Knee flexion strength is significantly reduced following competition in semi-professional Australian Rules football athletes : Implications for injury prevention programs
- Authors: Charlton, Paula , Raysmith, Benjamin , Wollin, Martin , Rice, Simon , Purdam, Craig , Clark, Ross , Drew, Michael
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Physical Therapy in Sport Vol. 31, no. (2018), p. 9-14
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- Description: Objectives: To evaluate strength and flexibility measures pre- and post- Australian Football (AF) competition to determine their potential utility as secondary prevention measures. Design: Cohort study. Setting: Semi-professional AF club. Participants: Ten male AF athletes (mean ± SD; age, 21.3 ± 2.2 years; height, 186.1 ± 6.3 cm; weight, 83.5 ± 8.6 kg). Main Outcome Measures: Maximal unilateral isometric knee flexion strength performed in 45 degrees of hip flexion and 30 degrees of knee flexion, flexibility measures of hip and knee extension and ankle dorsiflexion. All outcome measures were evaluated pre-match to determine baseline measurements and repeated acutely post-match and at 26, 50 and 74 h following. Comparisons were made between baseline measures and all other time points. Results: Knee flexion strength was significantly reduced at a group level acutely (−122.8N, 95%CI −156.2 to −89.4, p = 0.000) and at 26 h (−89.6N, 95%CI −122.9 to −56.2, p = 0.000) following competition. Hamstring flexibility was significantly reduced at all time periods following competition (all p < 0.05), however these values were not clinically meaningful. Conclusions: Knowledge that unilateral isometric knee flexion strength returns to pre-competition levels by 50 h following match-play in AF athletes is valuable for planning recovery time frames and may inform implementation of secondary prevention strategies. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd
Performance success or failure is influenced by weeks lost to injury and illness in elite Australian track and field athletes : A 5-year prospective study
- Authors: Raysmith, Benjamin , Drew, Michael
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport Vol. 19, no. 10 (2016), p. 778-783
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- Description: Objectives: To investigate the impact of training modification on achieving performance goals. Previous research demonstrates an inverse relationship between injury burden and success in team sports. It is unknown whether this relationship exists within individual sport such as athletics. Design: A prospective, cohort study (n = 33 International Track and Field Athletes; 76 athlete seasons) across five international competition seasons. Methods: Athlete training status was recorded weekly over a 5-year period. Over the 6-month preparation season, relationships between training weeks completed, the number of injury/illness events and the success or failure of a performance goal at major championships was investigated. Two-by-two table were constructed and attributable risks in the exposed (AFE) calculated. A mixed-model, logistic regression was used to determine the relationship between failure and burden per injury/illness. Receiver Operator Curve (ROC) analysis was performed to ascertain the optimal threshold of training week completion to maximise the chance of success. Results: Likelihood of achieving a performance goal increased by 7-times in those that completed >80% of planned training weeks (AUC, 0.72; 95%CI 0.64-0.81). Training availability accounted for 86% of successful seasons (AFE=0.86, 95%CI, 0.46 to 0.96). The majority of new injuries occurred within the first month of the preparation season (30%) and most illnesses occurred within 2-months of the event (50%). For every modified training week the chance of success significantly reduced (OR=0.74, 95%CI 0.58 to 0.94). Conclusions: Injuries and illnesses, and their influence on training availability, during preparation are major determinants of an athlete's chance of performance goal success or failure at the international level. (C) 2016 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.