OBJECTIVES To evaluate the spectrum of electrocardiographic (ECG) changes in 1000 junior (18 or under) elite athletes. METHODS A total of 1000 (73% male) junior elite athletes (mean (SD) age 15.7 (1.4) years (range 14-18); mean (SD) body surface area 1.73 (0.17) m2 (range 1.09-2.25)) and 300 non-athletic controls matched for gender, age, and body surface area had a 12 lead ECG examination. ...

To prospectively evaluate the effect of neuromuscular training on the incidence of knee injury in female athletes, we monitored two groups of female athletes, one trained before sports participation and the other not trained, and a group of untrained male athletes throughout the high school soccer, volleyball, and basketball seasons. Weekly reports included the number of practice and competitio...

UNLABELLED Elite endurance athletes typically have larger arteries contributing to greater skeletal muscle blood flow, oxygen and nutrient delivery and improved physical performance. Few studies have examined structural and functional properties of arteries in power athletes. PURPOSE To compare the size and vasoreactivity of the brachial artery of elite power athletes to age-matched controls....

BACKGROUND Ultrasound speckle tracking from grey scale images allows the assessment of regional strain derived from 2D regardless of angle intonation, and it is highly reproducible. The study aimed to evaluate regional left ventricular functional reserve in elite soccer players. METHODS 50 subjects (25 elite athletes and 25 sedentary controls), aged 26 +/- 3.5, were submitted to an echo exam,...

Limited data are available on the female athlete triad (Triad) in athletes from minority groups. We explored subclinical and clinical Triad components amongst adolescent elite Kenyan athletes (n = 61) and non-athletes (n = 49). Participants completed demographic, health, sport and menstrual history questionnaires as well as a 5-day weighed dietary record and exercise log to calculate energy ava...

OBJECTIVES The goal of this study was to perform a meta-analysis of the published literature to investigate the relationship of high levels of exercise training to left atrial (LA) size. BACKGROUND The "athlete's heart" is a series of cardiac adaptations to systematic exercise training and may include LA enlargement. METHODS We conducted a systematic review of English-language studies in ME...

Skeletal muscle strength and mass, major contributors to sprint/power athletic performance, are influenced by genetics. However, to date, only a handful of genetic variants have been associated with sprint/power performance. The ACVR1B A allele (rs rs2854464) has previously been associated with increased muscle-strength in non-athletic cohort. However, no follow-up and/or replications studies h...

BACKGROUND Youth participation in organized sports in the United States is rising, with many athletes focusing on a single sport at an increasingly younger age. PURPOSE To retrospectively compare single-sport specialization in current high school (HS), collegiate, and professional athletes with regard to the rate and age of specialization, the number of months per year of single-sport trainin...

The subjects of the study were 418 highly successful female athletes and 512 female non-athletes drawn from all over Nigeria. Recall procedures were used to ascertain the age at menarche. The study gave the following results: In general, over-all mean menarcheal age of athletes (14.13 years) was significantly higher (p less than .05) than that of non-athletes (13.57 years). Menarche was signifi...

AIMS To investigate the physiological adaptation of the right ventricle (RV) in response to endurance training and to define reference values for regional deformation in the RV in endurance athletes. METHODS AND RESULTS Healthy controls (n = 61), athletes (n = 58), and elite athletes (n = 63) were prospectively enrolled with a training intensity of 2.2 +/- 1.6, 12.5 +/- 2.3 and 24.2 +/- 5.7 h...