Category: Knee ligaments

The study – published in Physiological reports — examined top football players for the first time and examined the impact of the long Covid-19 crisis on top athletes.

The study found that 77 percent of those studied battled general fatigue for 37 days and 54 percent battled muscle fatigue for 38 days after the test came back negative.

GPS data from ten matches after returning to play revealed a four percent drop in match performance, despite no reduction in lung capacity.

The research was led by Dr. Michele Girardi, who worked with the university’s School of Sport, Rehabilitation, and Exercise Sciences.

He hopes the research will help improve return-to-play protocols for sports stars recovering from the virus.

Dr. Girardi said: “This is one of the first studies to look at the impact of COVID-19 on professional footballers.

“An original aspect is that we studied the metabolic power of players during official matches after the infection.

“We were surprised to see such an impact on players’ ability to train at high intensity.

“The study results suggest that fatigue symptoms should be carefully considered for a safe and effective return to sport post-COVID.

“We were limited in who we could study, but the findings are cause for concern and show that more needs to be done to help players return to the sport.

“This research also has wider implications as footballers have been in a unique position during the ongoing pandemic and have almost been canaries in the coal mine.

“The football world was very unusual because when we all had to isolate ourselves from everyone, they continued to train, meet in groups and play.

“Much is still being learned about the impact of COVID-19 and we hope this research will help clubs support players’ return to play and help inform public health policy on long COVID-19.”

Dr. Girardi collaborated with colleagues in Italy to study players in the Italian Serie C league for the article entitled ‘COVID-19 illness in professional football players: symptoms and impact on lung function and metabolic power during matches’.

One anonymous club opened its doors to a team of researchers, including academics from the University of Padua, the University of Rome “Foro Italico”, the University of Verona and University College London.

Data from 13 players infected with COVID was studied over the course of about six months.

They had an average age of 24 years, were just under 6 feet tall and weighed about 12 stone.

It is now hoped that the research will be expanded with more teams taking part to understand the impact of the coronavirus.

Dr. Girardi added: “Although this is a relatively small sample size, this is crucial data that shows more needs to be done to understand the impact of COVID on young, healthy people.

“The virus has not disappeared and sports teams are high-risk environments that can act as real vectors for infections.”

Body checking experience and injury rates among ice hockey players aged 15-17 years.

Eliason PH, Hagel BE, Palacios-Derflingher L, Warriyar V, Bonfield S, Black AM, Mrazik M, Lebrun C, Emery CA. CMAJ. Jun 20, 2022;194(24):E834-E842. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.211718.

Full text freely available

Take home message

More experience with body checking was not associated with a decrease in the number of concussions or injuries in 15- to 7-year-old ice hockey players.

Background

Although body checking in ice hockey can lead to an increased risk of injury and health care costs, arguments remain that increasing a hockey player’s experience with body checking could protect him from injury.

Study aim

Eliason and colleagues completed a prospective cohort study to determine the association between body checking experience and rates of concussions and injuries in ice hockey players between 15 and 17 years old.

Methods

The researchers invited players from ice hockey leagues in three regions in Alberta, Canada, making body checks possible. All participants completed a baseline questionnaire before the season, which the authors used to estimate the number of years of body checking experience. Designated team members (e.g., manager) recorded each match as an exposure, an injury resulting in more than 7 days lost to hockey, and a concussion as defined in the Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport.

Results

A total of 186 teams (941 players with 1,168 player seasons) participated. Players with three or more years of bodychecking experience tended to sustain new injuries and concussions more than 2.5 times as often as players with two or fewer years of experience.

Viewpoints

Interestingly, having more experience was not associated with fewer injuries. These findings support the theory that more experience with body checking is not protective. Therefore, these findings support rule changes regarding the removal of body checks in youth ice hockey. It will be useful to see if these findings can be replicated in other age groups and populations. In the meantime, doctors, parents and players can use this data to advocate for rule changes to reduce body checks.

Clinical implications

Clinicians and stakeholders should advocate for fewer body checks to reduce injuries.

Questions for discussion

What experiences have you had with rules that limit contact in sports? What implementation barriers have you encountered?

Written by: Kyle Harris
Review by: Jeffrey Driban

related posts

Less body control may protect adolescent ice hockey players
Abolishing controls can have positive financial consequences
Cut out the dangerous checking… Check.

