A living library of sports & fitness training science.
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202 results
Anatomy and Biomechanics of the Deltoid Ligament Complex in Healthy Ankles: Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.NEW
Nguyen L, Bryant AL, Starkey SC, Rowe PL, Kent A, Killen BA et al. · 2026
This is a protocol paper — a published plan for an upcoming systematic review and meta-analysis on the anatomy and mechanical properties of the deltoid (inner) ankle ligament complex in healthy adults. It outlines the databases, inclusion criteria and outcomes (ligament band prev...
Effectiveness of Whole-Body Vibration Therapy on Handgrip Strength: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.NEW
Labarrere JD, de Oliveira RG, de Campos Pessoa AL, Sá-Caputo DC, Bernardo-Filho M, de Oliveira LP. · 2026
Researchers pooled 34 randomized trials (1,272 people) to see whether standing on a vibrating platform improves handgrip strength. One-off vibration sessions had no effect, and long-term vibration training showed only a small benefit that disappeared when poor-quality studies wer...
Inter-Set Blood-Flow Restriction Increases Peripheral Physiological Stress While Preserving Repeated-Sprint Mechanical Output in Trained Athletes.NEW
Zheng T, Jiang L, Chen Y, Bao D, Girard O. · 2026
Researchers had 26 national-level male badminton players do repeated 5-second cycling sprints, applying blood-flow restriction cuffs (or a sham low-pressure cuff) to the legs during the rest periods between sets. Sprint power was unaffected by the cuffs, but BFR lowered muscle ox...
Sport-Specific Factors and Values Leading to Normalisation of Disordered Eating Behaviours in Elite Sport: A Scoping Review.
Mercado D, Howe O, Claes L, Camporesi S. · 2026
This scoping review pulled together 128 studies on how disordered eating gets treated as normal in elite sport. It found that disordered eating sits on a continuum from 'functional' diet practices to illness, with risk spiking around season phases, injury and team selection, and ...
A Biopsychosocial Model of Athlete Performance: Integrating Psychological Skills, Coaching Competence, Nutritional Readiness and Well-Being Among Nigerian University Athletes
D. C. Ochor, A.N. Amasiatu, B. O. Nwanesi, R. E. Jonathan, S. Igoh · 2026
Researchers surveyed 149 university athletes in Nigeria to see how psychological skills, coaching quality, nutritional readiness and general well-being related to their self-reported competitive performance. Together these four factors explained about 61% of the differences in pe...
Ankle muscle strength, joint hypermobility, and foot posture in children aged 5–10 years: A cross-sectional study
Carlos Martínez-Sebastián, Mari Carmen Carrasco De La Fuente, Gabriel Gijón-Noguerón, Álvaro Gómez‐Carrión, Laura Ramos‐Petersen, Angela Evans · 2026
Researchers measured foot posture, joint flexibility/hypermobility, ankle dorsiflexion range, and ankle strength in 196 healthy children aged 5-10 to see how these traits relate. They found ankle strength was not associated with foot posture, ankle dorsiflexion range, or general ...
Effects of creatine on strength, muscle mass, post-exercise recovery and anaerobic capacity in women - literature review
Julia Tesyna, Karolina Kubala, Aleksandra Obszańska, Jakub Tomczyszyn, Melania Czapla, Kamil Marchlik · 2026
This narrative review pulled together studies from the past 18 years on creatine supplementation in women, including active women, athletes, and older women doing resistance or high-intensity training. The authors conclude that creatine appears to help muscle strength and anaerob...
Functional movement screen scores and injury prevalence among collegiate basketball players: a cross-sectional analysis
Yi Cai, Xinyi Yang · 2026
Researchers tested 59 Chinese college basketball players with the seven-part Functional Movement Screen and asked about injuries over the past year, where 45.8% reported an injury. Injured players scored lower on the FMS (14.07 vs 15.44), those scoring 14 or below had about tripl...
