Association with injury of a Football-specific movement screen

INTRODUCTION: Movement screening is widely used within football to quantify players’ movement quality. An established definition of movement quality does not exist; however, it encompasses aspects typically associated with safe exercise technique such as maintenance of neutral posture, balance and coordination. The underlying theory behind movement screening is that ‘poor’ movement quality increases the risk of injury whereas ‘good’ movement quality reduces the risk. Indeed, current convention advocates for the risk stratification of individuals based on movement screening scores with intervention targeted only to the high-risk group. The appeal of such practice is clear: potentially more efficient allocation of resources. However, very little evidence to support this approach exists within football. Consequently, the aims of this thesis were as follows: i) to determine what movement screens currently exist within the scientific literature, how reliable they are and their potential association with injury, ii) investigate the predictive ability of the most widely used and researched movement screen within a football population, iii) develop a new football-specific movement screen and test its reliability, and iv) establish the association with injury of the newly created footballspecific movement screen. METHODS: i) A structured literature review was conducted to identify the movement screens with supporting evidence regarding their reliability and association with injury. ii) The Functional Movement Screen (FMS™) was identified as the most widely used and researched movement screen; however, a paucity of research involving football players was observed. In order to investigate the predictive ability of the FMS™ within football 84 elite youth players from a professional club academy performed the screen during the pre-season period and were subsequently observed during the in-season period and injury incidence recorded. iii) The Soccer Injury Movement Screen (SIMS) was developed as a footballspecific movement screen. The constituent movements making up the SIMS were selected based on the most common injury locations (lower-body) and types (muscle strains and ligament sprains). To assess the intra- and inter-rater reliability of the SIMS, 25 recreational athletes performed the assessment and were scored by three raters on three separate occasions. iv) The final investigation established the association with injury of the SIMS within a football population. Utilising a prospective cohort study design, 306 semiprofessional football players performed the SIMS during the pre-season period and were subsequently observed during the in-season period with injury incidence and exposure time recorded. RESULTS: i) A total of 10 movement screens were identified by the structured literature search. The majority of the identified screens demonstrated acceptable reliability for use in applied practice and future research. However, only two of the 10 identified screens had any supporting evidence regarding their association with injury. Furthermore, the limited available evidence related to association with injury was equivocal and not sufficient to justify any movement screen as ‘predictive’. ii) No association with injury was observed for the FMS™ within a cohort of elite youth football players. iii) The SIMS demonstrated good to excellent intra- and inter-rater reliability. iv) However, no association with injury was observed for the SIMS composite score in relation to any of the categories investigated. DISCUSSION: While many reliable movement screens exist none have compelling evidence supporting a strong association with injury. Despite its widespread use within football the FMS™ was not associated with injury among a cohort of elite youth players questioning its value in terms of injury prediction. The SIMS demonstrated good to excellent reliability indicating its suitability for use in applied practice and future research; however, no association with injury was observed for the composite score. The present results challenge current convention that advocates risk stratification and targeted intervention based on screening score. Implementing universal injury prevention programmes albeit with content informed by prospective studies such as the ones conducted within this body of work are recommended ahead of attempting to identify specific ‘at-risk’ individuals

Research With Undergraduates: Spectroscopy Is Just The Beginning

Undergraduate research is considered the best pedagogical practice for engaging chemistry students in their curriculum and encouraging independent problem-solving. This presentation will explore many aspects of the undergraduate research experience in chemistry, beginning with the author’s efforts in constructing instruments and conducting matrix-isolation FTIR experiments with undergraduate students. To expand the impact to more students and increase their exposure to modern physical chemistry research, journal club sessions have been brought to the classroom. Finally, a faculty-created, comprehensive summer research program and large group trips to national meetings have helped chemistry majors understand how their independent research advances not only the field of chemistry but also their professional development

An economic analysis of inter-regional and inter-sectoral R&D spillovers as sources of economic growth