Publication of her findings in the peer-reviewed journal TemperatureDr. Shawnda Morrison, an environmental physiologist, states that while physical fitness is key to tolerating higher temperatures, children are heavier and less fit than ever before.

This could put them at greater risk for heat-related health problems, such as dehydration, heat cramps, heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

She says current climate change policies are failing to adequately address children’s health needs and that encouraging children to make physical activity part of their daily lives must be a priority if they are to cope life in a warmer world.

Dr. Morrison, from the Slovenian University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sports, is an expert in adaptive and integrative human physiology in extreme environments. She has more than 20 years of experience researching sports performance and exercise physiology, especially in warm environments.

Her ratings are based on a comprehensive review of more than 150 medical and scientific studies into how children stay physically active, exercise, cope with heat, and how this could change as global temperatures rise.

The research she highlights includes a study of 457 boys aged 5 to 12 years old in primary schools in Thailand, which found that overweight young people were more than twice as likely to have problems regulating their body temperature as young people who were overweight. normal weight when they exercised outdoors.

Using emergency room data from children’s hospitals in the US, another study found that attendance was higher during warmer days. Younger children in particular often required emergency care.

The research also found:

• The aerobic fitness of children is 30% lower than that of their parents at the same age.
• There has been a rapid decline in children’s physical activity worldwide, especially over the past thirty years
• Most children do not meet the World Health Organization guideline for an average of at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day.
• Physical inactivity increased, especially in Europe, during the Covid-19 pandemic, when schools and other social infrastructures were closed.

Rising temperatures can further limit physical activity when parents of children find the outdoor temperature “too hot for play,” making it more uncomfortable for untrained or unfit children to meet the minimum physical activity levels to stay healthy, says Dr. Morrison, who is also the founder of Active Healthy Kids Slovenia.

Higher temperatures and changes in weather patterns are also expected to lead to the outbreak of new diseases entering the human population. If more movement restrictions are introduced to contain emerging diseases, this will have potentially devastating consequences for children’s physical fitness, mental and physical health.

Dr. Morrison also points out that, in terms of thermoregulation – how the body maintains its internal or core temperature – young children are not simply smaller adults. When exposed to heat, children sweat less than adults; they lose heat by increasing blood flow to their skin – a process that requires the heart to work relatively harder.

Despite these differences, most research into how the body adapts to higher temperatures has been conducted in adults. The little mechanistic research that has been done in children was largely conducted 15 to 30 years ago, when children’s fitness was much higher than it is today.

Dr. Morrison concludes: ‘Fitter adults are better able to tolerate higher temperatures, thanks to a combination of physiological, behavioral and psychological factors.

“But now that the world is getting warmer, children have never been so fit. It is imperative that children are encouraged to exercise daily to build and maintain their fitness so that they enjoy moving their bodies. They don’t feel like doing ‘work’ or ‘a chore’.”

Activities can include a combination of structured games, such as football, basketball and baseball, and active play with friends and family, preferably outdoors.

Physical education classes taught by PE teachers are the best and most cost-effective way to increase fitness levels and equip children to continue exercising throughout their lives. Families also have a role to play, especially if schools offer little physical education.

Dr. Morrison says: “Do what you love, whether it’s a bike ride or rollerblading with the family, a walk in the woods or walking the dog.

“Make sure the activity gets everyone’s heart rate, enthusiasm and positive energy up and, most importantly, don’t try to avoid the heat completely, but choose times of the day that are less hot (mornings/evenings) to stay active , because we have to keep ourselves moving in this new warming world.”

As part of Dr. Morrison’s ongoing work, she wants to determine how physically active children and adults are during heat waves, and how hot, uncomfortable or thirsty they feel when performing these activities.

Diet quality of NCAA Division I athletes assessed by the Healthy Eating Index

Werner EN, Robinson CA, Kerver JM, Pivarnik JM. J Am Coll Health. 2022 May 27:1-7. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2022.2076102. E-publishing prior to printing. PMID: 35623046.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/

Take home message

Division I collegiate athletes reported poor diet quality.

