Psychometric Assessment of the Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale with Professional Romanian Athletes.

BACKGROUND: Although athletes' experiences of autonomy, competence, and relatedness play in key role in their motivation, performance-related outcomes, and wellness, there is no evidence to date on measures of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the Romanian sport context. Building upon self-determination theory, the objective of this research was to adapt the Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale and analyze its psychometric properties in the Romanian sport context. METHODS: The participants were 642 professional athletes (354 males and 288 females; Mage = 22.81, SD = 5.78) who competed at the international and/or national level. RESULTS: The results from confirmatory factor analyses psychometrically supported a six-factor correlated model, which was invariant across gender, age, and sport. Convergent validity was met by average variance extracted values between 0.60 and 0.74. Discriminant validity was underpinned by values from -0.72 to 0.72 for a heterotrait-monotrait ratio of correlations among the six factors. Reliability was endorsed by Cronbach's alpha scores between 0.75 and 0.89, and between 0.76 and 0.89 for Raykov's composite reliability coefficient. Criterion validity was supported by positive relationships of autonomy, competence, and relatedness satisfaction to autonomous motivation, and positive associations of autonomy, competence, and relatedness frustration with controlled motivation and amotivation. CONCLUSIONS: The Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale is shown to be a valid and reliable measure of need satisfaction and frustration in professional Romanian athletes.

Morpho-functional implications of myofascial stretching applied to muscle chains: A case study.

BACKGROUND: Most lesions of the soft tissues, especially those at the muscle level, are due to the lack of elasticity of the connective tissue and fascia. Stretching is one of the most commonly used methods of treatment for such musculoskeletal issues. OBJECTIVE: This study tracks the effects of stretching on the electromyographic activity of muscle chains, applied to a 24-year-old athlete diagnosed with the Haglund's disease. METHOD: For the evaluation, we used visual examination and surface electromyography (maximum volumetric isometric contraction). The therapeutic intervention consisted in the application of the static stretching positions, which intended the elongation of the shortened muscle chains. The treatment program had a duration of 2 months, with a frequency of 2 sessions per week and an average duration of 60 minutes. RESULTS: The posterior muscle chains recorded an increase in the EMG activity, while the anterior muscle chains tended to diminish their EMG activity. As a result of the applied treatment, all the evaluated muscle chains recorded a rebalancing of the electromyographic activity, demonstrating the efficiency of stretching as a method of global treatment of muscle chains. CONCLUSIONS: By analysing all the data, we have come to the conclusion that static stretching is an effective treatment method for shortened muscle chains.