BRINGING SCIENCE TO TREATMENT
in Sports psychology, Tools and technology
Trevor Langford explores the physiological effects of stress, and the implications for athletes seeking to reduce pain and return to normal function. Figure 1: Stress and homeostasis Through its impacts on the CNS, endocrine and immune systems, stress can alter the physiological homeostasis in the body. Background Athletes at all levels of sport are exposed... MORE
in Agility, Email Newsletters, Improve, Power development, Speed development
Spring has sprung in the Northern Hemisphere while the mild days of fall are starting in the Southern. With the change in the weather, young athletes everywhere are getting out and playing footie. Meanwhile, coaches scrambling for best practices to give their team the edge often resort to technical training. Chilean researchers have just released... MORE
in Power development, Strength
In part one of this two-part series, Pat Gillham looked at injury incidence and prevention in golfers. In this article, Pat explores the role of strength and conditioning for enhancing golf performance. Simple physics tells us that by generating more force against the ground (vertical ground reaction force), we can increase velocity. This applies directly to... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Sports psychology
In our series on pain in athletes, we’ve explained how pain perception effects an athlete’s potential to return to their previous level of play. If an athlete has a tendency toward catastrophizing, they will see only the negative aspects of their injury. In addition, they may tend to focus more intently on their pain, increasing... MORE
in Sports psychology, Tools and technology
Andrew Hamilton looks at new research on the growing popularity of analgesic medication use by athletes, and considers the implications for clinicians with athletes in their care. As an ex-triathlete, researcher and writer, I spend a lot of my spare time searching through the scientific literature on sports health and injury. It was with great... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Sports psychology, Tools and technology
Fear is an emotional response to a threat, either real or perceived. It is a great motivator and rapidly modifies behavior. Fear avoidance is making behavioral choices to avoid that which instills fear, like taking a circuitous route to keep from driving down a street you know is a police speed trap. As discussed in... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Sports psychology
Let’s face it, no one ever walks into the physiotherapist’s clinic because they feel awesome. The thing that usually brings them in is pain of one sort or another. Whether it’s acute pain from a recent incident or a niggling pain that’s been bothersome for a while, people seek out physios because something hurts. Embracing... MORE
In the first of a 2-part article, Pat Gilham explores the biomechanics of the golf swing and the implications for prevention. The golf swing is a multi-segmented and complex skill, which involves accurate body perception and well-coordinated muscular actions(1). It involves a kinetic chain initiated from movement of the legs and hips followed by the trunk... MORE
in Email Newsletters, Improve, Sports psychology, Tools and technology
In a recent article on the language of pain, physio Karen Litzy reviews how to speak to athletes about their pain. However, how good are physios in understanding a particular athlete’s pain perception and the factors that contribute to it? In today’s newsletter, we begin a series looking at the complex factors that surround pain,... MORE
in Acute injuries, Improve, Prevent
Andrew Hamilton looks at what the scientific research has to say regarding snow sports injury and injury prevention. Skiing and (increasingly) snowboarding are becoming mass-participation sports, enjoyed by participants of all ages and abilities. For example, in North America alone, there are more than 78 million annual visits to ski areas by skiers and snowboarders of... MORE
