There is growing concern around the effects of concussion and sub-concussive impacts in sport. Routine game-play in soccer involves intentional and repeated head impacts through ball heading. Although heading is frequently cited as a risk to brain health, little data exist regarding the consequences of this activity. This study aims to assess the immediate outcomes of routine football heading using direct and sensitive measures of brain function. Nineteen amateur football players (5 females; age 22±3y) headed machine-projected soccer balls at standardized speeds, modelling routine soccer practice. The primary outcome measure of corticomotor inhibition measured using transcranial magnetic stimulation, was assessed prior to heading and repeated immediately, 24h, 48h and 2weeks post-heading. Secondary outcome measures were cortical excitability, postural control, and cognitive function. Immediately following heading an increase in corticomotor inhibition was detected; further to these electrophysiological alterations, measurable reduction memory function were also found. These acute changes appear transient, with values normalizing 24h post-heading. Sub-concussive head impacts routine in soccer heading are associated with immediate, measurable electrophysiological and cognitive impairments. Although these changes in brain function were transient, these effects may signal direct consequences of routine soccer heading on (long-term) brain health which requires further study.

Skeletal muscle operates as a near-constant volume system; as such muscle shortening during contraction is transversely linked to radial deformation. Therefore, to assess contractile properties of skeletal muscle, radial displacement can be evoked and measured. Mechanomyography measures muscle radial displacement and during the last 20 years, tensiomyography has become the most commonly used and widely reported technique among the various methodologies of mechanomyography. Tensiomyography has been demonstrated to reliably measure peak radial displacement during evoked muscle twitch, as well as muscle twitch speed. A number of parameters can be extracted from the tensiomyography displacement/time curve and the most commonly used and reliable appear to be peak radial displacement and contraction time. The latter has been described as a valid non-invasive means of characterising skeletal muscle, based on fibre-type composition. Over recent years, applications of tensiomyography measurement within sport and exercise have appeared, with applications relating to injury, recovery and performance. Within the present review, we evaluate the perceived strengths and weaknesses of tensiomyography with regard to its efficacy within applied sports medicine settings. We also highlight future tensiomyography areas that require further investigation. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to critically examine the existing evidence surrounding tensiomyography as a tool within the field of sports medicine.

The purpose of this article was to review a series of studies (n = 18) where muscle activation in the free barbell back squat was measured and discussed. The loaded barbell squat is widely used and central to many strength training programs. It is a functional and safe exercise that is obviously transferable to many movements in sports and life. Hence, a large and growing body of research has been published on various aspects of the squat. Training studies have measured the impact of barbell squat loading schemes on selected training adaptations including maximal strength and power changes in the squat. Squat exercise training adaptations and their impact on a variety of performance parameters, in particular countermovement jump, acceleration, and running speed, have also been reported. Furthermore, studies have reported on the muscle activation of the lower limb resulting from variations of squat depth, foot placement, training status, and training intensity. There have also been studies on the impact of squatting with or without a weight belt on trunk muscle activation (TMA). More recently, studies have reported on the effect of instability on TMA and squat performance. Research has also shown that muscle activation of the prime movers in the squat exercise increases with an increase in the external load. Also common variations such as stance width, hip rotation, and front squat do not significantly affect muscle activation. However, despite many studies, this information has not been consolidated, resulting in a lack of consensus about how the information can be applied. Therefore, the purpose of this review was to examine studies that reported muscle activation measured by electromyography in the free barbell back squat with the goal of clarifying the understanding of how the exercise can be applied.

Objectives:To determine the effect of unknown exercise duration and an unexpected increase in exercise duration on rating of perceived exertion (RPE), affect, and running economy during treadmill running.Methods:Sixteen well trained male and female runners completed three bouts of treadmill running at 75% of their peak treadmill running speed. In the first trial, they were told to run for 20 minutes and were stopped at 20 minutes (20 MIN). In another trial, they were told to run for 10 minutes, but at 10 minutes were told to run for a further 10 minutes (10 MIN). In the final trial, they were not told for how long they would be running but were stopped after 20 minutes (unknown, UN). During each of the running bouts, RPE, oxygen consumption (ml/kg/min), heart rate (beats/min), stride frequency (min⁻¹), affect scores (arbitrary units), and attentional focus (percentage associative thought scores) were recorded.Results:RPE increased significantly between 10 and 11 minutes in the 10 MIN compared with the 20 MIN and UN trials (p<0.05). The affect score decreased significantly between 10 and 11 minutes in the 10 MIN compared with the 20 MIN trial (p<0.05). Running economy, as measured by oxygen consumption, was significantly lower in the UN compared with the 20 MIN trial from 10 to 19 minutes (p<0.05).Conclusions:The change in RPE between 10 and 11 minutes in the 10 MIN trial suggests that RPE is not purely a measure of physical exertion, as treadmill speed was maintained at a constant pace both before and after the unexpected increase in exercise duration. The associated changes in affect score at similar times in the 10 MIN trial supports the hypothesis that RPE has an affective component.

This study was undertaken to investigate physiological adaptation with two endurance-training periods differing in intensity distribution. In a randomized crossover fashion, separated by 4 wk of detraining, 12 male cyclists completed two 6-wk training periods: 1) a polarized model [6.4 (±1.4 SD) h/wk; 80%, 0%, and 20% of training time in low-, moderate-, and high-intensity zones, respectively]; and 2) a threshold model [7.5 (±2.0 SD) h/wk; 57%, 43%, and 0% training-intensity distribution]. Before and after each training period, following 2 days of diet and exercise control, fasted skeletal muscle biopsies were obtained for mitochondrial enzyme activity and monocarboxylate transporter (MCT) 1 and 4 expression, and morning first-void urine samples were collected for NMR spectroscopy-based metabolomics analysis. Endurance performance (40-km time trial), incremental exercise, peak power output (PPO), and high-intensity exercise capacity (95% maximal work rate to exhaustion) were also assessed. Endurance performance, PPOs, lactate threshold (LT), MCT4, and high-intensity exercise capacity all increased over both training periods. Improvements were greater following polarized rather than threshold for PPO [mean (±SE) change of 8 (±2)% vs. 3 (±1)%, P < 0.05], LT [9 (±3)% vs. 2 (±4)%, P < 0.05], and high-intensity exercise capacity [85 (±14)% vs. 37 (±14)%, P < 0.05]. No changes in mitochondrial enzyme activities or MCT1 were observed following training. A significant multilevel, partial least squares-discriminant analysis model was obtained for the threshold model but not the polarized model in the metabolomics analysis. A polarized training distribution results in greater systemic adaptation over 6 wk in already well-trained cyclists. Markers of muscle metabolic adaptation are largely unchanged, but metabolomics markers suggest different cellular metabolic stress that requires further investigation.