# How does sport participation contribute to total physical activity, health, function and wellbeing in regional Victoria?

# The effect of endurance exercise on cardiovascular function and movement efficiency in community level cycling

# Efficacy of e-Bike use for improving health and function

Efficacy of e-Bike use for improving health and function

The benefits of active travel, and cycling, on health have been well researched with a recent systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrating the lowest risk of CVD mortality with 130 minutes per week of cycling at an average, self-selected pace (Zhao et al., 2021). In terms of e-biking, studies have reported that e-biking enables people to achieve moderate levels of physical activity (Sperlich et al., 2012) in addition to reducing travel time when compared to push bikes (Fishman & Cherry, 2016) however, the impacts on health are less clear.

Led by Dr Rodrigo Bini, the E-biking for Human Health project incorporates three individual studies that aim to assess the efficacy of e-bike use for improving health and function in sedentary people. The project consists of an observational study identifying if current health and functional status impacts e-bike uptake in sedentary people as well as an intervention study that will assess changes in physical fitness following a short, unsupervised e-bike aerobic training program. A final randomised control study will build on these research outcomes by comparing the differences between e-bikes, walking and education in health and fitness outcomes of sedentary people.

Progress

Three e-bikes were purchased by the Holsworth Research Initiative for the project in mid-2022. This enabled pilot trials to commence followed by participant recruitment and subsequent data collection. Participants were required to attend La Trobe University Bendigo campus for physical fitness and health assessments as well as a series of familiarity trials before being provided with an e-bike for use for a period of four weeks. Data collection is almost complete with the remaining three participants currently completing their four-week block of unsupervised aerobic training. Following this, analysis of the data will take place and a draft manuscript will be prepared. The expected project completion date for both study one and two is January 2024. The final study in the E-biking for Human Health project is contingent on external funding with a projected start date of January 2024.

We are so pleased to be contributing to the literature on e-biking for human health and can’t wait to report on the findings of these studies in 2024.

Zhao, Y., Hu, F., Feng, Y., Yang, X., Li, Y., Guo, C., … & Hu, D. (2021). Association of Cycling with Risk of All-Cause and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: A Systematic Review and Dose–Response Meta-analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. Sports Medicine, 51, 1439-1448.

Fishman, E., and C. Cherry. 2016. E-bikes in the Mainstream: Reviewing a Decade of Research. Transport Reviews 36: 72–91.

Sperlich, B., C. Zinner, K. Hebert-Losier, D.P. Born, and H.C. Holmberg. 2012. Biomechanical, Cardiorespiratory, Metabolic and Perceived Responses to Electrically Assisted Cycling. European Journal of Applied Physiology 112: 4015–4025.

The post Spotlight on HRI Streams: Human Performance appeared first on Holsworth Research Initiative.

The HRI Director and Stream Leaders have had the privilege of supervising a number of higher degree by research students since the Holsworth Research Initiative began in 2019. These students now work across a broad range of industries including academia, applied sports science and clinical practice.

In this new series, we will update our subscribers on where our past HDR students are now and how their research degree with the La Trobe Health School and the Holsworth Research Initiative helped shape their career.

Part 5: Miss Jodie Palmer, High Performance Manager Old Scotch Football Club and Strength and Conditioning Coach Camberwell Grammar School

Part Five of our Where Are They Now blog series features Miss Jodie Palmer, a current PhD candidate of the HRI and the current High Performance Manager at Old Scotch Football Club.

Miss Palmer is a current PhD student of the HRI and is supervised by HRI Director Professor Michael Kingsley and Human Performance stream leaders Dr Rodrigo Bini and Dr Daniel Wundersitz. Miss Palmer completed her pre-submission review presentation in July this year and expects the conferral of her doctorate degree in the coming months. A unique aspect of Miss Palmers research has been her involvement with the Bendigo Basketball Association. Thanks to an industry partnership between La Trobe University and the Bendigo Spirit and Braves, Miss Palmer was embedded with the teams in a mutually beneficial arrangement that saw Miss Palmer provide Sport Science services while collecting data for her PhD.

Exercise intensity in professional basketball

Miss Palmers PhD is investigating on-court exercise intensity in professional basketball and how basketball performance can be improved using 3D Microtechnology. Although her thesis is not yet available publicly, Miss Palmer has published a number or original studies from her thesis in peer-reviewed journals.

