Applied Sports Science newsletter – November 5, 2015

The human brain is believed to simplify the control of the large number of muscles in the body by flexibly combining muscle coordination patterns, termed muscle synergies. However, the neural connectivity allowing the human brain to access and coordinate muscle synergies to accomplish functional tasks remains unknown. Here, we use a surprising pair of synergists in humans, the flexor hallucis longus (FHL, a toe flexor) and the anal sphincter, as a model that we show to be well suited in elucidating the neural connectivity underlying muscle synergy control. First, using electromyographic recordings, we demonstrate that voluntary FHL contraction is associated with synergistic anal sphincter contraction, but voluntary anal sphincter contraction occurs without FHL contraction. Second, using fMRI, we show that two important medial wall motor cortical regions emerge in relation to these tasks: one located more posteriorly that preferentially activates during voluntary FHL contraction and one located more anteriorly that activates during both voluntary FHL contraction as well as voluntary anal sphincter contraction. Third, using transcranial magnetic stimulation, we demonstrate that the anterior region is more likely to generate anal sphincter contraction than FHL contraction. Finally, using a repository resting-state fMRI dataset, we demonstrate that the anterior and posterior motor cortical regions have significantly different functional connectivity with distinct and distant brain regions. We conclude that specific motor cortical regions in humans provide access to different muscle synergies, which may allow distinct brain networks to coordinate muscle synergies during functional tasks.

… There have been only fleeting moments over the past 25 years in which New Zealand have not been recognised as the best team in the world. The trouble was that they could not justify that status at World Cups in which they crumbled under pressure, most notably against France in 1999 and 2007. Theirs was an unwanted but deserved reputation for choking until they ended 24 years of hurt and jibes by winning the World Cup on home soil in 2011.

That transformation occurred largely thanks to the influence of one man: Gilbert Enoka, a former international volleyball player turned PE teacher and now described by Steve Hansen, the New Zealand coach, as the “glue” who holds the All Blacks together.

… Some people can push through the low energy levels, but have you ever noticed that they look the same after months of training? Some good advice that I have noticed about myself is that if you have to drink 4 big cups of coffee before you workout, you need to take some time off!

Here are 3 mistakes that can lead to Overtraining.

I wrote last week about the benefit of rest-based interval workouts and briefly touched on the fatigue threshold. This week is all about understanding what this threshold is and how it can help you improve your performance.

Your fatigue threshold is simply the point in a workout or race at which the body begins to experience a decline in performance. Here are two examples of how and why this happens, and how you can use your own fatigue threshold to your advantage.

Call it exergaming: the fitness world’s next step in getting you hooked

Pick up a smartphone today and you’ll have at your fingertips a snapshot of your own activity: steps taken, sleep logged, calories burned, maybe even your heart rate. Now imagine that data and more is not just on your smartphone but also blasted onto a big screen in your spin class, complete with how hard you’re working and how that compares with the guy next to you.

Call it a natural outgrowth of our obsession with data or call it insane, but it’s showing up in various forms in boutique fitness chains and at high-end gyms across the country: where people’s efforts are cataloged, charted and then emailed in bites of information perfect for sharing on social media.

As sports data becomes one of the most in demand elements of the professional sports industry for the purpose of optimising sport performance, the industry is set to see a significant development with the announcement of the e-Celsius Performance connected pill.

The company behind the pill, French-based BodyCap has announced that the tests that took place on ten FC Nantes soccer players during two French Ligue 1 matches on September 13 and September 26 respectively have been successful.

The ingestible (as it will now become known as) aims to analyse player’s ability to regulate their own temperature during warm-up and play and track the return to baseline values during recovery.

Sports medicine refers to a branch of medical field involving physical fitness, treatment and prevention of sports and exercise related injuries. Sports medicine devices encompass the entire range of medical products for prevention, cure and recovery of injuries arising from sports injuries. These injuries include sprain, strain, fractures, joint dislocation, musculoskeletal injuries and soft tissue damage. The sports medicine market is characterized by minimally invasive arthroscopic procedures which require less hospital stay and long term effect. The recovery procedures not only concentrate on quick recovery from the injuries, but also have a continuous check to avoid any further damage to the injured joint or ligament. The sports medicine market thus covers joint implants, fracture repair, arthroscopy devices, prosthesis, orthobiologics and support and recovery products like braces, bandages, tapes, hot/cold therapy products and performance monitoring devices.

A recent market study by Transparency Market Research (TMR), a market intelligence company based in the U.S., states that the global sports medicine market will be valued at US$8,284.0 billion by 2019. The TMR research report states that the market was valued at US$6,100.6 million in 2012 to grow at CAGR of 4.4% between 2013 and 2019.

