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In pursuit of optimal performance, athletes and physical exercisers alike have to make decisions about how and when to invest their energy. The process of pacing has been associated with the goal-directed regulation of exercise intensity across an exercise bout. The current review explores divergent views on understanding underlying mechanisms of decision-making in pacing. Current pacing literature provides a wide range of aspects that might be involved in the determination of an athlete's pacing-strategy, but lack in explaining how perception and action are coupled in establishing behaviour. In contrast, decision-making literature rooted in the understanding that perception and action are coupled provides refreshing perspectives on explaining the mechanisms that underlie natural interactive behaviour. Contrary to the assumption of behaviour that is managed by a higher order governor that passively constructs internal representations of the world, an ecological approach is considered. According to this approach, knowledge is rooted in the direct experience of meaningful environmental objects and events in individual-environment processes. To assist a neuropsychological explanation of decision-making in exercise-regulation, the relevance of the affordance competition hypothesis is explored. By considering pacing as a behavioural expression of continuous decision-making, new insights on underlying mechanisms in pacing and optimal performance can be developed.3

No effect of a graded training program on the number of running-related injuries in novice runners Buist, I.; Bredeweg, S.W.; van Mechelen, W.; Lemmink, K.A.P.M.; Pepping, G.J.; Diercks, R.L. CopyrightOther than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Running is a sport practiced by many individuals to improve cardiorespiratory function, health, and well-being. In conjunction with the positive effects of running on health and fitness, it is important to consider the risk of a running-related injury (RRI). Research has shown that the incidence of RRI is high; incidence rates of RRI vary from 30% to 79%, 3,[11][12][13][14]24,28 and from 7 to 59 RRIs per 1000 hours of running. 3,11,12,19 Most RRIs are overuse injuries of the lower extremity. 8 The causes of these overuse RRIs are multifactorial. 8 Four factors have been related consistently to running injuries: (1) lack of running experience, (2) previous injury, (3) running to compete, and (4) excessive weekly running distance. 26 It is estimated that 60% of all RRIs can be attributed to training errors, that is, running too much too soon. 8 Little research has been performed on the prevention of RRI in the running population. Several controlled studies on Background: Although running has positive effects on health and fitness, the incidence of a running-related injury (RRI) is high. Research on prevention of RRI is scarce; to date, no studies have involved novice runners.

Patellar tendinopathy (PT) is an injury with a high prevalence in sports. Knowledge of risk factors is essential for developing preventive measures and rehabilitation programmes. However, risk factors associated with PT have not yet been systematically studied. This review was undertaken to identify risk factors associated with PT. The literature was systematically searched to identify articles that investigated risk factors for PT. There was no strong or moderate evidence that any investigated risk factor was associated with PT. For nine risk factors there was some evidence: weight, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, leg-length difference, arch height of the foot, quadriceps flexibility, hamstring flexibility, quadriceps strength and vertical jump performance. Based on the present evidence, reducing body weight, increasing upper-leg flexibility and quadriceps strength and the use of orthotics may be beneficial treatment options. However, it should be stressed that the evidence for the nine identified risk factors was only limited. Therefore, there is a clear need for high-quality studies in order to identify the exact risk factors associated with PT.

Athlete–environment interactions are crucial factors in understanding the regulation of exercise intensity in head-to-head competitions. Previously, we have proposed a framework based on the interdependence of perception and action, which allows us to explore athletic behavior in the more complex pacing situations occurring when athletes need to respond to actions of their opponents. In the present perspective we will further explore whether opponents, crucial external factors in competitive sports, could indeed be perceived as social invitations for action. Decisions regarding how to expend energy over the race are based on internal factors such as the physiological/biomechanical capacity of the athlete in relation to external factors such as those presented by opponents. For example: Is the athlete able to overtake competitors, or not? We present several experimental studies that demonstrate that athletes regulate their exercise intensity differently in head-to-head competition compared to time-trial exercises: Relational athlete-environment aspects seem to outweigh benefits of the individual optimal energy distribution. Also, the behavior of the opponents has been shown to influence pacing strategies of competing athletes, again demonstrating the importance of relational athlete–environment aspects in addition to strictly internal factors. An ecological perspective is presented in which opponents are proposed to present social affordances, and decision-making is conceptualized as a resultant of affordance-competition. This approach will provide novel insights in tactical decision-making and pacing behavior in head-to-head competitions. Future research should not only focus on the athlete's internal state, but also try to understand opponents in the context of the social affordances they provide.

We examined the association between celebratory responses after successful soccer penalty kicks and the outcome of a penalty shootout. Individually displayed post-shot behaviours in penalty shootouts held in World Cups and European Championships (N = 151) were rated on the presence of universally distinct and recognizable behaviours associated with positive emotions. Using chi-square analyses we investigated which behaviours were associated with winning the shootout, when the relative standing between the teams was equal. Players who engaged in certain celebratory post-shot behaviours were more likely to be in the team that ultimately won the penalty shootout. In particular, celebrations including both arms were associated with winning the shootout. It was more likely that the next kick taken by an opponent was missed after a player displayed these behaviours after a goal than when he did not. The findings are interpreted in terms of emotional contagion - that is, the transference of emotions from individuals onto teammates and opponents. It is suggested that the individual expression of post-performance emotions serves a direct purpose in enhancing future team performance and that emotional contagion is an important process in the context of elite sport performance.

The numbers of lower limb amputees participating in recreational activity date back more than 25 years. Previous studies have shown that 60% of lower limb amputees participated in recreational activities, including sports. To date, research in The Netherlands into sports participation of this specific amputee population is insufficient. The purpose of the reported survey was to investigate the sports participation habits of lower limb amputees in the Province of Drenthe, The Netherlands, using a self-constructed questionnaire. A total of 105 lower limb amputees responded (36%), a large proportion of whom were traumatic amputees (31%). Of the respondents, 34 (32%) participated in some form of sport. Results indicated that participation in sport before the amputation was a predetermining factor for amputees to participate in sports whilst the level of amputation, age and etiology were not predetermining factors of participation in sports after a lower limb amputation.

To visually perceive opportunities for action, athletes rely on the movements of their eyes, head and body to explore their surrounding environment. To date, the specific types of technology and their efficacy for assessing the exploration behaviours of association footballers have not been systematically reviewed. This review aimed to synthesise the visual perception and exploration behaviours of footballers according to the task constraints, action requirements of the experimental task, and level of expertise of the athlete, in the context of the technology used to quantify the visual perception and exploration behaviours of footballers. A systematic search for papers that included keywords related to football, technology, and visual perception was conducted. All 38 included articles utilised eye-movement registration technology to quantify visual perception and exploration behaviour. The experimental domain appears to influence the visual perception behaviour of footballers, however no studies investigated exploration behaviours of footballers in open-play situations. Studies rarely utilised representative stimulus presentation or action requirements. To fully understand the visual perception requirements of athletes, it is recommended that future research seek to validate alternate technologies that are capable of investigating the eye, head and body movements associated with the exploration behaviours of footballers during representative open-play situations.