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Abstract Background The purpose of this study was to examine the association of sacroiliac joint (SIJ) dysfunction and pain with overuse and acute lower limb and pelvic girdle injuries of Iranian basketball players. Methods In this cross-sectional study, basketball-related injury data were collected during 2019–2020 from 204 basketball players of the Iranian league using the online Information Retrospective Injury Questionnaire. A researcher then performed ten clinical tests to assess SIJ dysfunction and pain (five tests for dysfunction and five tests for pain). Data analysis was performed by logistic regression at the confidence interval of 95%. Results Within our sample (n = 204), injury rates were calculated across sub-groups of athletes that had only SIJ pain (n = 19), only SIJ dysfunction (n = 67), both SIJ pain and dysfunction (n = 15) or no SIJ complaints (n = 103). Across these groups, a total of 464 injuries were reported. SIJ pain group reported 80 injuries (17.2%), SIJ dysfunction group reported 210 injuries (45.2%), both SIJ pain and dysfunction group reported 58 injuries (12.5%, and the no SIJ pain or SIJ dysfunction group reported 116 injuries (25.0%). Participants with SIJ pain were more likely to report previous pelvic girdle injuries (overuse: odds ratio (OR): 0.017; 95% CI: 0.005–0.56; p

Abstract Typically, athletes alter movement mechanics in the presence of back pain, but the effect of these changes on lower extremity injury risk is not well understood. This study aimed to compare the effect of fatigue on electromechanical response times during a choice reaction task in basketball players with and without persistent low back pain. Twenty-four male basketball players participated. Total reaction time (TRT), premotor time (PMT), and electromechanical delay (EMD data were recorded before and after fatigue. The chronic low back pain (CLBP) group had significantly longer EMD in Med gastrocnemius (p = 0.001) and Tibialis anterior (p = 0.001), and shorter EMD in Vastus Lateralis (p = 0.001), Vastus Medialis Oblique (p = 0.003), and Semitendinosus (p = 0.025) muscles after fatigue. PMT in the CLBP group had longer than the Non-CLBP in Vastus Lateralis (p = 0.010), Vastus Medialis Oblique (p = 0.017), Semitendinosus (p = 0.002). Also, TRT was longer in knee flexion (p = 0.001) and ankle plantarflexion (p = 0.001) muscle groups. The different effects of fatigue on electromechanical response times of the knee and ankle in people with CLBP may represent the effect of an axial injury on lower extremity injury risk factors in situations of higher cognitive load, similar to competitive play.

The classic model of non-contact ACL injury includes environmental, anatomical, hormonal and biomechanical risk factors which directly impact either the amount of stress placed on the ligament or the relative capacity of ligament to withstand the forces placed on it. However, cognition also clearly plays a role in successful athletic performance, yet diminished cognitive function is rarely considered a risk factor for injury. # Objective To examine the existing literature to determine the extent to which cognitive function (both cognitive ability and task cognitive load) influences non-contact lower extremity injury risk in male and female athletes with a broad variety of athletic expertise. # Study Design Scoping Review # Methods An electronic search was conducted of CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, Google Scholar, and MEDLINE using the PRISMA method. Search terms included Boolean combinations of “cognition”, “concussion”, “ImPACT”, “cognitive deficit”, “mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)”, and “neuropsychological function” as cognitive descriptors and the terms “injury risk” and “lower extremity injury” as injury descriptors. Inclusion criteria included papers written in English published between 2000-2021. Exclusion criteria included neurological and cognitively atypical populations, except for concussion (included). Included articles were appraised using the Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies. # Results Fifty-six studies utilizing across the spectrum of levels of evidence met inclusion criteria. Forty-one articles had good, fourteen had fair, and one had poor methodological quality. Studies examined baseline cognitive function in healthy athletes (n=7); performance during dual-task paradigms (n=13); and the impact of concussion on dual-task performance (n=4), LE injury risk (n=22), or post-concussion testing (n=10). Six articles examining cognitive function and all dual-task studies (including concussion studies) found altered biomechanics associated with injury or increased processing demands. Studies related to concussion and injury incidence consistently found an increased risk of LE injury following concussion. Half of the studies that examined concussion and post-concussion cognitive testing demonstrated significant effects. # Discussion Consistent across participant demographics, tasks, and dependent measures, fifty-one of fifty-six assessed articles concluded that decreased cognitive ability or increased cognitive load led to risky LE mechanics or a direct increase in non-contact LE injury risk. # Conclusion The robustness of results across gender, performance level, sport, cognitive ability, task cognitive load suggest that the inclusion of cognitive training in the design of optimal LE injury prevention programs warrants further study. Level of Evidence: Ia

Functional magnetic resonance imaging for presurgical brain mapping enables neurosurgeons to identify viable tissue near a site of operable pathology which might be at risk of surgery-induced damage. However, focal brain pathology (e.g., tumors) may selectively disrupt neurovascular coupling while leaving the underlying neurons functionally intact. Such neurovascular uncoupling can result in false negatives on brain activation maps thereby compromising their use for surgical planning. One way to detect potential neurovascular uncoupling is to map cerebrovascular reactivity using either an active breath-hold challenge or a passive resting-state scan. The equivalence of these two methods has yet to be fully established, especially at a voxel level of resolution. To quantitatively compare breath-hold and resting-state maps of cerebrovascular reactivity, we first identified threshold settings that optimized coverage of gray matter while minimizing false responses in white matter. When so optimized, the resting-state metric had moderately better gray matter coverage and specificity. We then assessed the spatial correspondence between the two metrics within cortical gray matter, again, across a wide range of thresholds. Optimal spatial correspondence was strongly dependent on threshold settings which if improperly set tended to produce statistically biased maps. When optimized, the two CVR maps did have moderately good correspondence with each other (mean accuracy of 73.6%). Our results show that while the breath-hold and resting-state maps may appear qualitatively similar they are not quantitatively identical at a voxel level of resolution.

Objective. Visual information is often used to guide purposeful movement. However, older adults have impaired responses to visual information, leading to increased risk for injuries and potential loss of independence. We evaluated distinct visual and motor attention contributions to a cued saccade task to determine the extent to which aging selectively affects these processes. Methods. Nineteen healthy young (18–28 years) and 20 older (60–90 years) participants performed a cued saccade task under two conditions. We challenged motor attention by changing the number of possible saccade targets (1 or 6). Results. Older adults had difficulty in inhibiting unwanted eye movements and had greater eye movement inaccuracy in the hard condition when compared to the younger adults and to the easy condition. Also, an inverse relation existed between performance on the visual and motor components of the task in older adults, unlike younger adults. Conclusions. Older adults demonstrated difficulty in both inhibiting irrelevant saccade targets and selecting correct saccade endpoints during more complex tasks. The shift in relations among attention measures between the younger and older participants may indicate a need to prioritize attentional resources with age. These changes may impact an older adult’s ability to function in complex environments.

Aim: We examined the long-term effects of concussions in young adult females on visuomotor behavior during a visually-guided reaching task of various complexities. Materials & methods: 20 females w...