Kinesiology Commons^™

Examining The Reliability, Validity And Factor Structure Of The Drs-15 With College Athletes, Leilani Madrigal, Diane L. Gill, Kent M. Eskridge

Athletic Performance Research

Hardiness, comprising feelings of commitment, control and challenge, is most frequently measured with the Dispositional Resiliency Scale (DRS), but little work has been done with the brief 15-item version. To examine the factor structure, reliability, validity, and item functioning for gender invariance of the 15-item DRS with 525 collegiate athletes from a wide range of sports. Convergent and divergent validity were examined through relationships with mental toughness, grit and competitive anxiety. Participants completed measures of mental toughness, optimism, grit, competitive anxiety, and the DRS-15. Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed a poor fit for the three-factor hardiness model, and subsequent exploratory factor …

Neural Recovery Rates Of Knee Extensors Following A Resistance Exercise Protocol, Darren Michael Polk

LSU Master's Theses

Fatigue can manifest in the human body in a multitude of ways, one of these is neural-based fatigue. Neural-based fatigue occurs when the nerve fails to activate a muscle (Brooks et al., 2005). The purpose of this research is to investigate rates of neural recovery following a resistance exercise protocol. A pre-test consisting of a 5-second maximum voluntary isometric knee extension was performed. Next, each subject performed a resistance exercise protocol consisting of 5 sets of 10 repetitions of isokinetic knee extensions. Post-tests following the resistance exercise protocol consisted of 5-second maximum voluntary isometric knee extensions after 1, 5, 10, …

Relationship Between Metabolic By-Products And Nervous System Failure/Fatigue, Tyler Mitchell Farney

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Fatigue has generally been defined as an acute impairment of exercise/sport performance that includes both an increase in the perceived effort necessary to exert a desired force or power output, and the inability to produce the desired force or power output. The majority of research to date looking at fatigue has focused upon substrate utilization, however, what is relatively unknown is the contribution the nervous system has upon fatigue. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to investigate potential mechanisms that relate to neural fatigue. An additional purpose was to determine if there were any relationships between metabolic by-products and …

The Bigger Picture: Piecing Together The Experiences Of Family Members Living With High-Functioning Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Lauren Thomson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of this research was to explore the experiences of family members living with a child with ASD. The specific research questions that were addressed included: 1. How is a family member affected by having a child with ASD in the family unit; and 2. How does living with a child with ASD affect family functioning? The theoretical orientation of phenomenology was used to guide this research and to allow the “voice” of family members of children with ASD to be heard. The purpose of phenomenology is to distill individuals’ experiences with a phenomenon down to an “essence” of …

The Influence Of Joint-Site, Limb Preference, And Physical Activity On Joint Position Sense, Amanda N. Forsyth

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Joint position sense provides the body with information about where limb segments are relative to one another in three-dimensional space. The ability to utilize this sense is imperative for smooth, coordinated, and accurate movement in everything from activities of daily living to competitive sport (Ghez & Sainburg, 1995). Researchers currently use joint position sense as a measure of proprioceptive acuity. However, limited research has investigated the influence of potential confounding factors on proprioception. Specifically, literature on how joint-site specificity and lateral preference influence proprioception displays several incongruent findings. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was (1) to determine if …

Cardiovascular And Autonomic Nervous System Function: Impact Of Glucose Ingestion, Hydration Status And Exercise In Heated Environments, Kate Suzanne Early

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Cardiovascular function is under the influence of autonomic nervous system, both of which can be assessed non-invasively. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine these non-invasive markers of cardiovascular and autonomic function and their relationships with exercise training, glucose ingestion and hydration status. A series of three studies were conducted to gain insight to various influences on cardiovascular and autonomic function. The first study examined the influence of exercise training of brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (BAFMD) using meta-analytic techniques. Sixty-six studies included in the analysis demonstrated exercise training improves BAFMD compared to controls. Results indicated exercise training significantly alters …

