Iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS), as an overused injury of the lower extremities, has developed into a common cause of lateral knee pain. At present, the treatment of ITBS includes drug therapy, muscle strength training, physical therapy, and surgical treatment. Among these methods, physical therapy, drug therapy, and surgical treatment can only alleviate the symptoms of patients. As a safe and effective treatment, lower limb muscle strength training can improve patients' muscle strength, correct abnormal gait, and reduce the recurrence rate of the disease by paying attention to the dynamic changes of patients' recovery process. At present, the pathogenesis of ITBS remains unclear, and the treatment methods are not unified. It is necessary to further study the biomechanical factors related to the lower extremities and develop more scientific and comprehensive muscle strength training methods.
Humans ; Resistance Training ; Running/physiology* ; Iliotibial Band Syndrome/diagnosis* ; Lower Extremity ; Physical Therapy Modalities/adverse effects* ; Knee Joint ; Muscle Strength/physiology* ; Muscles/injuries* ; Biomechanical Phenomena

Although marathon has been considered as a simple or natural event, the multiple factors affect its performance such as physique and physical fitness including physical, technical, and mental factors. Academic disciplinary topics for talent identification in marathon performance are supported by physical characteristics, exercise physiology, biochemistry, nutrition, psychology, biomechanics, development and growth, evaluation and measurement. The scientific factors of marathon consist of physical and physiological characteristics of runners, overcoming trial of environmental effects, nutritional and psychological approach, ergogenic aid, effective training program, shoes and clothes. Especially, cardiopulmonary-related physical fitness is evaluated by maximal oxygen uptake, anaerobic threshold, oxygen transport rate, and lactate tolerance. These scientific approaches for the improvement of running performance have been applied to the pick-up of excellent runner, exercise training, and actual running race for the overcome of limiting factors as environmental condition, exercise-induced fatigue, and injury, etc. In conclusion, we must consider the scientific factors for actual running race with physiological or psychological paradigm, technical application, nutritional approach, genetic analysis and information and communication and technology (ICT) convergence science for the scientific consideration of improvement in marathon running performance.
Anaerobic Threshold ; Aptitude ; Biochemistry ; Clothing ; Continental Population Groups ; Education ; Fatigue ; Genetics ; Growth and Development ; Humans ; Lactic Acid ; Oxygen ; Physical Fitness ; Physiology ; Psychology ; Running ; Shoes ; Sports*

Athletes ; Humans ; Physical Conditioning, Human ; physiology ; Running ; physiology

In this report we analyse a case of ischiatic tuberosity avulsion. A 15-year-old patient who came to our first aid department two days after a football match accident was treated conservatively and examined at month 1-4, 6 and 12. In order to examine patient condition, a new index was formulated: the inability score index (ISI), which is based on hip range of motion and scales for rest, walking, running pain and compared to other parameters such as oedema area, fragment diastasis evaluated by X-ray and CT accordingly. ISI defines the inability as severe, moderate and mild. It guides the rehabilitative program in the right way. In this case, the patient was able to run softly after 35 days and to go back to the full agonist activity after 4 months. At the end of treatment the patient referred to the complete pain remission, full range of motion recovery and a good fracture consolidation. After 1 year we discuss about therapeutic strategies used and results obtained.
Adolescent ; Disability Evaluation ; Football ; injuries ; Fractures, Bone ; diagnostic imaging ; etiology ; physiopathology ; rehabilitation ; Humans ; Ischium ; injuries ; Male ; Pain Measurement ; Range of Motion, Articular ; physiology ; Running ; physiology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

INTRODUCTIONMyopia is a significant public health problem in Singapore with estimates that more than 50% of the population is affected by it by the time of adulthood. Childhood obesity is also increasing and has been linked to long-term health problems. Recent studies have found that Singaporean children in Primary 1 spend less than 3 hours a day outdoors which is less than children in other countries. Physical activity has been shown to be protective against obesity and recently, there has been some evidence to suggest that time spent outdoors may reduce the prevalence and severity of myopia. This study aims to explore the barriers and enablers to children in Singapore participating in outdoor activities.

MATERIALS AND METHODSQualitative data, gathered from focus group discussions was thematically analysed against the PRECEDE component of the PRECEDE-PROCEED model which provided a conceptual framework for examining factors relevant to children participating in an outdoor activity intervention. A total of 31 people participated in 4 focus groups held over a 6-month period.

RESULTSThis feasibility study was exploratory in nature but provided valuable information concerning barriers and enablers to participation. Data informed the development of a larger study.

CONCLUSIONResults indicated that families preferred structured activities such as orienteering and a choice of weekend attendance days and times.

