Biomechanical analysis of lower limbs based on unstable condition sports footwear:a systematic review

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the functional arguments for unstable footwear in the recent research literature and to explore the different effects of various unstable designs of footwear in enhancing muscle strength training, improving stability and loss prevention. According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) criteria, to find all the relevant studies for this systematic review, a comprehensive electronic search was conducted. The following keyword combinations were used as part of a standardized electronic literature search strategy: ‘unstable OR bionic OR MBT’ AND ‘shoe OR shoes OR footwear’ AND ‘biomechanics OR kinetics OR kinematics OR muscle force’ from 2000 until November 2021 using the following databases: ScienceDirect, Web of Science and PubMed online. There were 17 articles included in this review, eight consisting of anterior-posterior (AP) unstable condition studies and nine consisting of medial-lateral (ML) unstable condition studies. It was also uncovered that AP unstable footwear is more suitable for fully developed adults, while for ML unstable footwear is perhaps more suitable for children and adolescents

The prevalence of lower extremity injuries in running and associated risk factors:a systematic review

Introduction: Running is an extremely popular pastime and competitive sport. There is a general consensus that runners present a high incidence of injury. This study aims to discover the prevalence of injury to the lower extremity among runners and any associated risk factors which correlate with the development of lower extremity injuries. Methods: An inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to screen search results. From an original 184 search results, 24 research papers were selected for the final study. The PRISMA checklist was adhered to in the research process. EndnoteX9 was used to filter through all search results and to achieve the final study selections, in line with the appropriate criteria. Results: Overall, a mean incidence of 37% was displayed for running related injuries to the lower extremity. Females displayed a greater mean incidence of injury than males, 39.7% vs 34.3%. Injury prevalence presented greatest at the knee region (24.3%), but this differed when results were split into male and females. Females presented the greatest prevalence of injury at the calf/lower leg, whilst males presented greatest incidence of injury at the hip/pelvis/upper leg region. Risk factors for developing injury which were identified throughout the research included; having 3 times per week. Conclusion: This systematic review is in agreement with the literature which has repeatedly illustrated that female runners present a greater incidence of injury than male runners

A new method applied for explaining the landing patterns:interpretability analysis of machine learning

As one of many fundamental sports techniques, the landing maneuver is also frequently used in clinical injury screening and diagnosis. However, the landing patterns are different under different constraints, which will cause great difficulties for clinical experts in clinical diagnosis. Machine learning (ML) have been very successful in solving a variety of clinical diagnosis tasks, but they all have the disadvantage of being black boxes and rarely provide and explain useful information about the reasons for making a particular decision. The current work validates the feasibility of applying an explainable ML (XML) model constructed by Layer-wise Relevance Propagation (LRP) for landing pattern recognition in clinical biomechanics. This study collected 560 groups landing data. By incorporating these landing data into the XML model as input signals, the prediction results were interpreted based on the relevance score (RS) derived from LRP. The interpretation obtained from XML was evaluated comprehensively from the statistical perspective based on Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) and Effect Size. The RS has excellent statistical characteristics in the interpretation of landing patterns between classes, and also conforms to the clinical characteristics of landing pattern recognition. The current work highlights the applicability of XML methods that can not only satisfy the traditional decision problem between classes, but also largely solve the lack of transparency in landing pattern recognition. We provide a feasible framework for realizing interpretability of ML decision results in landing analysis, providing a methodological reference and solid foundation for future clinical diagnosis and biomechanical analysis