An Ideal-Type Through Innovation Diffusion: Recording The Construction History Of Football Stadiums In The National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (Fbs), Patrick Michael Tutka

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Dr. John Bale (1984) argued sport scholars need to examine whether innovation diffusion occurred in sport. Rogers (1962, 2003) argued innovation diffusion process involves the following: 1) an innovation; 2) an available communication system(s); and occurs 3) over time; and 4) among members of a social system (p. 11). This project also adds geography as suggested by Bale (1984) and Hagerstrand (1952, 1953) to the study of innovation diffusion. The purpose of the current project is to examine whether innovation diffusion exists within the strong social system of college football. The study involves the collection of data on college football …

The Effects Of Using Knee Wraps On Back Squat And Vertical Jump Performance., Cardyl Trionfante

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Using knee wraps (KW) as an ergogenic aid has been commonly practiced in various sports such as powerlifting, strongman, and Olympic weightlifting. There is limited research investigating the effects of using KW during back squat (BS) and none regarding vertical jump (VJ). This dissertation investigates the effects of wearing KW on BS and VJ performance through a series of studies. The first study was designed to observe acute and long term effects of using KW on VJ performance. VJ performance decreased when KW were worn and was not considered an ergogenic aid for VJ. The second study was designed to …

How Do Social Norms Affect Physical Activity And Performance On An Endurance Task?, Keith David Randazzo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Despite the extensive benefits associated with a physically active life style, less than 50% of US adults engage in recommended levels of physical activity (PA), so finding ways to structure environments to promote PA is an important concern. Social norms, conceptualized as an individual’s perception of peer behavior, provide a framework for exploring factors that influence decisions to be physically active. Although researchers have investigated how social norms influence a variety of behaviors, the PA domain has not been fully explored. The focus of this dissertation is to apply social norms theories to investigate how normative information influences PA intentions …

The Influence Of Hip Mobility And Fatigue On Spinal Flexion And Muscle Activation In Rugby Scrum Performance, Joshua D. Clayton

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Introduction: Rugby scrumming is a means of restarting play following a minor rule infringement that can occur up to 28 times per game. The scrum poses a significant injury risk, with more days missed due to injury per event than any other rugby activity. Rugby players also have a significantly higher rate of spine injury than the general population, perhaps due to flexion in combination with high compression forces, which has been cited as the main mechanism of injury. Flexion of the spine has also been associated with poor hip mobility and quadriceps fatigue in other athletic tasks and may …

Estimates Of Persistent Inward Current Decline In Human Soleus Motor Units During Fatigue, Kirby Mendes

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Fatigue is defined as any exercise induced reduction in strength or power, and can be attributed to central and peripheral components. Many central and peripheral mechanisms have been extensively studied, but few studies have looked at the changes in the intrinsic properties of motor neurons and their contribution to fatigue. Persistent inward current (PIC) is an important intrinsic property of motor neurons responsible for setting a large increase in the gain of motor output and may contribute to fatigue. Inhibitory inputs such as reciprocal inhibition (RI) have been shown to turn off PICs and reducing the gain of output. PIC …

An Exploratory Approach To Manipulating Dynamic Stability: Investigating The Role Of Visual Control During A Precision Foot Placement Task, Russell Cg Kennedy

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

ABSTRACT

Background: The visual system provides the body with an accurate sensory system; designed to gather information at a distance and acts as a feedforward control mechanism during human locomotion. By doing so, visual information contributes coordination of the head-arm-trunk (HAT) segment and modulating foot placement. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a constrained pathway during a complex navigational stone-stepping task on HAT segment control and how the visual system guides locomotion during a complex foot placement task.

Methods: Nine university-aged females (Mean age: 22.5 years old +/-1.75) participated in this study. Participants …

What Lies Past Remission: The Perceived Late Effects Of Pediatric Cancer, Monica L. Molinaro

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Objective

Pediatric cancer survival rates are increasing (Childhood Cancer Canada Foundation, 2011) and with this, so are the late effects of pediatric cancer (Oeffinger et al., 2006). This research examines the lived experiences of the perceived long-term effects of pediatric cancer on adult survivors and their primary support persons in order to understand the multifaceted nature of the illness on adults, and how it affects others close to them.

