Joclyn Villegas, Author at Sportavida

Monitoring Training Load: What Tool is Best? Part 2

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Monitoring Training Load: What Tool is Best? Part 2

By Joclyn Villegas|2020-10-28T09:04:58-05:00October 28th, 2020|Athlete Monitoring, Fatigue, Fitness, Injury, Training Load|

An international conference was held in 2016, where athletic experts and researchers discussed their findings related to training load. A collective review discussed the pros and cons of key findings shared at the conference. Here, as well as in Part 1, we will review tools and measures commonly used to monitor athlete training loads. Fitness-Fatigue Model The fitness-fatigue model is used to analyze training load information (2). This method is used to advise training plans (8) and predict performance, fitness and fatigue levels (29, 30, 34, 37). The initial fitness-fatigue model suggests training loads give rise to fitness responses which [...]

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How Does Fatigue Affect Your Kicking Performance?

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How Does Fatigue Affect Your Kicking Performance?

By Joclyn Villegas|2020-10-28T08:58:30-05:00October 28th, 2020|Fatigue, Kicking Performance, Lifestyle, Overuse, Soccer|

Fatigue can be considered as a contributing factor for reduced coordination and response time in soccer athletes (8, 11, 13). Generally, the negative effects of fatigue are shown in athlete's decline in muscle strength ability and shifts in coordination (8, 9, 14). These negative changes can impact an athlete's kicking performance (5) and can be costly to both the individual and their team. Several studies have suggested fatigue negatively impacts kicking ball velocity (3, 4, 8, 15). However, other studies have shown conflicting results. A 2009 study found after a simulated match play intervention, athletes showed no changes in kicking [...]

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Monitoring Training Load: What Tool is Best? Part 1

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Monitoring Training Load: What Tool is Best? Part 1

By Joclyn Villegas|2020-05-20T16:55:51-05:00May 20th, 2020|Athlete Monitoring, Performance models, Sports, Training Load|

Athletic testing has become a vital part of the sports community. Monitoring an athlete's performance allows individuals and coaches to assess how the body is handling training and competition. When it comes to deciding which tools and models to utilize for monitoring training load - individuals are faced with a multitude of options. But which one is the best? A sport-science conference, "Monitoring Athlete Training Loads ⏤ The Hows and the Whys", was held in 2016 where experts came together to discuss and share research on modes of athlete training (4). A group of researchers gathered the key findings discussed [...]

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Kinesio Tape: What Does the Science Say?

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Kinesio Tape: What Does the Science Say?

By Joclyn Villegas|2020-05-18T08:53:06-05:00May 18th, 2020|Athletic treatments, Fitness, Health, Injury|

Kinesio tape was invented by Dr. Kenso Kase. It is an elastic therapeutic tape commonly used for athletic injuries, orthopedic, neuromuscular, and medical conditions (9). Kinesio tape gained wide popularity after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where athletes were seen wearing the tape during the games (12). The tape itself can stretch 120-140% of its original length (3) and contract back to its original size (7, 8). Kinesio tape is widely used in athletics as a tool to improve performance (9, 15). It has also been utilized to improve physical activity capacity in healthy adults (15). Research has suggested benefits of [...]

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Full-Time And Part-Time Dancers: How They are at Risk for Injury

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Full-Time And Part-Time Dancers: How They are at Risk for Injury

By Joclyn Villegas|2020-04-29T10:02:27-05:00April 29th, 2020|Dance, Fatigue, Health, Injury, Overuse|

Dancers have a very unique career, in that their body significantly directs their career path. Professional dancers place a significant amount of physical and mental stress on their body due to the demands of their career. With classes, rehearsal, performances, tours and competitions, it is no surprise there is a high prevalence of injury among the dance community (5, 20). In fact, the incorporation of strong artistic (5), aesthetic (4) and perfectionistic (13, 14) components contribute to a unique distribution and risk of injury in dancers (20). However, while risk assessment of full-time professional dancers has been well evaluated, part-time [...]

