… Austin said his recovery from his second ACL injury has gone “smooth” so far. He didn’t participate in the scouting combine in Indianapolis in February, but he did work out at Rutgers Pro Day in mid-March. His numbers were OK – a 4.65 in the 40, a 35-inch vertical jump and a broad jump of 10 feet, 3 inches. But it was enough to show his knee was healthy – or at least healthy enough.
Austin vowed to be “100 percent” by training camp, but he declined to put a percentage on where he is now when asked on Friday.
As his San Jose Sharks teammates headed off the ice and out of sight of their towel-waving, victory-serenading fans on Saturday, Joe Pavelski skated over to Section 113 at SAP Center and scoured the faces in the crowd. He spotted his wife, Sarah, and the couple’s 8-year-old son, Nathan, and waved.
Pavelski, who had contributed a goal and an assist to the Sharks’ 6-3 win against St. Louis in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, said it was not the first time he had gone out of his way to recognize his family after a game.
But after one of the tougher stretches of his career — “if not the toughest,” Pavelski said — the gesture took on added poignancy.
Pavelski, 34, is the Sharks’ captain and their True North. He would do anything for his hockey family, including scoring a goal off his jaw in the Sharks’ playoff opener against the Vegas Golden Knights. In the process, he lost a few teeth and added a few stitches.
The Drake Foundation has announced a hugely-significant partnership with FIFpro, the global players’ union, to undertake “the most comprehensive” global study ever into the mental and physical health of professional footballers.
With separate research expected this year into the prevalence of dementia among former British footballers, the London-based Drake Foundation has formulated a new 10-year project that will investigate the wider health impacts of football.
FIFpro has agreed to coordinate the groundbreaking study which will track the mental, musculoskeletal, neurocognitive and cardiovascular health of players at the end of their careers and first years of their life after football.
“This is a life-changing period for many players and tracking them during this period has never been done in such detail,” said FIFpro’s chief medical officer, Dr Vincent Gouttebarge.
The respiratory muscles encompass a variety of functions and roles, their action during exercise facilitates arterial blood-gas and pH regulation. Exercise hyperpnoea is the first line of defence to meet increased metabolic demand. In so doing, the muscles of respiration encounter several challenges, which may lead to respiratory muscle fatigue and impaired exercise tolerance. The focus of this brief review is to summarise recent developments in the study of respiratory muscle mechanics, energetics, and fatigue during exercise. Advances in the field are highlighted and directions of potential future research identified.
PLOS One; Anton Matinlauri, Pedro E. Alcaraz, et al. from
Aim
To evaluate the reliability of isometric peak force (IPF) in a novel “long-length” 90°Hip:20°Knee (90:20) strength test and to compare the simulated soccer match induced fatigue-recovery profile of IPF in this test with that of an isometric 90°Hip:90°Knee (90:90) position test. Methods
Twenty semi-professional soccer players volunteered for the study of which 14 participated in the first part of the study which assessed 90:20 reliability (age = 21.3 ± 2.5 years, height = 1.79 ± 0.07 m, body mass = 73.2 ± 8.8 kg), while 17 completed the second part of the study evaluating fatigue-recovery (age 21.2±2.4 yrs., height = 180 ± 0.09 m, body mass 73.8 ± 8.9 kg). We evaluated the inter-session reliability of IPF in two 90:20 test protocols (hands on the wall (HW); and hands on chest (HC)) both performed on two occasions, 7 days apart. We then assessed 90:20 (HC) and 90:90 IPF immediately before (PRE) and after (POST) after a simulated soccer match protocol (BEAST90mod) and 48 (+48 h) and 72 hours (+72 h) later. Results
Part one: the 90:20 showed moderate to high overall reliability (CV’s of 7.3% to 11.0%) across test positions and limbs. CV’s were lower in the HW than HC in the dominant (7.3% vs 11.0%) but the opposite happened in the non-dominant limb where CV’s were higher in the HW than HC (9.7% vs 7.3%). Based on these results, the HC position was used in part two of the study. Part two: 90:20 and 90:90 IPF was significantly lower POST compared to PRE BEAST90mod across all testing positions (p<0.001). IPF was significantly lower at +48 h compared to PRE in the 90:20 in both limbs (Dominant: p<0.01,Non-dominant: p≤0.05), but not in the 90:90. At +72 h, IPF was not significantly different from PRE in either test.