Background

Collegiate athletes must balance a full course load with a rigorous training program. Therefore, priority should be given to promoting physical, cognitive and mental well-being. One way to promote academic and physical performance is by optimizing nutrition. However, we need a better understanding of the quality of their diets before we can offer nutrition education to collegiate athletes.

Study aim

The authors evaluated a sample of NCAA Division I college athletes to determine their nutritional intake and quality.

Methods

The researchers surveyed 94 college athletes (78% women, 19 different varsity teams) at a Division I university. The athletes completed the Automated Self-Administered 24-hour (ASA24) Dietary Assessment Tool between March and June 2020 – before returning to campus following the initial COVID-19 outbreak. The athletes completed information on the ASA24 regarding the foods consumed at each meal/snack, cooking methods, portion size and ingredients. They were also given prompts to review forgotten items. The athletes also answered a question about whether this day was the usual intake, less than normal or more than usual intake. The authors used these answers to calculate the Healthy Eating Index (HEI). The Healthy Eating Index is divided into 13 components to assess overall diet quality, including the adequacy of necessary nutrition (fruits, vegetables, proteins, fatty acids) and moderation of other foods (refined grains, added sugars, saturated fats). A total possible score is 100 (grade A > 90, grade B = 80-89, grade C = 70-79, grade D = 60-69, and grade G <50).

Results

Most athletes reported being from underclassmen (59%), majoring in a non-health field (65%), and taking some nutrition courses from high school or college (59%). Athletes typically competed in crew (25%), cross country (19%), soccer (11%), or swimming and diving (11%). Overall, men reported higher calorie intake (3299) than women (~2224). The mean Healthy Eating Index score was ~59 (range: 27-94). Only nine athletes (10%) scored 80 or better. The authors found no differences in diet quality by gender, class, field of study or sport.

Viewpoints

In general, athletes reported poor nutrition. Only nine athletes reported diets that received a B or higher. Therefore, most athletes do not meet the nutritional quality standards set in the Dietary Guidelines, let alone the nutritional recommendations for athletes. However, it is critical to assess whether these dietary patterns can be replicated in a larger sample of college athletes at different times during their collegiate careers (e.g., preseason, preseason, in-season, off-season). The authors focused on dietary patterns in this study when the athletes were off campus at a unique time due to the pandemic. It would also be useful for future researchers to examine individual nutritional needs, dietary/cooking autonomy, and socioeconomic barriers, which could help explain poor diet quality. Despite the challenges in generalizing these findings to other athletic populations, this study should raise awareness that we need to take a closer look at the nutrition of our athletes.

Clinical implications

Despite the challenges of applying these results to other athletic populations, clinicians should become more aware of the need to take a closer look at the nutrition of our athletes. We may need to work with nutritionists to develop educational interventions that discuss the best strategies for good nutrition at home and at school to optimize health and performance inside and outside the classroom.

Questions for discussion

Do you discuss and assess nutritional results with your athletes? If so, what do you use to educate your athletes, and what metrics do you use to assess quality?

related posts

1. Position Statement of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada and the American College of Sports Medicine: Nutrition and Athletic Performance
2. Sports Dietitians Australia position statement: Nutrition for exercise in hot environments
3. IOC consensus statement: nutritional supplements and the elite athlete

Written by: Jane McDevitt
Review by: Jeffrey Driban

The findings suggest that it is important for older adults to engage in leisure activities that they enjoy and can maintain, because many types of these activities can lower the risk of death, the authors wrote.

The findings will be published on August 24 JAMA network opened.

Using data from 272,550 adults between the ages of 59 and 82 who completed questionnaires about their leisure activities as part of the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, the researchers looked at whether they participated in equivalent amounts of seven different exercise and recreational activities. – which includes running, cycling, swimming, other aerobic exercise, racquet sports, golf and walking for exercise – was associated with a reduced risk of death.

The researchers found that achieving the recommended amount of physical activity per week through a combination of these activities was associated with a 13% lower risk of death from any cause, compared to not participating in these activities. When they looked at the role of each activity separately, playing racquet sports was associated with a 16% reduction in risk and running with a 15% reduction. However, all activities studied were similarly associated with a lower risk of death.

The second edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that adults engage in 2.5 to 5 hours of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity or 1.25 to 2.5 hours of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity each week.

