Assessment of Disinfection Techniques for Decontaminating Athletic Mats

Authors: Max Greisberg
maxgreisberg@gmail.com

Justin Greisberg, MD
Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Columbia University
Chief of Foot & Ankle Orthopaedics
Chief of Orthopaedic Trauma
622 W 168th St
PH 11th floor
New York, NY 10032
(212) 305-5604
Fax (212) 305-4024
Jkg2101@cumc.columbia.edu

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

No funding was received for this research.

Assessment of Disinfection Techniques for Decontaminating Athletic Mats

ABSTRACT

Skin infections are a hazard in close contact sports. Disinfection of wrestling mats is widely recommended to reduce the incidence of infection, but there is little to no evidence how best to clean the mats. In this study, microorganism levels from the wrestling mats of two schools were quantified to determine if disinfection reduces the bacterial load from the surface of the mats and in the seams between mat sections; and to determine if using a flat mop is more effective than a string mop. This study found that both techniques were effective in reducing the bacterial load of the mats. However, neither method was effective at reducing bacterial counts in the grooves between mat sections. There was a trend favoring the use of a flat mop over a traditional string mop, but the trend did not meet statistical significance. Future research may focus on whether widespread adoption of these techniques leads to a lower incidence of skin infection in athletes.

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2020-06-01T11:43:26-05:00August 7th, 2020|Research, Sports Medicine|Comments Off on Assessment of Disinfection Techniques for Decontaminating Athletic Mats

Decreasing Skin and Soft Tissue Infections in Wrestlers

Authors: Ashley Spires BSN, RN-BC

Corresponding Author:
Ashley Spires BSN, RN-BC
7985 Lancaster Circleville Rd
Lancaster, OH 43130
Ashley.spires@va.gov
614-257-5388

Ashley Spires is Care Manager and Registered Nurse for the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, an Ohio University Doctor of Nursing Practice candidate and a youth and middle school wrestling coach at a central Ohio public school system.

Decreasing Skin and Soft Tissue Infections in Wrestlers: Educating Coaches, Protecting Teams

ABSTRACT

Lack of coach education, standardized disinfection protocols, and standardized return to play procedures amongst wrestling programs have led to a high incidence of Skin and Soft Tissue Infections (SSTI) in the school age and adolescent athletic community. An educational intervention was performed with coaching staff in a pre/post intervention study. SSTI rates were calculated both pre and post intervention to assess for effective intervention in reducing SSTI incidence in the youth athletes. Pre-intervention review of aggregate infection data revealed a 22.6% SSTI occurrence rate. Post-intervention the SSTI occurrence rate was reduced to 3.5%. A McNemar chi-square test was run and the results were statistically significant at X 2 (1) = 54.721, p < 0.001. The intervention had a significant impact in lowering the SSTI rate in wrestlers. Future directions include improved education of youth wrestling coaches to include recognition of SSTI as well as best practice disinfection and infection control protocols.

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2020-05-06T09:25:50-05:00June 26th, 2020|Sports Medicine|Comments Off on Decreasing Skin and Soft Tissue Infections in Wrestlers

High School Competitive Diving Injuries: National Athletic Treatment Injury and Outcomes Network (NATION)

Authors: Susan M Braid & Eric Schussler

Corresponding Author: 
Susan Braid
1881 University Drive
Virginia Beach, VA 23453
sbraid@odu.edu
757-683-4563

Susan Braid is an assistant professor at the School of Nursing at Old Dominion University. She is an epidemiologist, nurse, and USA diving judge who has judged at local, national, and international competitions. 

Eric Schussler is an assistant professor at the School of Rehabilitation Sciences at Old Dominion University. He is a physical therapist and athletic trainer.

High School Competitive Diving Injuries: National Athletic Treatment Injury and Outcomes Network (NATION)

ABSTRACT

Purpose:  Elite diving coaches and USA diving officials have become increasingly concerned about injury prevention among adolescent divers. However, little is known about such injuries. The purpose of this study was to describe the injuries among high school students who participated on high school diving teams.

Subjects: High school students who participated on the diving teams of high schools that were included in the National Athletic Treatment, Injury and Outcomes Network (NATION) for 2011–2014.

Methods:  Descriptive epidemiology using injury exposure data on 56 boys’ Swimming and Diving teams and 55 girls’ Swimming and Diving teams from the National Athletic Treatment, Injury and Outcomes Network (NATION) for 2011–2014.

Results:  Only 12 injuries were reported, and 8 (67%) were concussions. The incidence of concussions was the same between boys and girls.

Conclusion:  Concussions are the highest reported injury among high school divers in the NATION data. Student athletes who had minor injuries may not have been evaluated by an athletic trainer. Researchers need better injury surveillance data for high school divers.

