Physical demands of collegiate basketball practice: a preliminary report on novel methods and metrics.

Knowing the specific physical demands of basketball players can provide useful information for clinical decision making when rehabilitating athletes following injury. The purpose of this observational study was to describe the physical demands of basketball play at the Division I collegiate level using video-based time-motion analysis and introduce a time-efficient alternative method of quantifying demands. Eleven NCAA Division I basketball players (6M, 5F; 4 guards, 4 centers, 3 forwards) participated in the study.

Development of a sports technology quality framework.

Identifying tools and processes to effectively and efficiently evaluate technologies is an area of need for many sport stakeholders. This study aimed to develop a standardised, evidence-based framework to guide the evaluation of sports technologies. In developing the framework, a review of standards, guidelines and research into sports technology was conducted.

Sensor Location Matters When Estimating Player Workload for Baseball Pitching.

Estimating external workload in baseball pitchers is important for training and rehabilitation. Since current methods of estimating workload through pitch counts and rest days have only been marginally successful, clubs are looking for more sophisticated methods to quantify the mechanical loads experienced by pitchers. Among these are the use of wearable systems.

Physical Activity Patterns in Frail and Nonfrail Patients With End-Stage Liver Disease.

Background: Frailty commonly complicates cirrhosis and is associated with poorer outcomes. While patients with cirrhosis may be sedentary, there are few comprehensive descriptions of their physical activity (PA) patterns related to frailty. Our aim was to identify PA characteristics that may be used in interventions to improve PA and reduce frailty.

Running Injury Paradigms and Their Influence on Footwear Design Features and Runner Assessment Methods: A Focused Review to Advance Evidence-Based Practice for Running Medicine Clinicians.

Many runners seek health professional advice regarding footwear recommendations to reduce injury risk. Unfortunately, many clinicians, as well as runners, have ideas about how to select running footwear that are not scientifically supported. This is likely because much of the research on running footwear has not been highly accessible outside of the technical footwear research circle.

Bouncing behavior of sub-four minute milers.

Elite middle distance runners present as a unique population in which to explore biomechanical phenomena in relation to running speed, as their training and racing spans a broad spectrum of paces. However, there have been no comprehensive investigations of running mechanics across speeds within this population. Here, we used the spring-mass model of running to explore global mechanical behavior across speeds in these runners.

Emergency Department Visits From 2014 to 2018 for Head Injuries in Youth Non-Tackle Football Compared With Other Sports.

Background: Non-tackle football (ie, flag, touch, 7v7) is purported to be a lower-risk alternative to tackle football, particularly in terms of head injuries. However, data on head injuries in non-tackle football are sparse, particularly among youth participants.

Purpose: To describe the epidemiology of  emergency department visits for head injuries due to non-tackle football among youth players in the United States and compare the data with basketball, soccer, and tackle football.

Quantitative and qualitative analysis of head and body impacts in American 7v7 non-tackle football.

Objectives: Non-tackle American football is growing in popularity, and it has been proposed as a safer alternative for young athletes interested in American football. Little is known about the nature of head contact in the sport, which is necessary to inform the extent to which protective headgear is warranted. The objective of this study was to identify the location, types and frequency of head and body contacts in competitive 7v7 non-tackle American football.

Years of running experience influences stride-to-stride fluctuations and adaptive response during step frequency perturbations in healthy distance runners.

Research Question: The current study investigated stride-to-stride fluctuations of step rate and contact time in response to enforced step frequency perturbations as well as adaptation and de-adaptation behavior.

Methods: Forty distance runners ran at a self-selected speed and were asked to match five different enforced step frequencies (150, 160, 170, 180, and 190 beats per min). The influence of experience was explored, because running is a skill that presumably gets better with practice, and increased years of running experience is protective against injury.

Step frequency patterns of elite ultramarathon runners during a 100-km road race.

Step frequency (SF) in running has received substantial interest from researchers, coaches, therapists, and runners. It has been widely studied in controlled settings, but no published study has measured it continuously in elite-level competition. The present study used wrist-based accelerometers in consumer-grade watches to monitor SF and SF variability of competitors in the 2016 100-km World Championship road race.

Experience does not influence injury-related joint kinematics and kinetics in distance runners.

Purpose: Increased running experience and more time spent running appears to be advantageous in reducing injury risk, although the reason behind this is unclear. It is plausible that more experience results in better running mechanics leading to less injuries. Running mechanics are often screened during clinical assessments and targeted for correction in gait retraining, particularly those thought to be global indicators of injury or those associated with elevated knee joint loading.