Pitt presents sports-related studies

Pitt has put together a nationally renowned basketball team, a swimming and diving team that… Pitt has put together a nationally renowned basketball team, a swimming and diving team that keeps winning and a baseball team that continues to climb the ladder of success. But it’s not just athletic talent that is leading Pitt into the future of sports.

Last Thursday, Pitt’s Neuromuscular Research Laboratory presented three studies at the American College of Sports Medicine’s 51st annual meeting in Indianapolis that could enhance the understanding of certain sports-related injuries and the way athletes’ bodies perform.

The studies were led by NMRL director Dr. Scott Lephart.

One of the studies they presented could prove to be useful someday for Panther quarterbacks Tyler Palko and Luke Getsy. The study found that the shoulder blade position in relation to other bones of a throwing athlete differs to that of a non-throwing athlete. It also showed that the orientation of the bones in the two types of athletes is different.

The study conducted by NMRL showed a certain scapular position that was characteristic of throwing athletes. The study suggests that once a player gets into his or her groove, the body makes adjustments so it can throw more smoothly.

Pitt received a two-year grant from NFL charities to help pay for the study. The study involved 21 healthy men with no prior throwing-related injuries. The participants, most of whom came from baseball backgrounds, were monitored by neuromuscular tools as they took part in throwing activities. Their scapular position, orientation and movement were monitored throughout the experiment.

A second study done by NMRL found that those who are good golfers tend to have stronger hip muscles. The researchers recruited 82 golfers and split them into three different groups. The three groups were decided by self-reported driving distance and their personal handicaps.

They studied each golfer’s isometric hip abduction strength, which moves the legs apart, and their adduction strength, which moves legs together. They found that those with greater abduction strength were better golfers. The best golfers were those who had stronger all-around hip movements.

The third study dealt with anterior cruciate ligament injuries caused by non-contact movements. Pitt researchers found that it would help if other researchers would study sudden unplanned movements.

ACL injuries are common in basketball and football. In football, it is often contact that leads to an injury to the ACL, whereas in basketball, quick stop-and-go and vertical stop-jumps are the main cause for the injury. For the most part, these injuries are caused by unplanned twisting movements.

The researchers are currently looking to find the at-risk movement patterns that lead to ACL injuries.

The study included 26 male and female basketball players. All performed pre-planned and unplanned stop-jump tasks. They were given certain visual cues in the middle of their jump, which told them how they are to react. For example, they were told to jump up and down. A ball would be thrown at them randomly and they would be told to catch it. This uncertainty creates an environment similar to that of the real game.

All these studies have been researched for several years and are still ongoing.

More information on these studies and others can be found on Pitt’s NMRL’s Web site, www.pitt.edu/~neurolab.