Applied Sports Science newsletter – November 23, 2015

The Denver Broncos will stick to their plan at quarterback.

The plan begins with coach Gary Kubiak meeting with the team’s head trainer, Steve Antonopulos, to get Peyton Manning’s medical report. Then, Kubiak will sit down with Manning to discuss the plan for the week. Just like last week.

There was a play early Thursday night that embodies the player Dwyane Wade believes he has become, and it wasn’t any of the season-high 23 shots he took in the win against Sacramento. Rather, it was a connection with Chris Bosh that was the product of preparation, communication and recognition, an understanding not only of his own circumstances but that of a teammate.

“I missed a free throw, we got a rebound, Josh [McRoberts] hit me, and I had the floater [available],” Wade said. “And I just hit Chris, and he put it in. Just talking to him before the game, I knew he needed an easy bucket. We both struggled last game, we both needed something easy. Stuff like that is how I think. You’ve got to figure out ways to affect the game, affect your teammates.”

At this point, there can be no doubt: The FC Dallas model is working.

Consider the ages of the FC Dallas starting XI from their series-clinching win over the Seattle Sounders two weeks ago: 20, 20, 23, 23, 24, 24, 24, 24, 25, 28 and 32. Add to the fact that three of them were Homegrown Players, with four others at head coach Oscar Pareja’s disposal on the first-team roster, and it’s clear the team is committed to investing in its youth and not only overseas stars.

But the man behind the madness, technical director Fernando Clavijo, is often overlooked when accolades are passed around. And while he calls the organization’s commitment to youth “a different vision” from many clubs, he said it was initiated long before his arrival.

Jurgen Klopp is supposed to transform Liverpool. He’s supposed to bring excitement back to an Anfield that has lately come under criticism (some of it from Klopp himself) for its lack of atmosphere. He’s supposed to bring hope to a team that has struggled with the new economic reality of being the fifth richest club in a league with four Champions League spots.

But most of all, Klopp is there to change the way Liverpool plays. Get the performance on the field right, both in style and results, and everything else comes together. Get it wrong and Klopp can be as normal as he likes; he’ll be normally looking for another job in a few years. So, the question is, on the field, what made Jurgen Klopp such a success at Borussia Dortmund and will it work at Liverpool?

Hip adductor injuries are frequent in football, and players with low adductor strength appear to be at increased risk of injury. High adductor muscle activity has been shown in the Copenhagen Adduction exercise (CA); however, an associated strength gain has not been investigated. This study aims to examine the eccentric hip adduction strength (EHAD) gain using the CA in-season. Two U-19 sub-elite football teams, including 24 football players, were randomized to either an 8-week supervised progressive training program in addition to the usual training (intervention) or to continue training as usual (control). EHAD, eccentric hip abduction strength (EHAB), and side-bridge endurance were measured using reliable test procedures at baseline and follow-up by a blinded tester. There was a significant interaction between group and time on EHAD, EHAB, and EHAD/EHAB ratio (P?<?0.025). The intervention group demonstrated a 35.7% increase in EHAD (P??0.335). Compliance was 91.25%, and median muscle soreness ranged from 0 to 2. The CA implemented in-season with an 8-week progressive training program elicited a large significant increase in EHAD, EHAB, and EHAD/EHAB ratio.

Background

Cold water immersion (CWI) is a technique commonly used in post-exercise recovery. However, the procedures involved in the technique may vary, particularly in terms of water temperature and immersion time, and the most effective approach remains unclear.
Objectives

The objective of this systematic review was to determine the efficacy of CWI in muscle soreness management compared with passive recovery. We also aimed to identify which water temperature and immersion time provides the best results.
Methods

The MEDLINE, EMBASE, SPORTDiscus, PEDro [Physiotherapy Evidence Database], and CENTRAL (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) databases were searched up to January 2015. Only randomized controlled trials that compared CWI to passive recovery were included in this review. Data were pooled in a meta-analysis and described as weighted mean differences (MDs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs).
Results

Nine studies were included for review and meta-analysis. The results of the meta-analysis revealed that CWI has a more positive effect than passive recovery in terms of immediate (MD = 0.290, 95 % CI 0.037, 0.543; p = 0.025) and delayed effects (MD = 0.315, 95 % CI 0.048, 0.581; p = 0.021). Water temperature of between 10 and 15 °C demonstrated the best results for immediate (MD = 0.273, 95 % CI 0.107, 0.440; p = 0.001) and delayed effects (MD = 0.317, 95 % CI 0.102, 0.532; p = 0.004). In terms of immersion time, immersion of between 10 and 15 min had the best results for immediate (MD = 0.227, 95 % 0.139, 0.314; p < 0.001) and delayed effects (MD = 0.317, 95 % 0.102, 0.532, p = 0.004).
Conclusions

The available evidence suggests that CWI can be slightly better than passive recovery in the management of muscle soreness. The results also demonstrated the presence of a dose–response relationship, indicating that CWI with a water temperature of between 11 and 15 °C and an immersion time of 11–15 min can provide the best results.

As Eddie Jones takes over as the England rugby coach we now have two of the biggest sports (rugby and cricket) with an overseas coach. The temptation is to see this as a reflection of coaching throughout the country (that foreign coaches are better trained) but there are two pieces of research we have done that would argue against this type of thinking.

When we looked at what is excellent coaching across all parts of sport we found that high performance coaches were the only group where winning mattered. As such these coaches are often judged by things they cannot control (good/bad luck for example). So judging elite coaches and typical club coaches will often use very different criteria.

