Immediate effect of stabilization exercises versus conventional exercises of the trunk on dynamic balance among trained soccer players

Background: Trunk stability is key in controlling body balance and movements. Trunk Stabilization Exercises (TSE) and Conventional Trunk Exercises (CTE) are performed to improve dynamic balance. The authors have previously reported that dynamic balance was improved by a 12-week and 6-week TSE program. However, there is a dearth of research on its immediate effect on dynamic balance in trained soccer players. Objective: To compare the immediate effeect of TSE with that of CTE on dynamic balance in trained soccer players. Methods: Forty-eight male soccer players (24.60 ffi 1.38 years) participated in this crossover study, wherein each participant took part in three exercise sessions: TSE, CTE, and No Exercise control (NE), each consisting of three steps: pre-test, intervention and post-test, with an interval of one week between each exercise condition. To assess dynamic balance, the Y Balance Test-Lower Quarter (YBT-LQ) score in the anterior, posteromedial, and posterolateral directions was measured before and 5 minutes after each intervention. Results: The YBT-LQ composite score was significantly improved after TSE (0.51) as compared to CTE (0.22) and NE (0.04) (p < 0.05). Furthermore, in TSE and CTE conditions, YBT-LQ scores of the posterolateral and posteromedial directions significantly improved at the post-test (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Both TSE and CTE are effective in immediately improving dynamic balance; however, TSE showed greater improvement as compared to the latter. Immediate improvements in the posteromedial and posterolateral directions of the YBT-LQ were demonstrated after performing the TSE and CTE.

Impact of Long-Rope Jumping on Monoamine and Attention in Young Adults

Previous research has shown that rope jumping improves physical health; however, little is known about its impact on brain-derived monoamine neurotransmitters associated with cognitive regulation. To address these gaps in the literature, the present study compared outcomes between 15 healthy participants (mean age, 23.1 years) after a long-rope jumping exercise and a control condition. Long-rope jumping also requires co-operation between people, attention, spatial cognition, and rhythm sensation. Psychological questionnaires were administered to both conditions, and Stroop task performance and monoamine metabolite levels in the saliva and urine were evaluated. Participants performing the exercise exhibited lower anxiety levels than those in the control condition. Saliva analyses showed higher 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (a norepinephrine metabolite) levels, and urine analyses revealed higher 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (a serotonin metabolite) levels in the exercise condition than in the control. Importantly, urinary 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid level correlated with salivary and urinary 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol levels in the exercise condition. Furthermore, cognitive results revealed higher Stroop performance in the exercise condition than in the control condition; this performance correlated with salivary 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol levels. These results indicate an association between increased 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol and attention in long-rope jumping. We suggest that long-rope jumping predicts central norepinephrinergic activation and related attention maintenance.

sEMG Activity in Superimposed Vibration on Suspended Supine Bridge and Hamstring Curl

Traditionally in strength and conditioning environments, vibration has been transmitted using platforms, barbells, dumbbells, or cables but not suspension devices. This study aimed to examine the effects on the lower limb of applying superimposed vibration on a suspension device. Twenty-one physically active men and women performed supine bridge and hamstring curl exercises in three suspended conditions (non-vibration, vibration at 25 Hz, and vibration at 40 Hz). In each exercise condition, the perceived exertion scale for resistance exercise (OMNI-Res) was registered, and the electromyographic signal was assessed for gastrocnemius (medialis and lateralis), biceps femoris, semitendinosus, gluteus maximus, and rectus femoris. A linear mixed model indicated a significant fixed effect for vibration at 25 Hz and 40 Hz on muscle activity in suspended supine bridge (p &lt; 0.05), but no effect for suspended hamstring curl (p &gt; 0.05). Likewise, the Friedman test showed a significant main effect for vibration at 25 Hz and 40 Hz in suspended supine bridge (p &lt; 0.05) but not for suspended hamstring curl (p &gt; 0.05) on OMNI-Res. Post hoc analysis for suspended supine bridge with vibration at 25 Hz showed a significant activation increase in gastrocnemius lateralis (p = 0.008), gastrocnemius medialis (p = 0.000), semitendinosus (p = 0.003) activity, and for semitendinosus under 40 Hz condition (p = 0.001) compared to the non-vibration condition. Furthermore, OMNI-Res was significantly higher for the suspended supine bridge at 25 Hz (p = 0.003) and 40 Hz (p = 0.000) than for the non-vibration condition. Superimposed vibration at 25 Hz elicits a higher neuromuscular response during the suspended supine bridge, and the increase in vibration frequency also raises the OMNI-Res value.

