health – The Sport Journal

Line of Efforts: Unity of Purposes for Professionals Working with Elite Athletics

Authors: Matt Moore¹, Keegan Atherton², and Cindy Miller-Aron³

¹Department of Family Science and Social Work, Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA
²School of Education and Human Sciences, Campbell University, Buies Creek, NC, USA
³Ascend Consultation in Healthcare, Chicago, IL, USA

Corresponding Author:

Matt Moore, Ph.D., MSW
501 E. High Street
Oxford, OH 45056
moorem28@miamioh.edu
317-771-1397

Matt Moore, Ph.D., MSW, is an Associate Professor and Department Chair for the Department of Family Science and Social Work at Miami University in Oxford, OH. His research interests focus on sport social work, sport for development, and positive youth development through sport.

Keegan Atherton is a BSW student at Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC. He has a decorated military career with the United States Air Force.

Cindy Miller-Aron, LCSW, CGP, FAGPA, works for Ascend Consultation in Chicago, IL. She is several decades of clinical social work experience with an emphasis in sport social work and psychiatric care.

Line of Efforts: Unity of Purposes for Professionals Working with Elite Athletics

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this commentary is to explore how military practices can help provide holistic care for the biopsychosocial well-being of elite athletes. In particular, authors explore how Joint Doctrine related to Lines of Efforts (LOEs) and Human Performance Optimization (HPO) could provide a model of integrated care for elite athletes. The commentary includes an introduction to factors impacting elite athlete mental health, a review of military LOEs, and how these LOEs could support HPO among elite athletes. This includes a discussion on the inter-professional practice and informational diversity needed to support elite athletes both in and away from competition. The authors also discuss the key stakeholders needed to support elite athlete health and well-being, with an emphasis on full collaboration from professionals to transform practice.

Keywords: elite athlete, military, integrated care, health, well-being

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Vandy Pacetti-Donelson2024-01-19T13:33:18-06:00January 19th, 2024|Sports Studies|Comments Off

American Football and COVID-19: reducing on-field exposures to respiratory particles

Authors: Taylor N. Langon¹, W. Cary Hill², Mark B. Rogers¹, Mike Goforth¹, Robert I. MacCuspie², Stefan M. Duma³, and Matthew S. Hull^2,3

¹Sports Medicine Department, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
²NanoSafe, Inc., Blacksburg, VA, USA
³Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS), Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

Corresponding Author:
Matthew S. Hull, PhD
325 Stanger Street, Kelly Hall Suite 410
Blacksburg VA, 24061
mahull@vt.edu
540-449-3388

Taylor N. Langon, MS, LAT, ATC is research associate and concussion research coordinator in the Department of Sports Medicine at Virginia Tech. Her primary responsibilities include coordination of concussion research for Virginia Tech Athletics under the NCAA-DoD CARE Consortium.

W. Cary Hill, PhD is currently vice president at NanoSafe, Inc. Cary’s areas of research interest include materials science and engineering, nano-enabled human health and safety technologies and testing strategies, and advanced material processing methods.

Mark B. Rogers, DO, CAQSM, FAAFP, FAOASM, is the chief medical officer at Virginia Tech and an associate professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine, Discipline of Sports Medicine at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM). Mark oversees administration and delivery of care to Virginia Tech student athletes.

Mike Goforth, MS, LAT, ATC, is associate athletics director for sports medicine at Virginia Tech. Mike oversees the healthcare needs of all student-athletes and organizes all trainers and doctors while supervising all other healthcare-related services offered at Virginia Tech.

Robert I. MacCuspie, PhD, is director of regulatory and testing services at NanoSafe, Inc. Rob’s areas of research interest include nanotechnology and multifunctional materials, responsible commercialization of advanced technologies, and safe use of nano enabled products.

Stefan M. Duma, PhD, is Harry C. Wyatt Professor, Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, and Director, Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) at Virginia Tech. Stefan’s areas of research interest include injury and impact biomechanics, and innovative methods for measuring the safety of athletes, occupants, and consumers.

Matthew S. Hull, PhD, is research scientist, Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS), at Virginia Tech, and president/founder of NanoSafe, Inc. Matthew’s areas of research interest include applications and implications of converging technologies, environmental nanotechnology, and occupational health and safety.

