Beyond the Hit: Muscle and Vascular Tissue Responses to Contact Exposure in Collision Sports-A Narrative Review.

Contact events in rugby codes such as tackling, running into contact, scrums, rucks, and contact with the playing surface may expose athletes to muscle damage known as impact-induced muscle damage. These repetitive impacts to muscle tissue have the potential to diminish muscle force production and delay recovery following contact-focused training and match-play. Repetitive exposure to contacts may also affect the surrounding vascular and neuronal tissues, an area that has received little attention in the collision sports.

Identifying contributory risk factors for neck pain in fast jet aircrew: a prospective cohort study.

Purpose: Fast jet aircrew (FJA - aka fighter pilots, fighter aircrew) commonly suffer musculoskeletal complaints, particularly of the neck, which degrades operational capability and workforce health. Establishing injury aetiology is a prerequisite for developing effective preventative interventions. Our objective was to examine the aetiology of neck-related musculoskeletal complaint episodes (NRMCEs) among FJA across a range measures including physical capacity, psycho-social recovery-stress states, workload measures, and strength and conditioning (S&C) participation.

The Natural History of Bone Stress Injuries in Athletes: From Inception to Resolution.

Bone stress injury (BSI) occurrence is common in athletic populations, resulting in high periods of time loss from sports participation. Minimising incidence and reducing severity presents a challenge for the prevention and clinical management of bone stress injuries (BSIs) for sports practitioners. An understanding of the aetiology and mechanisms for BSIs in athletic populations can assist with the design and implementation of prevention programmes.

Intraoperative Coronal Alignment Safe Zones Influence Patient Outcomes Following Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.

Background: Despite surgically successful total knee arthroplasties, up to 20% of patients are dissatisfied postoperatively. A factor thought to influence dissatisfaction is the alignment strategy utilized. Inconsistencies in safe zone definitions between neutral and kinematic alignment strategies have limited previous systematic reviews.

Injury, illness, and mental health problems during the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Our study aimed to describe the patterns and characteristics of injuries and illnesses incurred during the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 (FWWC2023). Team medical personnel recorded all injuries, illnesses, and mental health problems requiring medical attention, plus match, and training exposure into a centralised FIFA database using recent consensus-based methodology. Of the 32 teams at FWWC2023, 26 teams participated in the study, including 536 of 742 players.

Estimating the Replicability of Sports and Exercise Science Research.

Background: The replicability of sports and exercise research has not been assessed previously despite concerns about scientific practices within the field.

Aim: This study aims to provide an initial estimate of the replicability of applied sports and exercise science research published in quartile 1 journals (SCImago journal ranking for 2019 in the Sports Science subject category; www.scimagojr.

Thermoregulation and dehydration in children and youth exercising in extreme heat compared with adults.

Objective: To compare hyperthermia and physiological dehydration risk during exercise heat stress between children of different ages and adults and evaluate an existing adult sweat rate calculator in children.

Methods: 68 fit and recreationally active children aged 10-16 years (31 girls), and 24 adults aged 18-40 years (11 females) completed three separate 45 min treadmill walking/running trials at different intensities on different days at 30°C, 40% relative humidity (RH) (WARM) or 40°C, 30% RH (HOT). Exposures were randomised to elicit intensities scaled to (1) fitness, (2) mass and (3) surface area.

What are the diagnoses attributed to persistent hip pain after hip arthroplasty? A systematic review.

Background: Persistent hip pain after total hip arthroplasty has been reported in up to 23 % of cases. Despite routine clinical tests, the source of pain often remains unclear, and diagnosis requires extensive investigation with imaging or surgical exploration.

Aims: This systematic review aimed to identify the diagnoses attributable to the painful hip arthroplasty.

A Comparison of Inswing and Outswing Bowling Arm Kinematics of Pathway and Elite Male Fast Bowlers.

Cricket fast bowlers can increase the difficulty for batters to accurately intercept their deliveries by swinging the ball. To generate swing, bowlers must use a technique that creates an angled and upright ball seam when it is released from the hand and projected towards the batter. The ability to create both inswing and outswing can provide bowlers with an advantage over opposition batters and requires a high level of skill, but little is known about the bowling actions to achieve this.

The Association Between the American Heart Association Life's Essential 8 and Metabolic Syndrome Among Postmenopausal Women: Findings from NHANES 2011-2020.