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2020-04-20T14:23:07-05:00May 22nd, 2020|Research, Sports Medicine|Comments Off on High School Competitive Diving Injuries: National Athletic Treatment Injury and Outcomes Network (NATION)

Survey Return Rates for Athletic Trainers

Authors: Robert Bradley, Scott Bruce

Corresponding Author:
Robert Bradley, EdD, LAT, ATC
PO Box 910
State University, AR. 72467
rbradley@astate.edu
870-972-3766

Robert Bradley is the program director of the master of athletic training program at Arkansas State University. He is an assistant professor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions and the curriculum coordinator for the Arkansas Athletic Trainers Association.

Scott Bruce is a research faculty member for the master of athletic training program at Arkansas State University.  He is an associate professor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions.

Survey Return Rates for Athletic Trainers

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To determine which method of survey distribution produces higher return rates. Researchers ask athletic trainers to complete surveys to gather data using electronic and non-electronic means.  There are no publications looking at the return rates and the method of distribution of survey instruments. This article seeks to determine which method of survey distribution produces higher return rates

Methods:  The writer searched research articles published between January 2008 and December 2017 within the Journal of Athletic Training and the Athletic Training Education Journal with the term “survey”. Eligible studies included only those surveys where the intended audience were certified athletic trainers and found within the natajouranls.org website. The writer excluded articles that did not indicate how they distributed the survey, did not report their return rates or failed to provide the number of participants in their sample.

Results: Between 2008 and 2017, 81 publications included data obtained using a survey. 87.65% of surveys were sent via email or electronic form and 13.2% with a mailed survey. Electronically send surveys (e-mails) were exceedingly popular, the return rates for electronic surveys was 34.21% while non-electronically (mailed) surveys had a return rate of 66.9%.

Conclusions: When researchers send surveys to certified athletic trainers, those athletic trainers tend to respond in larger numbers (increased return rate) if those surveys were sent through the mail, than with emails.

Application in sport: Any attempt to garner information from athletic trainers either for research or marketing purposes will find that athletic trainers respond at higher rates with mailed surveys, than with electronically sent surveys.

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2020-03-31T10:24:41-05:00May 1st, 2020|Sports Medicine|Comments Off on Survey Return Rates for Athletic Trainers

Concussion in the Collegiate Equestrian Athlete

Authors: Tasneem Zahira PhD,  Timothy Henry PhD ATC, Michael L. Pilato MS ATC

Corresponding Author:
Michael L. Pilato MS ATC
1000 East Henrietta Road, Rochester, NY 14623
mikep316@yahoo.com
585-329-6463

Michael L. Pilato is an athletic trainer with Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y. He has been researching sports medicine for the equestrian athlete since 2003 and has been published in peer and non-peer reviewed journals.

Tasneem Zaihra PhD.
Department of Mathematics State University New York College at Brockport
350 New Campus Dr, Brockport, NY 14420
tzahira@brockport.edu
585-3952075

Tasneem Zaihra is an assistant professor of statistics in the department of mathematics, SUNY Brockport. She has many presentations and publications in peer-reviewed journals, to her credit.

Timothy Henry PhD. ATC
Department of HPERD State University New York College at Brockport
350 New Campus Dr, Brockport, NY 14420
thenry@borckport.edu
585-395-5357

Timothy Henry is director of the athletic training program at SUNY Brockport. He is also a reviewer for The Journal of Sport Rehabilitation and The Journal of Athletic Training.

Concussion in the Collegiate Equestrian Athlete

ABSTRACT

Equestrian sports, in general, pose a significant risk of concussion. Minimizing the risk of concussion has been a focal point in recent years. The purpose of this paper is to describe concussion and explore potential association(s) between groups of musculoskeletal injuries and Body Mass Index (BMI) on the risk and odds of concussion in the collegiate equestrian athlete. Forty-three schools, ranging from DI to DIII, from the Eastern United States were selected from the NCAA and Intercollegiate Horse Show Association’s websites. Self-reported injury and demographic data was collected through an online survey created in Mach Forms. Seventy-three participants completed the online survey (women n=71, men=2). Aggregate descriptive data is reported on all subjects. After removing data on 2 men, and a single female with incomplete data, the data from 70 females with complete data was analyzed using chi-squared and Fisher’s exact tests and ordinal logistic regression. Pearson’s chi-squared as well as Fisher’s exact test (p-value =.0288 and.0297 respectively) indicates the risk of having concussion with 0 UE injury is not the same as with 1 or 2+ injuries. The average number of injuries per athlete increased from 0 to 2(+) concussions. Concussion is a commonly reported injury. Upper extremity injury is identified as having the strongest association with concussion risk in the equestrian athlete. Knowing UE injury status could be useful in gaging the risk and odds of concussion in equestrian athletes.

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2020-01-31T09:20:28-06:00February 7th, 2020|Research, Sports Medicine|Comments Off on Concussion in the Collegiate Equestrian Athlete
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