The perfect athlete?

Article Outline

• Copyright

You either had to be on another planet or have no interest what so ever in sport (in which case you will not be reading this) to have missed the performance of Usain Bolt at this years' World Athletics Championships in Berlin. To do a double on the 100 and 200m and break world records in both following an Olympic year is a truly amazing feat. He is now the first man to hold Olympic and World titles in the 100 and 200m at the same time. And at the age of just 23, he has a long career ahead of him if he can remain focused and injury-free. His presence on the sprinting scene has changed the ‘playing field’ in both his style and attitude, but will anyone else be able to get even close to the times he has set? Whilst it has been a delight to watch, the sport of sprinting is about competition and spectators like to see a close contest, rivalries evolve and battle commence. So whilst Usain may be the perfect athlete, is he good for athletics? The answer has to be yes in the short term, he has single handedly raised the interest and profile in sprinting and athletics for what is a minority sport in many countries. In the long term, who knows, will the public get bored of seeing him consistently winning by such a margin? Will he inspire a future generation of sprinters? or has he set the bar so high he is untouchable? Will Tyson Gay just have to wait until Usain false starts in order to get a look in? However perfect Usain is, all athletes are human and therefore fallible. This was demonstrated by another great athlete in Berlin. Russia's Yelena Isinbyeva has done for Womens' pole vault what Sergi Bubka did for the men's. Olympic and World Champion, she has broken the outdoor world record 14 times and the indoor record 12 times. However, in Berlin, she failed to clear a single height, which just goes to show even the best athletes in the world can have a bad day in the office.

Onto the contents of this final issue of the tenth volume. Spondylolysis is a particular problem in certain sports such as gymnastics, tennis and fast bowlers in cricket, and the clinician's dilemma is being able to clinically differentiate this from other causes of LBP in athletes in the absence of CT and SPECT scans. The single leg hyperextension (SLH) test has been advocated as a clinical test to positively diagnose spondylolysis. In the first piece of original research, Gregg and colleagues present a retrospective study of the relationship between six different variables in a cohort of 82 subjects that were referred for a SPECT scan to confirm or deny the presence of active spondylolysis. Interestingly, the SLH test did not demonstrate a significant association with the pathology. Additionally, adolescent males suspected of having an active spondylolysis were three and a half times more likely to have a positive scan. These results indicate that therapists should take into account both the age and gender of the subject when active spondylolysis is suspected.

Taping techniques have been advocated in the management of chronic ankle instability (CAI). More recently, Mulligan taping technique has been added to the list of possible taping techniques for this condition, but there is a paucity of research to date on the use of this technique in athletes with CAI. Hopper and colleagues from Curtin University evaluate this taping method on ankle function in twenty recreational athletes with unilateral CAI. Three different conditions were studied; static balance, recovery patterns of static balance after a 30s fatiguing protocol and performance of dynamic balance tasks. The contralateral ankle was used as the healthy control. The authors found no significant differences in all 3 outcome measures with the use of this taping method. Fatiguing protocols are generally a less well validated outcome measure used in physical therapy research. Researchers may want to note the protocol adopted in this study, as it appeared appropriate and relevant and would be a neat validation study to undertake.

Low back pain is a common problem in sports such as tennis and golf. These sports require spinal rotation at high velocity with extended lever arms created by the racquet or club. Various theories as to the cause of LBP in these athletes have been suggested. These include the demands of the sport, poor technique and dysfunction elsewhere in the kinematic chain causing compensation of increased spinal rotation. A deficit of medial rotation in the leading hip has been suggested to be associated with LBP in professional golfers. Murray and colleagues from Queen Mary University of London present a case-control study on 64 amateur golfers. They reported a significant decrease of ten degrees passive medial hip rotation in the leading hip in the 28 golfers reporting LBP. This study demonstrates a relationship between reduced hip rotation and LBP but not the cause or effect, it would be interesting to see if increasing medial rotation in these subjects had any effect on their LBP.

There has been much criticism in English football that traditional football coaching techniques have developed predominantly right footed players. Pavely and colleagues from the University of Sydney present an upper limb equivalent and an interesting study evaluating bilateral ball passing skills in first grade rugby union players. They found substantial differences in not only the accuracy but also the timing and distance with regard to ball passing on the player's non-preferred side. These findings have implications for rehabilitation as well as coaching/training strategies in order to improve performance.

Continuing from an earlier point on the importance of well validated, routine clinical measures employed by Physical Therapists, Hébert-Losier and colleagues present a narrative literature review on the common clinical applications of the calf-raise test. This timely review presents the relevant anatomical structures of the triceps surae (namely soleus, gastrocnemius; their aponeurosis and the Achilles tendon) and their functional properties and goes on to discuss the many variables that could influence the outcome of the test.

Finally, Carmont and colleagues present an interesting case study of bilateral Achilles tendon rupture in a previously asymptomatic recreational rock climber.

This is the last issue of 2009 and I would like to thank all our reviewers on who we depend so much and give up their time so willingly. I would also like to thank all those behind the scenes, the unsung heroes who contribute so much to the success of the journal, the Associate Editors, all those on the Editorial Committee and International Advisory Board, Sarah Davies (Publishing Editor) and Jacky Turner (Journal Manager). Last, but not least, thank you to all the readers of Physical Therapy in Sport.

Seasons greetings to you all.