Effects of a postural education program on school backpack habits related to low back pain in children.

PURPOSE: Population based studies have demonstrated that children and adolescents often complain of low back pain. A group-randomized controlled trial was carried out to investigate the effects of a postural education program on school backpack habits related to low back pain in children aged 10-12 year. METHODS: The study sample included 137 children aged 10.7 years (SD = 0.672). Six classes from two primary schools were randomly allocated into experimental group (EG) (N = 63) or control group (CG) (N = 74). The EG received a postural education program over 6 weeks consisting of six sessions, while the CG followed the usual school curriculum. A questionnaire was fulfilled by the participants at pre-test, post-test, and 3 months after the intervention finished. The outcomes collected were: (1) try to load the minimum weight possible, (2) carry school backpack on two shoulders, (3) belief that school backpack weight does not affect to the back, and (4) the use of locker or something similar at school. A sum score was computed from the four items. RESULTS: Single healthy items mostly improved after the intervention and remained improved after 3-month follow-up in EG, while no substantial changes were observed in the CG. Healthy backpack use habits score was significantly increased at post-test compared to baseline in the EG (P < 0.000), and remained significantly increased after 3-month, compared to baseline (P = 0.001). No significant changes were observed in the CG (P > 0.2). CONCLUSIONS: The present study findings confirm that children are able to learn healthy backpack habits which might prevent future low back pain.

Can we speak of a negative psychological tetrad in sports? A probabilistic Bayesian study on competitive sailing.

INTRODUCTION: Researchers display an interest in studying aspects like the mental health of high-performance athletes; the dark side of sport, or the earliest attempts to study the so-called dark triad of personality in both initiation and high-performance athletes. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to determine the possible existence and magnitude of negative psychological aspects within a population of competition sailors and from a probabilistic point of view, using Bayesian Network analysis. METHODS: The study was carried out on 235 semi-professional sailors of the 49er Class, aged between 16 and 52 years (M = 24.66; SD = 8.03). RESULTS: The results show the existence of a Negative Tetrad-formed by achievement burnout, anxiety due to concentration disruption, amotivation and importance given to error-as a probabilistic product of the psychological variables studied: motivation, anxiety, burnout and fear of error. CONCLUSION: These results, supported by Bayesian networks, show holistically the influence of the social context on the psychological and emotional well-being of the athlete during competition at sea.

Adapting the Sport Commitment Questionnaire-2 for Spanish Usage.

This study translated, adapted, and validated the Sport Commitment Questionnaire-2 (SCQ-2) for the Spanish language and cultural context. We utilized a cross-sectional design with 747 athlete participants (436 males, 311 females), ranging in age from 11-24 years ( M = 16.04; SD = 2.57). Participants were involved in a variety of individual and team sports and were from various autonomous regions of Spain. Participants completed the Spanish-language version of the SCQ-2 developed for this study. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated acceptable fit of the proposed factor structure and gender invariance for the new Spanish language scale. Test subscales were internally consistent, and the Spanish language version of the SCQ-2 was found to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing the level of sport commitment in young athletes in the Spanish cultural context.