CCSP Adjunctive Sports Therapies 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A soccer player receives pulsed ultrasound at 50% duty cycle. Compared to continuous mode, this setting primarily achieves:
- Greater thermal effects at the same intensity
- Reduced heat production with retained mechanical effects (Correct answer)
- Deeper tissue penetration
- Stronger cavitation at the same frequency
Correct answer: Reduced heat production with retained mechanical effects
Pulsed mode reduces average power output and heat buildup while maintaining non-thermal mechanical effects such as cavitation and acoustic streaming.
Question 2: Which taping technique uses rigid strapping to provide the MOST mechanical restriction for an unstable lateral ankle in a returning athlete?
- Kinesio taping with decompression technique
- Closed basket weave with heel lock (Correct answer)
- McConnell tape for patellar tracking
- Sling and swathe configuration
Correct answer: Closed basket weave with heel lock
The closed basket weave with heel lock is the standard rigid athletic taping technique providing maximal mechanical restraint against ankle inversion.
Question 3: Trigger point dry needling applied to the upper trapezius in a throwing athlete targets the local twitch response primarily to:
- Increase regional sympathetic tone
- Disrupt dysfunctional motor endplate activity (Correct answer)
- Stimulate Type III collagen synthesis
- Create adhesions that stabilize the muscle
Correct answer: Disrupt dysfunctional motor endplate activity
The local twitch response associated with dry needling disrupts abnormal acetylcholine release at dysfunctional motor endplates, normalizing muscle tension.
Question 4: Blood flow restriction (BFR) training is used in sports rehabilitation PRIMARILY to:
- Maximize eccentric load on tendons
- Promote muscle hypertrophy with low mechanical loads (Correct answer)
- Increase VO2 max in cardiovascular athletes
- Reduce lactic acid accumulation during exercise
Correct answer: Promote muscle hypertrophy with low mechanical loads
BFR training restricts venous outflow, accumulating metabolites that stimulate muscle protein synthesis at loads as low as 20–30% of 1RM.
Question 5: A gymnast undergoes contrast bath therapy post-competition. The physiological rationale for alternating hot and cold is:
- Sustained vasoconstriction to limit muscle soreness
- Vascular pumping effect to enhance fluid exchange (Correct answer)
- Direct inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis
- Reduction of cortisol release from the adrenal cortex
Correct answer: Vascular pumping effect to enhance fluid exchange
Alternating vasodilation and vasoconstriction creates a pumping effect that aids lymphatic drainage and metabolic waste removal from exercised tissue.
Question 6: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) differs from TENS in sports rehabilitation primarily because NMES:
- Uses lower frequencies that only activate sensory fibers
- Produces visible muscle contractions by exciting motor nerves (Correct answer)
- Is applied only during passive rest, never exercise
- Requires water as a coupling medium
Correct answer: Produces visible muscle contractions by exciting motor nerves
NMES uses higher intensity currents sufficient to depolarize motor nerves and produce functional muscle contractions, whereas TENS targets sensory pain modulation.
Question 7: During cold laser (low-level laser therapy) application on an Achilles tendinopathy, the dosage parameter expressed in J/cm² refers to:
- Power output per unit time
- Energy density delivered to tissue (Correct answer)
- Frequency of laser pulses per second
- Wavelength of the photon beam
Correct answer: Energy density delivered to tissue
J/cm² (energy density or fluence) represents the total laser energy delivered per unit area and is the primary dosimetric parameter in LLLT protocols.
CCSP Adjunctive Sports Therapies 3
A soccer player receives pulsed ultrasound at 50% duty cycle.
Compared to continuous mode, this setting primarily achieves: