Comparison between two different types of school bags and musculoskeletal symptoms in primary school students

The subject of this research was to find out the relationship between the school bag (trolley bags and shoulder bags) and the appearance of musculoskeletal symptoms in Greek primary school pupils, as well as to discuss ways in which these symptoms can be avoided. The sample consisted of 199 primary school children, aged 7-12 years old. Also, questionnaires answered by their parent-guardians and the educational staff of the school where the survey was conducted. The measuring tools used were questionnaires, measuring tape, electronic scale and electronic dynamometer. The results indicated that the 60.8% of children, regardless of the type of bag, reported some musculoskeletal pain during the transfer of the school bag, with pupils with a shoulder bag showing 65.3% musculoskeletal pain and 42.9% of those with trolley bag showing musculoskeletal pains. However, students with trolley bags carry heavier bags, than the pupils with shoulder bags, and the ratio between the body weight and the bag weight of the pupils in all classes exceed the 10% suggested by the literature. Findings made during this study suggest that children, parents and teachers should be trained on the characteristics of the school bag and its safe transport. Parents should have a more active role in promoting safety and should represent the team that will most likely help to significantly reduce the damage associated with carrying the school bag, choosing safe school backpacks, supervising the contents of the bag and checking its weight

Muscle and intensity based hamstring exercise classification in elite female track and field athletes: implications for exercise selection during rehabilitation

Background: Hamstring injuries are common in many sports, including track and field. Strains occur in different parts of the hamstring muscle but very little is known about whether common hamstring loading exercises specifically load different hamstring components. The purpose of this study was to investigate muscle activation of different components of the hamstring muscle during common hamstring loading exercises. Methods: Twenty elite female track and field athletes were recruited into this study, which had a single-sample, repeated-measures design. Each athlete performed ten hamstring loading exercises, and an electromyogram (EMG) was recorded from the biceps femoris and semitendinosus components of the hamstring. Hamstring EMG during maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) was used to normalize the mean data across ten repetitions of each exercise. An electrogoniometer synchronized to the EMG was used to determine whether peak EMG activity occurred during muscle-tendon unit lengthening, shortening, or no change in length. Mean EMG values were compared between the two recording sites for each exercise using the Student’s t-test. Results: The lunge, dead lift, and kettle swings were low intensity (<50% MVIC) and all showed higher EMG activity for semitendinosus than for biceps femoris. Bridge was low but approaching medium intensity, and the TRX, hamstring bridge, and hamstring curl were all medium intensity exercises (≥50% or <80% MVIC). The Nordic, fitball, and slide leg exercises were all high intensity exercises. Only the fitball exercise showed higher EMG activity in the biceps femoris compared with the semitendinosus. Only lunge and kettle swings showed peak EMG in the muscle-tendon unit lengthening phase and both these exercises involved faster speed. Conclusion: Some exercises selectively activated the lateral and medial distal hamstrings. Low, medium, and high intensity exercises were demonstrated. This information enables the clinician, strength and conditioning coach and physiotherapist to better understand intensity- and muscle-specific activation during hamstring muscle rehabilitation. Therefore, these results may help in designing progressive strengthening and rehabilitation and prevention programs

Periodization in Anterior Cruciate Ligament Rehabilitation: New Framework Versus Old Model? A Clinical Commentary

The physiological and psychological changes after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) do not always allow a return to sport in the best condition and at the same level as before. Moreover, the number of significant re-injuries, especially in young athletes should be considered and physical therapists must develop rehabilitation strategies and increasingly specific and ecological test batteries to optimize safe return to play. The return to sport and return to play of athletes after ACLR must progress through the recovery of strength, neuromotor control, and include cardiovascular training while considering different psychological aspects. Because motor control seems to be the key to a safe return to sport, it should be associated with the progressive development of strength, and cognitive abilities should also be considered throughout rehabilitation. Periodization, the planned manipulation of training variables (load, sets, and repetitions) to maximize training adaptations while minimizing fatigue and injury, is relevant to the optimization of muscle strengthening, athletic qualities, and neurocognitive qualities of athletes during rehabilitation after ACLR. Periodized programming utilizes the principle of overload, whereby the neuromuscular system is required to adapt to unaccustomed loads. While progressive loading is a well-established and widely used concept for strengthening, the variance of volume and intensity makes periodization effective for improving athletic skills and attributes, such as muscular strength, endurance, and power, when compared with non-periodized training. The purpose of this clinical commentary is to broadly apply concepts of periodization to rehabilitation after ACLR