A systematic review and meta-analysis investigating head trauma in boxing

Objectives: Although physical trauma has been reported in boxing since its inception, boxing still appeals to athletes and spectators. This systematic review and meta-analysis assess both acute and chronic neurological and neuropsychological effects that boxing has on the brain. Further assessments in terms of comparisons of the concussion ratio in boxing to other combat sports, as well as the efficiency of wearing headguards, are also performed.Data Sources: This systematic review and meta-analysis used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The outcomes incorporated included physical chronic abnormalities of the brain, neuropsychiatric, and neurological disorders sustained in amateur or professional boxing, in addition to the safety benefits of boxing headguards. Odds ratios, descriptive statistics, and inferential statistics are also reported.Main Results: From the 84 articles reviewed, the 35 included articles suggested that boxers have a significantly elevated risk of sustaining a concussion compared with other combat sports (risk ratio [RR]: 0.253 vs RR: 0.065, P < 0.001). From the 631 amateur and professional boxers analyzed, 147 (23.30%) had cavum septum pellucidum, whereas 125 of 411 amateur and professional boxers (30.41%) presented with some form of brain atrophy. Dementia or amnesia was observed in 46 of 71 boxers (61.79%), 36 of 70 (51.43%) had various forms and severities of cognitive disorders, and 57 of 109 (52.29%) displayed abnormal computed tomography or electroencephalogram scan results. Utilization of headguards significantly increased the risk for stoppages in amateur bouts, compared with boxers not wearing a headguard (OR: 1.75 vs 0.53, P < 0.050).Conclusions: Boxing is a hazardous sport that has the potential to have fatal and negative life-changing results. Because of the limited reliable data regarding the efficiency of boxing headguards, future research should focus on the overall significance that headguards may have for reducing head trauma

Intra-session and inter-day reliability of the Myon 320 electromyography system during sub-maximal contractions

Electromyography systems are widely used within the field of scientific and clinical practices. The reliability of these systems are paramount when conducting research. The reliability of Myon 320 Surface Electromyography System is yet to be determined. This study aims to determine the intra-session and inter-day reliability of the Myon 320 Surface Electromyography System. Muscle activity from fifteen participants was measured at the anterior deltoid muscle during a bilateral front raise exercise, the vastus lateralis muscle during a squat exercise and the extensor carpi radialis brevis (ECRB) muscle during an isometric handgrip task. Intra-session and inter-day reliability was calculated by intraclass correlation coefficient, standard error of measurement and coefficient of variation (CV). The normalized root mean squared (RMS) surface electromyographic signals produced good intra-session and inter-day testing intraclass correlation coefficient values (range: 0.63-0.97) together with low standard error of measurement (range: 1.49-2.32) and CV (range: 95% Confidence Interval = 0.36-12.71) measures for the dynamic-and-isometric contractions. The findings indicate that the Myon 320 Surface Electromyography System produces good to fair reliability when examining intra-session and inter-day reliability. Findings of the study provide evidence of the reliability of electromyography between trials which is essential during clinical testing.</p

Heart rate variability in hypothyroid patients:a systematic review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION: Hypothyroidism may be associated with changes in the autonomic regulation of the cardiovascular system, which may have clinical implications. OBJECTIVE: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on the impact of hypothyroidism on HRV. MATERIALS AND METHODS: PubMed, Cochrane, Embase and Google Scholar were searched until 20 August 2021 for articles reporting HRV parameters in untreated hypothyroidism and healthy controls. Random-effects meta-analysis were stratified by degree of hypothyroidism for each HRV parameters: RR intervals (or normal to normal-NN intervals), SDNN (standard deviation of RR intervals), RMSSD (square root of the mean difference of successive RR intervals), pNN50 (percentage of RR intervals with >50ms variation), total power (TP), LFnu (low-frequency normalized unit), HFnu (high-frequency), VLF (very low frequency), and LF/HF ratio. RESULTS: We included 17 studies with 11438 patients: 1163 hypothyroid patients and 10275 healthy controls. There was a decrease in SDNN (effect size = -1.27, 95% CI -1.72 to -0.83), RMSSD (-1.66, -2.32 to -1.00), pNN50 (-1.41, -1.98 to -0.84), TP (-1.55, -2.1 to -1.00), HFnu (-1.21, -1.78 to -0.63) with an increase in LFnu (1.14, 0.63 to 1.66) and LF/HF ratio (1.26, 0.71 to 1.81) (p <0.001). HRV alteration increased with severity of hypothyroidism. CONCLUSIONS: Hypothyroidism is associated with a decreased HRV, that may be explained by molecular mechanisms involving catecholamines and by the effect of TSH on HRV. The increased sympathetic and decreased parasympathetic activity may have clinical implications