Dietary, physical exercises and mental stress in a Chinese population: a cross-sectional study

Background Mental health is affected by both genetic and environmental factors. However, previous studies have showed conflict findings about the role of lifestyle and little is known about the situation of the Chinese population. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the frequency of food consumption, physical exercise condition and mental health, as well as factors related to mental stress in Chinese. Methods We recruited 8160 residents who had health examinations in a public hospital during June 2016 to May 2018. Demographic characteristics, the frequency of food consumption, physical exercise condition and mental health status was collected by a questionnaire. We estimated the association using the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) based on Binary or ordinal logistic regression models. A classification and regression tree (CART) demonstrated the prediction of the value of a target variable based on other values. Results The logistic regression model and classification tree model both found that the frequency of fresh vegetables or fruit and fried foods consumption and the current state of drinking alcohol were related to mental stress. The degree of mental stress reduced significantly with increasing consumption of fish (OR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.71–0.90) and regular exercise (OR = 0.55, 95% CI:0.48–0.64) in females and increased consumption of fish (OR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.48–0.64) and cereal crop (OR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.68–0.89), fish (OR = 0.87, 95%CI:0.77–0.96) and regular exercise (OR = 0.61, 95%CI:0.53–0.70) in males. On the contrary, the frequency of consumption of desserts (OR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.26–1.62) and the current of drinking alcohol (OR = 1.47, 95%CI:1.21–1.79) in females and meat (OR = 1.47, 95%CI: 1.31–1.65), pickled and smoked food (OR = 1.18, 95%CI:1.05–1.32) and the current state of drinking alcohol (OR = 1.25, 95%CI:1.12–1.40) in males were related to an increased risk of mental health. Conclusions Our study showed that both the frequency of some food consumption and physical exercise condition were associated with mental health and affected the degree of stress, which provided novel insights into interventions.

Bodily Information and Top-Down Affective Priming Jointly Affect the Processing of Fearful Faces

According to embodied theories, the processing of emotions such as happiness or fear is grounded in emotion-specific perceptual, bodily, and physiological processes. Under these views, perceiving an emotional stimulus (e.g., a fearful face) re-enacts interoceptive and bodily states congruent with that emotion (e.g., increases heart rate); and in turn, interoceptive and bodily changes (e.g., increases of heart rate) influence the processing of congruent emotional content. A previous study by Pezzulo et al. (2018) provided evidence for this embodied congruence, reporting that experimentally increasing heart rate with physical exercise facilitated the processing of facial expressions congruent with that interoception (fear), but not those conveying incongruent states (disgust or neutrality). Here, we investigated whether the above (bottom-up) interoceptive manipulation and the (top-down) priming of affective content may jointly influence the processing of happy and fearful faces. The fact that happiness and fear are both associated with high heart rate but have different (positive and negative) valence permits testing the hypothesis that their processing might be facilitated by the same interoceptive manipulation (the increase of heart rate) but two opposite (positive and negative) affective primes. To test this hypothesis, we asked participants to perform a gender-categorization task of happy, fearful, and neutral faces, which were preceded by positive, negative, and neutral primes. Participants performed the same task in two sessions (after rest, with normal heart rate, or exercise, with faster heart rate) and we recorded their response times and mouse movements during the choices. We replicated the finding that when participants were in the exercise condition, they processed fearful faces faster than when they were in the rest condition. However, we did not find the same reduction in response time for happy (or neutral) faces. Furthermore, we found that when participants were in the exercise condition, they processed fearful faces faster in the presence of negative compared to positive or neutral primes; but we found no equivalent facilitation of positive (or neutral) primes during the processing of happy (or neutral) faces. While the asymmetries between the processing of fearful and happy faces require further investigation, our findings promisingly indicate that the processing of fearful faces is jointly influenced by both bottom-up interoceptive states and top-down affective primes that are congruent with the emotion.

Play First Before Doing Your Exercise: Does Acting in a Game-Like Task Improve 5-Year-Olds’ Working Memory Performance?

It has been shown that acting in a game-like task improves preschoolers’ working memory when tested in a reconstruction task. The game context and the motor activity during the game would provide goal cues bringing support to the memory processes. The aim of the present study was to test this hypothesis by examining preschoolers’ working memory performance in a game-like task compared to an exercise-like task, which offers less goal cues. In the present study, 5-year-olds had to maintain a series of fruits and vegetables while acting in a game-like task or remaining static during the same task presented in a school-exercise context (within-subject factor). Memory performance was tested either through oral recall or reconstruction of the series of memory items (between-subject factor). Despite the fact that memory performance did not differ between the two conditions (game vs. exercise) whatever the type of memory tests, performance was worst in the game-like than in the exercise condition when the exercise was presented first. No difference emerged between conditions when the game condition was performed first. This result suggests that preschoolers were able to take advantage of acting in the game-like condition to integrate some task requirements, which were beneficial for performing the exercise condition.