The activity levels of the most active individuals (those who exceeded recommended levels of physical activity) were associated with an even greater reduction in the risk of death, but there were diminishing returns as activity levels increased. Even people who did some recreational activity, although less than the recommended amount, had a 5% reduction in the risk of death than those who did not participate in any of the activities studied.

These activities were also associated with a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer. Playing racquet sports was associated with the greatest reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease deaths (27% reduction), while running was associated with the greatest reduction in the risk of cancer deaths (19% reduction). .

Injury prevention programs with balance training reduce the number of ankle injuries among football players: a systematic review.

Al Attar WS, Khaledi EH, Bakhsh JM, Faude O, Ghulam H, Sanders RH, J. Physiotherapist. July 2022; 68(3):165-173.

Full text freely available

Take home message

Football players have a lower risk of ankle injuries if they perform an injury prevention warm-up program that includes balance, compared to a standard warm-up.

Background

Ankle injuries occur at all levels of competition and represent 15% of high school and college athletic injuries. While there are many well-researched programs to prevent lower extremity injuries (e.g. FIFA 11, FIFA 11+), balance is often not a major component. It is unclear whether specifically targeted balance exercises can reduce the risk of ankle injuries.

Study aim

The authors conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials to determine whether injury prevention programs involving balance training reduce the rate of ankle injuries among soccer players compared to standard warm-up programs.

Methods

The authors searched four databases for articles published between 1985 and 2020 describing randomized clinical trials comparing injury prevention programs that included balance training exercises with a standard warm-up program among soccer players. They included examining whether they also reported the number of ankle injuries or the number of injuries in addition to the number of hours of training/competition.

Results

The authors identified 9 randomized controlled trials involving 9,633 football players of all ages and competition levels. Overall, injury prevention programs that included balance training reduced the risk of ankle injuries by 36%. The authors found consistent results when examining balance training-only warm-up programs (41% reduction) or the FIFA 11 programs (37% reduction).

Viewpoints

The authors found that warm-up programs for injury prevention, including balance training, can reduce the risk of ankle injuries. Five of the nine tests focused on the FIFA11+ program, which includes strength, plyometrics and balance exercises. Two studies assessed warm-up programs that focused solely on balance. These studies showed similar benefits (33% and 40% reduction in injury rates). Most studies focused on male soccer players who benefited from these warm-up programs. However, a large study found that these programs may not be as effective for female adolescent soccer players. It would be useful to further investigate how these programs impact male and female soccer players and whether the benefits of these programs vary by age or level of competition.

Clinical implications

Clinicians should encourage football teams to incorporate balance exercises into their warm-up programs to reduce the number of ankle injuries. Teams should consider using standardized 10- to 15-minute warm-up programs for injury prevention, including balance training.

Questions for discussion

Does your typical warm-up emphasize balance, or do you lean toward more flexibility, strength, or stability-based programs?

related posts

FIFA 11… (but really FIFA 11+) programs are effective in reducing football injuries

Written by Alexandra Bossi
Reviewed by Jeffrey Driban

The football players diagnosed with COVID-19 were able to return their immune systems to baseline after the CDC-recommended isolation. This is in stark contrast to older adults with comorbidities, who are typically at greater risk for serious side effects and symptoms, and even death.

“When COVID-19 really started to spiral out of control, we met with Neil Johannsen, an exercise physiologist at LSU, and athletic trainers Derek Calvert and Jack Marucci, and discussed what we could do to ensure our athletes were healthy stayed. particularly wanted to ensure that athletes were not at risk of secondary infections when returning from isolation,” said Guillaume Spielmann, associate professor at the LSU School of Kinesiology.

Isolation effective after COVID infection

“When the idea for the study came up, we discussed why we wouldn’t turn something negative into something positive, and help the research find answers. If there are things we can do to better understand the virus, let’s do it,” said Jack Marucci. LSU’s director of athletic training. “The student-athletes were willing to be a part of it.”

During that time, at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, the CDC had recommended fourteen days of isolation.

“There was a lot of unknowns during this period. We’re looking at a population that is extremely close together during play and during games. We wanted to make sure that they are literally face to face with other players, that their salivary defenses, their oral defenses were virtually intact and that part of their immune system was not affected by the disease; that there were no long-term effects of the disease,” Spielmann said.

