Applied Sports Science newsletter – December 22, 2020

Some details are left to be sorted out, but things are coming into sharper focus for the Winnipeg Jets.

With the particulars of the latest return to play agreement signed off by both the NHL and NHLPA on Sunday, all indications point towards the Jets being able to open training camp on Jan. 3 at Bell MTS Iceplex.

A shortened training camp — with 36 skaters and an unlimited number of goalies — will give way to a frenetic-paced season that is scheduled to feature 56 games over 116 days.

“There’s no restrictions on anyone right now,” Rivers said after practice on Sunday. “It’s actually really nice going into the season.” At first, there was a thought that perhaps guys such as Danny Green and Dwight Howard could see a restriction because they just played through October with the Los Angeles Lakers.

But Rivers doesn’t intend to hold them back. And although Sixers center Joel Embiid just missed last Friday’s preseason game against the Indiana Pacers due to a non-COVID related illness, the big man won’t have a leash on his playing time either, which is always a positive sign for the Sixers’ three-time All-Star.

As Austin FC continue to fill out its roster ahead of its debut MLS season in 2021, the club is also working on assembling its staff behind-the-scenes, announcing a series of new hires in the soccer operations department in a Monday release.

Austin have made four additions from within MLS and the USL Championship: The club has hired Satoshi Iida from Sporting Kansas City as athletic trainer, Luis Jeronimo will become their strength & conditioning coach from USL side Reno 1868 FC, Chad Kolarcik joins from the Colorado Rapids as head fitness & rehabilitation coach and Andrew Roberts makes the move from Atlanta United as equipment manager.

In this week’s episode of Powering Performance, we are joined by Mike Potenza, Strength and Conditioning Coach for the San Jose Sharks. Tune in to hear about the adjustments to training Mike made in lieu of COVID-19, how he tailors training based on gameplay philosophy, and how the Strength Coach role is evolving in the NHL. [audio, 42:35]

… The landscape of the professional and elite sport has changed enormously in recent years, with clubs/franchises and national federations performance support operating through specialized background staff roles. Although not uniformly embraced across all sports and countries, the expansion of such a model has led to the emergence of a managing position – generally termed performance director (Buchheit and Carolan 2019) – to organize and supervise all the sports science and sports medicine servicing areas accessible to the head coach (and/or his technical staff) and athletes. The scientific support staffing base includes full-time sport scientists, physiologists, biomechanists, nutritionists, psychologists and even more recently statisticians/data scientists, with some additional part-time input from expert/academic consultants (e.g., neuroscientists). Depending of the size and culture of the clubs/federations, medical department covers the medical care and therapy related to training and competition, as well as the involvement of professional specialists for health management (Dijkstra et al. 2014). As an example, a National Football League (NFL) staff generally comprised five departments and as large as 13 full-time employees under the umbrella of the performance director (Figure 1A). All these departments operate in synergy and also “independently” with appropriate autonomy at times, with the performance director orchestrating the “front lines” in a holistic and comprehensive manner towards a common performance goal.

The impetus to drive a performance support model is directly related to assisting the coaching/front office staff on strategies to understand what winning looks like through analysis of key performance indicators and metrics (Halson et al. 2019). The performance model employes analysis technologies (e.g., global positioning system with embedded tri-axial accelerometers, gyroscope and magnetometer, wearables sensors) and scientific advances (e.g., innovative training or nutritional strategies) (Malone et al. 2019) to enhance player performance and maximise player availability (Drew et al. 2017) while maintaining their health integrity through an integrated health manangement system (Dijkstra et al. 2014). Despite the growing number of clubs/federations employing this approach, there is still many that do not choose to see this model as the vehicule to progress. Although this has been widely addressed (Fullagar et al. 2019; Nassis 2017; Eisenmann 2017; Coutts 2017; Buchheit 2016; Coutts 2016; McCall et al. 2016; Buchheit 2017; Sandbakk 2018, 2019; Bishop 2008; Halson et al. 2019; Halperin 2018; Dijkstra et al. 2014), here, the present opinion proposes to discuss past, actual and new issues faced by the practitioners and researchers that are at the front line of professional and elite sport, in order to reinforce the necessary evolution of professional squads and federations to stay at the cutting edge of performance optimization. [full text]

