Is the Focal Muscle Vibration an Effective Motor Conditioning Intervention? A Systematic Review

Mechanical vibration, applied to single or few muscles, can be a selective stimulus for muscle spindles, able to modify neuromuscular management, inducing short and long-term effects, are now mainly employed in clinic studies. Several studies reported as treatments with focal vibratory (FVT) can influence neuromuscular parameters also in healthy people. However, the application modalities and the consequent effects are remarkably fragmented. This paper aims to review these studies and to characterize the FVT effectiveness on long-term conditional capacities in relation to FVT characteristics. A systematic search of studies published from 1985 to 2020 in English on healthcare databases was performed. Articles had to meet the following criteria: (1) treatment based on a locally applied vibration on muscle belly or tendon; (2) healthy adults involved; (3) outcomes time analysis enduring for more than 24 h. Twelve studies were found, all of them presented an excellent quality score of ≥75%. All selected papers reported positive changes, comparable with traditional long-lasting training effects. Muscle force and power were the most investigated parameters. The after-effects persisted for up to several months. Among the different FV administration modalities, the most effective seems to show a stimulus frequency of ≈100 Hz, repeated more times within three-five days on a voluntary contracted muscle.

10-Year Longitudinal Changes in Fitness Parameters in Physiotherapy Students

Introduction. The aim of this study is to examine changes in the chosen morphological characteristics, motor conditioning, and coordination skills in physiotherapy undergraduates at a medical university in Bydgoszcz in the first decade of the millennium. We assume prevalence of a secular trend in values of morphological characteristics; however, characteristics of motor skills, particularly fitness levels, will remain relatively unchanged. Materials and Methods. The study included young people studying physiotherapy at the medical university of Bydgoszcz 2001-2010. Basic morphological features, including waist and hip circumferences, were measured, and BMI and WHR were calculated. The Cooper test and marching over a distance of two kilometers were employed to determine endurance; right and left spinning coordination was assessed by Starosta test. Calculated Mollison indicators were used in the evaluation of dimorphic differences in subsequent observation time. Statistics. Data are presented as mean with the standard deviation. Groupwise comparison was performed with Student’s t-test and linear relationships with Pearson’s r. Linear covariance models (ANCOVA) were built as theoretical models. Statistical significance was set at alfa=0.05. Based on the correlation between the data and the corresponding normal score used, the Shapiro-Wilk test is the best choice for testing the normality of data. Variables were excluded if they exceeded the tolerance level for multicollinearity. Analysis was performed with Statistica 10. Results. The study demonstrated a rising number of male students (from 13,3% to 39,2%, chi2=10,13; p=0,001) and a decrease in age of students overall but no significant changes (from 22,25±0,75 to 20,42±1,7; F=32,9; p<0,001) in their morphological characteristics and their dimorphic differences (average results for males: BMI, from 22,25±1,94 to 26,27±3,56; WHR index, from 0,78±0,06 to 0,85±0,06; average results for females: BMI, from 20,79±2,11 to 22,19±3,83; WHR index, from 0,7±0,04 to 0,75±0,15). An overall improvement in endurance was found; however, coordination, especially amongst women, had deteriorated (turn right, from 377,1±48,1 to 343,1±23,3; turn left, from 375,0±5,61 to 345,6±43,1). We observed multidirectional changes in the analyzed motor skills and most of them were statistically significant. Conclusions. Longitudinal study of physiotherapy students revealed no differences in morphological and dimorphic characteristics and multimodal changes in assessed motor skills, thus highlighting a need for further research into the identification of their causes. Moreover, a requirement for entry motor skills assessment and curriculum reorientation towards delivery of a broader scope of physical education was suggested.

Suspending the Habit Body through Immersive Resonance:Hesitation and Constitutive Duet in Jen Reimer and Max Stein’s Site-Specific Improvisation

There is increasing appreciation for the role that location plays in the experience of a musical event. This paper seeks to understand this role in terms of our habitual relationships to place, asking whether and how being musical somewhere can expand and transform our habituated comportment there, and with what consequences. This inquiry is anchored in a series of site-specific improvised performances by Jen Reimer and Max Stein, and the theory and practice of the late experimental music pioneer Pauline Oliveros. The argument made interpreting these performances is grounded in Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of embodiment, and Alia Al-Saji’s reception of it. This paper claims that such site-specific improvised performances can elicit a sort of hesitation in our everyday style of sensory-motor conditioning, and, concomitantly, awaken a layer of sensory living amenable to radically new sonic and behavioural configurations.