Attitude to Health ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Community Participation ; Counseling ; Feasibility Studies ; Focus Groups ; Health Behavior ; Health Education ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Jogging ; physiology ; Medical Records ; Motivation ; Motor Activity ; Myopia ; prevention & control ; Parents ; psychology ; Program Development ; Reinforcement (Psychology) ; Running ; physiology ; Singapore ; Walking ; physiology

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of carnitine on function of respiratory chain and metabolism of oxygen radical in mitochondria of skeletal muscle after exhaustive running in training rats. Forty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups (n = 10): control, carnitine, training and training + carnitine groups. The training and training + carnitine groups received 6-week treadmill training, whereas carnitine and training + carnitine groups were administered intragastrically with carnitine (300 mg/kg per day, 6 d/week) for 6 weeks. After exhaustive running, all the rats from 4 groups were sacrificed to obtain quadriceps muscles samples, and muscle mitochondria were extracted by differential centrifugation. Spectrophotometric analysis was used to evaluate activities of respiratory chain complexes (RCC) I-IV, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the skeletal muscle mitochondria. The results showed that, compared with the control group, the carnitine group exhibited increased RCCI and RCCIII activities (P < 0.05), the training + carnitine group exhibited increased RCCI, RCCIII and RCCIV activities (P < 0.05 or 0.01). Moreover, RCCIII activity in the training + carnitine group was higher than that in training group (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the carnitine, training and training + carnitine groups showed increased SOD activities ( P < 0.01), the carnitine and training + carnitine groups showed increased GSH-Px activities ( P < 0.01), the carnitine, training and training + carnitine groups showed increased MDA contents (P < 0.05 or 0.01). The SOD and GSH-Px activities in training + carnitine group were higher than those in training group (P < 0.01), and the MDA level in the training + carnitine group was higher than that in the carnitine and training groups (P < 0.01). These results suggest that training and carnitine can increase function of respiratory chain, antioxidation and lipid peroxidation tolerance capacity in skeletal muscle mitochondria, and the improving effects of training and carnitine are synergistic.
Animals ; Antioxidants ; metabolism ; Carnitine ; pharmacology ; Electron Transport ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; metabolism ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Mitochondria, Muscle ; drug effects ; physiology ; Muscle, Skeletal ; drug effects ; physiology ; Physical Conditioning, Animal ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; metabolism ; Running ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo explore the changes of Treg-Th17 balance influenced by corticosterone, major effect hormone of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis under running stress.

METHODSA total of 25 corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) wildtype (CRH+/+) and knockout (CRH-/-) mice were adopt and divided into 4 groups as follows: CRH+/+ ctrl, CRH+/+ stress, CRH-/- ctrl and CRH-/- stress. All mice in stress groups were under 2 h running. After 1 h, blood plasma in all groups was collected and the expression of corticosterone and IL-17A was detected by ELISA. Meanwhile, unicell suspensions of peripheral lymph node and spleen in each group were prepared too and stained by PE-CD4 and FITC-CD25, then the changes of Treg (CD4+CD25+) in different groups were checked by flow cytometry; all data were statistically analyzed by the software of WinMDI 2.9, SPSS 11.5, Origin 7.5 and Matlab 2-D and 3-D plot function.

RESULTSThe levels of corticosterone were significantly higher in stress groups than that in corresponding control groups (P less than 0.05), especially in CRH+/+ stress group (P less than 0.01). However, the changes of Tregs were not obvious between stress groups and control groups with respective genotypes (P less than 0.05). Compared with that in CRH+/+ control group, the ratio of Treg and the expression of IL-17A in CRH-/- stress group were significantly higher than those in control group (P less than 0.05). Combined with the expression levels of corticosterone, Treg and Th17, our study suggests that endogenous glucocorticoid with basal level may cause the changes in Treg-Th17 balance. Moreover, as the corticosterone level increases, the expression of Treg and Th17 appears to manifest antagonistic fluctuant status with a rising tendency in general.

CONCLUSIONEndogenous glucocorticoid under early stage of stress may increase the function of T lymphocyte immunity to some extent.

Animals ; CD4 Antigens ; metabolism ; Corticosterone ; blood ; Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone ; metabolism ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Flow Cytometry ; Interleukin-17 ; metabolism ; Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit ; metabolism ; Lymph Nodes ; cytology ; Mice ; Mice, Knockout ; Pituitary-Adrenal System ; metabolism ; Running ; physiology ; Spleen ; cytology ; Stress, Physiological ; Th17 Cells ; metabolism

