I am sure many people have watched in raptures at the sight of Usain Bolt sweeping all before him to win World and Olympic sprint titles. But what makes him so fast and so good when it matters? It is commonly suggested that he doesn’t train very hard. His eating of chicken nuggets during the Olympic games is well documented- quite different to what many nutritionists would advise, I am sure. He races people previously banned for steroid use. There have been arguments made that some of the benefits of steroid use may continue for many years after their cessation....
Doping is cheating, cheating is wrong, cheaters should be punished. This view is ingrained in many psyches. Yet evidence builds every week that doping is rife in sport. Many of those caught – and many who aren’t – will have been raised to share exactly the ethical standpoint outlined above. Nevertheless, they choose to dope. Sports medicine, inevitably, is essential to performance enhancement. Physicians enable doping and some – the evidence suggests – encourage it. But all over the world clean athletes too will look for a physiological edge, and turn to teams of nutritionists and physiologists and physicians for...
The concept of training as a team leans itself to everyone attending and performing the same programme. This means that everyone will see the benefit of the team effort correct? Well perhaps not. Team performance depends on individuals performing at their best as well as complimenting each other. Depending on the sport the importance of individual versus team priority will be varied. Clearly the importance of team discipline and coordination is far more important in Rugby union’s defensive line than it is in cricket, when the individual batting or bowling is most important in the team outcome. Why might team...
With the London Marathon fast approaching many of us are well into our official training schedules, me included. It is not uncommon to see people competing in the marathon in our physiotherapy clinic with various lower limb injuries. Most running injuries are related to the increased repetitive loads placed on the muscular system, resulting in tendinopathy (a broad term used for tendon pain). You might have heard these problems given other names depending on where they are felt, some of these include: trochanteric bursitis / gluteus medius tendinopathy (outer hip), Achilles tendinopathy / tendonitis, plantar fasciitis (bottom of foot/ heel...
