Athletes are continually seeking new technologies and therapies to gain a competitive edge to maximize their health and performance. Athletes have gravitated toward the use of wearable sensors to monitor their training and recovery. Wearable technologies currently utilized by sports teams monitor both the internal and external workload of athletes. However, there remains an unmet medical need by the sports community to gain further insight into the internal workload of the athlete to tailor recovery protocols to each athlete. The ability to monitor biomarkers from saliva or sweat in a noninvasive and continuous manner remain the next technological gap for sports medical personnel to tailor hydration and recovery protocols per the athlete. The emergence of flexible and stretchable electronics coupled with the ability to quantify biochemical analytes and physiological parameters have enabled the detection of key markers indicative of performance and stress, as reviewed in this paper.
The convergence of semiconductor technology, physiology, and predictive health analytics from wearable devices has advanced its clinical and translational utility for sports. The detection and subsequent application of metrics pertinent to and indicative of the physical performance, physiological status, biochemical composition, and mental alertness of the athlete has been shown to reduce the risk of injuries and improve performance and has enabled the development of athlete-centered protocols and treatment plans by team physicians and trainers. Our discussions in this review include commercially available devices, as well as those described in scientific literature to provide an understanding of wearable sensors for sports medicine. The primary objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the applications of wearable technology for assessing the biomechanical and physiological parameters of the athlete. A secondary objective of this paper is to identify collaborative research opportunities among academic research groups, sports medicine health clinics, and sports team performance programs to further the utility of this technology to assist in the return-to-play for athletes across various sporting domains. A companion paper discusses the use of wearables to monitor the biochemical profile and mental acuity of the athlete.
The surface wind field inland of the intense coastal kataba!,•c wind regime at Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica, has been studied both observationally and numerically. Airborne surveys of windinduced features on the snow surface have been used to construct the time-averaged winter surface airflow pattern. The surface motion field has also been simulated by a mesoscale primitive equation model using terrain slopes with a horizontal resolution of 32 km. Both methods of analys!•s demonstrate that the intense katabatic airstream at Terra Nova Bay is forced by converging air currents in the continental interior. The broadscale confluence zone becomes organized into two regions within about 180 km of the coast. The primary route for katabatic mass transport into the Terra Nova Bay area is Reeves Glacier valley, but an important secondary source is provided by airflow down David Glacier. The former is generated by the Coriolis-induced concentration of mass transport on the left side (looking downwind) of the broadscale confluence zone as well as by the near-coastal mountain deflection of airflow into the valley head. The confluence zone feeding into David Glacier valley stretches over 100 km into the interior and is forced by the broadscale terrain configuration of the ice sheet. Source areas for the two airstreams differ with Reeves Glacier valley being fed by cold air formed well into the interior, whereas the airflow down David Glacier is sustained by radiative cooling over lower parts of the ice sheet which are much closer to the Ross Sea. Evaluation of the observational and modeling results reveals both the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Airborne surveys of sastrugi orientations are a highly successful method for establishing the detailed pattern of surface airflow. However, a systematic examination of sastrugi dimensions suggests that such work could also be carried out using SPOT-type satellite observations, which is a more cost-effective approach than aircraft surveying. The double-jet structure of katabatic airflow into the Terra Nova Bay area is well represented by the primitive equation modeling, but much finer grids are needed to resolve the near-coastal drainage details.
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