Healthy Sports

The high incidence of medial tibial stress syndrome in Physical Education students

This one is fresh out and describes the incidence and risk factors of medial tibial stress syndrome: in Physical Education Teacher Education students. Medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) is a common lower extremity overuse injury often causing long-term reduction of sports participation. This study aimed to investigate the incidence and risk factors of MTSS in first-year Dutch Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) students.

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‘11+Kids’ reduces severe injuries in children’s football substantially.

 ‘11+Kids’ reduces severe injuries in children’s football substantially.

A secondary analysis of the ’11+ Kids’ trial showed a large preventive effect on severe injuries by investing only 15 to 20 min per training session. There was a reduction of severe overall (HR 0.42, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.72), match (0.41, 0.17 to 0.95) and training injuries (0.42, 0.21 to 0.86) in INT. The present study should raise clinicians’ and coaches’ awareness towards the ‘11+ Kids’ as an effective injury prevention programme.

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Load, capacity and health: critical pieces of the holistic performance puzzle

Relationships between load, load capacity, performance and health are topics of contemporary interest. At what intensity should an athlete train to achieve the best physiological response? How much (or little) can an athlete train without detri- mentally affecting health? Most studies addressing such questions have used a reductionist approach wherein factors were studied in isolation, thereby ignoring the complex inter-relationships and balance between factors. This editorial discusses the association between load and load capacity, and their relationship with athlete performance and health. It illustrates the practical use of a model for the management of athlete performance and health, and provide directions for future practice and research.

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We dare to ask new questions; are we also brave enough to change our approaches?

Despite the availability of high quality evidence, compliance to interventions that protect athletes’ health is low. Consequently, evidence-based programs are not achieving their optimal effect in real-life athletic situations. Implementation and knowledge translation are the contemporary incantations to resolve this apparent gap between science and practice. This has provided us novel research questions and challenges that follow on efficacious outcomes. Most of these questions are not answered through quantifiable outcomes measures as they revolve around user behaviors. This editorial argues that if we want to know why athletes and coaches behave as they do, and what barriers there may be to changing their behavior, qualitative research can be used to give athletes and coaches a voice.

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