Cameron Forbes (right) conducted undergraduate research with Prof. Tom Kaminski on the effect of heading the ball in female high school soccer players.

Sports medicine honors

UD students among select few invited to present abstracts at special session

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4:18 p.m., May 7, 2013--Two University of Delaware students are among just 20 whose abstracts have been selected for special sessions at the American College of Sports Medicine’s 60th Annual Meeting in May.

Undergraduate Cameron Forbes, a neuroscience major, is the lead author on “Examining Neurocognitive Function in Previously Concussed High School Female Soccer Players,” which is one of 10 abstracts selected for the Clinical Poster Session and Reception. His co-authors are Joseph Glutting, professor in UD’s School of Education, and Tom Kaminski, professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology (KAAP).

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Alan Needle, a doctoral student in UD’s interdisciplinary Biomechanics and Movement Science (BIOMS) program, is the first author on “Unstable Ankles and Copers Do Not Differ in Their Ability to Deactivate During a Perturbation,” which was selected for the Basic Science Poster Session and Reception.  The abstract is co-authored by Kaminski and Buz Swanik, associate professor in KAAP and BIOMS.

Forbes’ research showed that purposeful heading posed no more risk — as measured by neuropsychological tests — to players who had previously experienced a concussion than to those who had no history of concussion. 

“Our conclusion is based on pre- and post-tests during a single season in female high school and collegiate players,” Forbes says, “so further research is needed to assess the effects at different levels of the sport and over many years of play.”

(For more on the research concerning heading, see this UDaily article.)

Needle’s abstract documents his finding that the ability to deactivate, or relax, during a simulated ankle sprain did not differ among people who had never experienced a sprain, those who had sustained repeated sprains, and those who had sprained an ankle but developed no residual instability, known as copers. 

“Theories about the benefits of joint compliance and deactivation have been developed at the knee,” Needle says, “but it appears these results do not transfer to the ankle joint.”

Kaminski is amazed that two UD students’ abstracts are among just 20 chosen out of more than 2,700 submitted.  “This recognition speaks volumes about not only the research we’re doing but also the quality of our students at both the undergrad and graduate levels,” he says.

About the meeting

The ACSM 60th Annual Meeting and 4th World Congress on Exercise is Medicine will be held from May 28–June 1, in Indianapolis. The meeting is the most comprehensive sports medicine and exercise science conference in the world. With 12 topical tracks, attendees of more than 70 disciplines come together from around the globe to share new clinical techniques, scientific advancements, and cutting-edge research in sports medicine, exercise science, physical activity and public health.

Article by Diane Kukich

Photo by Doug Baker

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