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of carnitine on cellular respiratory chain and metabolism of oxygen radical in mitochondria of liver after exhaustive running in training rats. Forty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups (n = 10): control, carnitine, training and training+carnitine groups. The training and training+carnitine groups received 6-week treadmill training, whereas carnitine and training+carnitine groups were administrated intragastrically with carnitine (300 mg/kg per d) for 6 weeks. After exhaustive running, all the groups were sacrificed to obtain liver samples, and liver mitochondria were extracted by differential centrifugation. Spectrophotometric analysis was used to evaluate activities of respiratory chain complexes (RCC) I-IV, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the liver mitochondria. The results showed that, compared with the control group, the carnitine group exhibited increased RCCIV activity (P < 0.05), the training group exhibited increased RCCI, RCCIII and RCCIV activities, and the training+carnitine group showed increased RCCI-IV activities (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Moreover, RCCI and RCCIV activities in the training+carnitine group were higher than those in the carnitine and training groups (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Compared with the control group, the training+carnitine group showed increased SOD activity (P < 0.01), the carnitine, training and training+carnitine groups showed increased GSH-Px activities (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), and the training and training+carnitine groups showed decreased MDA contents (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The training+carnitine group showed increased GSH-Px activity compared to that in the carnitine group (P < 0.01).The SOD activity in the training+carnitine group was higher than those in the carnitine and training groups (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), and the MDA level in the the training+carnitine group was lower than those in the carnitine and training groups (P < 0.01). These results suggest that training and carnitine can increase the function of respiratory chain and antioxidant capacity in liver mitochondria, and the improving effects of training and carnitine can be synergistic.
Animals ; Antioxidants ; metabolism ; Carnitine ; pharmacology ; Electron Transport ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; metabolism ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Mitochondria, Liver ; drug effects ; physiology ; Oxidation-Reduction ; Physical Conditioning, Animal ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; metabolism ; Running ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism

OBJECTIVE: To compare changes in T2 relaxation on magnetic resonance (MR) images of knee articular cartilage in younger and older amateur athletes before and after running. MATERIALS AND METHODS: By using a 3.0-T MR imager, quantitative T2 maps of weight-bearing femoral and tibial articular cartilages in 10 younger and 10 older amateur athletes were acquired before, immediately after, and 2 hours after 30 minutes of running. Changes in global cartilage T2 signals of the medial and lateral condyles of the femur and tibia and regional cartilage T2 signals in the medial condyles of femoral and tibia in response to exercise were compared between the two age groups. RESULTS: Changes in global cartilage T2 values after running did not differ significantly between the age groups. In terms of the depth variation, relatively higher T2 values in the older group than in the younger group were observed mainly in the superficial layers of the femoral and tibial cartilage (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Age-related cartilage changes may occur mainly in the superficial layer of cartilage where collagen matrix degeneration is primarily initiated. However, no trend is observed regarding a global T2 changes between the younger and older age groups in response to exercise.
Age Factors ; Aging/physiology ; *Athletes ; Cartilage, Articular/*physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Knee Joint/*physiology ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/*methods ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Running/*physiology ; Statistics, Nonparametric ; Weight-Bearing/physiology ; Young Adult

INTRODUCTIONThis study objectively evaluates the effectiveness of a 6-week Preparatory Training Phase (PTP) programme prior to Basic Military Training (BMT) for less physically conditioned conscripts in the Singapore Armed Forces.

MATERIALS AND METHODSWe compared exercise test results of a group of less fi t recruits who underwent a 16-week modified-BMT (mBMT) programme (consisting of a 6-week PTP and 10-week BMT phase) with their 'fitter' counterparts enlisted in the traditional 10-week direct-intake BMT (dBMT) programme in this prospective cohort study consisting of 36 subjects. The main outcome measures included cardiopulmonary responses parameters (VO(2)max and V(O2AT)) with clinical exercise testing and distance run timings.

RESULTSAlthough starting off at a lower baseline in terms of physical fitness [VO(2)max 1.73 +/- 0.27 L/min (mBMT group) vs 1.97 +/- 0.43 L/min (dBMT), P = 0.032; V(O2AT) 1.02 +/- 0.19 vs 1.14 +/- 0.32 L/min respectively, P = 0.147], the mBMT group had greater improvement in cardiopulmonary indices and physical performance profiles than the dBMT cohort as determined by cardiopulmonary exercise testing [VO(2)max 2.34 +/- 0.24 (mBMT) vs 2.36 +/- 0.36 L/min (dBMT), P = 0.085; V(O2AT) 1.22 +/- 0.17 vs 1.21 +/- 0.24 L/min respectively, P = 0.303] and 2.4 kilometres timed-run [mBMT group 816.1 sec (pre-BMT) vs 611.1 sec (post-BMT), dBMT group 703.8 sec vs 577.7 sec, respectively; overall P value 0.613] at the end of the training period. Initial mean difference in fitness between mBMT and dBMT groups on enlistment was negated upon graduation from BMT.

CONCLUSIONPre-enlistment fitness stratification with training modification in a progressive albeit longer BMT programme for less-conditioned conscripts appears efficacious when measured by resultant physical fitness.

Adolescent ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Body Mass Index ; Cohort Studies ; Exercise Test ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Male ; Military Personnel ; statistics & numerical data ; Oxygen Consumption ; Physical Education and Training ; methods ; standards ; Physical Fitness ; Program Evaluation ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Assessment ; Running ; physiology ; Singapore ; Time Factors ; Young Adult