Eccentric hamstring strength in young athletes is best documented when normalised to body mass: A cross-sectional study with normative data of 590 athletes from different age categories.

Despite its widespread use in adults, the Nordic hamstring exercise remains underexplored in athletic youth populations. Further, given the dynamic nature of growth and maturation, comparisons with elite adult populations may be inaccurate. Here we describe absolute and body mass-normalised eccentric hamstring normative values for football, athletics and multi-sport youth populations.

Understanding Fear after an Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis Using the Common-Sense Model.

Fear is a significant factor affecting successful return to sport following an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. However, there is a lack of understanding of the emotional drivers of fear and how fear beliefs are formed. This study qualitatively explored the contextual and emotional underpinnings of fear and how these beliefs were formed, with reference to the Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation.

An Investigation of the Nature of Fear within ACL-Injured Subjects When Exposed to Provocative Videos: A Concurrent Qualitative and Quantitative Study.

Fear is a factor contributing to poor return to sport after an anterior cruciate (ACL) injury, however the identification and assessment of fear is challenging. To improve understanding of fear, this study qualitatively and quantitatively assessed responses to videos depicting threat to knee stability in people who had experienced an ACL injury. ACL-injured participants who had above average fear on the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia and were at least 1-year post-injury/surgery were eligible.

Biceps Femoris Fascicle Lengths Increase after Hamstring Injury Rehabilitation to a Greater Extent in the Injured Leg.

Objectives: Document changes in fascicle length during rehabilitation from hamstring injury of the injured and uninjured legs and secondarily to describe any association between these changes and reinjury rate.

Design: Multicentre case series.

Methods: Fifty-two prospectively included hamstring injured athletes had their biceps femoris long head fascicle lengths measured at the start and end of rehabilitation using two-dimensional ultrasound.

Indications and utility of cardiac genetic testing in athletes.

Sports Cardiology practice commonly involves the evaluation of athletes for genetically determined cardiac conditions that may predispose to malignant arrhythmias, heart failure, and sudden cardiac death. High-level exercise can lead to electrical and structural cardiac remodelling which mimics inherited cardiac conditions (ICCs). Differentiation between 'athlete's heart' and pathology can be challenging and often requires the whole armamentarium of available investigations.

Bilateral vs. Unilateral Countermovement Jumps: Comparing the Magnitude and Direction of Asymmetry in Elite Academy Soccer Players.

Bishop, C, Abbott, W, Brashill, C, Turner, A, Lake, J, and Read, P. Bilateral vs. unilateral countermovement jumps: comparing the magnitude and direction of asymmetry in elite academy soccer players.

Serial Within-Session Improvements in Ankle Dorsiflexion During Clinical Interventions Including Mobilization-With-Movement and A Novel Manipulation Intervention - A Case Series.

Background: Persisting reductions in ankle dorsiflexion range of motion are commonly encountered clinically and seen to be associated with adverse outcomes after ankle and other lower extremity injuries. Accordingly improving identified deficits is a common goal for rehabilitation; however, little data exists documenting any improvement related to interventions in these patients.

Purpose: To document the change in dorsiflexion range of motion after stretching and mobilization-with-movement and exercise and a novel manipulation intervention in a population of injured athletes.

Match High-Speed Running Distances Are Often Suppressed After Return From Hamstring Strain Injury in Professional Footballers.

Background: High-speed running is commonly implicated in the genesis of hamstring injury. The success of hamstring injury management is typically quantified by the duration of time loss or reinjury rate. These metrics do not consider any loss in performance after returning to play from hamstring injury.

Patient-reported outcome measures for hip-related pain: a review of the available evidence and a consensus statement from the International Hip-related Pain Research Network, Zurich 2018.

Hip-related pain is a well-recognised complaint among active young and middle-aged active adults. People experiencing hip-related disorders commonly report pain and reduced functional capacity, including difficulties in executing activities of daily living. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are essential to accurately examine and compare the effects of different treatments on disability in those with hip pain.

Physiotherapist-led treatment for young to middle-aged active adults with hip-related pain: consensus recommendations from the International Hip-related Pain Research Network, Zurich 2018.

The 1st International Hip-related Pain Research Network meeting discussed four prioritised themes concerning hip-related pain in young to middle-aged adults: (1) diagnosis and classification of hip-related pain; (2) patient-reported outcome measures for hip-related pain; (3) measurement of physical capacity for hip-related pain; (4) physiotherapist-led treatment for hip-related pain. Thirty-eight expert researchers and clinicians working in the field of hip-related pain attended the meeting. This manuscript relates to the theme of physiotherapist-led treatments for hip-related pain.