When we surveyed sport participants we found that eight out of ten believe coaching improves their enjoyment of sport. Further analysis found that this was strongly related to the quality of coaching.

… After the near-extinction drama of 1997, when Brighton escaped demotion from the Football League on the season’s final day, the Seagulls were hardly traumatised by this unusual caveat, as their stunning HQ at Lancing was awarded the highest grade under the Premier League’s Elite Players Performance Plan. Under Chris Hughton, the senior team aim to go 18 games unbeaten in the Championship’s battle between second and third at Burnley on Sunday.

The new Southampton are taking shape along the South Coast, where a beautifully designed academy complements the 30,750-seat American Express Community Stadium, which this year has also staged two Rugby World Cup fixtures (including Japan’s epic victory over South Africa) and the England-Switzerland Under-21 international on Monday.

Reliable, real-time heart and respiratory rates are key vital signs used in evaluating the physiological status in many clinical and non-clinical settings. Measuring these vital signs generally requires superficial attachment of physically or logistically obtrusive sensors to subjects that may result in skin irritation or adversely influence subject performance. Given the broad acceptance of ingestible electronics, we developed an approach that enables vital sign monitoring internally from the gastrointestinal tract. Here we report initial proof-of-concept large animal (porcine) experiments and a robust processing algorithm that demonstrates the feasibility of this approach. Implementing vital sign monitoring as a stand-alone technology or in conjunction with other ingestible devices has the capacity to significantly aid telemedicine, optimize performance monitoring of athletes, military service members, and first-responders, as well as provide a facile method for rapid clinical evaluation and triage.

Quest Diagnostics, one of the largest names in human health, will soon be offering new services to the athletic community. Blueprint for Athletes, a product offering from Quest, will launch in early 2016 and focus solely on helping to increase athletic performance and improve overall health. Utilizing the same technology that has made Quest the primary diagnostic information services provider for 30% of American adults, Blueprint “gives amateur, professional, and tactical athletes insight to health markers,” according to executive director Richard Schwabacher.

Blueprint for Athletes testing is actionable health information. Based on medical-grade testing, Blueprint for Athletes provides amateur and professional athletes with insights into dozens of health markers that can be used to help provide meaningful training advantages, leverage analytics to assist in maximizing race-day performance, and help reduce vulnerability to injuries. Blueprint for Athletes is not just any diagnostic test – it has been specially created and designed to benefit athletes to provide in-depth information to the competitor in the context of sports and athletics by some of the top experts in athletic sciences.

Measurement of a patient’s intracranial pressure (ICP) has the potential to be a critical component in the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with a wide variety of conditions from traumatic brain injury to malaria. However today, ICP is only measured in very sick patients since current methods are very invasive, requiring a surgeon to drill into the patient’s skull in order to get an accurate measurement.

Researchers led by Dr. Thomas Heldt, PhD, at MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) have developed an algorithm that can estimate ICP based off of two measurements that can both be determined completely non-invasively using ultrasound. These two measurements are the arterial blood flow velocity in the brain and the arterial blood pressure waveform (the complete profile of blood pressure throughout a cardiac cycle). Ultrasonic devices designed to take each of these measurements are being developed separately by Philips and researchers in MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, respectively. The vision for the final product will be a single portable device that incorporates both ultrasound devices and the algorithm that outputs the ICP.

After every Washington Wizards practice, a member of the team’s performance staff reaches into a pouch on the back of every player’s black compression tank top to retrieve a device one-third the size of an iPhone 6 and disappears in the locker room.

The gadget, known as a Viper Pod, is red and black, stands 88 millimeters tall, weighs less than two ounces and is perhaps the most important tool at the Wizards’ disposal this season.

The Wizards vowed to play faster than in years past with speedster John Wall directing a remodeled up-tempo offense. They want to wear teams out with constant pressure, pushing the pace whenever possible. They want track meets. To prepare for the rigor, the team ran more in preseason practices than in previous years under Coach Randy Wittman. The early results are striking: Washington ranked first in the NBA in pace at 103.04 possessions per 48 minutes entering Friday’s games after finishing last season 16th at 95.96 possessions per 48 minutes.

Every day, a wide range of chemical reactions take place in our bodies. Some of the most important ones create energy—energy we require to stay alive. These reactions often give off byproducts. Some can be toxic and damaging to the body.

One type of byproducts is free radicals. A specific type, Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), is a natural result of the metabolization of oxygen for energy. When we create greater amounts of energy, such as in exercise, we will produce more of these ROS. The ROS produced during exercise may cause fatigue and damage muscles—hampering performance and delaying recovery.

Fortunately, athletes, nutritionists, and coaches are aware of this increase in ROS during and after exercise. They often use antioxidant supplements to improve performance and recovery. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) reports that over 50% of elite endurance and male collegiate athletes regularly take antioxidant supplements. This practice is not limited to athletes. Approximately 20% of non-athletes also regularly use antioxidant supplements.

In today’s issue of Cell, two groups led by Eran Elinav and Eran Segal have presented a stunning paper providing startling new insight into the personal nature of nutrition. The Israeli research teams have demonstrated that there exists a high degree of variability in the responses of different individuals to identical meals, and through the elegant application of machine learning, they have provided insight into the diverse factors underlying this variability.

When Usain Bolt broke the 100m world record in 2009, it took him 4.64 seconds to run the first 40m. But it’s been reported that Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin ran the same distance in 4.41 seconds. So could Bellerin beat Bolt in a race?