Motivating athletes – Beyond yelling and screaming

Motivational Interviewing – A new way of fostering behaviour change. What is motivational interviewing?  Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a communication style placing emphasis on compassion, acceptance, partnership, and evocation. Together these elements form the foundation or “spirit” of MI (1). It frames the conversation in a collaborative manner with the intention of enhancing an individual’s […]

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Can technology help identify training patterns associated with running-related injuries?

Both competitive and recreational runners are increasingly using GPS watches and smartphone apps that collect large amounts of training data. Many online programs use these data to provide training guidance, which claims to improve running performance and prevent injuries. While increasing training volume has been identified as a modifiable risk factor for running-related injury in […]

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Which muscle strength tests for knee extensors and flexors should we use after an ACL or meniscal injury?

Keywords: Anterior cruciate ligament, Muscle function, Psychometric properties Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tears and meniscal injuries lead to knee extensor and flexor muscle weakness. If these strength deficits persist, they increase the risk of re-injury and/or early development of knee osteoarthritis. For this reason, it is important to monitor muscle strength after these injuries. Currently, […]

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Sport and exercise medicine/physiotherapy publishing has a gender/sex equity problem: we need action now!

Keywords: gender, publishing, equity As a collective of women researchers we are conscious of gender inequality. Gender inequality had been well documented in many scientific fields including Sports Science, but not in our fields of Sport and Exercise Medicine/ Physiotherapy. We were interested to investigate whether there was a more equal representation of genders in […]

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Identifying Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) in Runners

Keywords: female, running, RED-S In this blog we will explain how to identify RED-S in cross country runners by three different health profiles. We also discuss risk factors for RED-S in this population. Our study (recently published in BJSM), included a random sample of 211 current National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division I (DI) female cross […]

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Does adding exercise to usual care prevent mortality?

Keywords: exercise, mortality, quality of life The short answer is yes! In this blog we discuss our recent study published in British Journal of Sports Medicine on the effects of adding exercise to usual care in patients with hypertension, type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular diseases (1).       Why is this study important? Hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and […]

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A report on Marathon Medicine, the London Marathon’s conference on the Medicine and Science of Endurance Running

Keywords: injury, physiology, health The Marathon Medicine conference returned to the RIBA London to celebrate its 38th edition on Saturday 1st October 2022. The event was organised in partnership with, and supported by, the TCS London Marathon and, had an international panel of experts discussing the medicine and science of endurance running. All talks have […]

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Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport Monitoring for Road Cyclists preparing for the Tour de France

How should the multi-disciplinary performance team monitor road cyclists in the build up to the Tour de France to detect relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S) and reduce potential negative impacts on performance?    Authors: Ms Niamh McIntosh [1] and Dr Neil Heron [1,2] (MRCGP, F.FSEM (UK), PhD) Email address: N.Heron@qub.ac.uk [1] Centre for Public Health Research, Queen’s […]

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Do former professional American-style football players experience early ageing?

Author: Rachel Grashow (rgrashow@hsph.harvard.edu) Blog based on a recently published study.  Background Anecdotally, former professional American-style football (ASF) players commonly report feeling older than their chronological age. At the same time, medical providers who treat former players have seen clinical signs of aging earlier than expected. To explore whether former players were aging faster than […]

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