A Teaching Strategy with a Focus on Argumentation to Improve Undergraduate Students' Ability to Read Research Articles

The aim of this study is to evaluate a teaching strategy designed to teach first-year undergraduate life sciences students at a research university how to learn to read authentic research articles. Our approach—based on the work done in the field of genre analysis and argumentation theory—means that we teach students to read research articles by teaching them which rhetorical moves occur in research articles and how they can identify these. Because research articles are persuasive by their very nature, we focused on the rhetorical moves that play an important role in authors’ arguments. We designed a teaching strategy using cognitive apprenticeship as the pedagogical approach. It was implemented in a first-year compulsory course in the life sciences undergraduate program. Comparison of the results of a pretest with those of the posttest showed that students’ ability to identify these moves had improved. Moreover, students themselves had also perceived that their ability to read and understand a research article had increased. The students’ evaluations demonstrated that they appreciated the pedagogical approach used and experienced the assignments as useful. On the basis of our results, we concluded that students had taken a first step toward becoming expert readers

Terminology and Classification of Muscle Injuries in Sport: The Munich Consensus Statement

Objective: To provide a clear terminology and classification of muscle injuries in order to facilitate effective communication among medical practitioners and development of systematic treatment strategies. Methods: Thirty native English-speaking scientists and team doctors of national and first division professional sports teams were asked to complete a questionnaire on muscle injuries to evaluate the currently used terminology of athletic muscle injury. In addition, a consensus meeting of international sports medicine experts was established to develop practical and scientific definitions of muscle injuries as well as a new and comprehensive classification system. Results: The response rate of the survey was 63%. The responses confirmed the marked variability in the use of the terminology relating to muscle injury, with the most obvious inconsistencies for the term strain. In the consensus meeting, practical and systematic terms were defined and established. In addition, a new comprehensive classification system was developed, which differentiates between four types: functional muscle disorders (type 1: overexertion-related and type 2: neuromuscular muscle disorders) describing disorders without macroscopic evidence of fibre tear and structural muscle injuries (type 3: partial tears and type 4: (sub)total tears/tendinous avulsions) with macroscopic evidence of fibre tear, that is, structural damage. Subclassifications are presented for each type. Conclusions: A consistent English terminology as well as a comprehensive classification system for athletic muscle injuries which is proven in the daily practice are presented. This will help to improve clarity of communication for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes and can serve as the basis for future comparative studies to address the continued lack of systematic information on muscle injuries in the literature. What are the new things: Consensus definitions of the terminology which is used in the field of muscle injuries as well as a new comprehensive classification system which clearly defines types of athletic muscle injuries

Inertial Sensor-Based Motion Tracking in Football with Movement Intensity Quantification

Inertial sensor-based measurements of lower body kinematics in football players may improve physical load estimates during training sessions and matches. However, the validity of inertial-based motion analysis systems is specific to both the type of movement and the intensity at which movements are executed. Importantly, such a system should be relatively simple, so it can easily be used in daily practice. This paper introduces an easy-to-use inertial-based motion analysis system and evaluates its validity using an optoelectronic motion analysis system as a gold standard. The system was validated in 11 football players for six different football specific movements that were executed at low, medium, and maximal intensity. Across all movements and intensities, the root mean square differences (means ± SD) for knee and hip flexion/extension angles were 5.3° ± 3.4° and 8.0° ± 3.5°, respectively, illustrating good validity with the gold standard. In addition, mean absolute flexion/extension angular velocities significantly differed between the three movement intensities. These results show the potential to use the inertial based motion analysis system in football practice to obtain lower body kinematics and to quantify movement intensity, which both may improve currently used physical load estimates of the players

Empowering the health of retired professional footballers: The systematic development of an after Career Consultation and its feasibility

