Research synopsis (strength and conditioning )

Each article synopsis requires students to search a relevant database of research journals (i.e. Google Scholar, SportDiscus, PubMed) to find a peer-reviewed research article related to one of the course topics. Students should read the selected articles in their entirety and then post a brief synopsis of the article(s) to CANVAS. Turn-it-in score should not exceed 24%. A citation or a copy of the article should be included. Each Synopsis is graded Pass/Fail.

The synopsis should be written and should include the following headers:

1. Reason for Selection
2. Research Problem
3. Methods
4. Results/Conclusions
5. Takeaways

Students should briefly summarize why they selected the article, what research problem was addressed in the article, how the experiment was conducted, the most important results and explanations for the results provided by the authors of the study, and what information from the article can be used by classmates in their strength and conditioning decision-making processes.

Some Main Reasons for Grade reductions (not an exhaustive list):

• You didn’t have the 5 headers included in your summary.
• You didn’t summarize under each header
• You didn’t include the article/citation. Either is fine, but if I can’t figure out what you summarized, that’s not good.
• Your Turn-it-in score wasn’t GREEN or BLUE. (If this happens it’ll most likely result in a 0)
  • Some suggestions to improve your Turn-it-in score (which will be given automatically once you turn in the assignment):
    1. Include a copy of the article but leave the citation out of your review. It will artificially inflate your score.
    2. Write more original statements. The longer the responses the less likely things will be flagged.
    3. Rephrase your writing. The Turn-it-in score is available to you and you are able to revise and resubmit the assignment ahead of the due date.
    

Example Article Synopsis

Reason for Selection

Our research article for module 2 indicates that asymmetries are to be expected in sport-specific population such as groups that perform overhead throw actions predominantly on a single arm. While there are asymmetries, these do not confer these players with deficiency in movement competency. As an avid volleyball player, it interests me to find congruent research in volleyball.

Research Problem

Volleyball is a sport with many unilateral movements and competitive players usually start training in this sport from a young age. Thus, this population may be more inclined to asymmetrical development from these repetitive movements and are hypothesized to be more injury prone.

Methods

The Functional Movement Screen with the seven tests were conducted with 14 athletes.

Results/Conclusions

Most scores are around 2 and total averages to 16.5, with shoulder mobility test averaging the lowest. There were 4 athletes indicating pain in one of the shoulders, while there were asymmetries presented in most of the rest of the athletes. These disproportions are accounted to the greater use of a particular limb. However, the rest of the single limb tests do not present asymmetry, indicating that the core stabilizer muscles are in fact trained in a balanced manner.

Takeaways

While asymmetrical results may be presented in FMS, they may not be indicative of how functional the athlete. Context of the sport needs to be taken into consideration. Nonetheless, even if there is asymmetry distally at the limbs, it is important to maintain proximal symmetry as much as possible because these are indicative or core strength and motor control.

Piech, J., Bajorek, W., Ponka, A., Kuchciak, M., & Bobula, G. (2020). Lateralization value of functional movement rating in volleyball players’ injury prevention. Journal of Physical Education and Sport, 20(3), 1475-1480.