Athletes at late stage rehabilitation have persisting deficits in plantar- and dorsiflexion, and inversion (but not eversion) after ankle sprain.

Objectives: Document reliability and normative data for a novel device measuring weight-bearing ankle range of motion after ankle injury.

Design: Cross-sectional Cohort, two occasions one day apart.

Setting: Sports medicine hospital.

Acute Effect of Repeated Sprints on Interlimb Asymmetries During Unilateral Jumping.

Bishop, C, McAuley, W, Read, P, Gonzalo-Skok, O, Lake, J, and Turner, A. Acute effect of repeated sprints on interlimb asymmetries during unilateral jumping. J Strength Cond Res 35(8): 2127-2132, 2021-The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of multiple repeated sprints on unilateral jump performance and interlimb asymmetries.

Explosive voluntary torque is related to whole-body response to unexpected perturbations.

Explosive torque has been demonstrated to relate to static balance. However, sports injuries occur dynamically and unpredictably, yet the relationship between explosive torque and balance response to dynamic perturbations is unknown. This study investigated the relationship between explosive torque of the plantar flexors and knee extensors and the centre of mass (COM) response to unexpected perturbations.

Effects of football simulated fatigue on neuromuscular function and whole-body response to disturbances in balance.

The effect of football-specific fatigue on explosive neuromuscular performance and dynamic balance has received little attention in the literature despite the potential consequences for injury risk. This study aimed to investigate the effect of fatigue induced by simulated football match play on maximal and explosive knee flexor (KF) and knee extensor (KE) torque, and thus the maximal and explosive KF/KE ratio, as well as the effect of fatigue induced by simulated football match play on whole-body response to disturbances in balance. Fifteen male team sports players (mean ± SD: age 24.

Validation of a blood marker for plasma volume in endurance athletes during a live-high train-low altitude training camp.

Altitude is a confounding factor within the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) due, in part, to the plasma volume (PV) response to hypoxia. Here, a newly developed PV blood test is applied to assess the possible efficacy of reducing the influence of PV on the volumetric ABP markers; haemoglobin concentration ([Hb]) and the OFF-score. Endurance athletes (n=34) completed a 21-night simulated live-high train-low (LHTL) protocol (14 h.

The athlete's hematological response to hypoxia: A meta-analysis on the influence of altitude exposure on key biomarkers of erythropoiesis.

Altitude training is associated with changes in blood markers, which can confound results of the Athlete?s Biological Passport (ABP). This meta-analysis aims to describe the fluctuations during- and post-altitude in key ABP variables; hemoglobin concentration ([Hb]), square-root transformed reticulocyte percentage (sqrt(retic%)) and the OFF-score. Individual de-identified raw data were provided from 17 studies.

A step towards removing plasma volume variance from the Athlete's Biological Passport: The use of biomarkers to describe vascular volumes from a simple blood test.

The haematological module of the Athlete's Biological Passport (ABP) has significantly impacted the prevalence of blood manipulations in elite sports. However, the ABP relies on a number of concentration-based markers of erythropoiesis, such as haemoglobin concentration ([Hb]), which are influenced by shifts in plasma volume (PV). Fluctuations in PV contribute to the majority of biological variance associated with volumetric ABP markers.

Intra- and Inter-Rater Reliability of the Modified Tuck Jump Assessment.

The Tuck Jump Assessment (TJA) is a clinician-friendly screening tool that was designed to support practitioners with identification of neuromuscular deficits associated with anterior cruciate ligament injury. This study aimed to evaluate the inter- and intra-rater reliability of the modified scoring (0 to 2) TJA to add an additional range of objectivity for each criterion. A total of 24 elite youth volleyball athletes (12 males and 12 females) were included in this study.

GIRD, TRROM, and humeral torsion-based classification of shoulder risk in throwing athletes are not in agreement and should not be used interchangeably.

Objectives: Clinicians commonly interpret the findings of shoulder rotational ranges of motion using various approaches: an apparent reduction in dominant arm internal rotation ("GIRD"), a difference in total rotational range of motion-i.e. differences in the sum of internal and external rotational range (TRROM), and a combination of rotational ROM and torsional difference ("GIRD-torsion").

A combination of initial and follow-up physiotherapist examination predicts physician-determined time to return to play after hamstring injury, with no added value of MRI.

Background: Previous studies investigating prediction of return to play after acute hamstring injury were limited by examining a single postinjury clinical and MRI evaluation. We evaluated the added value of including follow-up clinical evaluation when predicting return to play.

Methods: A range of clinical and MRI parameters were prospectively investigated for an association with the time to return to play in 90 athletes with MRI positive hamstring injuries undergoing a criteria-based rehabilitation programme.