Ketra L. Armstrong
People have an innate and fundamental need to belong (i.e., to establish and maintain high-quality and enriching relationships with others). Belonging is important to our personal and professional lives, and culture is often the conduit filtering our sense of belonging. Some organizations are culturally inclusive wherein a culturally diverse array of individuals feel connected and have a sense of belonging. In contrast, others are marred by cultural exclusion, leaving some individuals culturally disconnected, culturally disengaged, and lacking a sense of belonging. This article posits cultural belonging as the “impoverishing errand” that kinesiology must accomplish. It discusses personal and positional culture, organizational culture, and the leadership needed in kinesiology to create institutional environments that support and sustain inclusive cultures of belonging for faculty, staff, and students. In so doing, it illustrates the need for the philosophical/ideological and managerial focus on people-centered leadership that normalizes cultural inclusion.
Domingo Jesús Ramos-Campo, Francisco Javier López-Román, Silvia Pérez-Piñero, Raquel Ortolano, María Salud Abellán-Ruiz, Enrique Molina Pérez de los Cobos, Antonio Jesús Luque-Rubia, Dag Van Elslande, and Vicente Ávila-Gandía
The present randomized study investigated the effect of acute supplementation of 800 mg/kg of ketone monoester ingestion (KE) or placebo (PL) and 210 mg/kg of NaHCO3 co-ingestion on cycling performance of WorldTour cyclists during a road cycling stage simulation. Twenty-eight cyclists participated in the study (27.46 ± 4.32 years; 1.80 ± 0.06 m; 69.74 ± 6.36 kg). Performance, physiological, biochemical, and metabolism outcomes, gut discomfort, and effort perceived were assessed during a road cycling simulation composed of an 8-min time-trial (TT) performance + 30-s TT + 4.5 hr of outdoor cycling + a second 8-min TT + a second 30-s TT. Greater absolute and relative mean power during the first 8-min TT (F = 5.067, p = .033,
David G. Lloyd, Ilse Jonkers, Scott L. Delp, and Luca Modenese
The Executive Council of the International Society of Biomechanics has initiated and overseen the commemorations of the Society’s 50th Anniversary in 2023. This included multiple series of lectures at the ninth World Congress of Biomechanics in 2022 and XXIXth Congress of the International Society of Biomechanics in 2023, all linked to special issues of International Society of Biomechanics’ affiliated journals. This special issue of the Journal of Applied Biomechanics is dedicated to the biomechanics of the neuromusculoskeletal system. The reader is encouraged to explore this special issue which comprises 6 papers exploring the current state-of the-art, and future directions and roles for neuromusculoskeletal biomechanics. This editorial presents a very brief history of the science of the neuromusculoskeletal system’s 4 main components: the central nervous system, musculotendon units, the musculoskeletal system, and joints, and how they biomechanically integrate to enable an understanding of the generation and control of human movement. This also entails a quick exploration of contemporary neuromusculoskeletal biomechanics and its future with new fields of application.
K. Michael Rowley, M.P. Jenny O, and E. Missy Wright
Faculty with personal and professional identities that are marginalized in higher education experience identity taxation, which is the experience of greater physical, mental, emotional, or psychological labor beyond what is experienced by faculty members with dominant-group identities. Inequities in service work contribute substantially to this taxation. Here, we describe persistent inequities in service work in academia, the impacts and consequences of those inequities, and strategies from the literature and our own experiences to make service work more equitable. We then detail two case examples for how we implemented some of these strategies in our kinesiology department, including (a) adopting an equity-based model of service work for required department and college service committees and (b) applying an equity lens to a faculty search committee. Finally, we reflect on our successes and areas for improvement.
Erin E. Eggert, Will Palmer, Lourdes I. Shanjani, Kimberlee Gretebeck, and Jane E. Mahoney
Background: Few programs assess for outcomes once translated into practice. The Physical Activity for Lifelong Success program was developed as a center-based public health intervention and shown to improve walking speed and distance among older adults with type 2 diabetes. We adapted the program for community-based delivery by lay leaders to physically inactive older adults. Methods: We followed the Replicating Effective Programs framework to identify community stakeholders, adapt, implement, and evaluate fidelity of delivery in community settings, and plan for maintenance and evolution. Sixteen community sites enrolled 184 adults (mean age 73.5 y, 85% female, 93% White) in 21 workshops. Baseline and postworkshop measures assessed participants’ health-related quality of life, physical function, and physical fitness. Data were analyzed using Fisher exact tests, Student t test, and paired linear regression with fixed effects. Results: Fidelity testing indicated leader training was sufficient to maintain key elements with delivery. Data from 122 participants showed improvements in chair stands (P < .001), arm curls (P < .001), 2-minute step test (P < .001), sit-and-reach (P = .001), 8-foot up-and-go (P < .001), and 10-m walk (P < .001). Conclusions: Adaptation of Physical Activity for Lifelong Success for implementation by community organizations for physically inactive older adults demonstrates that fidelity and effectiveness can be maintained after program translation.
Catarina Morais, Clara Simães, A. Rui Gomes, and Beatriz M. Gonçalves
This study aimed to provide a framework for how athletes evaluate stress before a competition and how stress relates to cognitive appraisal, sport confidence, and expectations of performance. Participants were 327 youth male athletes, aged 15–19 years (M = 16.90; SD = 1.00), who competed in the Portuguese National Football League and completed a questionnaire 24–48 hr before their match, using the critical incident methodology. Results revealed that opponents were the main source of stress for athletes and that the more athletes stress about their opponents, the more they tend to perceive the situation as threatening (and less challenging), the lower their perceptions of coping and sport confidence which, in turn, predicted lower expectations of individual and collective performance. In sum, perceiving the stressful situation as either a challenge or a threat predicts young athletes’ sport confidence and, consequently, expected performance when dealing with stressful competitive situations.
Zahra S. Mahdian, Huawei Wang, Mohamed Irfan Mohamed Refai, Guillaume Durandau, Massimo Sartori, and Mhairi K. MacLean
Lower limb exoskeletons and exosuits (“exos”) are traditionally designed with a strong focus on mechatronics and actuation, whereas the “human side” is often disregarded or minimally modeled. Muscle biomechanics principles and skeletal muscle response to robot-delivered loads should be incorporated in design/control of exos. In this narrative review, we summarize the advances in literature with respect to the fusion of muscle biomechanics and lower limb exoskeletons. We report methods to measure muscle biomechanics directly and indirectly and summarize the studies that have incorporated muscle measures for improved design and control of intuitive lower limb exos. Finally, we delve into articles that have studied how the human–exo interaction influences muscle biomechanics during locomotion. To support neurorehabilitation and facilitate everyday use of wearable assistive technologies, we believe that future studies should investigate and predict how exoskeleton assistance strategies would structurally remodel skeletal muscle over time. Real-time mapping of the neuromechanical origin and generation of muscle force resulting in joint torques should be combined with musculoskeletal models to address time-varying parameters such as adaptation to exos and fatigue. Development of smarter predictive controllers that steer rather than assist biological components could result in a synchronized human–machine system that optimizes the biological and electromechanical performance of the combined system.