After a strong collegiate career at Rutgers and an impressive start to her pro career with Montpellier in France, New Jersey’s Casey Murphy recently received her first call-up to the USWNT. Now ahead of the French season, she is poised for a continued breakthrough for both club and country.
… Jorgensen is undeniably a physically gifted athlete, but what sets her apart is this uncompromising, all-or-nothing, champion mindset. That bold gold medal announcement shocked the distance running world, where even the top marathoners, past Olympians, noncommittally talk about putting in the work and hoping for the best. But maybe it shouldn’t. Maybe more runners should think this way.
I visited Jorgensen’s singular universe of high expectations by phone the day after she placed seventh in the USATF National Championship 10,000 meter race. (I know—seventh! She was not happy, but not devastated, either). I expressed surprise at her qualifying time of 31:55—fourth-fastest among the 20 U.S. race entrants, 15th in the world so far in 2018, run eight months after giving birth on maybe five months of serious training. From nearly any perspective, 31:55 would be something to celebrate, but it was “not a great time” in Jorgensen’s world. But, I continued, trying to make her see the unreasonableness of her perspective. She is in her first year of focusing on running, comparing herself with the world’s best, runners like Kenyan Mary Keitany. (Who, I later confirmed, has a track 10,000 meter best of 32:18)
“Exactly,” she said. “I need to be confronted with the world standard on a daily basis. Yes, I am comparing myself with Mary Keitany. I need to surround myself with the best in the world. That’s why I’m grateful to be able to work out with Shalane Flanagan and Amy Cragg and the women at Bowerman [Track Club]. Those are the people I need to be looking to.”
… Garmin: You had to self-support for this race. How do you begin planning for a race of this nature and how did Garmin assist you with on-course logistics?
RR: This kind of a race is right up my alley when it comes to navigating, planning logistics and being self-supported. I have years of experience doing this kind of stuff in the backcountry, but this was the longest non-stop gravel ride I’ve ever done. The planning included reviewing the route file that we were sent before the race. At home, I was looking at key elements like mileage, elevation gain, distances between towns and resupply points and the type of terrain. By reviewing the course file and details at home, I was able to strategize and make decisions on what equipment to bring, how much water and food capacity I needed, how many hours my electronics like my 1030 and lights needed to run and how I would carry all of these things. After the planning at home and the packing and repacking of the bike configuration, then it’s time to do the ride. I used my beloved Edge 1030 for this event because it has great navigation features along with all of the cycling features such as power and heart rate. While I don’t use those stats to dictate my speed while riding a distance this long, it is really fun to capture that data for such a big ride.
… Williams said it was “a little frustrating” that she received a “missed test” designation because the tester showed up unannounced.
According to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency guidelines, athletes are required to let the agency know of their whereabouts for a one-hour period of the athlete’s choosing every day, even when not competing. An athlete will receive a “missed test” rating for unavailability during the window.
Drug testers can make unannounced visits outside of that one-hour window, but if the athlete is not available they will not receive a “missed test” designation. Each athlete gets three “missed tests” before they receive a doping rule violation.
“How is it I’m getting tested five times? I’m OK with that. Literally verbatim I said: ‘I’m going with that, as long as everyone is being treated equally. That’s all I care about,’” she added.
… Virtually every sports body has an Athletes’ Commission these days, but is this the same as genuine influence? A group of Germans seeking funding to set-up an “Athletes Germany” group separated financially and politically from the country’s National Olympic Committee certainly think not and, too often, athlete representatives appear to sacrifice conviction for loyalty and self-preservation.
“My opinion on the federations, whether that be my swimming federation [in Iceland] or LEN (European Swimming League) or FINA (International Swimming Federation), is that they are all too politically driven rather than about the athletes and their well-being,” she told insidethegames.
The first question Czech tennis ace Petra Kvitova asked after her hand was slashed in a violent attack was: Will I play at Wimbledon again? Now, 18 months later, she’s aiming for her third Grand Slam title.
Current practice patterns for the management of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury favor surgical reconstruction. However, long-term outcomes may not differ between patients completing operative and nonoperative treatment of ACL injury. Differences in outcomes between operative and nonoperative treatment of patients in the United States is largely unknown, as are outcomes in long-term strength and performance measures. Purpose:
To determine if differences exist in 5-year functional and radiographic outcomes between patients completing operative and nonoperative treatment of ACL injury when both groups complete a progressive criterion-based rehabilitation protocol. Study Design:
Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods:
From an original group of 144 athletes, 105 participants (mean ± SD age, 34.3 ± 11.4 years) with an acute ACL rupture completed functional testing (quadriceps strength, single-legged hop, and knee joint effusion testing; patient-reported outcomes) and knee radiographs 5 years after ACL reconstruction or completion of nonoperative rehabilitation. Results:
At 5 years, patients treated with ACL reconstruction versus rehabilitation alone did not differ in quadriceps strength (P = .817); performance on single-legged hop tests (P = .234-.955); activity level (P = .349-.400); subjective reports of pain, symptoms, activities of daily living, and knee-related quality of life (P = .090-.941); or presence of knee osteoarthritis (P = .102-.978). When compared with patients treated nonoperatively, patients treated operatively did report greater global ratings of knee function (P = .001), and lower fear (P = .035) at 5 years but were more likely to possess knee joint effusion (P = .016). Conclusion:
The current findings indicate that favorable outcomes can occur after both operative and nonoperative management approaches with the use of progressive criterion-based rehabilitation. Further study is needed to determine clinical algorithms for identifying the best candidates for surgical versus nonoperative care after ACL injury. These findings provide an opportunity to improve the educational process between patients and clinicians regarding the expected clinical course and long-term outcomes of operative and nonoperative treatment of ACL injuries.
