The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) consensus statement on 'methods for recording and reporting of epidemiological data on injury and illness in sport' recommended standardising methods to advance data collection and reporting consistency. However, additional aspects need to be considered when these methods are applied to specific sports settings. Therefore, we have developed a snow sports-specific extension of the IOC statement to promote the harmonisation of injury and illness registration methods among athletes of all levels and categories in the different disciplines governed by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), which is also applicable to other related snow sports such as biathlon, ski mountaineering, and to some extent, para snow sports.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecently, chronic intermittent inhalation of low-dose carbon monoxide (CO) has been postulated as a practice to increase total hemoglobin mass with potential beneficial effects on endurance performance. In this perspective article, we discuss the potential performance enhancing capabilities as well as the safety concerns, which include individual variability in CO response, and acute and chronic health effects. It is also important to note that according to the World-Anti-Doping-Agency (WADA), CO inhalation could fall under "" and therefore could be considered a prohibited method if used as a non-diagnostic tool.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSports medicine physicians and physiotherapists commonly use cryotherapy (eg, ice application) postinjury to decrease tissue temperature with the objective of reducing pain, limiting secondary injury and inflammation, and supporting healing. However, besides the analgesic effect of cryotherapy, a literature search revealed no evidence from human studies that cryotherapy limits secondary injury or has positive effects on tissue regeneration. Thus, our current understanding of the potential mechanisms and applications of cryotherapy largely relies on the results from animal studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSupplemental oxygen (hyperoxia) improves physical performance during hypoxic exercise. Based on the analysis of metabolome and iron homeostasis from human athlete blood samples, we show that hyperoxia during recovery periods interferes with metabolic alterations following hypoxic exercise. This may impair beneficial adaptations to exercise and/or hypoxia and highlights risks of oxygen supplementation in hypoxia.
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