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The effects of lower leg cold immersion on muscle activity and dynamic stability of the lower extremity are examined. The dynamic stability in healthy women was not impaired by lower leg cold-immersion therapy during a jump-landing task.

Context: Both female athletes' participation in soccer and associated injuries have greatly increased in recent years. One issue is the 2-9 times greater incidence of noncontact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in female athletes relative to male athletes in comparable sports. Several factors such as limb dominance and sporting history have been proposed to play a role in ACL incidence rates between male and female athletes. However, evidence about the effects of these factors and how they interact with sex is mixed, and thus no consensus exists. Objective: To quantify the effects of sports participation, limb dominance, and sex on dynamic postural control and knee-joint proprioception. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: University research laboratory. Participants: 19 male soccer players, 17 female soccer players, 19 sedentary men, and 18 sedentary women. Intervention: Joint-position sense was tested using reproduction of passive positioning on a Biodex isokinetic dynamometer (30°, 45°, and 60° from 90° of knee flexion). Three Star Excursion Balance Test directions were used to assess dynamic postural control. Main Outcome Measure: Normalized reach distance (% of leg length) in the anterior, posteromedial, and posterolateral directions on each leg quantified dynamic postural control. Average absolute error and constant error for both limbs quantified joint-position sense. Results: Posteromedial reach distance was significantly better in soccer players than sedentary individuals (P = .006). Anterior reach distance was significantly better (P = .04) in sedentary individuals than soccer players. No limb-dominance or sex differences were identified for dynamic postural control, and no differences in absolute- or constant-error scores were identified. Conclusion: Sporting history has a direction-specific impact on dynamic postural control. Sporting history, sex, and limb dominance do not influence knee-joint proprioception when tested in an open kinetic chain using passive repositioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training load and movement quality are associated with injury risk in athletes. Given these associations, it is important to understand how movement quality may moderate the training load so that appropriate injury-prevention strategies can be used. To determine how absolute and relative internal training loads change during a men's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) soccer season and how movement quality, assessed using the Landing Error Scoring System (LESS), moderates the relative internal training load. Prospective cohort study. Division I athletics. One NCAA Division I male collegiate soccer team was recruited and followed over 2 consecutive seasons. Fifty-two athletes (age = 19.71 ± 1.30 years, height = 1.81 ± 0.06 m, mass = 75.74 ± 6.64 kg) consented to participate, and 46 met the criteria to be included in the final statistical analysis. Daily absolute internal training load was tracked over 2 seasons using a rated perceived exertion scale and time, which were subsequently used to calculate the absolute and relative internal training loads. Movement quality was assessed using the LESS and participants were categorized as poor movers (LESS score ≥5) or good movers (LESS score ≤4). The 46 athletes consisted of 29 poor movers and 17 good movers. Absolute (P <.001) and relative (P <.001) internal training loads differed across the weeks of the season. However, movement quality did not moderate the relative internal training load (P =.264). Absolute and relative training loads changed across weeks of a male collegiate soccer season. Movement quality did not affect the relative training load, but future researchers need to conduct studies with larger sample sizes to confirm this result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Sport and tactical populations are often impacted by musculoskeletal injury. Many publications have highlighted that risk is correlated with multiple variables. There do not appear to be existing studies that have evaluated a predetermined combination of risk factors that provide a pragmatic model for application in tactical and/or sports settings. Purpose To develop and test the predictive capability of multivariable risk models of lower extremity musculoskeletal injury during cadet basic training at the U.S.Military Academy. Materials and Methods Cadets from the class of 2022 served as the study population. Sex and injury history were collected by questionnaire. Body Mass Index (BMI) and aerobic fitness were calculated during testing in the first week of training. Movement screening was performed using the Landing Error Scoring System during week 1 and cadence was collected using an accelerometer worn throughout initial training. Kaplan–Meier survival curves estimated group differences in time to the first musculoskeletal injury during training. Cox regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) was used to compare model fit. Results Cox modeling using HRs indicated that the following variables were associated with injury risk : Sex, history of injury, Landing Error Scoring System Score Category, and Physical Fitness Test (PT) Run Score. When controlling for sex and history of injury, amodel including aerobic fitness and BMI outperformed the model including movement screening risk and cadence (AIC: 1068.56 vs. 1074.11) and a model containing all variables that were significant in the univariable analysis was the most precise (AIC: 1063.68). Conclusions In addition to variables typically collected in this tactical setting (Injury History, BMI, and aerobic fitness), the inclusion of kinematic testing appears to enhance the precision of the risk identification model and will likely continue to be included in screening cadets at greater risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]