Objectives This article describes (1) the systematic development of the intervention and (2) the assessment of its feasibility (in terms of relevancy, suitability, satisfaction and added value). Methods The intervention was developed based on the first four steps of the Intervention Mapping and Knowledge Transfer Scheme processes. Subsequently, a qualitative research based on a one-group post-test cross-sectional design was conducted. Eight retired professional footballers underwent the developed intervention and its feasibility (operationalised in relevancy, suitability, satisfaction and added value) was assessed by means of a questionnaire and interview. Results An After Career Consultation (ACC) was developed with a focus on five main domains: (1) detraining from professional football; (2) remission of osteoarthritis; (3) promotion of healthy lifestyle; (4) preventing mental and cognitive health problems; and (5) employment and education. The ACC relies on three components: (1) raising self-awareness about potential physical, mental and social health problems after a career in professional football; (2) medical examination (60 min) with thorough medical history and general physical examination; and (3) follow-up during 3 months (if necessary) about optimal skills and strategies to empower physical, mental and social health and quality of life. The relevancy, suitability, satisfaction and added value of the ACC were positively evaluated by the retired professional footballers. Conclusion The ACC was developed with a focus on five main health-related domains. The feasibility of the ACC was positively assessed by retired professional footballers, while the suggestion was made to repeat the ACC in the initial years after football retirement

Heading Exposure in Elite Football (Soccer): A Study in Adolescent, Young Adult, and Adult Male and Female Players

Purpose This study aims to quantify heading exposure in real-life elite football at the level of individual male and female adolescents, young adults, and adults. Methods Heading exposure was determined by video analysis in combination with a structured electronic registration tool and observation training, to comprehensively register heading characteristics. Characteristics of heading events were registered in 116 official matches (96 male, 20 female) of Dutch national teams. Results Mean exposure for male players based on full match participation was 4.2 headers, with maximum heading exposure at 10.6 headers. Mean heading exposure was higher in adult than adolescent players (P = 0.049), whereas maximum heading exposure was higher for adult than for young adult players (P = 0.045). Maximum heading exposure was higher in male than in female players (P = 0.015). Defenders had the greatest mean and maximum heading exposure (P < 0.001). Longer flight courses of the ball had greater contribution to mean and maximum heading exposure than shorter courses (P < 0.01). Frontal headers had greater contribution to exposure than other points of contact on player's head (P < 0.001), whereas linear headers had greater contribution than rotational headers (P = 0.016). Defensive headers had greater contribution to exposure than other heading types (P < 0.014). Unintentional head contacts in elite football players were, in most cases (80%), not related to heading situations. Conclusions This study provides real-life quantifications of mean and maximum heading exposure in elite football, with strong relevance for policy makers and researchers. The results highlight the roles of player and heading characteristics in heading exposure, informing current discussions on the role of heading in football

Heading Exposure in Elite Football (Soccer): A Study in Adolescent, Young Adult, and Adult Male and Female Players

Purpose This study aims to quantify heading exposure in real-life elite football at the level of individual male and female adolescents, young adults, and adults. Methods Heading exposure was determined by video analysis in combination with a structured electronic registration tool and observation training, to comprehensively register heading characteristics. Characteristics of heading events were registered in 116 official matches (96 male, 20 female) of Dutch national teams. Results Mean exposure for male players based on full match participation was 4.2 headers, with maximum heading exposure at 10.6 headers. Mean heading exposure was higher in adult than adolescent players (P = 0.049), whereas maximum heading exposure was higher for adult than for young adult players (P = 0.045). Maximum heading exposure was higher in male than in female players (P = 0.015). Defenders had the greatest mean and maximum heading exposure (P < 0.001). Longer flight courses of the ball had greater contribution to mean and maximum heading exposure than shorter courses (P < 0.01). Frontal headers had greater contribution to exposure than other points of contact on player's head (P < 0.001), whereas linear headers had greater contribution than rotational headers (P = 0.016). Defensive headers had greater contribution to exposure than other heading types (P < 0.014). Unintentional head contacts in elite football players were, in most cases (80%), not related to heading situations. Conclusions This study provides real-life quantifications of mean and maximum heading exposure in elite football, with strong relevance for policy makers and researchers. The results highlight the roles of player and heading characteristics in heading exposure, informing current discussions on the role of heading in football