Applied Sports Science newsletter – January 13, 2021

Applied Sports Science news articles, blog posts and research papers for January 13, 2021

 

53-year-old striker Miura extends contract for 36th season

Associated Press from

New year, new contract for 53-year-old striker Kazuyoshi Miura, one of the world’s oldest professional soccer players.

Miura, who turns 54 on Feb. 26, will enter his 36th season after signing an extension with J-League club Yokohama FC on Monday, the league said.

Nicknamed “King Kazu,” Miura played in only four league games last year and did not score but extended his record as the oldest player in the J-League. He joined Yokohama in 2005.


Elise Cranny on RED-S, body changes, and inspiring young runners to celebrate their strength

Citius Magazine podcast from

Elise Cranny is a professional mid-distance runner who competes for the Bowerman Track Club (BTC) in Portland, Oregon. Elise was a standout runner at Niwot High School in Colorado, where she won two 4A state cross country titles and ran the 3rd fastest high school 1500m time ever (4:10.95). Elise then attended Stanford University, where she was a 12 time All-American and finished second at the NCAA Championships four times. She was a key part of Stanford’s 2018 third-place trophy in Outdoor Track and was the anchor for the Card’s perennially contending Distance Medley Relay. She joining BTC in the early spring of 2019, she has run a PR of 14:48:02 in the 5k, the 7th fastest women’s 5k time in American history. Recently, Elise has opened up about her struggles with Relative Energy Deficiency in Sports (RED-S), and she mentors young female athletes through the organization Voice in Sport. [audio, 49:14]


Pitcher Corey Kluber hopes bullpen session shows he’s healthy after 2 lost seasons

ESPN MLB, Jesse Rogers from

Free agent Corey Kluber is out to prove he’s healthy, as the right-hander prepares for a bullpen session in front of major league teams Wednesday in Florida.

The two time Cy Young winner has pitched in just eight games over the past two seasons but says his injuries are a thing of the past.

“I don’t have a mindset that I need to prove myself to anyone, so to speak,” the 34-year-old said in a phone interview recently. “I just need to show people that I’m healthy. I’m not putting pressure on myself to go out there and do X, Y and Z. It’s just about showing teams I’m progressing through a normal offseason.”


Sharks look to make most of extended road trip

Associated Press, Josh Dubow from

A disappointing 2019-20 season kept the San Jose Sharks out of the NHL bubble when the season restarted following the long break for the coronavirus.

The Sharks are getting plenty of time in a modified bubble of their own to start this season. The Sharks have become the NHL’s vagabonds, kicked out of their home because of strict coronavirus protocols that ban contact sports and sent on a road trip that will last at least a month and possibly even longer.

After spending two weeks for training camp in Arizona, where they are limited to spending time at a hotel or the practice rink, the Sharks will play at least their first eight games on the road, starting with Thursday night’s opener against the Coyotes.


The Advantages and Pitfalls of Science-Backed Coaching

Training Peaks, Coach Blog from

Many of us talk about and prescribe training in scientific sounding ways. We want to hear about the latest nutritional strategy, aerodynamic gains or the latest footwear which will help enhance performance, preferably backed up by the latest scientific evidence. But what does science mean to you and how important is it to your coaching? As a coach and chartered scientist, these are questions I have wrestled with for years. My conclusions have not only made me a better coach, but they’ve also helped me see the world in a different light too. In this article, I’ll review the strengths and pitfalls of science-backed coaching.


Peer presence increases session ratings of perceived exertion

SportRxiv Preprints; Geoffrey M Minett, Valentin Fels-Camilleri, Joshua Bon, Franco Impellizzeri, David Borg from

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effect of peer presence on the session rating of perceived exertion (RPE) responses. Design: Within-participant design. Method: Fourteen males, with mean (standard deviation) age 22.4 (3.9) years, peak oxygen uptake 48.0 (6.6) mL·kg-1·min-1 and peak power output 330 (44) W, completed an incremental cycling test and three identical experimental sessions, in groups of four or five. Experimental sessions involved 24 min of cycling, whereby the work rate alternated between 40% and 70% peak power output every 3 min. During cycling, heart rate was collected every 3 min, and session-RPE was recorded 10 min after cycling, in three communication contexts: in written form unaccompanied (intrapersonal communication); verbally by the researcher only (interpersonal communication); and in the presence of the training group. Session-RPE was analysed using ordinal regression and heart rate using a linear mixed-effects model, with models fit in a Bayesian framework. Results: Session-RPE was voted higher when collected in the group’s presence compared to when written (odds ratio = 5.3, 95% credible interval = 1.6 to 17.6). On average, the posterior probability that session-RPE was higher in the group setting than when written was 0.57. Session-RPE was not different between the group and verbal, or verbal and written collection contexts. Conclusions: This study suggests contextual psychosocial inputs influence session-RPE, and highlights the importance of session-RPE users controlling the measurement environment when collecting votes.


Brain waves guide us in spotlighting surprises

MIT News, Picower Institute for Learning and Memory from

The brain uses different frequency rhythms and cortical layers to suppress expected stimulation and increase activity for what’s novel.


Calgary’s National Sport School that produces Olympic champions avoids axe

Yahoo Sports, The Canadian Press from

The National Sport School in Calgary that has produced Olympic and Paralympic champions is switching school divisions in order to survive.

The Calgary Board of Education was going to close the 27-year-old school June 30 as a cost-saving measure.

The CBE and the Calgary Olympic Development Association, now WinSport, established the school in 1994 to help athletes both pursue sport at an international level and graduate from high school.


