STRONG hold

Research Group focussing on Strength, Conditioning and Rehabilitation in Sport.

Overview

Research in this programme seeks to investigate the biomechanical, physiological, psychological and nutritional factors that influence human performance and injury risk in able-bodied and disabled sporting populations. The research programme has a translational outlook, it spans from cellular level investigations examining the properties and adaptations of muscle and tendon through to whole body applications in professional and elite sport.
A number of staff working within this research programme also hold prestigious positions working with the English Institute of Sport, UK Athletics, GB Women’s Basketball, England Bowls and Salford City Reds RLFC and consequently are able to influence practice and policy. Staff are members of professional bodies including BASES, BASRaT, CSP, UKSCA and sit on several editorial boards for national and international journals.

Research Themes

There are 3 established themes with several lines of enquiry within each:

  • Muscle-Tendon Properties

  • Sports Performance

  • Sports Injury & Screening

Muscle - Tendon Properties

Muscle and tendon have specific interest as they are intimately linked to aspects of function from normal everyday activities to athletic performance.  Factors which can affect muscle and tendon include ageing, training and disease.  This work is translational in that it spreads across the spectrum from cellular level to whole body.

The main lines of enquiry for this theme are:

  • Application of tracking algorithm to tendon properties

  • Methodological aspects of tendon mechanical properties measurement

  • EPA/TNFα dosing in muscle cells responses and signalling pathways

  • Ageing/training responses in tendon

  • Ageing and supplementation in tendon

  • Tendon and gender.

Sports Performance

This theme has a major focus on biomechanics and strength & conditioning as a means to assess the technical demands of sports skills and evaluate the physical and physiological characteristics of athletes. The partnerships we have established with major sporting organizations enable us to conduct research on professional and elite level athletes, including evaluating the effect of specific training programmes. Such research has allowed us to determine what the most important predictors of performance are in several sports.

The main lines of enquiry within this section are:

  • Profiling the physical and physiological demands of sports and investigating their relationship to sports performance. (e.g. Athletics, Football, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Lacrosse )

  • The biomechanics of sports skills (kinetics, kinematics, muscle recruitment, plyometric intensity)

    • changing direction

    • athletic events

    • weightlifting and plyometric exercises

  • Assessment of eccentric strength qualities in functional performance

  • The effects of training modalities on force and power output

  • Effects of dietary and nutritional interventions on sports performance

  • Psychological interventions on strength and power development

  • Ergonomic evaluations of sports-specific shoes on appropriate shoe-surface interfaces

  • Biomechanical and physiological assessments in disability sport

Sports Injury and Screening

The purpose of this theme is to investigate the mechanisms of prevalent injuries within specific sports, to develop valid and reliable screening tests to assess these mechanisms and to ultimately to help prevent injuries.  The research has real currency as it builds on the associations staff have with sporting organizations such as the English Institute of Sport, GB Women’s Basketball, British Swimming, Sale Sharks RUFC, UK Athletics, Lancashire County Cricket Club and Salford Reds RLFC. The research focuses around injuries to the knee joint, shoulder joint and hamstrings, and investigates alignment, muscle imbalances, asymmetry, balance and proprioception.