Impact of Combined Core Strength, Balance and Visual Skill Training on Selected Skill-Related Physical Fitness and Performance Variables of School-Level Badminton Players in Tirupathur District: A Quasi-Experimental Study
S. Pradeepraj, S. Glady Kirubakar · 2026
Researchers gave school-age badminton players in Tamil Nadu a 12-week programme combining core strength, balance, and visual (eye-tracking/coordination) training, then compared them with players doing their usual training. The trained group showed greater gains in agility, dynami...
Infrared thermography-monitored recovery of anterior cruciate ligament rupture in a professional soccer player: A case study
Dailson Paulucio, Igor Mattos, Caleb Santos, Gustavo Monnerat, Manoel Coutinho, João Grangeiro et al. · 2026
Researchers used infrared thermography (a camera that measures skin temperature) to track one professional soccer player's knee from before an ACL tear through three months after reconstruction surgery, comparing temperature differences between the injured and healthy knee. The t...
Injury prevention and athlete health-risk management in freestyle wrestling: a scoping review of direct and transferable evidence
Haolin Wang, Lulu Guo · 2026
This scoping review gathered research published since 2021 on preventing injuries and managing health risks in freestyle and other Olympic-style wrestling, separating wrestling-specific studies from related evidence borrowed from other contexts. It found only 18 wrestling-specifi...
LOW-RESISTANCE TRAINING AS A CATALYST FOR ENHANCING MUSCULAR ENDURANCE IN YOUNG-OLDER MALE ADULTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR ACTIVE AGEING.
A.A. Damuesh, E. A. Gunen, J. N. Bakdima, G. C Isaiah, N. N Gomos · 2026
Researchers had 16 men aged 60-69 in Nigeria do resistance training twice a week for 12 weeks at a light load, starting at 25% of their one-rep max and stepping up to 35% and then 45%. Muscular endurance improved significantly, with further gains measured at each 4-week checkpoin...
Musculoskeletal Pain in Unsupervised Gym-Goers: Prevalence and Anatomical Distribution
Tejal Pardeshi, Nikhil Bhoye · 2026
Researchers surveyed 100 regular gym-goers aged 18-30 who trained 4-5 days a week without a personal trainer, using a standard questionnaire to ask where they had musculoskeletal pain. 92% reported pain in at least one body region, most often the lower back (36%), shoulder (24%),...
A common WBGT limit activates unequally across Grand Slam tennis venues because dry heat suppresses the wet-bulb term
Serafín Corral Quintana, Francisco Armas, Alejandro Herrera, Emilio Bonal · 2026
Researchers used a decade of hourly weather data to calculate wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) at the four tennis Grand Slam venues and check whether the same WBGT heat-policy thresholds get triggered equally. They found they don't: the very hot but dry Australian Open never hit...
Acute effects of the 1-minute sit-to-stand test (STST) on immune-metabolic stress indices
Wiebke Röhr, Rebecca Simon, S. Kirschke, Isabell S. von Loga, David Putrino, Wilhelm Bloch et al. · 2026
Researchers had 28 healthy adults do a 1-minute sit-to-stand test and took fingertip blood samples before, right after, and for 45 minutes afterward to track lactate, glucose, and immune cell counts. The single minute of effort pushed lactate above the anaerobic threshold (>4 mmo...
Agreement and reliability of force-plate, smartphone-based, and wearable-sensor countermovement jump assessments for neuromuscular monitoring in male professional volleyball players
Bartosz Wilczyński, Tymon Środa, Mateusz Sikorski, Mariola Gepfert, Jakub Jarosz, Katarzyna Zorena · 2026
Researchers had 20 professional male volleyball players perform two-leg and single-leg countermovement jumps measured at the same time by force plates (VALD), a smartphone app (MyJump Lab 3), and a wearable sensor (Baiobit), then repeated testing 12 days later. The smartphone app...