Postmenopausal women face increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome (MetS) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) due to hormone changes during menopause. Life's Essential 8 (LE8), a relatively new cardiovascular health assessment index by the American Heart Association, may impact MetS diagnostics and potential treatment strategies. This study investigated the association between LE8 and MetS among postmenopausal women.

Minimal Data Elements for Surveillance and Reporting Of Musculoskeletal injuries in the MILitary (ROMMIL) International Consensus Statement.

Introduction: A systematic approach to collecting and reporting injury data in military settings is necessary to maximize the impact of musculoskeletal injury-related research. An international consensus on recommended core data set of elements to capture and report is necessary. The purpose was to summarize the process and results from an international consensus study to establish recommended common minimum data elements for surveillance and Reporting Of Musculoskeletal injuries in the MILitary (ROMMIL).

Validity and reliability of a novel impulse-based method to analyse human striking performance.

We investigated the criterion validity and within- and between-day reliability of a novel method for human striking performance assessment. The Impulse Block Method allows the measurement and calculation of a range of striking variables using a load cell incorporating an impact absorption block and laser gate timer. To assess the criterion validity, we performed repeated drop tests and compared the relationship and agreement between predicted and measured velocity and initial momentum (calculated from impulse) with predicted values using linear regression and Bland-Altman plots (Experiment 1).

Sampling perception-action couplings from competition create representative basketball shooting tasks: A replication and extension of.

Designing representative learning tasks requires a theoretically informed sampling of key performer-environment interactions. This study sampled the constraints from basketball to create a representative environment by examining the effect of a defender on the shooting performance of skilled female basketballers. Participants performed a one-on-one defended shooting task and an undefended shooting task.

What It Takes to Win: Examining Predicted Versus Actual Swimming Performances at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and What Comes Next.

Unlabelled: Predictions of performances should be evaluated to confirm their accuracy. Work by this group has resulted in 3 sets of predictions being generated for swimming events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, using the same statistical approach for each set.

Purpose: To examine the accuracy of swimming predictions for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and generate updated predictions for both the Singapore 2025 World Aquatics Championships and Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals for the Management of Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Postmenopausal Women.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death in women and risk of development is greatly increased following menopause. Menopause occurs over several years and is associated with hormonal changes, including a reduction in estradiol and an increase in follicle-stimulating hormone. This hormonal shift may result in an increased risk of developing abdominal adiposity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, vascular dysfunction, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), and metabolic syndrome (MetS).

Skeletal muscle reactive oxygen species and microvascular endothelial function in age-related hypertension: a study protocol using a microdialysis technique.

Increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and microvascular endothelial disruptions occur with natural ageing, but often transpire before the detection of cardiometabolic conditions including hypertension. Age-related increases in blood pressure are driven by complex systemic changes with poorly understood integrated mechanisms. The deconditioning experienced by ageing skeletal muscle from mid-life is associated with reduced microvascular blood flow and increased peripheral resistance, suggesting that vasodilatory decrements in the muscle may precede the age-related increases in blood pressure.

Does Cathodal Preconditioning Enhance the Effects of Subsequent Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Corticospinal Excitability and Grip Strength?

Lewis, A, Rattray, B, and Flood, A. Does cathodal preconditioning enhance the effects of subsequent anodal transcranial direct current stimulation on corticospinal excitability and grip strength? J Strength Cond Res 39(1): e1-e12, 2025-Inconsistent effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on corticospinal excitability (CSE) and exercise performance are commonly reported. Cathodal preconditioning, involving cathodal tDCS delivered before anodal tDCS over the same region, may enhance changes in CSE and exercise beyond that resulting from anodal tDCS alone.

The phytochemical composition and unexplored potential of Australian native plants for application in physical activity-related muscle recovery and inflammation: a literature review.

Native plants are adaptable in various environmental conditions in part through the production of unique phytochemicals which may have beneficial effects on human health. Native Australian fruits contain higher phytochemical and antioxidant levels than most Western fruits, suggesting potential for greater health benefits arising from their consumption. These beneficial effects, in turn, may be mediated by the inhibition of inflammatory pathways as well as oxidative stress the regulation of reactive oxygen (ROS) and/or nitrogen (RNS) species levels.

Injury epidemiology in male and female competitive diving athletes: A four-year observational study.

Objectives: To describe the incidence, severity, burden and sport specific characteristics of injuries reported in elite diving athletes.

Design: Descriptive epidemiology study.

Methods: Medical attention and time-loss injuries from 63 (43 female, 20 male) Australian national diving programme athletes were prospectively collected over four seasons (September 2018-August 2022).