Methods

The theoretical orientation used to guide the research was phenomenology in order to present an accurate depiction of all the participants’ lived experiences. Specifically, background questionnaires were administered and one-on-one …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of Cheerleaders' Lived Experiences Of Mental Blocks, Erin M. Lawrence

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

A mental block is a phenomenon in which an athlete’s mind no longer allows them to perform a physical skill that was previously well-learned and automatic. This phenomenon has received attention in gymnastics and trampoline but the literature is lacking an investigation of this phenomenon in all-star cheerleading. The purpose of this study was to examine the phenomenon of mental blocks by obtaining it from the first-person perspective of cheerleaders themselves. A purposeful sample of 8 all-star cheerleader participants was interviewed and transcriptions were analyzed utilizing qualitative analysis. Four main themes were found: 1) specific to backwards moving skills, 2) …

How Feedback And Goal-Setting Impact Children's Recess Physical Activity, Ryann Koufoudakis, Heather Erwin, Aaron Beighle, Michelle L. Thornton

Kinesiology and Health Promotion Faculty Publications

In recent years, schools desire to promote physical activity (PA) for their students but are restricted due to resources being expended in other areas of their curriculum, including standardized testing preparation. Recess/lunch periods have potential to contribute important amounts of PA to youth’s overall levels. Interventions to maximize PA during recess are warranted. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the impact of feedback and goal-setting on students’ PA during recess. A sample of 136 (67 females, 69 males) 4^th and 5^th grade students in the Southeast United States wore unsealed Walk4Life pedometers during recess for one …

A Comparison Of Cleated Footwear Conditions And The Effects On Ground Reaction Forces During The Phases Of A Side-Cut Task, Zachary Bridges

Honors Theses

Within sports and athletics, one area of interest is finding methods to increase the performance of athletes while simultaneously minimizing their risk for injury. In two of today's most popular sports (soccer and American football), cleated footwear is common equipment used to increase performance during sport-specific tasks. The interaction between cleated footwear and sport-specific tasks is one area of interest researchers are beginning to investigate and analyze the concerns of performance and safety. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of American football cleats, soccer cleats, and running shoes have on ground reaction forces (GRF's) in …

Glucose And Acute Exercise Influence Factors Secreted By Circulating Angiogenic Cells In Vitro, Sarah Witkowski, Gayatri Guhanarayan, Rachel Burgess

Exercise and Sport Studies: Faculty Publications

Circulating angiogenic cells (CAC) influence vascular repair through the secretion of proangiogenic factors and cytokines. While CAC are deficient in patients with diabetes and exercise has a beneficial effect on CACs, the impact of these factors on paracrine secretion from CAC is unknown. We aimed to determine whether the in vitro secretion of selected cytokines and nitric oxide (NO) from CAC is influenced by hyperglycemia and acute exercise. Colonyforming unit CAC (CFU-CAC) were cultured from young active men (n = 9, 24 ± 2 years) at rest and after exercise under normal (5 mmol/L) and elevated (15 mmol/L) glucose. Preliminary …

Effects Of Controlled-Whole Body Vibration Training On Reducing Risk Of Falls In People With Multiple Sclerosis, Maria Cristal Sanchez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Falls present a serious challenge among people affected by multiple sclerosis (MS). Controlled whole-body vibration (CWBV) training has been recently introduced into the physical therapy field to prevent falls in older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an 8-week vibration-training program in reducing the risk of falls in people living with MS. The study adopted a single-group pre-test â?? post-test longitudinal design. Twenty-five adults with clinicallyâ??confirmed MS were enrolled in this study to undergo the 8-week intervention on a side-alternating vibration machine. The training was delivered three times a week for eight weeks a …

