Concussion and brain trauma are emotive subjects in sport. As research continues to uncover the impact of traumatic head injuries, discussions about safety and the long-term health of players will continue to grow. In the USA, as early as 1906 doctors were publishing papers highlighting the dangers of concussion linked to playing American Football. In the UK, the FIELD study and other research have begun to uncover a pattern between increased incidence of dementia in ex-footballers and heading the ball.
Concussion and brain trauma are emotive subjects in sport. As research continues to uncover the impact that traumatic head injuries have, discussions about safety and the long term health of players will only get louder. In the USA, as early as 1906 doctors were publishing papers highlighting the dangers of concussion linked to playing American Football. In the UK, ongoing research that identifies a link between heading and dementia in football has drawn major attention.
It’s been a turbulent few weeks in the UK. U-turns and diversions have been front and centre of the news agenda. It seems U-turns come at considerable cost in many walks of life. In a sporting context, turning, particularly at high speed and repeatedly come at a significant physiological cost. Fortunately, a new paper evaluating the turning demands of a Premier League team has recently been published and could help create a new understanding of this vital performance metric.
Concussion and brain trauma are emotive subjects in sport. As research continues to uncover the problems that traumatic brain injuries seem to have, discussions about safety and the long-term health of players will only intensify. In the USA, as early as 1906 doctors were publishing papers highlighting the dangers of concussion linked to playing American Football.
A few weeks ago we wrote a blog that highlighted the danger of pseudoscience. That article focused on how products and activities that don't stand up to scientific rigour can harm the industry and individuals. The issue put simply, is that by offering quick fixes and false hope, people don’t engage in proven strategies to support health or performance gains and therefore miss out on benefits in either health or performance.
British Athlete Dina Asher-Smith has called for more research into the effect of periods on female athletes. The 2019 World 200m champion made the statement following pulling up in the European Athletics Championship final because of cramping calves. She attributed the cramps to “girls stuff” linking the incident to her menstrual cycle.
“The modern health and wellness industry is characterised by an abundance of baseless or exaggerated claims and widespread pseudoscience”. This is one of the key messages from a recent article published in the very well-respected scientific journal Sports Medicine. Much of the frustration is pointed towards the rise of social media, which allows messaging to go unchecked and the power of influencers and celebrities to spread mis and disinformation due to poor scientific understanding.
Concussion is an issue for athletes in many sports. In a recent blog, we highlighted the higher relative risk of concussion amongst female athletes compared to their male counterparts. In this follow-up blog, we will take a deeper look at some of the proposed reasons women are at a higher risk and what the stakeholders in women's sport can do to help as part of their sponsorship or partnership mix.
Riders performances, like in any sport, consists of a number of interdependent factors. Cycling at its professional level contains some of the most elite endurance athletes in the world. To achieve this level takes enormous dedication, going through years of training to develop the endurance adaptations needed to compete within the professional peloton.
In just under a month, England will host the 2022 UEFA Women’s European Championships. The event will draw the best players from across the continent and is set to break records in terms of both live attendance and TV viewership. Reigning Champions Netherlands, currently ranked 5th in the world, will seek to defend their title against the historic powerhouse of European football, Germany (ranked 4th) and the number 2 and 3 ranked nations Sweden and France respectively.
Boxing, like many sports, has its fair share of controversy. The subjective nature of the scoring system has left many worried about the ease with which scoring could be manipulated. These worries were born out in a report by Professor Richard McLaren, looking at corruption at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. He found that a handpicked team of senior “five-star” referees and judges used signals at ringside or instructed colleagues on the morning of fights as to who should win.
The concept of players fulfilling specialist roles isn’t a new one when looking across international sports. American sports such as football and basketball are perhaps the most obvious examples. American football has specialist kickers and even special teams squads. In basketball dependent on the game situation it is common to see coaches rotate players on an offence, defence basis. Closer to home, rugby has progressed to the notion of finishers rather than substitutes, a sign that players who are not stating will come off the bench to fulfil a specialist role.
Technology has permeated sport in numerous ways. With the global popularity of football, it should come as no surprise that in many instances, the game is at the forefront of technological innovation. In this clip, from the BBC’s technology show, BBC Click Manchester-based VR company Rezzil’s player22 technology is the focus of attention.