In 2020, saliva samples were collected from 29 student-athletes, before a COVID vaccine. Fourteen were COVID positive and 15 had no history of infection. Of the 14, only six reported mild symptoms of the virus, the remaining eight were asymptomatic throughout the isolation period.

“Salivary immunity is extremely important to ensure people don’t contract secondary infections, so when athletes return we need to ensure they are as healthy as possible. We found that the isolation period was sufficient to restore the athletes’ saliva. immunity to the levels seen in uninfected players,” Spielmann said.

Returning to play safely post-COVID

These findings suggested that the student-athletes could safely return to practice and play football without risk of secondary infection; that their immune systems were not at risk when practicing the close contact sport.

“I was a little concerned about long-haul flights and other more important outcomes, such as concerns about the development of myocarditis. Participating in elite-level athletic activities can be stressful on the body and you might want to arm yourself with the best scientific information to evaluate the possible outcomes “This data has helped validate some of these decisions that have been made. Providing a safe environment for your student-athletes is of the utmost importance and this has helped that process,” said Shelly Mullenix, LSU’s Senior Associate Athletics Director for Health & Wellness.

Three graduate students also participated in this study. Their research has now been published in Scientific reports.

“This kind of access is unique in Division I sports. Normally you don’t have access to football players, so the fact that we have access is also extremely important,” Spielmann said. “LSU is a great place for this field.”

“I think this COVID research is something we are very proud to be a part of and contribute to finding answers to such a devastating virus,” Marucci said.

Spielmann, an immunologist, studies the impact of stress on the immune systems of elite and tactical athletes, including astronauts and firefighters. But this study is not the first for Spielmann and LSU Athletics. They have worked together to study psychological and physiological health along with performance measures in other student-athletes and sports teams. A new study will take a closer look at female athletes’ mental, physiological and immune resilience to stress. This joint research led by Tiffany Stewart of Pennington Biomedical and Spielmann, funded by a grant from the Wu Tsai Foundation, will include participation from 50 LSU female athletes.

These groups also work together in the healthcare partnership with Our Lady of the Lake. Our Lady of the Lake has committed $170 million over the next decade to initiatives focused on academics and athletics. Dr. Catherine O’Neal, Chief Medical Office of Our Lady of the Lake, said this partnership will allow for greater collaboration and research between LSU and Our Lady of the Lake, as well as the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

Resistance exercise increases gastrointestinal symptoms, markers of intestinal permeability, and damage in resistance-trained adults.

Hart TL, Townsend JR, Grady NJ, Johnson KD, Littlefield LA, Vergne MJ, Fundaro G. Med Sci Sports Exerc. May 25, 2022. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002967. E-publishing prior to printing.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35612399/

Take home message

Men subjectively and objectively show more signs of gastrointestinal stress and intestinal permeability after resistance training than after 45 minutes of rest.

Background

Exercise offers numerous health benefits; however, it can cause gastrointestinal upset, at least in part due to the reduced blood flow to the intestines. Most research in this area has focused on endurance athletes. We know much less about resistance training. Understanding the impact of resistance training on the gastrointestinal system would help physicians develop strategies to reduce these side effects and optimize nutrient absorption.

Study aim

Hart and colleagues completed a randomized, crossover study of 30 (15 male, 15 female) resistance-trained participants to determine the influence of acute resistance training and biological sex on subjective gastrointestinal symptoms, gastrointestinal damage, and gastrointestinal permeability.

Methods

The researchers enrolled 30 participants who participated in resistance training at least three times a week for at least a year before the study. They also had to be able to do leg presses of at least twice their body weight. Participants completed a health and activity questionnaire and the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale to identify pre-existing gastrointestinal conditions. The authors standardized each participant’s diet, physical activity, and hydration status to be consistent between the two sessions. Participants completed the experimental sessions two weeks apart and in random order. During the resistance training, participants completed a standardized warm-up routine and exercise protocol of squat, seated shoulder press, deadlift, bend-over row and leg press exercises. They performed all exercises on 70% of the participants, a maximum of 1 repetition for 4 sets of 10 repetitions with standardized rest breaks. During the control session, participants completed all assessments but remained seated for 45 minutes. Before and after the experimental studies, participants completed the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale to assess GI symptoms. Blood samples were also taken after experimental sessions to assess biomarkers of gastrointestinal complaints.