Conclusions
Simple to implement posterior IPF tests can help to define recovery from competition and training load in football and, potentially, in other multiple sprint athletes. Testing posterior chain IPF in a more knee extended 90:20 position may provide greater sensitivity to fatigue at 48 h post simulated competition than testing in the 90:90 position, but also may require greater degree of familiarization due to more functional testing position.
Mental fatigue is a psychobiological state caused by prolonged periods of demanding cognitive activity shown to negatively influence physical performance. Variation exists across the literature regarding the manifestations and impact of mental fatigue; with little knowledge of the domain-specific manifestations in elite sport. The difficulties in defining mental fatigue may explain why it is not consistently assessed by coaching or support staff. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate athlete and staff understandings of mental fatigue in elite sport. METHODS:
Nine focus group discussions were conducted involving a total of 32 athletes (n = 17) and staff (n = 15) from elite sporting organisations. RESULTS:
Athletes and staff believe mental fatigue negatively impacts sporting performance. Analysis revealed perceived associations between mental fatigue and changes in behaviour including; disengagement, decreased motivation and enthusiasm, increased displays of emotion and withdrawal. Changes in concentration, decreased discipline and attention to detail also emerged as descriptors of mental fatigue. Media engagements, study and work commitments were reported to induce mental fatigue. Repetitive tasks, over-analysis, thinking about the sport in question and environmental instability were further reported perceived causes. Experience and personality emerged as factors contributing to individual susceptibility. Mental fatigue is perceived to not only develop acutely but also build in a cumulative manner in the elite sporting environment. CONCLUSION:
The present findings inform the design of future studies examining MF in elite athletes; they also hold potential to improve how best to monitor and manage the condition in applied practice.
Could social identity and belonging be part of the puzzle for improving your athletic performance? It might explain groups making breakthroughs together.
All Kenyans and Ethiopians run fast for the marathon, every club runner in the ‘80s ran all their training below sub six minute mile pace and if you have a dodgy moustache like Steve Prefontaine then you must be quick. If you belong to a certain group, do you adopt the characteristics of the pack?
How we see ourselves in society may well have an impact on how we run. Identify as an elite runner because you run twice a day and only wear short shorts, then this actually might make you a quicker runner. A sense of belonging to a certain group and what we feel this entails can affect performance.
The successes just keep coming: Scott Fauble placing seventh at the Boston Marathon. Aliphine Tuliamuk taking third at the Rotterdam Marathon. Stephanie Bruce winning the USATF Half Marathon crown the same weekend that Kellyn Taylor nabbed fourth at the Prague Marathon. All are results laid down by members of the HOKA Northern Arizona Elite, or NAZ Elite, as they’re known.
Perhaps it’s something in the water. Or the elevation in Flagstaff where they train. Certainly the incredible assemblage of talent the 13 athletes bring to the table plays a role.
More than likely, however, it’s the team culture coach Ben Rosario has established—a culture that is clearly working.
… Dr Yanguas explains, “the FATMAX test is an incremental stress test on a treadmill in which the speed is increased every three minutes and the incline is also increased in the final stages. The athlete starts the test walking and ends it after reaching a state of fatigue. The athlete wears a mask, and the oxygen inhaled and carbon dioxide exhaled are analysed as the test progresses. A curve is obtained with the ratio of the gases, which gives a profile that demonstrates whether the athlete uses carbohydrates or fats as his main fuel source.”
[Michael] Snyder and his colleagues published a study suggesting that big data may succeed where conventional medicine fails.
In 109 volunteers whose bodies were closely tracked and analyzed, the researchers discovered a host of hidden conditions that required medical attention, including diabetes and heart disease.
“It turns out 53 out of 109 people learned something really, really important from doing these deep profiles,” Dr. Snyder said.
The research offers an unprecedented look at how common diseases may arise in different people along different molecular paths, said Ali Torkamani, director of genome informatics at Scripps Research Translational Institute, who was not involved in the new study.
Friedrichshafen/Unterschleißheim (Germany). ZF plans to expand its network of cooperations and investments by acquiring 90 percent of the shares in Simi Reality Motion Systems GmbH. The company and its 35 employees have decades of experience in image-based 3D systems for the recording and analysis of human movement. This knowledge is highly valuable in the development of systems for occupant recognition. These systems are a fundamental element for integrated safety in autonomous driving.