Introduction Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury can result in joint instability, decreased functional performance, reduced physical activity and quality of life and an increased risk for post-traumatic osteoarthritis. Despite the development of new treatment techniques and extensive research, the complex and multifaceted nature of ACL injury and its consequences are yet to be fully understood. The overall aim of the NACOX study is to evaluate the natural corollaries and recovery after an ACL injury.
Methods and analysis The NACOX study is a multicentre prospective prognostic cohort study of patients with acute ACL injury. At seven sites in Sweden, we will include patients aged 15–40 years, within 6 weeks after primary ACL injury. Patients will complete questionnaires at multiple occasions over the 3 years following injury or the 3 years following ACL reconstruction (for participants who have surgical treatment). In addition, a subgroup of 130 patients will be followed with clinical examinations, several imaging modalities and biological samples. Data analyses will be specific to each aim.
Ethics and dissemination This study has been approved by the regional Ethical committee in Linköping, Sweden (Dnr 2016/44-31 and 2017/221–32). We plan to present the results at national and international conferences and in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Participants will receive a short summary of the results following completion of the study.
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise journal from
Purpose To examine knee and hip biomechanics during walking and jogging in groups of ACLR patients at early, mid, and late time frames post-surgery and healthy controls.
Methods Participants included individuals with a history of primary, unilateral ACLR, stratified into Early (1.4±0.4 years post, n=18), Mid (3.3±0.6 years post, n=20), and Late (8.5±2.8 years post, n=20) ACLR groups based on time post-surgery, and a healthy control group (n=20). Walking and jogging motion capture analysis of knee and hip kinetics and kinematics were measured in the sagittal and frontal planes. Inter-limb (within groups) and between-group comparisons were performed for all gait variables. Statistical comparisons were made across the gait cycle by plotting graphs of means and 90% confidence intervals and identifying regions of the gait cycle in which the 90% confidence intervals did not overlap.
Results Early ACLR group demonstrated reduced knee flexion, knee extension, knee adduction, and hip adduction moments on the ACLR limb. Mid ACLR group demonstrated no gait differences between limbs or other groups. Late ACLR group demonstrated reduced knee flexion moments, and greater knee and hip adduction moments in their ACLR limb. Control group demonstrated no inter-limb differences.
Conclusions Walking and jogging gait biomechanics presented differently in patients at different stages in time following ACLR surgery. The Early ACLR group demonstrated lower sagittal and frontal plane joint loading on the ACLR limb compared to contralateral and control limbs. The Mid ACLR group did not demonstrate any gait differences compared to the contralateral or control limb. The Late ACLR group demonstrated lower sagittal plane joint loading compared to control limbs and greater frontal plane joint loading compared to contralateral and control limbs.
Staying a healthy weight can be a challenge, and knowing what weight is healthy for you can be too. Most people rely on the body mass index, or BMI, which is a measure of our weight in relation to our height.
Many experts have criticised this fairly limited measure of the health of our weight, yet it still remains the most popular way for most people to judge a healthy weight.
We asked five experts if the BMI is a good indicator of a healthy weight.
Serena Williams expressed no qualms about antidoping officers showing up unannounced to collect urine and, on occasion, blood samples. She wasn’t even bothered when it happened twice in the same week in the lead-up to this year’s French Open. It was like T.S.A. searches at the airport — a minor inconvenience of her high-flying tennis career.
The five out-of-competition tests in the first six months of 2018 didn’t irritate Williams until she saw numbers, plucked from the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s public database and included in a recent Deadspin article, that seemed to suggest she was being tested far more often than her compatriots in the sport.
The registered pool of performers included the United States Open champion Sloane Stephens and the finalist she beat, Madison Keys, who were listed as having one completed test, and Sam Querrey, the men’s world No. 13, who had none.
“I didn’t know I was being tested three times more — in some cases five times more — than everyone else,” Williams said Monday after her straight-sets victory over Arantxa Rus in the first round at Wimbledon.
Western States has two policies to accommodate women who become pregnant. One is the Pregnancy Lottery Deferral and the other is the Pregnancy Entry Deferral.
… The 2018 National Basketball Association Racial and Gender Report Card (RGRC) was released Tuesday, and, as was the case also in 2017, confirms the league’s continued leadership in sports. Published by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida, the report gave the NBA an A-plus for racial hiring practices and a B for gender hiring, with an overall A.
After reading the new report card, Jemele Hill, senior correspondent for The Undefeated, shared with me that, “The NBA has become a progressive model for other sports leagues and shows there is tremendous value in investing in gender and racial diversity. Not only because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s profitable. As the league continues to expand its worldwide brand, it’s vitally important that the league strengthen its diversity efforts and not be satisfied where things stand right now, even though they’ve already established a high standard.”
The globalisation of football means it can now be found in most parts of the world. It is celebrated as the national sport in many countries. But, we forget that “football” actually means “men’s football”. It’s the same with other popular sports – our habit is to refer to basketball and women’s basketball, cricket and women’s cricket, ice hockey and women’s ice hockey. This naming places men’s football as the dominant universal and natural norm, while women’s football becomes the “other” version.
If we want a level football playing field, then “football” should be redefined by changing our reference to tournaments, championships and leagues to “men’s football” if that is what is being played. It’s time we started referring to the men’s football World Cup, just as we refer to the women’s football World Cup.