Effects Of Foreperiod Regularity And Muscle Size On Fractionated Reaction Time, Ronald Joseph Benedict Ii

Wayne State University Dissertations

Fractionating reaction time (FRT) chronometrically separates central (PMT) from peripheral (MT) processing, allowing for analysis of the variables that may have a timing effect on either. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of foreperiod regularity and muscle size on the components of FRT. Forty-four male (n = 21) and female (n = 23) healthy Wayne State University students responded to a visual stimulus in a simple reaction time task, either by alternating foreperiod by block (Exp1) or by alternating muscle size by block (Exp2). All participants completed six blocks of eight trials using their right-side, with …

Collegiate Coaches’ Knowledge Of The Female Athlete Triad In Relation To Their Characteristics, Jillian E. Frideres, Sue G. Mottinger, Jose M. Palao

Health & Human Performance Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to determine what coaches of female athletes know about the female athlete triad. The sample involved 472 NCAA Division I coaches of female athletes. The variables studied were coaches’ knowledge and confidence about the triad and coaches’ characteristics (coach’s gender, age, type of coach, degree held, years of experience in coaching females, continuing education participation specific to the triad and/or triad components, and sport coached). Coaches’ knowledge of the female athlete triad is higher for coaches who have received triad education. No differences regarding knowledge of the female athlete triad were found by gender, …

Stress And Exercise In Undergraduate Health Professions Students, Kristin R. Weismantel, Meghan G. Brickner, Leah N. Rosler

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Background: Stress is prevalent among undergraduate students, especially students in health professions majors. Exercise as a health promoting behavior decreases stress. At the same time, increased stress may decrease exercise. This study described exercise and stress among undergraduate health professions students. More specifically this study described the intensity and duration of each exercise and the frequency of exercise during a typical week of the semester for students in health professions majors.

Theoretical framework: Pender’s Health Promotion Model guided this study.

Design: Cross-sectional, descriptive survey.

Methods: A convenience sample of 437 undergraduate students in a college of health professions (N =2,700) …

Rep As A Predictor Of Weight Categories Determined By Anthropometric Measurements, Nicholas Mendola

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Obesity has become one of the leading public health issues in the world today. An aspect of this issue that must be addressed in order for it to not persist as a problem in the future is the issue of childhood obesity. One of the most common screening methods to determine if a child is classified as overweight or obese is to utilize anthropometric measurements like body mass index, and waist-to-height ratios. Past studies have shown that children who are categorized as overweight or obese can struggle with physical activity and typically have lower fitness levels as their anthropometric measurements …

Spine Lifting Biomechanics Between Varying Occupational Activity Levels And Recreational Physical Activity Levels, Caitlin Rose Francis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Moderate to vigorous physical activity as the optimum movement patterns for health have continued to be the dominant focus of health and fitness research. Yet, emerging evidence of deleterious, adverse health effects of prolonged inactivity, independent of regular physical activity, presents a new element to establishing the ideal model of movement patterns for health. The musculoskeletal trunk of the body becomes unbalanced as a result of prolonged inactivity, and a biomechanical analysis can help to identify high-risk loading behavior associated with these unbalances. Moreover, poor spine biomechanics can indicate a need for adjustment to present recommendations for optimum movement …

Exploring The Information Source Preferences Among Canadian Adult Golf League Members, Melissa J. Davies, Dianna Gray

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

With an aging demographic, and the abundance of physical inactivity in Canada, sport professionals need to understand how best to recruit and retain adults in sport and recreational activities, namely, golf leagues. Canadian golf league participants (N = 419; Mage = 62 years old) completed an online survey detailing their propensity to utilize a variety of information sources prior to making the decision to join a golf league. Results from a principal component analysis of a revised Information Sources Inventory, suggested that golfers in this sample were most likely to utilize Personal and Social sources of information associated with their …

The Effect Of An 8-Minute Yoga Breathing Program On Fitness, Weight Loss And Breathing Capacity, Jerrold S. Petrofsky, Michael S. Laymon, Iman Akef Khowailed, Haneul Lee, Allie Petrofsky