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Breathing Problems in Swimmers: The Effect of Training & Your Psyche

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Breathing Problems in Swimmers: The Effect of Training & Your Psyche

By Joclyn Villegas|2020-04-14T18:00:31-05:00April 14th, 2020|Fitness, Health, Lifestyle, Overuse, Swimming|

I hope this blog finds you well and healthy! Though COVID-19 continues to impact the world, it is encouraging to see society come together in order to overcome this trial as quickly as possible. With COVID-19 having a great impact on the lungs, people may be wondering about the health and vulnerability of their own lungs - especially athletes. Elite endurance athletes experience a high prevalence of exercise induced asthma (EIA) and bronchial hyper responsiveness (BHR) (7, 8, 10, 11, 15). Exercise induced asthma is caused by airflow obstruction or narrowing of the airway which can be caused by increased [...]

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Baseball & Nordic exercises: Preventing Injury

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Baseball & Nordic exercises: Preventing Injury

By Joclyn Villegas|2020-02-27T10:41:10-05:00February 27th, 2020|Baseball, Fitness, Injury|

A healthy team is a happy team - and financially stable. That is to say, athletes don't want to be missing days on the field or put on the disabled list because of an injury. An injured player not only costs the team money, but also the player. The second leading cause for being placed on the disabled list for field position players is hamstring injuries (6, 9). They are also the fourth leading cause for all players (6, 9). A 2004 study stated during the late-swing phase of the gait cycle, the hamstring muscle group is maximally loaded and [...]

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Youth Athletes: Is Their Fatigue Risking an ACL Injury?

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Youth Athletes: Is Their Fatigue Risking an ACL Injury?

By Joclyn Villegas|2020-02-25T13:15:47-05:00February 25th, 2020|Fatigue, Fitness, Injury, Sports|

Whether our youth athletes compete for fun or intend on becoming professionals, we enjoy having them participate in sport activities. Their enjoyment, as well as their safety, are our highest priorities. That being said, there are thousands of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries every year and most of them are for high school athletes (5). How can this be? A 2005 study (6) found an increased risk for ACL injuries correlated with increased knee valgus. Dynamic knee valgus is when the knee "caves in" due to hip adduction and hip internal rotation. Studies have also related increased risk of dynamic [...]

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Overuse in Baseball. How to Catch it Ahead of Time.

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Overuse in Baseball. How to Catch it Ahead of Time.

By Joclyn Villegas|2020-02-18T11:56:41-05:00February 18th, 2020|Baseball, Fitness, Injury, Overuse, Sports|

An athlete performs their best when their body is at its best. Therefore, protecting the athlete from overuse injury is (or should be) a primary concern in sports. For baseball players, monitoring the arm is a big deal. Baseball players, especially pitchers, can put their arms through the ringer with repetitive and forceful throwing motions. The stress of repeated throwing can cause microtrauma in soft-tissue structures. This puts players at risk for chronic injury (1-4) and excessive stretching of the soft-tissue. Chronic stretching of the anterior capsule and tightening of the posterior capsule can lead to trauma creating instability and [...]

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Women Athletics: How Your Sport Affects Your Bone Health

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Women Athletics: How Your Sport Affects Your Bone Health

By Joclyn Villegas|2020-02-03T09:29:53-05:00February 3rd, 2020|Baseball, Basketball, Health, Sports, Swimming, Track, Volleyball|

Studies suggest women athletics influences change in bone and body composition (3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13). Furthermore, these changes may be sport-specific (2-5, 8, 10, 11, 13). Every sport has different approaches to training because each sport has different physical requirements and performance needs (2, 5, 8, 11, 13, 14). Significant differences have been found in total body bone mineral density (BMD) among sports (2). BMD has been associated with sport-specific mechanical loading, bone strain, total body mass and lean mass (1, 3-5, 10, 11, 14). Weight-bearing physical activities, such as sports, are noted to promote bone density (1-3, [...]

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