The effect of a 10-week training regimen on lumbo-pelvic stability and athletic performance in female athletes: A randomized-controlled trial

Creatine and sodium bicarbonate are both ergogenic aids for athletic performance. However, research on the combined creatine and sodium bicarbonate (CSB) supplementation in soccer is limited. This study investigated the changes in soccer-specific performance in elite soccer players after supplementing with CSB. Twenty well-trained elite soccer players participated in the study (age: 20.70 ± 1.08 years; height: 173.95 ± 2.81 cm; body weight: 70.09 ± 3.96 kg; soccer experience: 8 years; average training hours per week: 20 h). The participants were randomly allocated into CSB groups (CSB, n = 10) and placebo groups (PLA, n = 10). The CSB group took creatine (20 g/day) and sodium bicarbonate (0.3 g/kg/day); these two supplements were taken four times a day (morning, afternoon, evening, and before sleep) for seven days. Soccer-specific performance was assessed via 10- and 30-m sprint, coordination, arrowhead agility, and Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 tests. Compared to the PLA group, the CSB group performed better in the 30-m sprint (CSB: −3.6% vs. PLA: −0.6%, p = 0.007, effect size (ES): 2.3) and both right and left arrowhead agility (right: CSB: −7.3% vs. PLA: −0.7%, p < 0.001, ES: 2.8; left: CSB: −5.5% vs. PLA: −1.2%, p = 0.001, ES: 2.1) tests. However, there were no differences in 10 m sprints, coordination, and Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 tests between the two groups (p > 0.05). In conclusion, CSB supplementation improved sprint and agility in elite soccer players. However, it is still unclear whether such effect is synergistic effect of two supplements or the result of either one of them. Therefore, caution should be taken when interpreting the results, and the limitations should be examined further in future studies.

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Two interventions to enhance functional athletic performance: design of a randomized controlled trial

http://isrctn.com/ ◽

10.1186/isrctn11147748 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Philipp Röthlin

Keyword(s):

Randomized Controlled Trial ◽

Athletic Performance ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Randomized Controlled

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Treatment Fidelity Procedures for an Aphasia Intervention Within a Randomized Controlled Trial: Design, Feasibility, and Results

American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology ◽

10.1044/2019_ajslp-cac48-18-0227 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (1S) ◽

pp. 412-424

Author(s):

Elissa L. Conlon ◽

Emily J. Braun ◽

Edna M. Babbitt ◽

Leora R. Cherney

Keyword(s):

Randomized Controlled Trial ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Treatment Protocol ◽

Treatment Fidelity ◽

Protocol Adherence ◽

Study Condition ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

Aphasia Therapy ◽

Percent Accuracy ◽

Over Time

Purpose This study reports on the treatment fidelity procedures implemented during a 5-year randomized controlled trial comparing intensive and distributed comprehensive aphasia therapy. Specifically, the results of 1 treatment, verb network strengthening treatment (VNeST), are examined. Method Eight participants were recruited for each of 7 consecutive cohorts for a total of 56 participants. Participants completed 60 hr of aphasia therapy, including 15 hr of VNeST. Two experienced speech-language pathologists delivered the treatment. To promote treatment fidelity, the study team developed a detailed manual of procedures and fidelity checklists, completed role plays to standardize treatment administration, and video-recorded all treatment sessions for review. To assess protocol adherence during treatment delivery, trained research assistants not involved in the treatment reviewed video recordings of a subset of randomly selected VNeST treatment sessions and completed the fidelity checklists. This process was completed for 32 participants representing 2 early cohorts and 2 later cohorts, which allowed for measurement of protocol adherence over time. Percent accuracy of protocol adherence was calculated across clinicians, cohorts, and study condition (intensive vs. distributed therapy). Results The fidelity procedures were sufficient to promote and verify a high level of adherence to the treatment protocol across clinicians, cohorts, and study condition. Conclusion Treatment fidelity strategies and monitoring are feasible when incorporated into the study design. Treatment fidelity monitoring should be completed at regular intervals during the course of a study to ensure that high levels of protocol adherence are maintained over time and across conditions.

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Phonomotor Versus Semantic Feature Analysis Treatment for Anomia in 58 Persons With Aphasia: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2019_jslhr-l-18-0257 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 62 (12) ◽

pp. 4464-4482 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Diane L. Kendall ◽

Megan Oelke Moldestad ◽

Wesley Allen ◽

Janaki Torrence ◽

Stephen E. Nadeau

Keyword(s):

Randomized Controlled Trial ◽

Response Latency ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Semantic Knowledge ◽

Semantic Feature ◽

Feature Analysis ◽

Group Differences ◽

Randomized Controlled ◽

Confrontation Naming ◽

Semantic Feature Analysis

Purpose The ultimate goal of anomia treatment should be to achieve gains in exemplars trained in the therapy session, as well as generalization to untrained exemplars and contexts. The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of phonomotor treatment, a treatment focusing on enhancement of phonological sequence knowledge, against semantic feature analysis (SFA), a lexical-semantic therapy that focuses on enhancement of semantic knowledge and is well known and commonly used to treat anomia in aphasia. Method In a between-groups randomized controlled trial, 58 persons with aphasia characterized by anomia and phonological dysfunction were randomized to receive 56–60 hr of intensively delivered treatment over 6 weeks with testing pretreatment, posttreatment, and 3 months posttreatment termination. Results There was no significant between-groups difference on the primary outcome measure (untrained nouns phonologically and semantically unrelated to each treatment) at 3 months posttreatment. Significant within-group immediately posttreatment acquisition effects for confrontation naming and response latency were observed for both groups. Treatment-specific generalization effects for confrontation naming were observed for both groups immediately and 3 months posttreatment; a significant decrease in response latency was observed at both time points for the SFA group only. Finally, significant within-group differences on the Comprehensive Aphasia Test–Disability Questionnaire ( Swinburn, Porter, & Howard, 2004 ) were observed both immediately and 3 months posttreatment for the SFA group, and significant within-group differences on the Functional Outcome Questionnaire ( Glueckauf et al., 2003 ) were found for both treatment groups 3 months posttreatment. Discussion Our results are consistent with those of prior studies that have shown that SFA treatment and phonomotor treatment generalize to untrained words that share features (semantic or phonological sequence, respectively) with the training set. However, they show that there is no significant generalization to untrained words that do not share semantic features or phonological sequence features.

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