The relationship between research activity and economic well-being are examined within the U.S. manufacturing and agricultural sectors for the periods 1950--1982 and 1964--1986. State crop, livestock, and aggregate agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) data, 1950--1982, are examined for evidence of convergence to a single TFP level (sigma-convergence) or to a steady state rate of growth (beta-or conditional convergence). Empirical results do not support sigma-convergence but do support beta-convergence. The rate of beta-convergence is variable and depends on research and development (R&D) spillins from other states, private R&D, and farmers\u27 schooling. U.S. aggregate manufacturing and agricultural data, 1964-1986, are examined for evidence that R&D spillovers do exist. The empirical results support the notion that research activity in one sector does impact resource allocation decisions in another sector. Own-sector R&D stocks are shown to have strong positive impacts on output supply and input demand decisions. Public agricultural research stocks were shown to have stronger impacts on the manufacturing sector\u27s output supply and input demand decisions than the private manufacturing R&D stocks on the agricultural sector\u27s decisions. Private manufacturing R&D and public agricultural research was shown to be complements. The finding of strong positive interstate and inter-sector spillover effects have policy implications. First, independent state planning of agricultural research is inefficient and cooperation across states boundaries including establishment of new political jurisdictions for financing public agricultural research can enhance efficiency. Second, public planning of agricultural research should capture all positive externalities (own-sector plus the externalities that exist outside of the sector)

Introducing Interdisciplinary Curricula Into Conservation Biology: Exploring Changes in Students’ Perceived Proenvironmental Attitudes and Behaviors

Today, conserving the natural environment is paramount. Educators have been striving to develop pedagogical approaches that facilitate greater engagement in conservation behaviors. However, many of these reforms have been targeted at an institutional level, without necessarily testing whether changes in proenvironmental perceptions, attitudes, or behaviors occur for students. This step seems important when developing conservation biology courses that provide well-rounded education that may better prepare students for future challenges in biodiverse conservation contexts. Our objective was to assess the proenvironmental attitudes and conservation values of undergraduate students enrolled in an undergraduate conservation biology course before and after instruction to determine whether a multidisciplinary curriculum, in conjunction with traditional conservation biology content, would alter their perceptions. Students in both the control and intervention groups felt relatively neutral about a range of environmental and conservation topics. No statistical significance between curricula and impact on student perception was revealed. However, in the experimental course, shifts were found concerning students’ understanding of the complexity of conservation. Results also highlight long-standing issues related to conservation education, such as a bias toward mammal conservation, and suggest that guest lectures are insufficient to bring about attitude change related to sustainability. Further research on incorporating cross-disciplinary pedagogy into STEM courses is recommended

‘Hand in Glove’: using qualitative methods to connect research and practice

Recent work has espoused the idea that within applied sporting environments, 'fast' working practitioners should work together with 'slow' working researchers. However, due to economical and logistical constraints, such a coupling may not always be practical. Therefore, alternative means of combining research and applied practice are needed. A particular methodology, which has been utilized in recent years, is qualitative research. Examples of qualitative methods include the use of online surveys, one-on-one interviews, and focus groups. This article aims to discuss the merits of using qualitative methods to combine applied practice and research in sport science. This includes a discussion of recent examples of the use of such methods in published journal articles, a critique of the approaches employed, and future directions and recommendations. The authors encourage both practitioners and researchers to utilize and engage with qualitative research with the ultimate goal of benefitting athlete health and sporting performance

Interview with David Greer

David Greer, a Knox County farmer discusses his family history in Scotland, the Cathlic/Protestant split that used to exist in Knox County, and the history of his last name.https://digital.kenyon.edu/lt_interviews/1010/thumbnail.jp

Interview with Charlie Kilkenny

Charlie Kilkenny, an Irish American describes growing up in the Great Depression, his Irish heritage, and the Irish community in Columbus.https://digital.kenyon.edu/lt_interviews/1007/thumbnail.jp