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It is a question that is often asked of, ‘when should children or younger athlete’s start strength training?’ It is often associated with incorrect myths, such as strength training stunts growth or will reduce your flexibility. These myths are completely misguided and totally unsupported by research completed to investigate the effects of strength training on…

A great paper was recently published looking at the sleep patterns of elite athletes in response to training and competition, Haines Roberts et al 2018. The systematic review identified that many athletes do not meet the recommendations for sleep time (>7 hours) and their sleep efficiency (time asleep whilst in bed, >85%) when they are…

In the first blog on sprinting we spoke about acceleration performance. In this blog we will look at maximal speed sprinting. This is your ability to run at your fastest speed possible. Luckily through the IAAF biomechanics research projects, we have some amazing data that shows what makes the best in the world run really…

Understanding of what allows people to run fast and potentially what will allow them to continue to get faster is continually emerging. In this two part series, we will look at how to accelerate faster and how to hit a higher top speed. It is important to highlight that the different phases of sprinting present…

Return to play testing protocols have become a mainstay of ACL rehabilitation guidelines. The logic is that passing the tests reduces your risk of consequent ACL injuries. However a recent review starts to look into the idea that maybe the outcomes of passing these tests are not as straightforward as we may believe, Webster and…

Groin pain and injuries are a nuisance. They are often caused by multiple factors and can be difficult to assess, diagnose and treat effectively. So when I read a recent paper looking at reducing groin injuries in sport I thought it would be good to discuss the potential contributing factors the development of groin injuries…

We deal with a high proportion of track and field athletes as patients in our clinic. Sprinters, jumpers and throwers all have common attributes – good discipline, and more interestingly high level of body awareness. It makes sense, these are athletes who generally have a short window to perform and extremely demanding endeavour so the…

Minimal, cushioning, barefoot?  Maybe it doesn’t matter.  The last 10 years have seen the barefoot and minimalist running revolution come and maybe even go, however it is a question that I get daily from patients. What kind of shoes should I wear? And how should I run to minimise the impact on the ground, should…

Having higher training load exposure over time in team sports may reduce injury risk.  How can this be? A recent investigation by Bowen et al 2019 in English Premier league soccer players, showed that it was not high training loads, but spikes in training loads that appeared to increase risk of getting soft tissue or…

I recently read an interesting article by arthritis rehabilitation researcher Ewa Roos from the University of Southern Denmark. The title for the article is the perfect discussion point for something that we have been discussing in the clinic, ‘If your knee hurts, keep exercising’. This may sound insensitive, however pain is as suggested, a symptom.…