Journal of Sports Medicine & Doping Studies

A percutaneous electrogastrogram (EGG) is a simple and low-restraint way to measure the electrical activity of the gastrointestinal tract. An electrogastrogram examination is a noninvasive method of evaluating gastrointestinal motility and autonomic nervous system activity. However, EGGs are not as widely used in clinical settings as electrocardiograms (ECGs) or electroencephalographs (EEGs) because an EGG can be impacted by electrical activity from the myocardium and the diaphragm (due to respiration), and there is no method to relate the functions of the stomach to the data obtained. This paper examines the effect of exercise on gastric electrical activity using two exercise intensities to confirm the basic biological response of an EGG. It was found that, after high-intensity exercising, the spectrum density at the normal frequency band of the stomach (2.4-3.7 cpm) decreased, which may indicate a decline in gastric activity taking place during exercise. Moreover, after high-intensity exercise, translation error increased significantly. Exercise intensity is thought to affect the electrical activity of not only the gastrointestinal tract, but also of other organs.

Introduction: Intense therapeutic ultrasound (ITU) is a newly established ultrasound-based, non-invasive therapy in which sound waves are concentrated and focused on musculoskeletal tissue for the purpose of pain reduction. This technology produces selective thermal coagulative changes over a small controlled area while leaving the surrounding tissue unaffected and without impacting the integrity of the dermis.
Methods: A clinical study evaluating 29 patients (Age: 39 – 60, Male: 59%, Female 41%) for the effectiveness, safety and patient tolerance of Intense Therapeutic Ultrasound (ITU) for treatment of chronic (average length of symptoms prior to treatment: 12.9 months), subcutaneous lateral Epicondylitis musculoskeletal tissue pain reduction was conducted. All patients enrolled in this IRB approved study had been previously diagnosed with Chronic Lateral Epicondylitis and had failed previous Standard-of-Care treatment regimen. Two ITU treatments were administered four weeks apart. Self-reported lateral elbow Universal Visual Analog pain scores and Patient-Rated Tennis Elbow Evaluation pain scores while performing normal daily tasks, were recorded pre-treatment (baseline measurement) and again at each follow-up time point - 4, 8, 12, and 26 weeks - after initial treatment. The goal for all subjects was to reduce overall pain and pain while performing everyday tasks by at least 25% on the average and more than 25% individually. While arbitrary, such criteria appear to be rigorous to reduce standard error and individual selfassessment variability.
Results: Successful reduction of overall pain scores at 12 and 26 weeks following the first treatment are 88% and 82% of patients meeting the pain reduction criteria respectively. Also, at the same follow-up time points, patients reported an average VAS Pain Score reduction of 59% (Week 12) and 57% (Week 26) from a pre-treatment average of 5.08 down to an average of 2.2 at week 26. Additionally, patients reported an average pain reduction while performing everyday tasks of 58% and 61% respectively. Patient satisfaction remained over 80% for all follow-up dates.
Conclusion: ITU is a promising non-invasive pain relief treatment for cases of chronic lateral epicondylitis.

Objective: This study aims at documenting the incidences, nature and severity of injuries on the Kingdom of Swaziland football players. In addition, we investigate the association between injury incidence rates (IRs), players’ age and playing positions.

Methods: Anthropometric characteristics, field-playing positions, match exposure injury occurrences were monitored in 24 teams (432 players). The teams were drawn from four main structures: Premier Soccer League (PSL), first division, super league and regional leagues (promotional league). The type, severity and duration of football-related injuries were documented following FIFA recommendations. Descriptive data was computed to characterize the injury profile using SPSS v23.0.

Results: There were no significant differences on age (p=0.234, body mass (p=0.898 and height (p=0.451) among all players. IR of 29.8 (CI: 27.4, 32.2) injuries per 1000 exposure hours were observed. A sum of 92 injuries were observed and recorded. Of these injuries, 3 out of 4 were classified as either minimal (31.5%) or mild (35.9%), while merely 1 out of 10 injuries (5.4%) necessitated absence from play of more than 28 days. Overuse and traumatic injuries accounted for 27.3% and 78.3% respectively.

Conclusions: The study reflected that the quantity and severity of injuries were not only associated with player’s age but also different playing positions. The injury profile of this nature can also enhance the knowledge of injuries, identification of risk factors for the most prevalent differential diagnoses in Swaziland soccer. Therefore, assisting sport medical teams and physicians to plan and develop any injury intervention programs.