Applied Sports Science newsletter – May 7, 2015

… Wall was phenomenal against the Raptors, taking another major step in his development as one on the top point guards in the league, and Raptors coach Dwane Casey marveled at Wall’s attack.

“The one thing John is doing a much better job of is changing speeds, but he’s relentless. His speed coming at you after makes and misses was relentless,” Casey said. “It didn’t seem like he was ever going to get tired. His passing has improved so much and he’s making the right decisions out of the double team and out of the traps and drawing in the paint and finding (players). He’s grown from that standpoint.”

… Trust might be the most elusive and precious elixir in sports, and on the big point, the Bulls have it: They all take winning seriously, and they know it.

Thibodeau may be relentless, but he’s undeniably a great coach who will have no shortage of suitors if things fall apart in Chicago. You don’t see players rolling their eyes or making faces on the bench. Paxson and general manager Gar Forman have done a masterful job drafting from late in the first round (Butler was the 30th pick of the 2011 draft; Gibson was 26th in 2009; and Nikola Mirotic, who played in Europe for three years before joining the team, is making his delayed arrival look prescient) and creating enough salary cap space to pursue impact free agents like Gasol. The core group of players, of which Noah is the emotional leader, has created a dedication that is the envy of the league.

When you’re around it day to day, though, these parts don’t work together easily. Everything is compromise and negotiation. Even the greatest victories are cloaked in friction.

Basketball, which was invented by the Y.M.C.A. educator James Naismith in 1891, is one of the few global sports with American roots, and U.S. players have long dominated the game. While this is still the case, an increasing number of N.B.A. stars come from abroad. France is not typically perceived as a basketball breeding ground, but only Canada and Serbia have sent more men to the league; five Frenchmen entered this year’s playoffs.

20 women will undergo intense mental and physical analyses during the selection camp. Only 4 of those women will be selected to live and race as professional cyclists in Europe.

As a coach or athlete, do you know which personality type you are?

In the constant pursuit of excellence also applies to coaches in how they perform and not solely to athletes. So what can coaches do to improve their performance that will also help their athletes?

Coaches observe, make decisions and change things and are therefore leaders. The ability to communicate better allows us to change things more easily and be better leaders. Just as we would not train all athletes in the same way, we cannot communicate with all athletes in the same way.

A year ago, James Franklin said it takes four years for a new coach to fully be integrated into the culture of a campus, but Franklin wants to speed up that process with breakfast.

Franklin has begun his coaches caravan tour around Pennsylvania, but said the tour takes away from what he wants to do when spring football ends, and that’s getting together with campus and community leaders.

One of our resident runners—a 2:45 Boston Marathon finisher—contemplates the necessity of new running tech, Stryd.

I was asked recently to undertake an economic forecast of wearable technologies. Not only is it interesting, but it also the bread and butter of SABEL Labs so its kind of useful to know where its all going. I was astounded to learn its a $US7B industry already and growing. One of the challenges is to forecast how fast its growing and will it stop growing. So i looked at the production forecasts and historical data of component technologies (like Bluetooth and accelerometers), general trends like Moore’s law as well as likely areas of demand. Because its such a new market I looked for a more mature market that was quite similar in its infancy – Mobile Phones.

In the fall, Vaught-Hemingway Stadium will be the only facility in the world equipped with the capability to detect the mechanism of a concussion in athletes in real time.

It’s a huge concept, and it goes far beyond bragging rights, and even a little beyond the exponentially increased safety of the athletes on the field. This technology, and the network of researchers, professors, and others behind it could ultimately change the world for victims of concussions, traumatic brain injuries and one day possibly autism and learning disorders.

The technology as it applies on the field begins in an “X patch” engineered by X2 Biosystems, a company that does similar hardware and software for all 32 NFL teams, as well as hockey, soccer, and the Department of Defense. The patch is put either behind an athlete’s ear or in his mouthpiece and it registers impact to the head.

Real Salt Lake used Wahoo’s TICKR X hardware for the first time during the 2015 off season to make sure their players were healthy and fit come the start of the Major League Soccer season.

TICKR X is a heart rate and motion sensing device that straps around a player’s chest and monitors their fitness patterns during personal workouts.

STATS, LLC has announced its newest acquisition, Prozone, a frontrunner in sports performance analytics and athlete tracking. Prozone has a large global presence (it currently spans four continents), enabling STATS to expand its own sports coverage geographically in addition to adding other technologies to its repertoire.

STATS has acquired three companies in as much as two months – Prozone, Automated Insights and Sports Network. This latest deal is monumental, as Prozone keeps a database of over 100,000 players, and is able to capture proprietary data from more than 12,000 sporting events each year.

Pharmaceuticals can be effectively used to treat many health conditions, but side effects are always a concern. Drug-free technologies have thus become a popular area of research, with implants emerging as one of the most promising areas of study.

One popular use for implants used to heal surgical wounds heal faster. Unfortunately, the improved healing may not be too helpful if the patient needs to be reopened to retrieve the implant. Researchers in Norway may have found a solution, having developed a magnesium circuit capable of transferring energy and being broken down by bodily fluids. This research will help patients heal faster without the need to retrieve the implant. It also has an environmentally friendly benefit, as it eliminates stockpiles of biohazard circuits from piling up.

Background Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections are an experimental treatment for acute muscle injuries. We examined whether PRP injections would accelerate return to play after hamstring injury. The methods and the primary outcome measure were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) as ‘Platelet-rich plasma injections in acute muscle injury’ (2014). This article shares information not available in the NEJM letter or online supplement, especially the rationale behind the study and the secondary outcome measures including 1?year re-injury data.

Methods We performed a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 80 competitive and recreational athletes with acute hamstring muscle injuries. Details can be found in the NEJM (http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1402340). The primary outcome measure was the time needed to return to play during 6?months of follow-up. Not previously reported secondary outcome scores included re-injury at 1?year, alteration in clinical and MRI parameters, subjective patient satisfaction and the hamstring outcome score.

Results In the earlier NEJM publication, we reported that PRP did not accelerate return to play; nor did we find a difference in the 2-month re-injury rate. We report no significant between-group difference in the 1-year re-injury rate (HR=0.89; 95% CI, 0.38 to 2.13; p=0.80) or any other secondary outcome measure.

Conclusions At 1-year postinjection, we found no benefit of intramuscular PRP compared with placebo injections in patients with acute hamstring injuries in the time to return to play, re-injury rate and alterations of subjective, clinical or MRI measures.

Background: The risk of all-cause injury and concussion associated with football is significant. The National Football League (NFL) has implemented changes to increase player safety warranting investigation into the incidence and patterns of injury.
…
Methods: Injury data were collected prospectively from official NFL injury reports over 2 regular seasons from 2012 to 2014, with identification of injury incidence rates and patterns. Concussion rate ratios were calculated using previously reported NFL rates.

Results: A total of 4284 injuries were identified, including 301 concussions. The all-cause injury rate was 395.8 per 1000 athletes at risk (AAR) and concussion incidence was 27.8 per 1000 AAR. Only 2.3% of team games were injury free. Wide receivers, tight ends, and defensive backs had the highest incidence of injury and concussion. Concussion incidence was 1.61-fold higher in 2012 to 2014 compared with 2002 to 2007. The knee was injured most frequently, followed by the ankle, hamstring, shoulder, and head.

Conclusion: The incidence of all-cause injury and concussion in the NFL is significant. Concussion injury rates are higher than previous reports, potentially reflecting an improvement in recognition and awareness. Injury prevention efforts should continue to reduce the prevalence of injury associated with football.