A closer look at our physiology

Feb 01, 2016

This week, I've got some great research looking at a more microscopic level. The first is by a team in Denmark led by Prof  Ylve Hellsten, whom I recently saw present at the Sports Medicine Australia conference. Resveratrol is a powerful antioxidant which is found in grape skins (red wine) and dark chocolate. Also often taken as a supplement because experiments in rats showed positive effects on atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), blood pressure and a number of other benefits. However,

Muscle strains, running, balance and chronic pain

Jan 17, 2016

Welcome 2016. An interesting article to start us off (1). There has been a growing body of research in the last decade into chronic pain and the changes in the brain associated with this - in other words, changes in central pain processing (i.e. Changes in the spine and brain). A  hyper vigilant response to a stimulus is one of the results of this.  This research has looked at the possibility of central pain processing changes, in association with chronic Achilles tendinopathy. The research

Female athletes, knees and Kinesio taping

Dec 13, 2015

This is one for the ladies, but also for coaches (1). Heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) affects about a quarter of the female population, but this is one of the only studies looking at its effect on athletes; an important investigation as HMB can lead to anaemia, which can affect training and competing. This study involved an online component (789) and also took a large sample from those competing in the London marathon (1073 of which 90 were elite). They all answered a questionnaire. A quote from

Knees, Hamstrings and long runs

Dec 03, 2015

This week, we'll start with a small but interesting study looking at patella tendinopathy (PT) (1). One of the problems with PT is that most tendinopathies respond to eccentric loading (contracting whilst lengthening eg quads on the descent of a squat), but PT seems to deteriorate, especially in terms of pain. Pain in turn inhibits muscle functioning, and wasting of the quadriceps occurs. This study looked at isometric quadricep contractions (contracting with very little movement)- sets of 10