American Football and COVID-19: reducing on-field exposures to respiratory particles

ABSTRACT

American football poses unique challenges to protecting the health of athletes both on and off the field. While off-field activities likely pose the greatest risk of COVID-19 transmission among members of the same team, on-field activities may pose transmission risks from one team to another. The findings of this study suggest that, when used in well-ventilated outdoor environments, helmet modifications combining upper and lower visors may help reduce on-field respiratory transmission risks with relatively minimal effects on athletic performance. These findings may offer practical insights to team physicians and athletic trainers as they seek strategies to protect athletes against on-field transmission of COVID-19 in the weeks and months ahead.

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U.S. Sports Academy2021-08-20T11:02:03-05:00September 3rd, 2021|Research, Sports Health & Fitness|Comments Off

Health and Lifestyle Behaviors of U.S. Masters World Cup Field Hockey Players

Authors: Karen Croteau¹, Nina Eduljee¹, Laurie Murphy¹, Lisa Ahearn², Stella L. Volpe³

¹Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, ²Plymouth State University, ³Drexel University

Corresponding Author:
Karen Croteau
Department of Sport and Exercise Science
Saint Joseph’s College of Maine
Standish, ME 04084
kcroteau@sjcme.edu

Karen Croteau is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sport and Exercise Science at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine.

Nina Eduljee is Professor of Psychology at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine.

Laurie Murphy is Assistant Professor of Business at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine.

Lisa Ahearn is Assistant Professor of Business at Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH.

Stella Volpe is Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition Sciences at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA.

Health and Lifestyle Behaviors of U.S. Masters World Cup Field Hockey Players

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine health and lifestyle behaviors of United States Masters field hockey athletes who competed in the Masters Field Hockey World Cup in 2018. A total of 122 athletes (72 women, 50 men) completed the 42-item Health and Well-being of Masters Field Hockey Athletes Survey. Mean age was 50.1±8.3 years (range = 35 to 71). Mean body mass index (BMI) was 24.9±3.1 kg/m². Participants rated their health as very good/excellent (86.9%) and their stress as rare/not at all (56.6%), had no major health conditions (61.5%) or medication use (70.5%), and had at least one injury (53.3%). Participants consumed ≥2 fruits (68.9%) and ≥2 vegetables (83.6%) per day, daily breakfast (68.0%), ≤1 sugar-sweetened beverage (86.9%) and ≥7 cups of water (54.1%) per day, and ≤2 alcoholic beverages per week (59.8%). Participants reported ≥7 hours of sleep per night (65.5%), and no/little restless sleep (52.4%). Just under half of participants reported sitting ≥5 hours per day (46.7%). Exercise frequency at ≥3 days per week and ≥30 minutes per day was 95.9% and 98.4%, respectively, with jogging (68.0%) the most common mode. Well-being scores were high. Overall, Masters field hockey athletes are healthy and practice lifestyle behaviors conducive to positive health.

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U.S. Sports Academy2020-06-02T13:44:48-05:00December 6th, 2019|Commentary, Sports Health & Fitness|Comments Off

Endurance masters athletes: A model of successful ageing with clinically superior BMI?

Authors: Mike Climstein, PhD, FASMF, FACSM, FAAESS, Joe Walsh, MSc, Ian Timothy Heazlewood, PhD, Mark DeBeliso, PhD, FACSM

Corresponding Author:
Dr. Mike Climstein
Clinical Exercise Physiology, School of Health and Human Sciences
Southern Cross University (Gold Coast Campus)
Bilinga, Qld 4225
Australia
michael.climstein@scu.edu.au
+617 5509 3330

Dr. Mike Climstein (FASMF, FACSM, FAAESS, AEP) is with Clinical Exercise Physiology, Southern Cross University, School of Health and Human Sciences, Bilinga, Queensland, Australia; Adjunct Associate Professor with The University of Sydney, Exercise, Health and Performance Faculty Research Group, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Joe Walsh is affiliated with the Faculty of Engineering, Health, Science and the Environment, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Ian Timothy Heazlewood is Associate Professor and Theme Leader Exercise and Sport Science in The College of Health and Human Sciences, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Mark DeBeliso is Professor, Department of Physical Education and Human Performance, Southern Utah University, Cedar City, USA

Endurance masters athletes: A model of successful ageing with clinically superior BMI?