Examining the Role of Physical Activity on Word Learning in School-Aged Children

Purpose Previous studies show that there is increased brain activity after exercise, leading to improved word recall in adults. The aim of this study was to examine whether different types of exercise (i.e., aerobic vs. anaerobic) may also lead to improved performance during vocabulary learning in children. Method A total of 48 participants (24 in Experiment 1 and 24 in Experiment 2) between the ages of 6 and 12 years completed a word learning task. Training of words took place in a resting and in an exercise condition using a within-subject design. In the resting measure, children were taught names of novel objects and then colored for 3 min before being tested on their ability to recognize the words. In the exercise condition, the same steps were followed, but instead of coloring, children engaged in 3 min of either aerobic exercise (i.e., swimming in Experiment 1) or anaerobic exercise (i.e., a CrossFit-like workout in Experiment 2). Results In Experiment 1, accuracy of word recognition was significantly higher for words that were trained in the aerobic exercise compared to the resting condition. In Experiment 2, there was no significant difference in performance between the anaerobic exercise and resting conditions. Conclusions These findings suggest that previously identified benefits of exercise on language abilities in adults also extend to school-aged children. However, not all types of physical activity lead to this boost in performance, as only aerobic (but not anaerobic) exercise improved children's ability to acquire new word–object relations. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14462187

Tracking the Contents of Spatial Working Memory during an Acute Bout of Aerobic Exercise

Recent studies have reported enhanced visual responses during acute bouts of physical exercise, suggesting that sensory systems may become more sensitive during active exploration of the environment. This raises the possibility that exercise may also modulate brain activity associated with other cognitive functions, like visual working memory, that rely on patterns of activity that persist beyond the initial sensory evoked response. Here, we investigated whether the neural coding of an object location held in memory is modulated by an acute bout of aerobic exercise. Participants performed a spatial change detection task while seated on a stationary bike at rest and during low-intensity cycling (∼50 watts/50 RPM). Brain activity was measured with EEG. An inverted encoding modeling technique was employed to estimate location-selective channel response functions from topographical patterns of alpha-band (8–12 Hz) activity. There was strong evidence of robust spatially selective responses during stimulus presentation and retention periods both at rest and during exercise. During retention, the spatial selectivity of these responses decreased in the exercise condition relative to rest. A temporal generalization analysis indicated that models trained on one time period could be used to reconstruct the remembered locations at other time periods, providing evidence that a unitary code supports memory during both conditions. However, generalization was degraded during exercise. Together, these results demonstrate that it is possible to reconstruct the contents of working memory at rest and during exercise, but that exercise can result in degraded responses, which contrasts with the enhancements observed in early sensory processing.

Differential Rotational Movement of the Thoracolumbosacral Spine in High-Level Dressage Horses Ridden in a Straight Line, in Sitting Trot and Seated Canter Compared to In-Hand Trot

Assessing back dysfunction is a key part of the investigative process of “loss of athletic performance” in the horse and quantitative data may help veterinary decision making. Ranges of motion of differential translational and rotational movement between adjacent inertial measurement units attached to the skin over thoracic vertebrae 5, 13 and 18 (T5, T13, T18) lumbar vertebra 3 (L3) and tuber sacrale (TS) were measured in 10 dressage horses during trot in-hand and ridden in sitting trot/canter. Straight-line motion cycles were analysed using a general linear model (random factor: horse; fixed factor: exercise condition; Bonferroni post hoc correction: p < 0.05). At T5-T13 the differential heading was smaller in sitting trot (p ≤ 0.0001, 5.1° (0.2)) and canter (p ≤ 0.0001, 3.2° (0.2)) compared to trotting in-hand (7.4° (0.4)). Compared to trotting in-hand (3.4° (0.4)) at T18-L3 differential pitch was higher in sitting trot (p ≤ 0.0001, 7.5° (0.3)) and canter (p ≤ 0.0001, 6.3° (0.3)). At L3-TS, differential pitch was increased in canter (6.5° (0.5)) compared to trotting in-hand (p = 0.006, 4.9° (0.6)) and differential heading was higher in sitting trot (4° (0.2)) compared to canter (p = 0.02, 2.9° (0.3)). Compared to in-hand, reduced heading was measured in the cranial–thoracic area and increased in the caudal–thoracic and lumbar area. Pitch increased with ridden exercise from the caudal–thoracic to the sacral area.