It’s common to see NFL coaches and players looking at tablets on the sideline as they view real-time images and analysis during games. Next season, college basketball will take a major step toward embracing that technology trend, with the Mountain West announcing an official partnership with ShotTracker, a company that will provide in-game analytics data to coaches, on Wednesday.
During Mountain West games, the league announced, coaches will have access to a slate of intricate data (lineup effectiveness, shot trends, individual player efficiency, etc.) during conference play that they will use at halftime to make strategic, in-game adjustments. They will also use the technology in practices.
To estimate knee osteoarthritis (OA) risk following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), meniscus or combined ACL and meniscus injury. DESIGN:
Systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES:
MEDLINE, Embase, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL and Web of Science until November 2018. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES:
Prospective or retrospective studies with at least 2-year follow-up including adults with ACL injury, meniscal injury or combined injuries. Knee OA was defined by radiographs or clinical diagnosis and compared with the contralateral knee or non-injured controls. STUDY APPRAISAL AND SYNTHESIS:
Risk of bias was assessed using the SIGN50 checklist. ORs for developing knee OA were estimated using random effects meta-analysis. RESULTS:
53 studies totalling ∼1 million participants were included: 185 219 participants with ACL injury, mean age 28 years, 35% females, 98% surgically reconstructed; 83 267 participants with meniscal injury, mean age 38 years, 36% females, 22% confirmed meniscectomy and 73% unknown; 725 362 participants with combined injury, mean age 31 years, 26% females, 80% treated surgically. The OR of developing knee OA were 4.2 (95% CI 2.2 to 8.0; I2=92%), 6.3 (95% CI 3.8 to 10.5; I2=95%) and 6.4 (95% CI 4.9 to 8.3; I2=62%) for patients with ACL injury, meniscal injury and combined injuries, respectively. CONCLUSION:
The odds of developing knee OA following ACL injury are approximately four times higher compared with a non-injured knee. A meniscal injury and a combined injury affecting both the ACL and meniscus are associated with six times higher odds compared with a non-injured knee. Large inconsistency (eg, study design, follow-up period and comparator) and few high-quality studies suggest that future studies may change these estimates. CLINICAL RELEVANCE:
Patients sustaining a major knee injury have a substantially increased risk of developing knee OA, highlighting the importance of knee injury prevention programmes and secondary prevention strategies to prevent or delay knee OA development.
… Figuring out how to reap the benefits of functional overreaching without tipping over the edge is one of the great challenges of training. That’s what gives a new study from researchers in Belgium its kick. There’s been a bunch of research and interest in the idea of ketone drinks as an endurance booster (as I described in the magazine last year). Ketones are a form of emergency fuel produced in your body when you’re starving or very low on carbohydrate energy, which have only become available in drink form in the past few years. The new research suggests we might have had it backwards all this time: the real magic isn’t what ketones do for you during exercise; it’s what they do afterwards.
Harvard Business School, HBS Working Knowledge; Misha Teplitskiy, Hardeep Ranu, Gary Gray, Michael Menietti, Eva Guinan, and Karim R. Lakhani from
Organizations in science and elsewhere often rely on committees of experts to make important decisions, such as evaluating early-stage projects and ideas. However, very little is known about how experts influence each other’s opinions and how that influence affects final evaluations. Here, we use a field experiment in scientific peer review to examine experts’ susceptibility to the opinions of others. We recruited 277 faculty members at seven U.S. medical schools to evaluate 47 early stage research proposals in biomedicine. In our experiment, evaluators (1) completed independent reviews of research ideas, (2) received (artificial) scores attributed to anonymous “other reviewers” from the same or a different discipline, and (3) decided whether to update their initial scores. Evaluators did not meet in person and were not otherwise aware of each other. We find that, even in a completely anonymous setting and controlling for a range of career factors, women updated their scores 13% more often than men, while very highly cited “superstar” reviewers updated 24% less often than others. Women in male-dominated subfields were particularly likely to update, updating 8% more for every 10% decrease in subfield representation. Very low scores were particularly “sticky” and seldom updated upward, suggesting a possible source of conservatism in evaluation. These systematic differences in how world-class experts respond to external opinions can lead to substantial gender and status disparities in whose opinion ultimately matters in collective expert judgment.