Pillar-like molecules as biosensors for metabolites

EurekAlert! Science News, Kanazawa University (Japan) from

Metabolites are organic molecules that take part in or are created during the biochemical reactions constantly taking place in an organism. For the human body, more than 110,000 metabolites have been identified. Metabolites play a role in metabolic syndrome, which is the situation in which several medical conditions occur simultaneously; the conditions include obesity, high blood pressure and high blood sugar. Metabolic syndrome is associated with a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes and different kinds of cancer. The presence of certain metabolites can be an indicator for particular pathological conditions related to metabolic syndrome. Efficiently measuring and monitoring the presence is therefore important for early diagnosis. Now, Tomoki Ogoshi*, Atsushi Hirao*, and Masaya Ueno (*correspondence authors) from Kanazawa University and colleagues have developed a biosensor for a low-molecular-weight metabolite known as 1-MNA. The sensor relies on the physicochemical properties of pillar[6]arene, a channel-like molecule.


More isn’t always better

Footwear Science, Commentary, Wouter Hoogkamer from

Following an editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine proposing that the governing body for track and field (World Athletics, formerly IAAF) should limit the midsole thickness of running shoes (Burns & Tam, 2019), Footwear Science’s Editor-in-Chief published a commentary addressing the lack of evidence of a performance advantage attributable to midsole thickness (Frederick, 2019). In that commentary, the author makes three major points. First, there is no evidence of a performance advantage attributable to midsole thickness. Second, the lack of a standard method for the measurement of midsole thickness, makes it hard to implement a rule limiting the maximum midsole thickness and makes enforcing that rule even harder. Third, the main take away message is that observations from head-to-head comparisons between shoes that differ in many aspects should not be treated as evidence of a more universal outcome of any single of those aspects. [full text]


Sensor maker Valencell expects more blood pressure-sensing wearables in 2022

CNET, Scott Stein from

It’s 2021… where’s my blood pressure smartwatch? Despite wearable health tech introducing features like blood oxygen measurement, ECG and even generalized changes in body temperature, blood pressure has proved a harder challenge. But sensor maker Valencell believes the possibilities are there, with research claiming finger-sensor blood pressure without calibration on wearables could be here by 2022.

Samsung promised blood pressure capabilities on its recent smartwatches, but the feature needs calibration with a standard blood pressure cuff, and even then it still hasn’t gotten clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration. Omron, a manufacturer of medical devices, has a blood pressure-monitoring watch, but it uses an inflatable wrist-cuff and is expensive.


The Influence of Obesity and Meniscal Coverage on In Vivo Tibial Cartilage Thickness and Strain

Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine from

Background:

Obesity, which potentially increases loading at the knee, is a common and modifiable risk factor for the development of knee osteoarthritis. The menisci play an important role in distributing joint loads to the underlying cartilage. However, the influence of obesity on the role of the menisci in cartilage load distribution in vivo is currently unknown.
Purpose

To measure tibial cartilage thickness and compressive strain in response to walking in areas covered and uncovered by the menisci in participants with normal body mass index (BMI) and participants with high BMI.
Study Design:

Controlled laboratory study.
Methods:

Magnetic resonance (MR) images of the right knees of participants with normal BMI (<25 kg/m2; n = 8) and participants with high BMI (>30 kg/m2; n = 7) were obtained before and after treadmill walking. The outer margins of the tibia, the medial and lateral cartilage surfaces, and the meniscal footprints were segmented on each MR image to create 3-dimensional models of the joint. Cartilage thickness was measured before and after walking in areas covered and uncovered by the menisci. Cartilage compressive strain was then determined from changes in thickness resulting from the walking task.
Results:

Before exercise, medial and lateral uncovered cartilage of the tibial plateau was significantly thicker than covered cartilage in both BMI groups. In the uncovered region of the lateral tibial plateau, participants with high BMI had thinner preexercise cartilage than those with a normal BMI. Cartilage compressive strain was significantly greater in medial and lateral cartilage in participants with high BMI compared with those with normal BMI in both the regions covered and those uncovered by the menisci.
Conclusion:

Participants with high BMI experienced greater cartilage strain in response to walking than participants with normal BMI in both covered and uncovered regions of cartilage, which may indicate that the load-distributing function of the meniscus is not sufficient to moderate the effects of obesity.
Clinical Relevance:

These findings demonstrate the critical effect of obesity on cartilage function and thickness in regions covered and uncovered by the menisci.


NCAA transfer rule puts student athlete mental health first

KWTX (Waco, TX), Christopher Williams from

The NCAA recently decided to allow all division I transfers to play immediately this year.

The committee says it made the decision in order to best support the well-being of these student athletes during uncertain times.

Transfers and mental health experts say it is already making a big difference.

Dr. Monique Marsh-Bell, Baylor’s Assistant AD for Mental Health Services, says, “I definitely had some transfers come to me before this new rule came into place, and they were really struggling with all of the change.”


NHL gambles on getting through pandemic outside a bubble

Associated Press, Stephen Whyno from

When the NHL charter flight back from the Edmonton bubble landed in New Jersey, Gary Bettman’s phone started ringing.

The commissioner thought he’d get a couple of weeks to exhale after awarding the Stanley Cup to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Instead, it was back to work.

Of course, planning for the 2021 season began well before late September. It took a long-term extension of the collective bargaining agreement between the league and players’ union, layers of health and safety protocols, realigned divisions and convincing multiple government agencies that it is safe to play.

The season opens Wednesday and Bettman estimates the league will lose over $1 billion even by playing. It’s a gamble everyone was willing to make to keep hockey going during the pandemic.


Burnley turn to artificial intelligence in search for stars of the future

Sky Sports, PA Media from

The Clarets say “exceptional” players identified through the app will be invited to attend formal trials; Chairman Alan Pace says it is a first opportunity to introduce data-led technologies to the Turf Moor club’s academy

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