BIORUN – Biomechanics of running-related injuries

Funding

The study was funded by the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of the Amsterdam UMC

Background

Running is one of the most popular sports globally. Many runners get injured; among these, Achilles tendinopathy (AT) is one of the most common running-related injuries. The mechanisms underlying the development and recovery of AT in runners are poorly understood. Understanding these mechanisms can help improve the early identification of runners at risk of AT and result in more effective treatment programs in order to prevent and manage the injury.

Few studies have focused on the biomechanical factors involved in AT. Those studies had small sample sizes and mainly focused on running kinematics. Kinematics and inverse dynamics are often used to measure the load on the Achilles tendon. With emerging techniques like dynamic ultrasound, we can now quantify the mechanical behaviour (i.e. load, stress and strain) of the Achilles tendon during running. This allows for assessing the effect of neuromuscular control, running kinematics, variability and more on the intertendinous load on the Achilles tendon.

Objectives

This project aims to gain insight into the biomechanical factors that play a role in the development and recovery of Achilles tendinopathy in runners. Specifically, we compare the Achilles tendon mechanical behaviour (i.e. strain, stress, stiffness, Young’s modulus) between runners with Achilles tendinopathy and injury-free runners. For that, we combine 3D running analyses, including kinematics and kinetics, with dynamic ultrasound of the muscle-tendon junction of the gastrocnemius medialis during running. Moreover, since we follow the injured runners in their recovery from AT, we can gain insight into changes in running biomechanics and tendon mechanical behaviour during or after recovery.

ALPINE skiing project: Application of Learnings to Prevent Injuries in National teams from Elite alpine skiing contexts

Project Partners

Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.

International Ski Federation (FIS)

Funding

The study is funded PhD Grant from the Andorran Government

Background

The International Ski Federation (FIS) Alpine Ski World Cup is the primary international circuit for alpine skiing competitions. Alpine skiers compete in a performance-driven environment where the aim is to increase sports performance. Such a context is well known for its high risk of injury, directly impacting the athlete’s ability to perform. In 2006, the FIS established an injury surveillance system to provide data on injury trends in international elite skiing and snowboarding to reduce injury risk. Injury rates are still high regardless of all the efforts and changes made throughout the last decade to improve alpine skiers’ safety.

While current literature has only focused on single factors, other components as contextual factors in preventive strategies in elite alpine skiing have not been addressed yet. Thus, the literature regarding injury epidemiology in elite alpine skiing faces many challenges. On the one hand, it has overlooked the wide range of factors influencing injury and involving injury prevention in such context. On the other hand, it is still hampered by small sample sizes, methodological issues and the constant evolution of injury factors with equipment and competitive rules regulations. Consequently, there is a lack of acknowledgement and understanding of the elite alpine skiing context and how it can influence and lead to preventive behaviours.

By using different methodological approaches such as qualitative methods to investigate elite athletes’ and stakeholders’ perspectives, this project can provide greater knowledge and better insight into injury prevention in elite alpine skiing by helping to identify potentially modifiable factors which could improve injury prevention in practice and increasing the level of success on injury prevention programs.

Objectives
The proposed project aims to develop an effective injury prevention program for elite alpine skiers founded on the narrative of elite alpine skiers, coaches, managers, health care providers, official and race organisers and topic-specific experts concerning their perceptions and perspectives of injury and illness prevention.

Based on this narrative, this project aims to explore and understand the practicalities of sports-related injury and illness prevention based on beliefs, attitudes and knowledge from key stakeholders in national teams from different countries.

Thereby, understanding the context and the injury risk factors within elite alpine skiing will set the foundations for further designing and implementing specific injury prevention strategies targeting elite alpine skiing, assessing their effectiveness in their respective settings.

This project will apply a mixed-methods approach. To explore the research questions, both qualitative and quantitative methods will be employed.

The development of a university-based injury-monitoring system for prioritized university sports codes in South Africa

Supervisor

Prof L.L Leach

Co-supervisors

Dr. B.S Andrews, Prof. Dr. R Meeusen, Prof E. Verhagen 

Project Partners

This project is a study coordinated and supervised in The Department of Sport, Recreation &Exercise Science at The University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa)  

VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Vrije Universiteit, Brussels

Funding

The study is partially funded by an HDI grant through High-Performance Sport at The University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa).

Background

Varsity sports is undoubtedly the most commercialized and popular university sports tournament in South Africa, aligning and contributing to the national sports agenda. In recent years, there has been a continuous increase in athlete participation, investments in student-athletes and team support, and improvement in sport science support services in Varsity Sports. These complement the International Olympic Committee and international sports organizations’ continuous recognition and support on injury surveillance and epidemiological research on sports injury in sport in the effort to protect athlete's health.  Despite this, information on sports injuries during the Varsity Sports tournaments is limited to only one retrospective study. Similarly, Varsity Sports has no mandatory injury monitoring system.  This study aims to develop a university-based injury-monitoring system for prioritized sporting codes competing in Varsity Sports in South Africa. The Translating Research into Injury Prevention Practice (TRIPP) framework by (Finch, 2006a). will be utilized as the theoretical framework in this study. 