College of Health & Human Services (TUN) Publications and Research

This was a single blinded randomized study with an intervention group and a control group to examine a modification in lifestyle and an 8-minute exercise session each day to lose weight. Fifty-seven female subjects participated. Subjects underwent girth measurements at the umbilicus, hips, thigh and upper arm; weight, height (for BMI), body fat, heart rate, blood pressure, abdominal strength, leg strength, arm strength, sedentary O2 saturation, treadmill challenged O2 saturation, resting metabolism (which includes fat metabolism), and lung capacity. Measures were repeated at baseline and the end of the 6-week period. During the 6-week period, they followed a healthy recommended …

Review Of Foot Plantar Pressure—Focus On The Development Of Foot Ulcerations, Jessica Deberardinis, Mohamed B. Trabia, Janet S. Dufek

Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences Faculty Research

There are many causes of plantar ulceration, which is a painful sore that occurs in the plantar tissue, common in cases of diabetes, peripheral arterial disease, obesity, and even high cholesterol. By way of perspective, approximately 15% of over 29.1 million diabetics in the U.S. will develop foot ulceration [1] and [2]. These causes could be diagnosed using multiple methods with reasonable accuracy; however, ulcers will still occur due to trauma to the plantar tissue. Measurement of the pressures within the plantar tissue has been suggested to be a suitable surrogate to the measurement of trauma; thus, many methods have …

Quantifying Muscle Fatigue Of The Low Back During Repetitive Load Lifting Using Lyapunov Analysis, Elias Spyropoulos, Anastasia Kyvelidou, Nicholas Stergiou, George Athanassiou

Journal Articles

Background: Occupational low back disorders are often associated with exposure to work-related physical risk factors such as muscle fatigue in the low back.
Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the possible relationship between the divergence of the kinematic trajectories of the low back system and the different stages of fatigue during the execution of a repetitive lifting task.
Methods: The patterns of the low back system were recorded using markers on specific vertebras during the repetitive load lifting from the floor to a 0.75 m height table. The maximum Lyapunov exponent, λmax of the recorded patterns was …

Maximal Strength Effects Of Cross Education Training On The Elbow Flexors, Molly Dyer

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to compare the absolute and relative changes in maximal bilateral elbow flexion strength increase after a four-week intervention protocol between a unilateral and bilateral resistance training program in college age females.

Methods: Five non-athlete females, with a mean age of 21.6 years, completed the study. Eligible subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups; unilateral elbow flexion resistance training (n=2) or bilateral elbow flexion resistance training (n=3). Both groups completed a four-week resistance training three days per week using three sets of ten repetitions at 65% of their predicted one repetition maximum. Maximal …

Development Of An Elderly Female Torso Finite Element Model For Restraint System Research And Development Applications, Anil Kalra Kalra

Wayne State University Dissertations

Elderly females are found to be one of the most vulnerable segments of population during motor vehicle crashes and their population is increasing in the coming decades. Current design of restraint systems as well as other passive safety measures are designed based on anthropomorphic details of younger population. Developing another dummy representing elderly female population is a costly effort, while a finite element (FE) model of elderly female with similar anthropomorphic details and age- and gender-specific material properties can be a better alternative solution. The current research focuses on the development of a FE model of an elderly female torso, …

The Relationship Between Exercise And Depression And Anxiety In College Students, Joshua Frank, Dr. Amy Adkins, Nathan Thomas, Dr. Danielle Dick

UROP Posters

The literature shows an inverse association between exercise and mental disorders. The aim of this study is to further elaborate on this association with regards to exercise and its relationship with anxiety and depression in a college sample. The subject group focused on seniors in the Spit for Science data set which incorporated a total of 821 students. Physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) to estimate the overall metabolic equivalents (MET’s) each student spent in walking, moderate, or vigorous activity levels in the previous week. Sum scores were used to measure depression and anxiety. Overall,the …