Applied Sports Science newsletter – May 18, 2016

It was early March and Kevin Durant was sitting with his head tilted down in front of his locker, rubbing the side of his face.

“They were disciplined, we weren’t,” Durant said. “We want to be a great team. We’re fooling ourselves. If we just want to be a great team, the way we’re playing, we’re fooling ourselves. We want to win a bunch of games in the regular season, that’s cool, but we’re fooling ourselves with the way we’re playing.”

The MMQB examined the youth football careers and family backgrounds of the 15 QBs taken in this year’s NFL draft (a record number), and found several key life experiences that appear to be predictors of success. Often, the men who play the position aren’t natural born leaders.

Objective To determine which strength training exercises selectively activate the biceps femoris long head (BFLongHead) muscle.

Methods We recruited 24 recreationally active men for this two-part observational study. Part 1: We explored the amplitudes and the ratios of lateral (BF) to medial hamstring (MH) normalised electromyography (nEMG) during the concentric and eccentric phases of 10 common strength training exercises. Part 2: We used functional MRI (fMRI) to determine the spatial patterns of hamstring activation during two exercises which (1) most selectively and (2) least selectively activated the BF in part 1.

Results Eccentrically, the largest BF/MH nEMG ratio occurred in the 45° hip-extension exercise; the lowest was in the Nordic hamstring (Nordic) and bent-knee bridge exercises. Concentrically, the highest BF/MH nEMG ratio occurred during the lunge and 45° hip extension; the lowest was during the leg curl and bent-knee bridge. fMRI revealed a greater BF(LongHead) to semitendinosus activation ratio in the 45° hip extension than the Nordic (p<0.001). The T2 increase after hip extension for BFLongHead, semitendinosus and semimembranosus muscles was greater than that for BFShortHead (p<0.001). During the Nordic, the T2 increase was greater for the semitendinosus than for the other hamstring muscles (p?0.002).

Summary We highlight the heterogeneity of hamstring activation patterns in different tasks. Hip-extension exercise selectively activates the long hamstrings, and the Nordic exercise preferentially recruits the semitendinosus. These findings have implications for strategies to prevent hamstring injury as well as potentially for clinicians targeting specific hamstring components for treatment (mechanotherapy).

Purpose

To investigate the effects of combined strength and speed endurance (SE) training along with a reduced training volume on performance, running economy and muscular adaptations in endurance-trained runners.
Methods

Sixteen male endurance runners (VO2-max: ~60 ml kg?1 min?1) were randomly assigned to either a combined strength and SE training (CSS; n = 9) or a control (CON; n = 7) group. For 8 weeks, CSS replaced their normal moderate-intensity training (~63 km week?1) with SE (2 × week?1) and strength training (2 × week?1) as well as aerobic high (1 × week?1) and moderate (1 × week?1) intensity training with a reduction in total volume of ~58 %, whereas CON continued their training (~45 km week?1).
Results

In CSS, 400-m and Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test performance was improved by 5 % (P < 0.01) and 19 % (P < 0.001), respectively, during the intervention period. Maximal aerobic speed was 0.6 km h?1 higher (P < 0.05), and maximal activity of lactate dehydrogenase subunits 1 and 2 was 17 % (P < 0.05) higher after compared to before the intervention period. Time to exhaustion and peak blood lactate during an incremental treadmill test was 9 % (P < 0.05) and 32 % (P < 0.01), respectively, higher and expression of Na+–K+ pump ?1 subunit was 15 % higher (P < 0.05) after compared to before the intervention period. 10-K performance, maximum oxygen uptake and running economy were unchanged. In CON, no changes were observed.
Conclusions

Adding strength and speed endurance training, along with a reduced training volume, can improve short-term exercise capacity and induce muscular adaptations related to anaerobic capacity in endurance-trained runners.

Jason Dierking, assistant director of sport performance for the University of Louisville, has been using the Polar Team 2 system since 2009. Over the last seven years, Louisville’s use of the Team 2 system has expanded from two teams to 11 university sports programs.