There are so many training scores and metrics these days that it is easy to get confused, especially when the same terms get defined in different ways by different “experts”. I think we can cut through the confusion and I have tried to do so here. [video, 46:02]

Stryd, the company that pioneered the idea of power meters for running, recently published a scientific white paper called “Running Power Definition and Utility.” That might seem like an odd topic for a company that’s been selling power meters since 2015. You’d figure they must know by now what running power is and why it’s useful.

But these questions are far knottier than you might think, and Stryd has always been fairly forthright about admitting this. In Outside’s initial coverage of their launch, one co-founder said their fundamental challenge was “lack of knowledge,” and hoped initial users would help the company figure out what its product was good for. In the years since then, Stryd has gotten excellent word-of-mouth. The users I’ve spoken to have found it helpful. But there’s been a nagging disconnect between the positive user reviews and the general consensus of scientists who actually study running, which is that “running power” is a fundamentally meaningless concept.

In that light, the new white paper looks more interesting, because (at least in my reading of it) it’s an attempt to reconcile the device’s real-world utility with the underlying science. It requires shedding some deeply ingrained assumptions about what power means. But even if you’re already a believer, grappling with the messy details of what’s under the hood of Stryd’s device might convince you that it’s even more useful than you thought.

Last year, the 30th of December, FC Barcelona issued a statement making it official that its goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen suffered from tendinopathy in the right knee that required treatment and, consequently, it would cause a period off that would depend of its evolution. Afterwards, on the 18th of August, in a new official statement, FC Barcelona announced that Ter Stegen had successfully undergone surgery of the patellar tendon of the right knee with an estimated time off of approximately two and a half months. The patellar tendinopathy suffered by the blaugrana goalkeeper is a very common injury, especially in sports that imply prolonged stress on the knee extensor muscles. The clinical diagnosis presents pain and dysfunction in the patellar tendon area, which can lead to the interruption of sports practice (as in the case of Ter Stegen), and even in some cases it can lead to a premature end of the player’s sports career.1

It is especially prevalent in sports in which a multitude of jumps are performed (it is also known as jumper’s knee) such as volleyball and basketball (45% and 32%, respectively).2 In sports such as football it is also common, as the tendon is subjected to repetitive trauma with incredible high moments of force during striking actions, changes of direction, jumps, sudden accelerations and decelerations that take place during the game.

Arthrex, a global leader in minimally invasive orthopedic technology, announced today the launch of the SwiveLock® ACL Repair Kit, following clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of the SwiveLock® anchor for ACL repair. It is the first and only FDA-cleared kit for the primary repair of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears.

With the Michigan high school and collegiate sports season influx due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a study by Sports Medicine researchers at Henry Ford Health System provides a new perspective on performance levels of female professional athletes after they return from anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and reconstructive surgery.

The study published in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine found that players in the Women’s National Basketball Association didn’t regain their elite performance level for at least two years after injury. That’s about a year longer than players in the National Basketball Association who suffered the same injury. Additionally, WNBA players had significantly lower performance numbers in games played, games started, minutes played, points scored, rebounds, assists and blocked shots during the season in which they returned to play.

… “I don’t know,” he said. “You’ve got to ask the doctors. It’s supposed to help me, I know that. It’s supposed to help me. A lot of good stuff for the knee. I just went into it. I trust the doctors. I trust the people that’s helping me. It was the best way to go. It’s definitely calmed my knee down a lot, to tell you the truth. I’m feeling really good right now.”

Stem cell injections have become increasingly popular among professional athletes looking for ways to treat ailments without surgeries and the long, grueling recovery processes that follow. Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, and Peyton Manning are just a few of the big names who have undergone these treatments.

