Cool Rehab, S&C, Athletic Peformance Research/Content I Consumed Last Week: 12/30
Training load research!
With last week's busy Holiday season, I didn’t get as much reading done as I normally do. That said, I was able to read a handful of articles from the latest Sports Health issue, all of which discussed training load.
The article that caught my eye first was entitled Sex Differences in Youth and Young Adult Sport Training Patterns, Specialization, and Return to Sport Durations. This concerning article points directly at the injury crisis we’re seeing in the WNBA and other female sports, namely young, female athletes are more likely to specialize in their sport and develop overuse injuries, which we are fairly confident are tied to future injury occurrence.
There have been 1,500 games lost to 379 injuries or illnesses over the last two WNBA seasons. Unfortunately, we don’t know the extent to which injuries have increased in the WNBA over the years due in part to the league’s refusal to properly punish teams that don’t accurately or completely utilize their electronic medical record. (Full disclosure: As a component of my Ph.D. dissertation research, I have asked the league multiple times to gain access to their anonymized medical records as a third-party scientific researcher. My requests have either been denied or ignored.)
Young athletes are all too often specializing in a single sport, predisposing their bodies to being overworked and injured. It’s a troubling trend that has only increased with the blossoming of AAU, travel ball, and specialized training centers. Healthcare professionals and coaches should push for more multi-sport participation and adequate rest. The athletes will thank us later.
Journal Articles
A Narrative Review of Softball Pitching Workload and Pitch Counts in Relationship to Injury
Change in Grip and Pinch Strength Over the Course of a Game in Professional Baseball Pitchers
Blog Posts
Forearm Muscle Strength and Inner Elbow Injury in Baseball: Is the Solution That Simple?