“We started collecting data with our teams, and early on, we had to learn what the numbers meant,” says Dierking. “Then we needed to get to know each sport individually with regard to the Polar Team 2 system. We used the recovery curves a lot. They helped us understand what combination of training volume and intensity results in different recovery needs.”

There is a strong case to be made for persistence. As a child I was told the legend of Robert the Bruce. Cowering and hiding in some dank cave in Scotland, he felt like giving up his struggle against the English. Then he noticed a spider repeatedly failing to spin a web before eventually succeeding. Heartened, King Robert returned to give the English a sound thrashing in 1314. Even for an English boy, it was an inspiring tale. If at first you don’t succeed, try again.

But there is an equally strong case to be made against being stubborn. When Irving Fisher and John Maynard Keynes failed to predict the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the two great economists reacted differently. Fisher stuck to his guns; Keynes shrugged and changed direction. Fisher was ruined; Keynes died a millionaire. If at first you don’t succeed, do something different next time.

Do we tend to quit too soon or quit too late? Are we too stubborn or not determined enough? There has been much excitement recently around the idea of “grit” — a personality trait representing commitment to and enthusiasm for long-term goals, championed by psychologist Angela Duckworth. She argues, plausibly, that grit is more important than talent in predicting a successful life.

leep disorders have become increasingly prevalent affecting health and working ability. Restorative sleep may be considered important for athletes’ successful recovery and performance. However, some athletes seem to experience major problems in sleeping. Thus far, there is limited scientific information about their sleep. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of sleep and the prevalence of sleep disorders as well as the impact of a structured sleep counselling protocol in professional athletes. A total of 107 professional ice hockey players participated in the study. The exploratory observational 1-year follow-up study consisted of questionnaire-based sleep assessment followed by general sleep counselling and, when needed, polysomnography and an individual treatment plan. One in every four players was found to have a significant problem in sleeping. All athletes considered sleep essential for their health and three in every four players considered that counselling would improve their performance. Counselling and individual treatment were found to improve significantly the quality of sleep with the mean alteration of 0.6 (95% CI 0.2–1.0, P = 0.004) in a scale from 0 to 10. Our results support that sleep problems are common in professional athletes. However, systematic examination, counselling and individual treatment planning can improve the quality of their sleep.

‘Tis the season for rookie and team minicamps. The intent is to indoctrinate rookies, provide a primer on new terminology and get an early talent evaluation. However, teams have an underlying more important goal.

Everyone’s main objective is to finish minicamps injury free. In my 17 years as a NFL team physician, it seemed that every other year my team suffered a significant season altering injury to one of our main contributors. Lead pass rusher Melvin Ingram tore his ACL in the 2013 Chargers mini-camp. Last season, Jaguars #3 overall pick Dante Fowler Jr. ruptured his ACL on the first day of minicamp and missed his entire rookie season. The Broncos suffered the same fate last year with tight end Jeff Heuerman.

… as data takes a larger place on the national landscape, it’s often easier for NFL GMs to pick a guy with great measureables. I think GMs, like coaches, operate in a risk-averse mode where a primary goal job preservation. As a result, it may make sense to take a player with great measurables and mediocre film over someone with poor measurables and great film; if the workout warrior fails, the blame can fall on the coaches or the the player himself, while the GM is more likely to take the blame if the player with a low ceiling isn’t able to play at the next level.

This is all theory, of course. It’s possible that there is no less micro/technique coaching going on in the NFL now than there were 25 years ago, and that GMs aren’t more focused on athleticism now than they were 25 years ago. I’m not really sure how to study that. But if it is true, it would lead to a significant internal disconnect. At a time when coaches are spending less time on fundamentals, a smart GM would respond by taking more NFL-ready players and putting less emphasis on measurables and upside.

… Wentz, some believe, is not a top prospect despite blooming late. He is, in some readings, a top prospect because he bloomed late. His delayed progression allowed him to develop well-rounded athletic skills and avoid the over-coaching – and, in some cases, detrimental coaching – many young quarterbacks receive.

