The Effectiveness of a Psychoeducational Program in Increasing Mental Health Knowledge in Collegiate Athletes: A Critically Appraised Topic

Focused Clinical Question: Does the implementation of a psychoeducational program increase mental health knowledge among collegiate student-athletes? Clinical Bottom Line: There is consistent, limited-quality patient-oriented evidence to suggest that implementation of a psychoeducational program is effective in increasing mental health knowledge in collegiate student-athletes based on the guidelines of the strength of recommendation taxonomy.

Exploring Workload Associated With Learning Foot Core Exercises

Patients and clinicians have expressed frustration when learning or teaching intrinsic foot muscle exercises. However, there is limited information on how patients perceive the workload of an exercise. This study evaluates participants’ perceptions of workload while learning intrinsic foot muscle exercises with or without neuromuscular electric stimulation. Twenty-six individuals completed a 4-week supervised intrinsic foot muscle training program. Thirteen participants utilized neuromuscular electric stimulation during the initial 2 weeks of training. Participant perceptions of workload, measured by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index, revealed decreasing load over 2 weeks and minimal load at 4 weeks. Inclusion of neuromuscular electric stimulation did not affect perception of load of skill acquisition.

Association Between Scapular Posture and Two Different Pectoralis Minor Length Tests in Adolescents

Postural asymmetry due to the alterations in scapular posture is typically considered to be associated with injury. Pectoralis minor (PM) has played a crucial role in scapular posture, but limited knowledge exists that shows the possible effect of PM length on static scapular positioning in adolescents. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between static scapular positioning and two different PM length measurements in adolescents. Pearson rank test demonstrated that direct measurements of the PM length significantly and strongly inversely correlated to scapular anterior tilting (p = .01; r = −.592)and significantly and moderately inversely correlated to scapular internal rotation (p = .013; r = −.465) and scapular downward rotation (p = .028; r = −.416). However, indirect measurement of the PM length was not related to scapular posture. No significant correlation was found between direct and indirect PM length measurements. Direct measurement of PM length presents more information regarding alterations of the static scapular positioning.