When Keyontae Johnson collapsed on the basketball court on Saturday, college sports temporarily stood as still as his teammates. He was rushed to the hospital where he is currently in stable but critical condition. There are many possible causes for Johnson’s condition, but in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fact that the 21-year-old and many of his team tested positive for the virus over the summer didn’t go unnoticed. While it may well turn out that Johnson’s collapse this weekend had nothing to do with Covid-19, there is growing evidence the virus can have serious effects on athletes, even when it appears they have made a full recovery.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown how a society’s desire to return to “normal” can clash with science. Earlier this year, US college sports’ governing body, the NCAA, initially cancelled all winter and spring men’s and women’s championships, including the March Madness basketball tournaments, due to coronavirus concerns. Most other leagues in North America soon followed suit. Since then, some sports have returned, with the NBA managing to successfully navigate a bubble to complete its season. The NFL, however, has been less successful with games postponed or cancelled with increasing frequency as Covid-19 surges across the US. Now, the spotlight is back on NCAA basketball.

Treatment strategies for ACL injuries continue to evolve. Evidence supporting best practice guidelines to manage ACL injury is largely based on studies with low-level evidence. An international consensus group of experts was convened determine consensus regarding best available evidence on operative versus non-operative treatment for ACL injury. The purpose of this study is to report the consensus statements on operative versus non-operative treatment of ACL injuries developed at the ACL Consensus Meeting Panther Symposium 2019. Sixty-six international experts on the management of ACL injuries, representing 18 countries, convened and participated in a process based on the Delphi method of achieving consensus. Proposed consensus statements were drafted by the Scientific Organising Committee and Session Chairs. Panel participants reviewed preliminary statements prior to the meeting and provided initial agreement and comments on the statement via online survey. During the meeting, discussion and debate occurred for each statement, after which a final vote was then held. Eighty per cent agreement was defined a priori as consensus. A total of 11 of 13 statements on operative versus non-operative treatment of ACL injury reached consensus during the Symposium. Nine statements achieved unanimous support, two reached strong consensus, one did not achieve consensus, and one was removed due to redundancy in the information provided. In highly active patients engaged in jumping, cutting and pivoting sports, early anatomical ACL reconstruction is recommended due to the high risk of secondary meniscus and cartilage injuries with delayed surgery, although a period of progressive rehabilitation to resolve impairments and improve neuromuscular function is recommended. For patients who seek to return to straight plane activities, non-operative treatment with structured, progressive rehabilitation is an acceptable treatment option. However, with persistent functional instability, or when episodes of giving way occur, anatomical ACL reconstruction is indicated. The consensus statements derived from international leaders in the field may assist clinicians in deciding between operative and non-operative treatment with patients after an ACL injury. [full text]

Electrolytes regulate the cardiovascular, nervous, and musculoskeletal systems. The combination and balance of electrolytes, as well as other minerals, are what produce their effectiveness. And, when one is deficient or over-consumed, it harms the body. Electrolytes and minerals all work independently but need to function interdependently to be effective for the body. We find this primarily between the pairs of potassium and sodium and Magnesium and calcium. Their jobs are maintaining voltages for cells and transferring impulses to other cells through the body, causing contraction and relaxation. Sodium and calcium, for example, contract the heart, nerves, and muscles and create the electrical impulse for the heartbeat. Potassium and Magnesium, on the other hand, relax the heart, the nervous system, blood vessels, and muscles.

… Then came June, when Weaver, who started with zero connections on perhaps the bottom rung of the basketball career ladder ascended to the top when the Detroit Pistons hired him as their general manager.

He’s believed to be the first former AAU guy to hold such a job.

“I love a good story. I love start-ups,” Pistons owner Tom Gores told Yahoo Sports. Gores, as a child, immigrated with his family from Lebanon to outside Flint, Michigan, where he worked his way into a self-made billionaire.

“The story isn’t why we hired Troy though,” Gores said. “Troy’s ability to evaluate talent was the No. 1 reason. He is concise in how he sees talent. He sees it on a micro-level. I’ve met a lot of executives who know basketball. Troy is just on a whole different level.”