How the gendered conditions of sport matter for women athletes’ injury risk

Authors: Stephanie E. Coen, Victoria Downie, Lucy Follett, Steve McCaig, Joanne L. Parsons Why is this study important? Women and girls remain at elevated risk of some sports injuries compared to their male counterparts, including anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture, concussion, and ankle sprain. Research into injury disparities has traditionally focused on sex-based biological explanations […]

Read More…

Utilising a pre-participation evaluation to support the Ramadan fasted athlete.

During the 2023/24 season, we piloted the implementation of a pre-participation evaluation (PHE) questionnaire specifically designed for athletes observing Ramadan fasting (1).  This proposal sought to address the complex challenges facing our Muslim players during the holy month, including balancing energy levels, maintaining hydration and nutrition within limited eating windows, and managing disrupted sleep schedules(2, […]

Read More…

Exploring the hidden link: high-performance athletes, health and abuse

Keywords: Athlete abuse, injuries, mental health, high-performance sport “Olympic level sport takes more than just your daily dedication during practice hours.  And when I say that I go beyond the obvious notion of dieting, resting, and even-meditating. What starts as a child’s dream ends up becoming not just something you do, but who you are: […]

Read More…

Enhancing our Understanding of ECG Abnormalities in Male Brazilian Football Players

Authors: Filipe Ferrari, Anderson D. da Silveira, Flávia C. O. Magalhães, Artur H. Herdy, Victor Froelicher, Ricardo Stein In this blog, we will cover the process of developing an extensive 12-lead resting electrocardiogram (ECG) database of Brazilian football players, along with our key findings. Our study, recently published in BJSM, required four years of collaborative […]

Read More…

Why menstrual health research and medical practice in sport needs to move from ethnic exclusions to cultural safety

Keywords: Menstruation, Female Athletes, Sports, Indigenous Methodology Sports and medical professionals are increasingly focused on menstrual health and how it affects sporting performances, health, and well-being. However, with few exceptions, much of this research has focused on athletes of Caucasian and European descent, with findings generalized to athletes from distinct cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Very […]

Read More…

Athlete mental health and mental illness in the era of COVID-19: shifting focus with a new reality

By Drs. Carla Edwards, MD @Edwards10Carla and Jane Thornton @JaneSThornton Few events in history have altered the staging of the Olympic Games. Thus far only the World Wars have kept our athletes away from the grand stage, and several politically based boycotts prevented some nations from participating in other Olympic Games. In fact, few events […]

Read More…

Completing preparticipation physical evaluations for the fall sports season in schools

By Dr. Kristina DeMatas To prepare each student for the fall sports season in the US, a medical professional must carry out a preparticipation physical evaluation (PPE). This ensures that young athletes are medically able to engage in sports and have a good current health status. The PPE is guided by the following organizations: American Academy of […]

Read More…

Call for applications: International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical and Scientific Commission

By Paul Blazey @Blazey85 The IOC Medical and Scientific Commission exist as the highest authority on promoting health through sporting participation. They accept a duty of care to all sporting participants across the age and skill-level spectrum and since 2009 have worked towards stated aims of achieving improved athlete and population-based health. These include1: Provision […]

Read More…

Report on Marathon Medicine, the London Marathon conference on the Science and Medicine of endurance running

By Drs Charles Pedlar @pedlarcr and Courtney Kipps @ProActiveSpMed The 35th Marathon Medicine conference was held on the 21st April 2018 at RIBA in Central London in partnership with and supported by the Virgin Money London Marathon.  The event attracted over 300 delegates this year from volunteer medical staff working in the medical tents at the Marathon […]

Read More…

Call for Drs Bermon and Garnier to share anonymised underlying performance data

(This version of the blog was copyedited for clarity and to add an explanatory note below on May 22nd and June 1st by Editor Karim Khan. Previous versions available). We respectfully ask Drs Bermon and Garnier (2017, hereafter BG17) to share the underlying athletes’ performance data summarised in their British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) study.[1] […]

Read More…