Abstract Aim: To Verify the effects of hydrogymnastics on functional autonomy in elderly women. Method: In November 2018, a systematic review of the literature was performed in the databases MEDLINE, SciELO, LILACS, PEDro, Cochrane, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, SCOPUS e CINAHL. Two independent researchers selected randomized clinical trials, which evaluated the effects of hydrogymnastics over healthy elderly women performance on functional tests performance on functional tests. From each study they selected the number of participants in both experimental and control groups (EG and CG), age, intervention protocol, mean and standard deviation before and after the intervention for the following variables: legs and biceps muscular strength, posterior muscle chain extensibility, and agility - all of which compose the functional autonomy on Rikli and Jones test. We analyzed the methodological quality and the risk of bias through the Jadad Scale and the Cochrane tool respectively. We performed the data analysis through the random effects model and the mean difference between CG and EG. The analysis of the publication bias was done with Egger Test. Results: We found a total of 887 studies in the aforementioned databases, and five randomized clinical trials were included in the present meta-analysis. In spite of the evidence level is very low, the hydrogymnastics promoted an increase in agility and leg muscle strength in elderly women.

BACKGROUND: Ballet is a high-performance activity that requires an advanced level of technical skills. Ballet places great stress on tendons, muscles, bones, and joints and may act directly as a trigger of injury by overuse. OBJECTIVES: 1) to describe the main types of injuries and affected areas related to classical ballet and 2) to compare the frequency of musculoskeletal injuries among professional and non-professional ballet dancers, considering possible gender differences among the professional dancers. METHOD: A total of 110 questionnaires were answered by professional and non-professional dancers. The questionnaire contained items related to the presence of injury, the regions involved, and the mechanism of the injury. RESULTS: We observed a high frequency of musculoskeletal injuries, with ankle sprains accounting for 69.8% of injuries in professional dancers and 42.1% in non-professional dancers. Pirouettes were the most frequent mechanism of injury in professional dancers, accounting for 67.9% of injuries, whereas in the non-professional dancers, repetitive movement was the most common mechanism (28.1%). Ankle sprains occurred in 90% of the women's injuries, and muscle sprains occurred in 54.5% of the men's injuries. The most frequent injury location was the ankle joint in both sexes among the professional dancers, with 67.6% in women and 40.9% in men. CONCLUSIONS: The identification of the mechanism of injury and time of practice may contribute to better therapeutic action aimed at the proper function of the dancers' bodies and improved performance by these athletes.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the acute hemodynamic responses to multiple sets of passive stretching exercises performed with and without the Valsalva maneuver. METHODS: Fifteen healthy men aged 21 to 29 years with poor flexibility performed stretching protocols comprising 10 sets of maximal passive unilateral hip flexion, sustained for 30 seconds with equal intervals between sets. Protocols without and with the Valsalva maneuver were applied in a random counterbalanced order, separated by 48-hour intervals. Hemodynamic responses were measured by photoplethysmography pre-exercise, during the stretching sets, and post-exercise. RESULTS: The effects of stretching sets on systolic and diastolic blood pressure were cumulative until the fourth set in protocols performed with and without the Valsalva maneuver. The heart rate and rate pressure product increased in both protocols, but no additive effect was observed due to the number of sets. Hemodynamic responses were always higher when stretching was performed with the Valsalva maneuver, causing an additional elevation in the rate pressure product. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple sets of unilateral hip flexion stretching significantly increased blood pressure, heart rate, and rate pressure product values. A cumulative effect of the number of sets occurred only for systolic and diastolic blood pressure, at least in the initial sets of the stretching protocols. The performance of the Valsalva maneuver intensified all hemodynamic responses, which resulted in significant increases in cardiac work during stretching exercises.