Association Between Core Endurance , Flexibility and Balance and their Interrelationship among Bharatanatyam Dancers: A Rapid Review
Archana P(PT), Yashaswini M · 2026
This rapid review gathered existing studies on core endurance, flexibility, and balance in Bharatanatyam dancers, an Indian classical dance form demanding strength, stability, and range of motion. The reviewed studies suggest dancers outperform non-dancers on these measures and t...
Association between Somatotype Characteristics and Changes in Body Fat Percentage Following Exercise Intervention Among Overweight Adults
Elvis Onyango Okoth, Jane Kamau, Edwin Boit · 2026
Researchers put 42 overweight and obese adults into one of two 12-week exercise weight-loss programs, grouping them by body type (somatotype) using the Heath-Carter method and tracking body fat with bioelectrical impedance. Neither body type nor which program people did significa...
Auditory-cued terminal knee extension enhances vastus medialis motor unit function in the early phase following ACL reconstruction: a randomized controlled trial
Sakda Nitkotom, Pisit Lertwanich, Pongthanayos Kiratisin, Poramate Suntornon, Ainthira Sonsukong, Patitta Rangsiyanon et al. · 2026
Researchers tested whether adding a rhythmic auditory cue (like a beep to time each rep) to terminal knee extension exercises changed inner-quad (vastus medialis) nerve-muscle activity in people two weeks after ACL reconstruction. In the 20 participants analyzed, the cued group s...
Autonomic Nervous System Responses to Rest and Exertion Following Concussion (the Measuring ANSWERS Study): Protocol for a 2-Aim Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Observational Study
Wesley R. Cole, Aidan E Finegan, Adam W. Kiefer, Aaron M. Sinnott, Meredith Mann, Baiming Zou et al. · 2026
This is a study protocol (plan), not results: researchers describe how they will measure autonomic nervous system function \and ppillary light reflex, at rest and after exertion in military service members and college club athletes with and without concussion history. It also fol...
Carbon monoxide and other “tricks” in sports: does the winner take it all?
Ilkka H. A. Heinonen · 2026
This is an opinion piece, not an experiment: it uses the trend of athletes repeatedly inhaling carbon monoxide (and using simulated-altitude hypoxia) as an example of risky shortcuts chased in elite sport. The author notes CO inhalation has been banned by cycling's governing body...
Changes in ACL T2* Metrics Over the Course of the Female Menstrual Cycle: A New Biomarker for the ACL Injury Risk?
Argentieri E, Hamilton TW, Koff MF, Koch KM, Potter HG. · 2026
Researchers used a specialized MRI technique to scan the ACL of 25 women four times across a month, comparing 10 women with normal ovulatory cycles to 15 women who weren't ovulating (postmenopausal or on oral contraceptives). Women with normal cycles showed a significant change i...
Clinical Limitations of Oral Contraceptives in the Management of Functional Hypothalamic Amenorrhea in Female Athletes
Magdalena Markiewicz-Zahorski, Julia Jaszczyńska, Filip Kęska, Zoja Goti, Zofia Łubniewska, Jan Damian et al. · 2026
This review examined whether birth control pills are a good way to protect bone health in female athletes who have lost their periods due to low energy availability (functional hypothalamic amenorrhea). It reports that the pill creates a withdrawal bleed without actually restorin...
Correction: Biomechanical coordination and variability alters following repetitive movement fatigue in overhead athletes with painful shoulder.
Sheikhhoseini R, Abdollahi S, Salsali M, Anbarian M. · 2026
This is a correction notice for a published paper on how fatigue from repetitive overhead movement changes shoulder coordination and movement variability in overhead athletes with shoulder pain. No abstract or results are available, so the study's findings can't be summarized her...
