Dietary supplements are widely used to enhance sport performance and the combination of carbohydrate and caffeine (CHO+CAF) has yielded particularly high performance gains. Though the effects of a CHO+CAF supplement have been studied in a laboratory environment, little research exists on the effects of supplementation during competition. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the...

Balance control improvement is one of the most important goals in sports and exercise. Better balance is strongly positively associated with enhanced athletic performance and negatively associated with lower limb sports injuries. Proprioception plays an essential role in balance control, and ankle proprioception is arguably the most important. This paper reviews ankle proprioception and explore...

Alcohol consumption within elite sport has been continually reported both anecdotally within the media and quantitatively in the literature. The detrimental effects of alcohol on human physiology have been well documented, adversely influencing neural function, metabolism, cardiovascular physiology, thermoregulation and skeletal muscle myopathy. Remarkably, the downstream effects of alcohol con...

The relationship between balance ability and sport injury risk has been established in many cases, but the relationship between balance ability and athletic performance is less clear. This review compares the balance ability of athletes from different sports, determines if there is a difference in balance ability of athletes at different levels of competition within the same sport, determines t...

PURPOSE Activated vitamin D (calcitriol) is a pluripotent pleiotropic secosteroid hormone. As a steroid hormone, which regulates more than 1000 vitamin D-responsive human genes, calcitriol may influence athletic performance. Recent research indicates that intracellular calcitriol levels in numerous human tissues, including nerve and muscle tissue, are increased when inputs of its substrate, the...

OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of stretching before and after exercising on muscle soreness after exercise, risk of injury, and athletic performance. METHOD Systematic review. DATA SOURCES Randomised or quasi-randomised studies identified by searching Medline, Embase, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, and PEDro, and by recursive checking of bibliographies. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Muscle soreness, in...

Caffeine has been considered an ergogenic aid ? a drug that increases performance as a result of the physiological effects it has on the body. While the exact mechanism isn't known for sure, some researchers believe that caffeine stimulates earlier and greater fat burning during exercise. This would help preserve the body's store of glycogen (the fuel muscles use) so that a person could exercis...

The science behind athletic performance has progressed significantly with the advancement of technology and research of sport. The current review examines further the effects of several external factors on athletic performance. Factors were deemed external if they involved either variables out of the athlete’s control or an athlete’s conscious decision. Addressing playing environment, voluntary...