adults (25 [6] y) and 15 older adults (71 [5] y) participated. Older adults had 45% to 48% lesser FAMT than younger adults from 0° to 30° metatarsal phalangeal extension—an age-related difference that was not evident from 30° to 60° metatarsal phalangeal extension. However, we did not find any significant correlations with walking outcomes. Assuming our findings can be replicated in future studies and represent a genuine phenomenon of relevance to the biomechanics of aging gait, we suspect that compensations may be discovered in older adults to explain this lack of significance. Future work should include measures of muscle activities and foot mechanics during walking and/or perform more controlled comparisons at fixed speeds.

Objective: The aim of this study is to compare kinematic data of the frontal trunk, pelvis, knee, and summated angles (trunk plus knee) among categorized grades using the single-leg squat (SLS) test, to classify the SLS grade, and to investigate the association between the SLS grade and the frontal angles using smartphone-based markerless motion capture. Methods: Ninety-one participants were categorized into 3 grades (good, reduced, and poor) based on the quality of the SLS test. An automated pose estimation algorithm was employed to assess the frontal joint angles during SLS, which were captured by a single smartphone camera. Analysis of variance and a decision tree model using classification and regression tree analysis were utilized to investigate intergroup differences, classify the SLS grades, and identify associations between the SLS grade and frontal angles, respectively. Results: In the poor group, each frontal trunk, knee, and summated angle was significantly larger than in the good group. Classification and regression tree analysis showed that frontal knee and summated angles could classify the SLS grades with a 76.9% accuracy. Additionally, the classification and regression tree analysis established cutoff points for each frontal knee (11.34°) and summated angles (28.4°), which could be used in clinical practice to identify individuals who have a reduced or poor grade in the SLS test. Conclusions: The quality of SLS was found to be associated with interactions among frontal knee and summated angles. With an automated pose estimation algorithm, a single smartphone computer vision method can be utilized to compare and distinguish the quality of SLS movement for remote clinical and sports assessments.

Ultramarathons are a unique model to study the effects of systemic fatigue in athletes. This investigation applied the spring-mass template to study runners before and 2 days after a road ultramarathon to characterize the effects of fatigue on systemic gait patterns. Overground kinetics were captured 7 days before and 2 days after the event in 14 runners. Traditional kinetic and spring-mass parameters were calculated, along with nonlinear regression-derived parameters and spring-mass model fit metrics. After the ultramarathon, vertical force magnitudes and loading rates were unchanged, but impact peaks increased (1.88 ± 0.08–1.95 ± 0.10 bodyweight). Ground contact times were modestly shorter (−3 ± 1 ms), resulting in increased leg stiffness (10.0 ± 0.5–10.3 ± 0.5 kN/m) with equivocal vertical stiffnesses. The deviation from the modeled spring-mass kinetics also increased (171.3 ± 15.0–181.4 ± 16.5 N). Overall, the systemic mechanical behaviors of the runners persisted despite the fatigue and stress induced by a road ultramarathon. These findings support previous observations that runners maintain gross mechanical behavior when fatigued with small compensatory changes in spatiotemporal and traditional spring-mass characteristics. However, these findings also suggest that the variability within that gross behavior may increase after stress, suggesting new opportunities for quantifying those deviations.

Sample entropy (SampEn) is a widely used measure for estimating the regularity of center-of-pressure (COP) trajectories, with high COP regularity (low SampEn) commonly interpreted as ineffective postural control. The current study aimed to investigate one possible source of COP regularity—agonist–antagonist coactivation—resulting in joint stiffness or action stability. A cross-correlation analysis was conducted to determine the similarity (coactivation) level of 5 pairs of lower limb agonist–antagonist electromyographic signals. SampEn was applied to anteroposterior (ap) and mediolateral (ml) COP displacements. Electromyographic and COP signals were simultaneously derived from 25 active young adults (25.6 ± 4.0 years) during unipedal balancing on stable and multiaxial-unstable surfaces. Then, the correlation between individual agonist–antagonist cross-correlation coefficients and SampEn-COP was explored. The results show that only the tibialis anterior–peroneus longus (TA–PL) coactivations are negatively correlated with SampEn-COP_ap/ml (P ≤ .030) in both surface conditions, with greater TA–PL coactivation appearing with lower SampEn-COP_ap/ml. In addition, sex effects as one factor that might influence postural control were also tested. Women exhibited greater TA–PL coactivation (P = .017) and lower SampEn-COP_ap (P = .005) than men. Together, TA–PL coactivation could be one possible origin of COP regularity, but its effects might be detrimental to unipedal postural control, especially for women.