The aim of this study was to compare the levels of the plasma muscle-derived cytokines (myokines) and reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) after muscle damage triggered by different exercises, and to demonstrate the relationships between RONS, thiol redox status and myokines. Sixteen young men participated in a 90-min run at 65% VO2max (Ex.1) or 90-min run at 65% VO2max finished with a 1...

PURPOSE To systematically review the scientific level of evidence for the 'Top 3' risk factors, screening tests and preventative exercises identified by a previously published survey of 44 premier league football (soccer) teams. Also, to provide an overall scientific level of evidence and graded recommendation based on the current research literature. METHODS A systematic literature search (P...

CONTEXT Chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy is a common and hard-to-treat disorder characterized by degenerative changes of the tendon matrix. Ultrasonographic tissue characterization (UTC) was successfully used to quantify structural human Achilles tendon changes. This novel and reliable technique could be used in follow-up studies to relate tendon structure to symptoms. OBJECTIVE To qu...

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to compare the effect of resistance exercise with three different methods on integrated electromyography (IEMG) and metabolic responses in recreational athletes. METHODS Twenty four males (mean 23.59±0.87 years) were randomly assigned to three experimental groups. Participants performed knee extension exercises: Slow (SL: 3-3, 3s for each concentric and eccen...

STUDY DESIGN Randomized clinical trial. OBJECTIVES To compare the effectiveness of the Alfredson eccentric heel-drop protocol with a "do-as-tolerated" protocol for nonathletic individuals with midportion Achilles tendinopathy. BACKGROUND The Alfredson protocol recommends the completion of 180 eccentric heel drops a day. However, completing this large number of repetitions is time consuming ...

Warm up routines are commonly used to optimize football performance and prevent injuries. Yet, official pre-match protocols may require players to passively rest for approximately 10 to 15 minutes between the warm up and the beginning of the match. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the effect of different re-warm up activities on the physical performance of football players. Twent...

OBJECTIVE Functional ankle instability (FAI) afflicts many athletes. Several causes of FAI have been implicated, including peroneal muscle weakness. Traditional musculoskeletal rehabilitation programs have focused on concentric muscle strength. The purpose of our study was to compare concentric and eccentric isokinetic and isometric eversion ankle strength measurements between subjects identifi...

It has been proposed that the maintenance of acute hormonal responses reveal an efficacy of a training stimulus to evoke ongoing increases in strength and muscle mass. We previously observed that maximum strength continued to improve throughout a 10-week period in an accentuated eccentric loading group (AEL) but not a traditional isoinertial loading (ISO) group. Therefore, this study investigat...

Although side-to-side asymmetry of the shoulder rotators calculated by independent peak torque (IPT) has been used for interpretation of injury risks in athletes, it may not measure strength through the entire range of motion (ROM) tested. The aim of this study was to compare side-to-side asymmetry of the shoulder rotators between independent peak torque (IPT) and ten-degree angle specific torq...

BACKGROUND Hamstring injuries are the most common muscle injury in amateur and professional soccer. Most hamstring injuries occur in the late swing phase, when the hamstring undergoes a stretch-shortening cycle and the hamstring does a significant amount of eccentric work. The incidence of these injuries has not decreased despite there being effective injury prevention programmes focusing on im...