Crianças praticantes de artes marciais possuem melhor coordenação motora, atenção e função executiva
Rafaello Pinheiro Mazzoccante, Leonardo Costa Pereira, Hugo de Luca Corrêa, Pedro da Silva Lima, José Luiz Queiroz · 2026
Researchers compared 51 children aged 7-11 in Brasília, 23 who trained in martial arts and 28 who did other sports, using tests of body composition, motor coordination (KTK), attention, and cognitive flexibility (Trail Making A/B). The martial arts group showed better motor coord...
Developing a method for assessing and promoting paramedics' physical capacity: Part I - Physically most strenuous work tasks and physical strain of Finnish paramedics on 12-hour day shifts
Janne Halonen, Pihla Säynäjäkangas, Sirpa Lusa, Juha Oksa, Satu Mänttäri, Anne Punakallio · 2026
This is the first part of a Finnish research project aiming to develop a way to assess and improve paramedics' physical fitness, focusing on the most physically demanding tasks and the strain experienced during 12-hour day shifts. No abstract was available, so the study's methods...
Effect Of Fatigue Mitigation On Kicking Precision During Penalty Shootout In Soccer
Timothy Mensah, Monday Omoniyi Moses, John Elvis Hagan · 2026
Researchers tested whether refuelling during a match protects penalty-kick accuracy: 20 elite young male players played 120 minutes, with one group given a rice-stew-fish meal (4 g/kg body mass) plus a glucose-fructose electrolyte drink (1.2 g/kg) and the other not. The fed group...
Effective Playing Time in Women’s Collegiate Volleyball
Başak Acun, A. Tunca Akçaoğlu, Mustafa Söğüt · 2026
Researchers tracked 14 women's collegiate volleyball matches (49 sets, over 2,000 points) to measure how much of a match is actual play versus rest, plus rally length, touches, and work-to-rest ratios. Effective playing time was significantly higher in the third and fourth sets t...
Effects of plyometric and core training on swimming performance in prepubescent swimmers
Cemhan Apaydın, Ercüment Erdoğan · 2026
Researchers had 30 prepubescent swimmers do eight weeks of land-based training on top of their normal pool work: one group did plyometrics, one did plyometrics plus core work, and one just swam as usual. Both training groups improved sprint times at 15 m, 25 m, and 50 m in all fo...
Evaluación de carbohidratos sobre la hipertrofia muscular inducida por el entrenamiento de fuerza: una revisión narrativa de la evidencia científica
Yared Hernández Herández, José Alberto Ariza‐Ortega, Nelly del Socorro Cruz‐Cansino · 2026
This narrative review pooled 15 studies to ask whether eating carbohydrates directly drives muscle growth from lifting weights. It concluded that when protein and total calories are adequate, extra carbs don't independently boost muscle protein synthesis or mass, since that proce...
Evaluation of GFAP, UCH-L1 and S100B Blood Biomarkers for the Management of Sports-Related Concussion in Professional Rugby Players: A Prospective Observational Study
Charlotte Oris, Rémi Gaulmin, Julie Durif, Vincent Goddelière, Bruno Pereira, Damien Bouvier et al. · 2026
Researchers tracked 68 elite French rugby players over two seasons, measuring three brain-injury blood markers (GFAP, UCH-L1, S100B) at baseline, after matches, and after 23 suspected concussions. S100B and UCH-L1 rose 2 hours after normal matches in line with how many contacts a...
Exercise modalities for overall and domain-specific balance performance in older adults: A systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis.
Wang J, Guo S, Yang Y, Liang Y, Guo C, Cheng Y et al. · 2026
Researchers pooled 423 randomised trials covering nearly 34,000 adults aged 60+ to compare 19 types of exercise for improving balance. Almost every modality beat doing nothing (stretching was the exception), with perturbation training, sensory training, dance and agility stepping...