… If there was a league table for injury, the north Londoners would lift silverware seemingly every season. From Aaron Ramsey’s hamstring to Jack Wilshere’s ankle and beyond, Arsene Wenger’s men couldn’t stay healthy to save their lives.

It’s not their fault. Playing a contact sport, things happen. Bodies are made differently. Some players can go their whole career and only miss games because of the flu, while others can be in the same team, train the same way and be sidelined for half a season because their body can’t cope.

What gets me, however, is the notion of modern science—specifically sports science.

… New York City Marathon medical tents are stocked with the basics like adhesive bandages (14,000), petroleum jelly (220 tubs), ice (12,530 pounds) and salt tabs (53,800). New for this year, is the i-STAT handheld blood analyzer from Abbott, one of the race’s sponsors. The diagnostic tool performs common blood tests that let medical staff check for heart function, physical exertion, dehydration and hyponatremia. Being able to perform tests on the spot lets medical crews deliver the best care to runners, [George] Chiampas says.

The i-STAT devices were recently used in an expanded pilot program at the Chicago Marathon. It was the first race to have one at every aid station along the course.

“This is something we’ve only had at the finish line,” says Chiampas, who has a background in both sports medicine and emergency medicine. “We’ve never really had an on-course measure of where and when people have issues with their electrolytes.”

When the American swimmer Dana Vollmer won Olympic gold in 2004 and 2012, she was going against the advice of leading cardiology groups. At 15, she had been diagnosed with a condition that could cause her heart to stop during intense exercise, but she decided to take the risk and keep swimming anyway.

Now, new recommendations out Monday from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology support Vollmer’s decision. The revisions reflect research showing that heart conditions once thought to be unsafe on the field or in the pool may not be as dangerous as previously thought. STAT explains what’s changed.

It was a brutal week in the NFL. The cart came out too many times, and we saw season-ending injuries to the likes of Steve Smith, Le’Veon Bell, Keenan Allen, Reggie Bush, Khiry Robinson, and Cameron Wake. Was it a rash of bad luck? Former NFL QB Brady Quinn wonders if it isn’t something more sinister.

Quinn, who bounced around the league from 2007-2014, appeared on CBS Sports’ Roughing the Passer podcast yesterday and intimated that bigger, faster players are leading to more injuries, and that some of those players didn’t get bigger and faster the natural way. He specifically named HGH as a potential culprit.

… Up to now Southampton have managed to avoid the decline that normally follows a club selling its best players and replacing them with cheaper alternatives, though it has endured a fairly tough start to this season, including a dispiriting early elimination from the Europa League at the hands of Danish side Midtjylland. However, they now appear to be finding their feet, registering an impressive victory against Chelsea and reaching the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup.

The club has also continued to thrive off the pitch with solid financial growth reflected by a second successive year of profits and net assets, though it will have to pay attention to its growing debts, including substantial amounts owed on transfer fees.

… Phase one of the NHL and SAP’s statistical overhaul focused on creating the dramatically different statistical database, and phase two introduced the Match-Up Analysis Tool. Phase three took place this summer, focusing on the back end, which included taking the existing statistical model and exporting it into a SAP HANA database. Foster described SAP HANA’s tremendous processing power: “It has a lightning fast ability to process data in return time that is sub-zero. And because of [that power], there is this new set available for fans.” The latest update to the NHL’s statistical database mainly revolves around customizable filtering with companion visualizations, giving fans the ability to customize and personalize any leaderboard on the NHL’s “Stats” page.

The latest innovations implemented by SAP and the NHL include the ability to look at shot totals by shot types (such as wrist shots, slap shots, and backhand shots) and to analyze the total of goals that were scored by type of shot. Missed shots, shots that hit the post, or shots that hit the cross-bar can also be filtered. Foster explained that, “in a game where inches matter so much, [these statistical filters will] show stories about different players.”

Are you a leader? A follower? Are you charismatic? Knowledgeable? All of these factors will alter your role in a group, and eventually the decisions that the group makes.

Lindred Greer, PhD, with the Stanford Graduate School of Business, studies the way power structures effect group decisions. “If you put people with high power together, it’s a clash of egos like no other,” she said. “They are busier maintaining power than in making good decisions.” [video, 5:31]

Can an algorithm predict when a quarterback will throw deep? Can predictive analytics save a team from defeat? Why did British soccer powerhouse Arsenal buy a US-based football data company, StatDNA? Big data analytics in sports has come a long way from its early “Moneyball” fame. Today, data science is driving not only player performance analysis, but also helping to assemble the best possible team at the lowest possible price.

At this event, learn how teams are harnessing data from cameras, sensors and wearable devices to analyze everything from nutrition, training and sleep levels, to injury and recovery times and fan interaction. And find out what the sports business can learn from other industries at the forefront of data innovation to improve operations, increase margins and better serve its customers. [video, 32:06]