Alzheimer's disease is a chronic illness characterized by clinical cognitive impairment. A behavioral strategy that is being explored in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease is physical activity. Evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) testing the effects of physical activity for cognitively normal older adults supports that physical activity benefits cognitive performance. Evidence from prospective studies supports a protective effect of physical activity with reductions in the risk of cognitive decline ranging from 28% to 45%. RCTs with cognitively impaired older adults also generally support positive effects with greater benefits evident for aerobic interventions. Research examining the potential moderating role of apolipoprotein E (APOE) has yielded mixed results, but the majority of the studies support that physical activity most benefits those who are at greatest genetic risk of Alzheimer's disease. Future directions for research are considered with an emphasis on the need for additional funding to support this promising area of research.
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Physical Activity in the Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease
Jennifer L. Etnier
A Model of Stress and Athletic Injury: Prediction and Prevention
Mark B. Andersen and Jean M. Williams
A theoretical model of stress and athletic injury is presented. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for the prediction and prevention of stress-related injuries that includes cognitive, physiological, attentional, behavioral, intrapersonal, social, and stress history variables. Development of the model grew from a synthesis of the stress-illness, stress-accident, and stress-injury literatures. The model and its resulting hypotheses offer a framework for many avenues of research into the nature of injury and reduction of injury risk. Other advantages of the model are that it addresses possible mechanisms behind the stress-injury relationship and suggests several specific interventions that may help diminish the likelihood of injury. The model also has the potential of being applied to the investigation of injury and accident occurrence in general.
Transcontextual Development of Motivation in Sport Injury Prevention Among Elite Athletes
Derwin King-Chung Chan and Martin S. Hagger
The present study investigated the transcontextual process of motivation in sport injury prevention. We examined whether general causality orientation, perceived autonomy support from coaches (PAS), self-determined motivation (SD-Mtv), and basic need satisfaction in a sport context predicted SD-Mtv, beliefs, and adherence with respect to sport injury prevention. Elite athletes (N = 533) completed self-report measures of the predictors (Week 1) and the dependent variables (Week 2). Variance-based structural equation modeling supported hypotheses: SD-Mtv in a sport context was significantly predicted by PAS and basic need satisfaction and was positively associated with SD-Mtv for sport injury prevention when controlling for general causality orientation. SD-Mtv for sport injury prevention was a significant predictor of adherence to injury-preventive behaviors and beliefs regarding safety in sport. In conclusion, the transcontextual mechanism of motivation may explain the process by which distal motivational factors in sport direct the formation of proximal motivation, beliefs, and behaviors of sport injury prevention.
Athlete Burnout Prevention Strategies Used by U.S. Collegiate Soccer Coaches
Emily Kroshus and J.D. DeFreese
Athlete burnout is an important psychological health concern that may be influenced by coach behaviors. Participants were 933 collegiate soccer coaches who described their utilization of burnout prevention strategies. Deductive content analysis was used to categorize and interpret responses. The most frequently endorsed prevention strategies involved managing/limiting physical stressors. Reducing nonsport stressors and promoting autonomy and relatedness were also endorsed. Motivational climate changes and secondary prevention strategies were infrequently reported. These findings can help inform the design of educational programming to ensure that all coaches are aware of the range of ways in which they can help prevent athlete burnout.
Falls Prevention: Adherence, Fear of Falling, Assessment, and Intervention
Ellen Freiberger
middle of geriatric prevention and rehabilitation activities ( World Health Organization, 2008 ). Due to several global initiatives ( American Geriatrics Society, British Geriatrics Society, and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Panel on Falls Prevention, 2001 ; Clemson et al., 2010 ; Guirguis
Older Adult Perceptions of Participation in Group- and Home-Based Falls Prevention Exercise
Lauren M. Robins, K.D. Hill, Lesley Day, Lindy Clemson, Caroline Finch, and Terry Haines
This paper describes why older adults begin, continue, and discontinue group- and home-based falls prevention exercise and benefits and barriers to participation. Telephone surveys were used to collect data for 394 respondents. Most respondents reported not participating in group- (66%) or home-based (78%) falls prevention exercise recently. Reasons for starting group-based falls prevention exercise include health benefits (23–39%), health professional recommendation (13–19%), and social interaction (4–16%). They discontinued because the program finished (44%) or due to poor health (20%). Commonly reported benefits were social interaction (41–67%) and health (15–31%). Disliking groups was the main barrier (2–14%). Home-based falls prevention exercise was started for rehabilitation (46–63%) or upon health professional recommendation (22–48%) and stopped due to recovery (30%). Improvement in health (18–46%) was the main benefit. These findings could assist health professionals in prescribing group-based falls prevention exercise by considering characteristics of older adults who perceive social interaction to be beneficial.
“We’ve Never Studied Bullying at University:” Bullying-Related Beliefs, Training, and Strategies Among Physical Education Preservice Teachers
Xènia Ríos, Carles Ventura, and Maria Prat
activities where everyone has to work together, we will foster values that might prevent bullying” (PE-PST FG2). They also referred to the positive correlation between cohesion and bullying prevention: “I think that cooperative games and activities where students have to search for solutions as a group is a
Mild Jugular Compression Reduces White Matter Alterations in High School-Aged Males Playing Collision Sports
Megan Nye and Paul A. Cacolice
Clinical Scenario Sport-related concussions are at the forefront of media and public attention, especially for those who participate in high school collision sports. As clinicians are uncertain of optimal diagnostic and treatment strategies, 1 it is suggested that prevention is a preferable
The Effectiveness of Injury Prevention Programs for Youth and Adolescent Athletes
Michelle L. Weber, Kenneth C. Lam, and Tamara C. Valovich McLeod
Clinical Question:
In youth and adolescent athletes, are jumping/plyometric exercises more effective than balance exercises in preventing sport-related injuries?
Objective:
The aim of this article is to examine the meta-analysis by Rössler et al.1 as it relates to the clinical question.
Conclusion:
Evidence in this meta-analysis suggests that injury prevention programs provide beneficial effects in injury reduction for youth and adolescent athletes. Prevention programs that contained jumping or plyometric exercises and were targeted toward females appeared to be especially beneficial for decreasing injury risk.
Shoulder Kinesio Taping Does Not Change Biomechanical Deficits Associated With Scapular Dyskinesis
Sevgi Sevi Yeşilyaprak, Ertuğrul Yüksel, Melike Gizem Kalaycı, Nuri Karabay, and Lori A. Michener
do not suggest using our KT techniques to improve these biomechanical characteristics in terms of secondary prevention. According to the results of this randomized controlled trial, we would not recommend KT combining lower trapezius facilitation, and mechanical correction in the shoulder region to