Exploratory proteomic biomarker combinations associated with post-concussion symptoms following a concussion in adolescents
Jessica Gill, Arum Lim, Emily Dennis, Kevin Bickart, Sijung Yun, Joseph Yun et al. · 2026
Researchers took blood samples from 155 concussed adolescents 7 to 35 days after injury and checked whether protein markers could predict who would still have significant symptoms three months later. The well-known brain injury markers (GFAP, NFL, UCH-L1, tau, p-tau) showed no di...
Gut microbiome and functional adaptations to paleo and rational diets in professional athletes: a pilot study
Aleksandra Pięta, Kinga Zielińska, Kinga Humińska-Lisowska, Barbara Frączek · 2026
Ten professional male handball players were randomly assigned to eat either a Paleo diet or a conventional ("rational") diet of equal calories for 8 weeks, with stool samples analyzed at the start, 4 weeks and 8 weeks to track gut bacteria. Neither diet substantially changed the ...
Implementation Challenges and Enablers of Wearable Health Technologies in Physiotherapy Among English-Speaking Participants in India: A Qualitative Study
Divya Sharma, Franz Hessel, Vaibhavi Dargude · 2026
Researchers surveyed 62 practicing physiotherapists in India (via an English-language online questionnaire) about what helps or hinders using wearable health devices like activity and movement trackers in clinical practice. Therapists saw real potential for wearables to improve c...
Lean mass development trajectories in children and adolescents and their associations with musculoskeletal health in emerging adulthood
M. Marques, F. Baptista, O Rysavý, C. Pendleton, S. M. Levy, K. F. Janz · 2026
Researchers tracked 323 people from age 8 to 23, sorting them into low, average, or high lean (muscle) mass trajectories based on repeated body scans, then measured their bone and muscle health at age 23. Those who consistently carried more limb lean mass ended up with denser bon...
Partial Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Tears in Adolescents: Are We Overtreating Them or Underestimating Who Should Not Wait?
Gonzalez Almonacid J. · 2026
This review examines how doctors decide whether adolescents with partial ACL tears need surgery or can rehab conservatively. It reports that roughly 25-39% of teens treated without surgery in observational studies go on to develop knee instability or need delayed reconstruction, ...
Peroneal Reaction-Time Demonstrates a Greater Influence Than Peroneal Muscle Strength on Lateral Ankle Ligament Strain in People With Chronic Ankle Instability.
Zhang X, Wang Q, Zhu X, Cao Y, Li J, Ran W et al. · 2026
Researchers compared 35 people with chronic ankle instability to 35 without, measuring how fast their peroneal (outer-shin) muscles react to a sudden ankle tilt, how strong those muscles are, and how much strain their lateral ankle ligaments took during a drop landing. Slower rea...
Predicting athletic performance in track and field athletes based on wearable physiological and psychological indicators: an interpretable machine learning study
Pengfei Zhang · 2026
Researchers tracked 132 track-and-field athletes for about 14 weeks, using wearable data (heart rate variability, resting heart rate, sleep, training load) plus psychological measures (anxiety, self-efficacy) to predict how each athlete's performance would change the following we...
Preferences of Female Triathletes and Their Coaches for Education on REDs: A Qualitative Study
Penny Slater, Naroa Etxebarria, Michelle Minehan, A. Fearon · 2026
Researchers interviewed 12 female triathletes and 8 coaches about how they learn about Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) and what education formats they prefer. Both groups were keen to learn more, but the sport's ingrained 'leaner is faster' culture and reluctance to ch...
Prospective associations of tea consumption with skeletal muscle mass and strength: Insights from the gut microbiome and proteomics
Zhen Hong, Zilong Lu, Ruiqi Shi, Siting Zheng, Jieling Luo, Ju Chen et al. · 2026
Researchers followed about 3,400 adults for roughly 12 years, tracking how often they drank tea (plus blood markers of tea compounds called flavan-3-ols) alongside repeated scans of muscle mass and grip strength tests. People who drank tea more often, and those with higher blood ...