“It’s killing the position,” said Jeff Christiansen, a former NFL quarterback who has tutored, among others, New England Patriots backup Jimmy Garoppolo. “It’s destroying it. I don’t think Wentz ever went to a quarterback coach. There are three or four guys that I had that never went, and they’re further along than had they gone to a guy and become a mechanical robot. It’s a glaring, glaring problem.”

Since launching in 2013, Volt Athletics has built a business around an online fitness training platform geared exclusively toward high school, college, and professional sports teams, rather than individual customers.

But that changes today with the debut of Volt’s new “intelligent fitness training” app that is targeted at any athlete who wants to use technology to create prescriptive and specialized workouts.

The Seattle startup on Tuesday unveiled the app, which analyzes an athlete’s individual physique and long-term goals to build sport-specific training programs that utilize algorithms to adapt with the athlete over time.

An athlete’s body is a crucial component to success for them or their team. It’s important to identify an injury as soon as possible to minimize the effect it can have, whether the injury is major or minor. The longer it takes to find, the more harm it can do.

SuperSonic Imagine, a medical imaging company based in France, has created a new system that will hopefully improve the way athletes can rehabilitate and stay healthy. Reading through the company’s website can be a bit of crash course in medical terminology, so here’s the simplified explanation for us non-doctors and athletic trainers.

The SuperSonic Imagine Aixplorer ultrasound system includes an upgraded software platform that gives it the ability to obtain information up to 20,000 images per second, which is 200 times faster than the conventional ultrasound. With this and the enhanced image quality it brings, it’ll make it easier to minimize mistakes or missed injuries.

Using a computer model to predict muscle fatigue, researchers simulated baseball games for 72 American League starting pitchers from the 2014 season. They simulated pitching performance using both the players’ typical rest time between pitches and the enforced 20-second limit.

The simulation showed that using the pitch clock caused greater arm fatigue – seven per cent more.

Increasing muscle fatigue, which is already known to be one of the primary causes of injury to pitchers, can reduce the natural stiffness of the elbow joint, leading to greater strain on the ulnar collateral ligament, or UCL, the ligament which is torn and repaired during the so-called ‘Tommy John Surgery.’

Background: Despite relatively high reinjury rates after acute hamstring injuries, there is a lack of detailed knowledge about where and when hamstring reinjuries occur, and studies including imaging-confirmed reinjuries are scarce.

Purpose: To investigate the location, radiological severity, and timing of reinjuries on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compared with the index injury.

Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4.

Methods: A MRI scan was obtained ?5 days after an acute hamstring index injury in 180 athletes, and time to return to sport (RTS) was registered. Athletes with an MRI-confirmed reinjury in the same leg ?365 days after RTS were included. Categorical grading and standardized MRI parameters of the index injury and reinjury were scored by a single radiologist (with excellent intraobserver reliability). To determine the location of the reinjury, axial and coronal views of the index injury and reinjury were directly compared on proton density–weighted fat-suppressed images.

Results: In the 19 athletes included with reinjury, 79% of these reinjuries occurred in the same location within the muscle as the index injury. The median time to RTS after the index injury was 19 days (range, 5-37 days; interquartile range [IQR], 15 days). The median time between the index injury and reinjury was 60 days (range, 20-316 days; IQR, 131 days) and the median time between RTS after the index injury and the reinjury was 24 days (range, 4-311 days; IQR, 140 days). More than 50% of reinjuries occurred within 25 days (4 weeks) after RTS from the index injury and 50% occurred within 50 days after the index injury. All reinjuries with more severe radiological grading occurred in the same location as the index injury.

Conclusion: The majority of the hamstring reinjuries occurred in the same location as the index injury, early after RTS and with a radiologically greater extent, suggesting incomplete biological and/or functional healing of the index injury. Specific exercise programs focusing on reinjury prevention initiated after RTS from the index injury are highly recommended.

When Sevilla take on Liverpool in Wednesday’s Europa League final, they will be aiming to win the tournament for the third year running. The architect of their unprecedented era of glory is their sporting director.