ABSTRACT

Master athletes (30yrs and older) are aged individuals who exercise regularly and compete in organized competitive sport. The long-term physical activity/exercise should afford these individuals health benefits, one of which should be apparent in body mass index (BMI), a simple index for identifying overweight and obese athletes.

Purpose: To investigate the BMI of endurance masters athletes and determine if this cohort demonstrated clinically favourable BMI as compared to sedentary controls or the general population. A systematic review of electronic databases (CINAHL, Cochrane, Medline, PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science) for studies where BMI was measured in either masters athletes, World Masters Games athletes or veteran athletes.

Results: Database searches identified 7,465 studies, of which nine met our inclusion criteria. The mean BMI of all the studies was found to be significantly (p<0.001) lower in masters athletes as compared to controls (23.4 kg/m² (±0.97) versus 26.3 kg/m² (±1.68)). Additionally, for all studies mean masters athlete BMI was classified as normal (BMI >18.5 to <25.0 kg/m²) whereas the majority (77.8%) of the controls BMIs were classified as overweight (BMI >25.0 to < 30 kg/m2). In all studies, masters athletes had lower BMI compared to controls, this difference was found to be significant in 44.4% of the studies, where significance was not found masters athlete BMI was -2.6% to -18.6% lower than controls. In all studies, the mean BMI was lower in masters athletes (as compared to controls) and this favourable BMI would afford masters athletes reduced risk with regard to the development of a number of cardiometabolic diseases, osteoarthritis and certain types of cancer.

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U.S. Sports Academy2020-06-02T13:47:38-05:00April 25th, 2019|Research, Sports Health & Fitness|Comments Off

A Cross-Cultural Approach to Sport Psychology: Is Exercise Addiction A Determinant of Life Quality?

Authors: Mevlüt YILDIZ1, Erkan BİNGÖL1, Hasan ŞAHAN2, Nazmi BAYKÖSE2, Ender ŞENEL1
(1) Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Turkey.
(2) Akdeniz University, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Turkey.

Corresponding Author:
Ender SENEL
Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Faculty of Sports Sciences
Kotekli/Mugla, 48000
endersenel@gmail.com
002522111951
(1) Ender SENEL is a research assistant in Physical Education and Sport Teacher Education Department at the Mugla Sitki Kocman University studying teaching and learning approaches in physical education and sport.

ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to examine the life quality and exercise addiction behaviors of individuals working out in the gym and living in different countries. There were 319 volunteers going to the gym regularly that participated in this study. The mean age of participants was found to be 31.23±7.79. Of the participants, 48.9% were females and 51.1% of them were males. There were 40.1% of the participant reported married and 59.9% of them reported single. All the participants were Turkish but they live in different countries. The participants reported that they live in Turkey, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and Norway. The Exercise Dependence Scale, developed by Hausenblas and Downs (2002) (12), adapted to Turkish by Yeltepe (2005) (46), was used to find out exercise dependence behaviors in participants. A 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), developed by Rand Corporation, adapted to Turkish by Koçyiğit et al (1999) (17), was used to determine life quality of the participants. Significant difference was found between genders in terms of physical function. Significant difference was found between participants according to countries where they were from in terms of physical functioning, role physical, role emotional, bodily pain, general health, withdrawal effects, continuance, tolerance, lack of control, reduction in other activities, time, and intention effects. Positive correlations were found between mental health and withdrawal effects, continuance, tolerance, lack of control, reduction in other activities, time, and intention effects. Negative correlations were found between withdrawal effects, continuance, lack of control, reduction in other activities, time, and intention effects. Negative correlation was found between social functioning and continuance. Negative correlations were found between general health and continuance, tolerance, and reduction in other activities. It was found that exercise addiction predicted physical functioning, mental health, physical pain, and general health. Consequently, it can be said that life quality and exercise addiction behaviors vary depending on the country that the participants are living in, gender, and marital status. The regression analysis revealed that exercise addiction predicted physical functioning, mental health, physical pain, and general health dimensions. It can be concluded that exercise addiction is a determinant of some dimensions of life quality.

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U.S. Sports Academy2017-07-25T14:25:46-05:00September 7th, 2017|Research, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off