The study will use a mixed-methods sequential explanatory study design implemented in four phases. The four sequential phases will include (i) a systematic review of the best available evidence on the methods for recording and reporting of sports injuries in student-athletes; (ii) a quantitative phase to assess the current state of injury-monitoring within universities in Varsity Sports through a cross-sectional online survey design; (iii) a qualitative phase to explore the end users' perceptions and experiences on injury-monitoring systems through semi-structured interviews and focus groups discussions; and (iv) a Delphi study to develop the university-based injury monitoring system. 

Study aim

The purpose of this study will be to develop a comprehensive university-based injury monitoring system for prioritized university sports codes in South Africa. The objectives of the study will be the following:

•       To identify the best available evidence on the methods for recording and reporting sports injuries in student-athletes at universities by conducting a systematic review. 

•       To determine how information on injury data is collected, recorded, and reported for prioritized sport codes at universities in South Africa.

•       To identify the perceived barriers and facilitators in reporting injuries in prioritized sport codes at universities in South Africa. 

•       To assess the current injury-monitoring systems for prioritized sport codes at universities in South Africa.

•       To explore how information on injury data is collected, recorded, and reported for prioritized sport codes at universities in South Africa.

•       To explore the barriers and facilitators influencing the development of a university-based injury-monitoring system for prioritized sports codes competing within varsity sports. 

•       To develop a university-based injury-monitoring system for prioritized sport codes at universities in South Africa using the Delphi study.

CHOiCE: Choosing the Healthy Option in a Choice Environment

FUNDING

Internal funding from the Department of Public and Occupational Health, VU University Medical Center

BACKGROUND

Technological and economic advances in the past decades have nowadays resulted in people living a lifestyle that is characterized by high rates of sitting and low levels of physical activity,  which increases people’s risk for non-communicable diseases. A promising approach to change health behaviors is the use of ‘choice architecture’. The term refers to practice of influencing behaviors by organizing the context in which people make choices. 

The aim of the CHOiCE project is to investigate which choice architecture interventions effectively (1) foster active health choices (that engender commitment towards specific health goals); and (2) support maintenance of health behaviors (by promoting habit formation), with choices and behaviors being in line with individuals’ beliefs, needs, values and preferences. The project focusses on two different populations: (a) sedentary, physically inactive healthy individuals and (b) individuals at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. 

The project consists of three main stages, with each new stage building on the insights derived in the previous stage(s):

1. A systematic literature review on choice architecture interventions that promote physical activity and discourage sedentary behavior;

2. Qualitative studies on people’s beliefs, needs, values and preferences in the context of choices about health behavior;

3. Quantitative, experimental proof-of-principle studies on the effects of different types of choice architecture.

 The ultimate aim of the project is to empower people to make healthy choices and to engage in health behaviors in the long term.  

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Injuries and their aetiology in Physical Education students

BACKGROUND

Worldwide many students participate in physical activity and sports related studies. During the course of these studies a high level of physical activity and exercise skills is demanded. In physical education teacher education (PE) studies, during the first three years on average more than 250 hours per year are spent on practical sports classes. In addition, most PE students participate in extracurricular sports as well. Therefore, these students are at high risk of sustaining a sports injury during the course of their studies. Recent studies covered injuries during the freshman year only. 

This research project covers the first two steps of the “sequence of prevention” in PE studies.

The first aim is to describe the prevalence of injuries during the first three years of PE studies and to compare injury risks between curriculum periods (years and semesters) and between sexes in PE students. Injuries in PE students over the period 2000-2014 are investigated for this purpose. 

The second aim of this project is to identify possible risk factors for injuries in PE students. In a three-year prospective cohort study, intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors for injuries in freshman PE students are investigated. In a qualitative study, the perspectives from PE students on risk factors for injuries during the first three years of their study are investigated from a socio-ecological perspective.

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Disability football: sports injury epidemiology, injury prevention review, attitudes to concussion guidelines and concussion guideline synthesis.

BACKGROUND

Fifteen percent of the world’s population live with disability, and many of these individuals choose to play sport. There are barriers to sport participation for athletes with disability and sports injury can greatly impact on daily life, which makes sports injury prevention additionally important.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this project is to review the definitions, methodologies and injury rates in disability sport, which should assist future identification of risk factors and development of injury prevention strategies. A specific focus lies on concussions in disability sports. A secondary aim is to highlight the most pressing issues for improvement of the quality of injury epidemiology research for disability sport.

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