Blood analysis can help prevent injury
Every athlete and coach is fully aware of the fact that injuries are part and parcel of all levels of sport. No matter what planning is carried out or how successful a training programme can be, the cost of an injury can be huge for an athlete. A long-term setback will have obvious consequences but even a small niggle can cause enough disruption to throw a schedule into disarray. Ultimately it may prove to be the difference in an athlete failing to get a medal or perhaps missing out on the big event altogether. Brian Kamenetzky in The Next Big Thing in Sports Data: Predicting (and Avoiding) Injuries points out that it is not just personal glory that is on the line, as in an era where sport is big business, injuries cost money, and plenty of it.
In sports, injuries don’t just cost wins. They cost money. By one estimate, teams across Major League Baseball spent $665 million last year on the salaries of banged-up guys and their replacements. NBA teams lost $358 million last season; $44 million alone by the injury-ridden Los Angeles Lakers. And in the NFL, where the average salary is about $2 million, starters missed a record 1,600 games in 2013
Predicting injury is growing area
Therefore with such vast sums of money at stake it is not surprising that the areas of avoiding and treating injuries are huge for all athletes and team, but another area that is receiving significant attention is that of predicting injury. One avenue that might highlight signs of possible injury before it strikes is through blood testing. It is a topic that has been examined by Gil Blander and in his article Unlock the Body’s Secrets to Reach Peak Performance, he puts forward some of the benefits it may bring. He points out that one of the keys to predicting injury is having data, and that for those wishing to improve athletic performance, blood analysis is an excellent means of collecting vital data. He suggests that:
With blood testing, you open a window inside your body to see your actual biochemical status.
Traditionally the purpose of a blood test was to identify an existing medical condition or disease, but its potential benefits have been recognised by athletes and coaches in highlighting a problem at a stage when it is not too late to fix or, according to Blander, perhaps even before it happens.
Screening your blood can rule out many potential problems that could happen down the road. Early blood testing enables you to deal with the problem or at-risk areas when they are small – before you dig yourself into a hole.
He argues that a blood test is a collection of biomarkers and that each one is capable of giving an indication of what an athlete can modify when it comes to eating or training.
The most useful blood tests include biomarkers for nutrition status, hormones, and inflammation. Vitamins and minerals are the simplest and most straightforward tests, usually showing a deficiency or excess, which can happen when you are taking too many supplements. More complicated biomarkers are hormones, which need sophisticated interpretation based on age, training program, and, of course, gender
Such analysis has the potential to detect problems, allowing the athlete to take steps that rectify the issue before it becomes something that could lead to an injury that is disruptive to training and competitive performance.
Areas of caution
As always, when dealing with individuals, a simple blood test will not automatically provide all the answers, which is why Larry Cresswell points out in ‘What is Your Blood Telling You?’ that a number of ideas should be kept in mind. He points out that having a ‘Baseline Value’ can be a useful reference pointin the case of any problems, and adds that it is important to know a laboratory’s normal reference range as what is ‘Normal’ in one lab may be different in another. In terms of ‘Degrees of Abnormal’, he suggests keeping in mind that slightly abnormal values may not indicate a problem. He highlights the idea of ‘Normal for Athletes’ by stating that a lab may produce a result that could be abnormal in general terms but perfectly understandable for a highly trained athlete.
Success of blood analysis
Below are some examples of how blood testing has been used in practical terms to improve the performance of an athlete.
Perrin Braun in ‘Diane Stokes Goes the Distance: Fighting Fatigue With InsideTracker’ , cites the example of triathlete Diane Stokes, who took a blood test as she was feeling tired, sluggish and rundown. As a result it was discovered that she was low in magnesium, zinc, vitamin D and testosterone, and the alterations that were made to her diet led to an increase in energy and an improvement in performance. Stokes herself highlighted the benefit of this approach when she stated:
I’m 48 years old, and women my age are told to take a B vitamin. However, my B levels were three times that of a normal person. If I had been taking a vitamin B supplement, as recommended by many doctors, I would have been at toxic levels.
Bob Augello in Take A Closer Look At Your Lab Results highlights the example of Paul Thomas, an elite runner, duathlete, triathlete and cyclist. Despite feeling tired after his training, Thomas found his initial results came back as normal. However, he persevered and further analysis identified problems. Changes to diet, a nutritional programme and detoxification regime allowed him to improve his training and performance and he was able to compete at elite level.
References
Blood Analysis: Unlock the Body’s Secrets to Reach Peak Performance by Gil Blander
The next big thing in sports data: Predicting (and avoiding) injuries by Brian Kamenetzky
Diane Stokes Goes the Distance: Fighting Fatigue With InsideTracker by Perrin Braun
What is Your Blood Telling You? by Larry Creswell, M.D.
Blood Testing For Athletes
Take A Closer Look At Your Lab Results by Bob Augello
About Metrifit
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