The Effect of Ball Heading and Subclinical Concussion On the Neuromuscular Control Of The Lower Limb: A Systematic Review

# Background Soccer is unique among sports because it is the only sport that involves purposeful use of the head to control, pass, or shoot the ball. Over the previous five years, a relationship between lower extremity (LE) injury and sports related concussion (SRC) has been established in various sporting populations. Athletes at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels have demonstrated a greater risk for sustaining a LE injury post SRC. The purpose of this systematic review was to examine the relationship of the SRC with the incidence of LE injuries. # Methods Ten databases were searched with the following keywords: Lower limb, ball heading, neuromuscular control, concussion, MEDLINE, Ovid MEDLINE(R) Daily, and Ovid MEDLINE(R), EMBASE, and Scopus. The search was limited to English-language and peer-reviewed publications, until 15/12/2022. The PEDro scale was used for the assessment of the risk of bias among the included studies. All included papers were qualitatively analyzed. # Results A total of 834 studies were identified and 10 articles (four concussion-MSK biomechanics, six concussion-MSK injury) were included in the qualitative analyses. Included papers ranged from low to high quality. Due to the heterogeneous nature of the included study designs, quantitative meta-analysis was unable to be performed. All four of the included concussion-MSK biomechanics studies demonstrated, to some degree, that worse cognitive performance was associated with lower extremity MSK biomechanical patterns suggestive of greater risk for MSK injury. Among the six injury related studies, two investigations failed to determine group differences in cognitive performance between subsequently injured and non-injured athletes. # Conclusion More research is needed to better understand the relationship of SRC and lower extremity injuries and the extent to which they are related to concussions and/or repetitive neurotrauma after ball heading sustained in soccer. # Level of Evidence

Hydrotherapy (Project Hydriades)

Natural resources are being used for the maintenance of health. According to the Law 3498/2006 of the Greek Parliament the natural health spas must be validated for their therapeutic properties. The Association of Municipalities and Communities of Health Springs of Greece signed a contract with the Research Committee of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in order to conduct the research programme: ‘Study for the documentation of the therapeutic properties of the thermomineral waters’. The main aim of the project is: (1) the study of biological and therapeutic parameters of the natural health sources, (2) the identification of the indications and contraindications of hydrotherapy. Aims parallel to the main ones have been also set

Title: Presentation of Acoustic Waves propagation and their effects through Human body tissues Author

Abstract Three types of acoustic waves are mainly used in the medical field, Extracorporeal Shock Waves (ESWs), Pressure Waves (PWs) and Ultrasound (US). Shock waves are acoustic waves that are characterised by high pressure amplitudes and an abrupt increase in pressure that propagates rapidly through a medium. The energy distribution on the treatment area differs from being wide over a large area, or concentrated on a narrow treatment zone, such influences the therapeutic and biological effect of the shock wave. Pressure waves are usually generated by the collision of solid bodies with an impact speed of a few metres per second, far bellow the speed travels the shock wave. There are major differences between PWs and ESWs, concerning not only their physical characteristics and the technique used for generating them, but also the order of the parameters normally used. The simulation effects and therapeutic mechanisms seem to be similar, despite the physical differences and the resulting different application areas (on the surface and in depth respectively). Ultrasound therapy is one of the modalities of physical medicine used for pain management and for increasing blood flow and mobility. Ultrasound and ESWs -PWs differ, despite their acoustic relationship, basically because ESWs -PWs appear large pressure amplitudes with direct mechanical effects and US propagates with periodic oscillations with a limited bandwidth, and mainly direct thermal effects. Acoustic waves, have direct mechanical and mechanotransduction effects on the cells and ECM increasing porosity, angiogenesis, releasing of growth factors, enhancing proteosynthesis and viscoelastisity and inducing histeogenesis and repair processes