Browsing by Author "Soldan, Macarena"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Preseason multiple biomechanics testing and dimension reduction for injury risk surveillance in elite female soccer athletes: short-communication
    (2023) De la Fuente, Carlos; Silvestre, Rony; Yanez, Roberto; Roby, Matias; Soldan, Macarena; Ferrada, Wilson; Carpes, Felipe P.
    Background Injury risk is regularly assessed during the preseason in susceptible populations like female soccer players. However, multiple outcomes (high-dimensional dataset) derived from multiple testing may make pattern recognition difficult. Thus, dimension reduction and clustering may be useful for improving injury surveillance when results of multiple assessment tools are available. Aim To determine the influence of dimension reduction for pattern recognition followed by clustering on multiple biomechanical injury markers in elite female soccer players during preseason. Methdology We introduced the use of dimension reduction through linear principal component analysis (PCA), non-linear kernel principal component analysis (k-PCA), t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-sne), and uniform manifold approximation and projection (umap) for injury markers via grid search. Muscle strength, muscle function, jump technique and power, balance, muscle stiffness, exercise tolerance, and running performance were assessed in an elite female soccer team (n = 21) prior to the competitive season. Results As a result, umap facilitated the injury pattern recognition compared to PCA, k-PCA, and t-sne. One of the three patterns was related to a team subgroup with acceptable muscle conditions. In contrast, the other two patterns showed higher injury risk profiles. For our dataset, umap improved injury surveillance through multiple testing characteristics. Conclusion Dimension reduction and clustering techniques present as useful strategies to analyze subgroups of female soccer players who have different risk profiles for injury.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Unique case study: Impact of single-session neuromuscular biofeedback on motor unit properties following 12 days of Achilles tendon surgical repair
    (2024) De la Fuente, Carlos; Silvestre, Rony; Botello, Julio; Neira, Alejandro; Soldan, Macarena; Carpes, Felipe P.
    We explored the first evidence of a single-session neuromuscular biofeedback effect on motor unit properties, neuromuscular activation, and the Achilles tendon (AT) length 12 days after undergoing AT surgical repair. We hypothesized that immediate neuromuscular biofeedback enhances motor unit properties and activation without causing AT lengthening. After 12 days AT surgical repair, Medial Gastrocnemius (MG) motor unit decomposition was performed on a 58-year-old male before and after a neuromuscular biofeedback intervention (surface electromyography (sEMG) and ultrasonography), involving unressited plantar flexion. The analysis included motor unit population properties, sEMG amplitude, force paradigm, and AT length. There were increased MG motor unit recruitment, peak and average firing rate, coefficient of variation, and sEMG amplitude, and decreased recruitment and derecruitment threshold in the repaired AT limb. The non-injured limb increased the motor unit recruitment, and decreased the coefficient of variation, peak and average firing rate, inter-pulse interval, derecruitment threshold and sEMG amplitude. The AT length experienced -0.4 and 0.3 cm changes in the repaired AT and non-injured limb, respectively. This single-session neuromuscular biofeedback 12 days after AT surgery shows evidence of enhanced motor unit properties and activation without signs of AT lengthening when unresisted plantar flexion is performed in the repaired AT limb.