Proteomic analysis of human chronic traumatic encephalopathy brain implicates proteasome and ribosome dysfunction in disease severity
Helen E. Pennington, Dillon Shapiro, Jenny Empawi, Nurgül Aytan, V. E. Alvarez, Jessie Mez et al. · 2026
Researchers measured about 7,000 proteins in 204 donated brain samples from the Boston University CTE Center Brain Bank to see which molecular changes track with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, tau pathology, dementia, and years of contact sport play. They found that proteasome...
Run Smart, Run Strong: Exploring the Role of Physiotherapy in Running Load Management and Injury Prevention Among Recreational Runners
Ruchita Handore, Aditi Davane, Shashwat Joshi, Priyanranjan Chaudhary · 2026
This narrative review pulled together six randomized trials on recreational runners to see whether physiotherapy-style exercise and smarter training-load management reduce running injuries and improve performance. It reported that a multi-component exercise programme cut overall ...
Technopreneurial Physical Education Model Integrating South Sumatran Traditional Games
Bambang Hermansah, Heny Setyawati, Nasuka Nasuka, Donny Wira Yudha Kusuma, Bambang Priyono, Stuart Jakson · 2026
Researchers built and tested a physical education program for elementary school students in South Sumatra, Indonesia, that runs traditional local games as circuit-style activities with a structured warm-up, core, and reflection format. After field testing with pretest-posttest me...
The association between a body shape index and cardiorespiratory fitness among adolescents in rural China: a sex-specific cross-sectional study
Chaogong Zeng, Chengjun Chai, Jiali Xu, Mian Sha, Jian Xin · 2026
Researchers measured height, weight, waist circumference and 20-metre shuttle run performance in nearly 19,000 rural Chinese adolescents aged 6-17 to see how body shape (a body shape index, ABSI, which combines waist size with height and weight) relates to cardiorespiratory fitne...
The influence of high-intensity interval training on the development of speed strength abilities in 16-17-year-old taekwondo athletes
Pavlova Kamila Nikolaevna · 2026
Researchers tested whether a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) program could improve speed-strength (explosive power) in 20 competitive taekwondo athletes aged 16-17, split into a control group and an experimental group that followed a custom HIIT program mixing speed-stren...
The relationship between mental toughness, stress, and mindfulness in climbers
Hulusi Alp, Reha Bozgüney, İbrahim Kubilay Türkay, Görkem Turaç, Zeynep Senem Söyleyici Öcal, Didem YAZAR et al. · 2026
Researchers surveyed 150 active climbers to see how mental toughness, mindfulness, and perceived stress relate to one another. Climbers who scored higher on mental toughness and mindfulness reported lower stress, and mindfulness amplified the stress-lowering effect of mental toug...
The Role of Aquatic Training in Improving Risk of Falls in Older Adults: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression.
Reichert T, Silva LL, Freitas AKF, Cadore EL, Costa RR. · 2026
Researchers pooled 31 clinical trials (1,702 older adults) to see whether water-based exercise reduces fall risk factors like balance, strength, and walking ability, compared with doing nothing or with land-based training. Aquatic training produced large improvements in balance a...
VR/AR Immersive Training in Dragon and Lion Dance Teaching in Colleges and Universities
Tingting Cai · 2026
Researchers built a VR/AR immersive training system, paired with UWB/IMU motion tracking, to teach dragon and lion dance in universities and to measure team coordination that is normally hard to quantify. The experimental group's coordination efficiency scores on complex movement...
Altered kinematics and muscle activities during half squats in people with ankle sprain history
Umi Matsumura, Toshiya Tsurusaki, Rena Ogusu, Shimpei Yamamoto, Yeonghee Lee, Shinya Sunagawa et al. · 2026
Researchers compared 10 physically active people who had recovered well from an ankle sprain ("copers") with 10 people who had never sprained an ankle, measuring joint angles and muscle activity during half squats and walking. During half squats, the copers showed less thigh rota...