Results

Seventy percent of participants reported at least one gastrointestinal symptom after strength training, most commonly at least nausea (63%). Analysis of blood samples showed that biomarkers of intestinal damage and intestinal permeability were highest after strength training in men. Females had no differences in serum measures of intestinal damage or permeability after exercise or control sessions.

Viewpoints

Interestingly, men who participated in resistance exercises had the greatest risk of gastrointestinal problems and permeability. Therefore, they may also have an altered ability to absorb nutrients after resistance training. It would be interesting to reproduce these results in a larger study and among people with different levels of experience in resistance training.

Clinical implications

Clinicians should recognize that a session of resistance training can cause gastrointestinal symptoms and complaints that affect nutrient intake/absorption. It may be helpful to discuss with a nutritionist whether an athlete needs changes in food intake after exercise if he or she reports greater gastrointestinal symptoms after strength training.

Questions for discussion

Does this new finding help contextualize experiences you’ve had with patients? How might this affect your use or recommendation of resistance training?

Written by: Kyle Harris
Review by: Jeffrey Driban

related posts

Position statement on resistance training for youth: the 2014 international consensus
Resistance training versus static stretching
I can’t stand this: training with a mask.

It has long been known that men outperform women by relatively large margins in middle and longer distance events. But speed over short distances is determined by several factors – most notably the magnitude of the ground forces athletes can exert in relation to their body weight. Women tend to be smaller than men and, all things being equal, the ratio of muscle strength to body weight is greater in smaller individuals.

Ph.D. candidate Emily McClelland, working with Peter Weyand, the director of SMU’s Locomotor Performance Lab, quantified differences in sex performance using data from sanctioned international athletic competitions such as the Olympic Games and World Championships. They hypothesized that this data would reveal smaller performance differences between men and women over shorter distances.

An accomplished athlete and former associate director of strength and conditioning at Bowling Green State University, McClelland has always had a natural interest in the scientific basis of human performance.

More generally, understanding the relative strength, speed and endurance capabilities of male and female athletes is a very challenging issue for modern sport. Yet prior to the new SMU research, the quantitative understanding of gender performance differences in short sprint events had received little attention. McClelland’s background, gender differences in strength/mass capabilities, and existing data trends led her to hypothesize that gender differences in sprint performance might be relatively small and increase with distance.

Her analysis of race data from sanctioned international competitions between 2003 and 2018 supported her initial hypothesis. This data showed that the difference between men’s and women’s performance times increased with the distance between events, from 8.6 percent to 11 percent, from the shortest to longest sprint events (60 to 400 meters). Furthermore, within-race analysis of each 10-meter segment of the 100-meter event revealed a more pronounced pattern over the distance: gender differences increased from a low of 5.6 percent for the first segment to a high of 14.2 percent in the last segment .

Why then are women potentially less disadvantaged compared to men over shorter sprint distances?

Unlike other running species such as horses and dogs, there is significant variation in body size between human males and females. All other factors being held equal, differences in body size result in a muscle strength to body weight ratio that is greater in relatively smaller individuals. Because sprint speeds are directly dependent on the mass-specific forces that runners can exert during the foot-ground contact phase of the stride, greater force-to-mass ratios of smaller individuals provide a theoretical relative advantage. Additionally, a female runner’s shorter legs can provide the advantage of more steps and push cycles per unit time during the acceleration phase of a race. These factors offset the advantages of men (longer legs and greater muscularity) gaining more leverage over longer distances.

Take the example of Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce, a Jamaican track star who stands 6 feet tall, weighs 115 pounds and has won two gold medals at the Olympics and five at the World Championships in her signature event, the 100 meters. The 40 yards of a 100-yard race is estimated at just 4.51 seconds – a time faster than nearly half of all wide receivers and running backs who tested in the National Football League’s Scouting Combine in 2022. According to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, most of these aspiring NFL football players are over 6 feet tall and 200 pounds.

The study ‘Sex differences in human running performance: smaller gaps over shorter distances?’ was conducted by McClelland and Weyand and has been published in the journal Journal of Applied Physiology.