An approximate simulation model for initial luge track design

Olympic Sports Science-Bibliometric Analysis of All Summer and Winter Olympic Sports Research

Introduction: The body of scientific literature on sports and exercise continues to expand. The summer and winter Olympic games will be held over a 7-month period in 2021-2022. Objectives: We took this rare opportunity to quantify and analyze the main bibliometric parameters (i.e., the number of articles and citations) across all Olympic sports to weigh and compare their importance and to assess the structure of the "sport sciences" field. The present review aims to perform a bibliometric analysis of Olympic sports research. We quantified the following topics: (1) the most investigated sports; (2) the main journals in which the studies are published; (3) the main factors explaining sport-specific scientific attractiveness; (4) the influence of being in the Olympic programme, economic weight, and local influences on research output; and (5) which research topic is the most investigated across sports. Methods: We searched 116 sport/exercise journals on PubMed for the 40 summer and 10 winter Olympic sports. A total of 34,038 articles were filtered for a final selection of 25,003 articles (23,334 articles on summer sports and 1,669 on winter sports) and a total of 599,820 citations. Results and Discussion: Nine sports [football (soccer), cycling, athletics, swimming, distance & marathon running, basketball, baseball, tennis, and rowing] were involved in 69% of the articles and 75% of the citations. Football was the most cited sport, with 19.7 and 26.3% of the total number of articles and citations, respectively. All sports yielded some scientific output, but 11 sports (biathlon, mountain biking, archery, diving, trampoline, skateboarding, skeleton, modern pentathlon, luge, bobsleigh, and curling) accumulated a total of fewer than 50 publications. While ice hockey is the most prominently represented winter sport in the scientific literature, winter sports overall have produced minor scientific output. Further analyses show a large scientific literature on team sports, particularly American professional sports (i.e., baseball, basketball, and ice hockey) and the importance of inclusion in the Olympic programme to increasing scientific interest in "recent" sports (i.e., triathlon and rugby sevens). We also found local/cultural influence on the occurrence of a sport in a particular "sport sciences" journal. Finally, the relative distribution of six main research topics (i.e., physiology, performance, training and testing, injuries and medicine, biomechanics, and psychology) was large across sports and reflected the specific performance factors of each sport.

Concussions in Sledding Sports and the Unrecognized "Sled Head": A Systematic Review

Background: Sport-related concussion is a significant public health concern. Little research has been conducted on sport-related concussion and injury prevention strategies in competitive sledding sports like bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton. Athletes have identified “sled head” as a key concern due to its symptom burden.

Purpose: To summarize our knowledge of the prevalence of concussion and related symptoms in sledding sports; to utilize Haddon's Matrix to inform and define strategies for injury prevention.

Methods: An independent information specialist conducted a search for the known literature on injuries in non-recreational sledding sports, and specifically for concussion via OVID Medline, CINAHL, the Cochrane Database, EMBASE, PsycInfo, PubMed, Scopus, and the Web of Sciences from 1946 to December 2017. After iterative searches of reference sections, a total of 844 articles were assessed for inclusion.

Results: Nine articles were included for review. Concussions are a common occurrence in elite sledding sport athletes, affecting 13-18% of all sledding athletes. Significant variance exists between events, indicating a potential effect of the ice track in injury risk. The condition known as “sled head” is discussed and identified as a key point of further investigation. A number of potential injury prevention strategies are discussed.

Interpretation: Head injuries and concussions are an important injury for elite sledding sports and a number of avenues exist for prevention. More work is required to delineate the mechanisms, characteristics, natural history and management of “sled head.”

Development of a measurement and feedback training tool for the arm strokes of high-performance luge athletes

Previous studies have shown that the start plays a critical role in sliding events and explains more than 55% of the variance of the final time in luge. Experts evaluate the contribution of the arm strokes to be 23% of the total starting performance. The aim of the present study was to develop a measurement and feedback training tool (Speedpaddler) for the arm strokes of high-performance luge athletes. The construction is an aluminium alloy framework with a customary belt conveyor system, which is driven by two synchronized servo motors. Training is possible with constant speeds up to 12 m · s(-1) or several speed curves, which simulate the acceleration of different luge tracks. The construction facilitates variations in the inclination and speed of the conveyor belts and thereby the resistance and movement speed. If the athlete accelerates the conveyor belts during arm-paddling, the torque of the motors decreases. Torque measurements and high-speed video offer valuable insights into the several technique criteria. Comparisons of arm-paddle cycle durations on ice and on the Speedpaddler with 18 luge athletes (national team and juniors) showed no statistical differences. The Speedpaddler might be a useful tool to improve starting performance all year round.