Sports Science

Ulnar collateral ligament (UCLR) reconstruction surgery, called "Tommy John Surgery" after the New York Yankees pitcher who made it famous in 1974, is now a common procedure for Major League Baseball pitchers after they get a damaged or torn ulnar collateral ligament. It has been a boon for athletes. It had once been a career-ending injury but John pitched for 14 more years and racked up 164 more victories. But it has limits, according to a new study, namely in athletes who have it twice. UCL in the elbow. Credit: University of Utah. Major League Baseball pitchers who underwent a second Tommy…

By Chris Gorski Inside Science Currents Blog -- It's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament time and fans have lots of questions. Will Kentucky win it all and finish the season undefeated? Will one of the "First Four" – the teams that begin tournament play on Tuesday night – become a Cinderella story during this year's March Madness games? What's the best selection method for a pool-winning bracket? Well, the tournament comes just once a year. If you were betting on a computer simulation of the tournament that was run 1,000 times, then the probabilities would bear out, and the strongest method for…

An Australian study found certain elite athletes were more at risk of taking drugs than others. Credit: Lee Morley, CC BY-NC-ND There’s a widespread public perception that substance use is rife among Australian athletes. Whenever I tell people I research substance use among athletes, the most common response is: “They’re all on it.” But that perception is not backed up by the facts. Amid the headlines about cocaine in football, it’s worth looking at what research has revealed about drugs and elite athletes in Australian and overseas. What the official drug testers have found The Australian…

Amateur athletes are competitive and they are always looking for an advantage even if it isn't their careers, so it is no surprise that supplement stores are filled with promises of gains. Nitrate supplements, claiming to  improve the efficiency at which muscles use oxygen, have been popular for years, but do they work?  A new study says they may increase performance--they decrease the viscosity of blood, aiding in blood flow, while at the same time ensuring that tissue oxygen requirements are not compromised.  Researchers investigated the effects of nitrate supplementation on…

Like sports, want to play into old age without the injury risk? Walking football - or basketball, or lots of other things - might be the answer. Football - soccer in the United States - is running and kicking. If you change the running to walking, the skill is the same but the injury risk is reduced. Although coaches have long forced players to walk, the same way guitar teachers force players to play a fast piece slowly, as a popular movement Walking Football began in 2011, as a way  to help keep older players involved in football for longer. Players can walk, they can even walk…

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman gets called a lot of things. He calls himself the greatest cornerback in the NFL (and Seattle fans tend to agree). Sportswriters and some other players call him a loudmouth and a showboater. Fans of other teams call him a lot of things that shouldn’t see print (even on the Internet). One thing you’re not likely to hear anyone on ESPN call Sherman, though, is “scientist.” And yet, an elite professional athlete like Richard Sherman is, in fact, extremely adept at doing science. Not the white-lab-coat, equations-on-a-blackboard sort of science, but…

The Patriots ran away with the AFC Championship. What did deflated footballs have to do with it? USA Today Sports / Reuters By Chad Orzel, Union College News reports say that 11 of the 12 game balls used by the New England Patriots in their AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts were deflated, showing about 2 pounds per square inch (psi) less pressure than the 13 psi required by the rules, so it seems that the most bizarre sports scandal of recent memory is real. But there are still plenty of questions: why would a team deflate footballs? Could there be another explanation? And…

Beet juice is a fad in sports optimization because it is rich in nitrates, but does it work?  It has some value, though it does not enhance muscle blood flow or vascular dilation during exercise, as commonly claimed. It does "de-stiffen" blood vessels under resting conditions, potentially easing the workload of the heart.  Endurance athletes have been drinking beet juice based on the belief that it may improve blood and oxygen flow in their muscles during training and competition. Some strength and power athletes consume it in hopes that it can improve their ability to…

Nightwatchman Nathan Lyon bowled by Mohammed Sharmi last week. AAP/ David Mariuz By Tim Trudgian, Australian National University Imagine you are captain of the national cricket team. With 20 minutes left in day one of a test match, your top-order batsman is dismissed. Do you employ a nightwatchman? That is, do you send in a tail-end batsman to see out the bowling until the end of the day’s play and protect your top-order? Well, a little bit of math can show you that you shouldn't. Let’s a have a look at the first Test between Australia and India this summer, which played out last week. With…

Many people addicted to prescription medications do not think that they have a problem. These addictions often begin as an injury. Few realize how quickly dependency can spiral out of control. NFL injuries are treated with pain medications by team doctors. Are the players being responsibly medicated? Are they treated in ways that are for their benefit or in the team’s best interest?  Are the ways they are being treated for pain creating problems with addiction for which the NFL will not take responsibility? Former Buffalo Bills linebacker Darryl Talley claims: “When you’re done playing,…