Criterion validity of an automated method of detecting live play periods in basketball

Effect of player role and competition level on player demands in basketball

On-Court Activity and Game-Related Statistics during Scoring Streaks in Basketball: Applied Use of Accelerometers

Residual neuromuscular fatigue influences subsequent on-court activity in basketball

So far, Miss Palmer and her supervisory team have published a paper establishing the criterion validity of an automated method using accelerometry technology to detect the start and end of live play periods in professional basketball matches. Once this was established, Miss Palmer was then able to use the live play detection technique to further investigate factors that influence on-court activity in professional basketball including player role, competition level, scoring streaks and neuromuscular fatigue. Conclusions from these studies include;

# In regard to player role, professional basketball players should prepare for the greatest match demands they could encounter during a season to improve performance and reduce injury risk.

# Basketball players might need their training volume managed when transitioning from a semi-professional to a professional season to reduce the injury risk from sharp increases in training demands.

# Maintaining high levels of exercise intensity in professional and semi-professional basketball matches assists in reducing the chance that an opposing team will engage in a scoring streak (when a team scores three times in a row)

# To maximise the probability of a scoring streak, a basketball team should aim to shoot more 2-point shots, at a 3:1 2-point to 3-point ratio.

# Residual neuromuscular fatigue can influence the amount of supramaximal activity players perform in a subsequent training session or match.

# Practices should be implemented to minimise residual neuromuscular fatigue carried into matches while maintaining a sufficient training volume to elicit physiological adaptations.

A passion for women’s sport

Miss Palmer is very much looking forward to receiving her doctorate degree and stated that she needs a break from academia, a sentiment expressed by many higher degree by research students at the conclusion of their PhD journey. Miss Palmer has transferred the skills she learnt during her PhD studies and her time embedded within the Bendigo Braves and Spirits teams, to her current roles as the High-Performance Manager of the Old Scotch Football club in Melbourne, Victoria and the Strength and Conditioning Coach at Camberwell Grammar School. When asked about her career aspirations, Miss Palmer reiterated her passion for women’s sport and her desire to work at the elite level in a Sports Science or High-Performance role.

Up next week is Part six of our 8-part blog series. We will be following up with Dr Paul Xanthos, ateaching-focused Lecturer in the discipline of Sport and Exercise Science at La Trobe University.

Missed our previous posts in this series? Read them at the HRI blog using the links below and while you’re there, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter so you can stay informed of all the latest HRI news.

Bendigo local GP Dr Stephen Bovalino

Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Mid-Sweden University Dr Craig Staunton

Allied Health Education & Research Manager at Goulburn Valley Health, Dr Emma Macdonald

Allied Health Research and Knowledge Translation Lead, Bendigo Health, Dr Stephen Barrett

The post Miss Jodie Palmer appeared first on Holsworth Research Initiative.

Recent research published by HRI affiliated researcher, Miss Jodie Palmer, has found that maintaining high levels of exercise intensity in professional and semi-professional basketball matches assists in reducing the chance that an opposing team will engage in a scoring streak (when a team scores three times in a row). To maximise the probability of a scoring streak themselves, the findings suggest that a team should aim to shoot more 2-point shots, at a 3:1 2-point to 3-point ratio.

Partnership with the Bendigo Basketball Association

This research formed part of Miss Palmer’s PhD which was supervised by HRI Director Professor Michael Kingsley and HRI Stream Leads Dr Rodrigo Bini and Dr Daniel Wundersitz. The research was made possible due to the collaborative partnership between the Bendigo Basketball Association and La Trobe University, whereby Miss Palmer was embedded within the Bendigo Braves and Bendigo Spirit teams as the High Performance Manager throughout her studies. This enabled Miss Palmer to both offer High Performance services to the Bendigo Braves and Bendigo Spirit teams and collect the data required to fulfil the requirements of her degree.

Using novel methods to identify activity intensity

Miss Palmers research was unique in that it utilised a novel method of identifying activity intensity during basketball game-play. The method known as accelerometry-derived net force or AvFNet was previously validated by Dr Craig Staunton, a former PhD Candidate for the HRI. Additionally, although previous research has investigated individual-based scoring streaks or so called ‘hot hand’, Miss Palmers research was the first to determine the technical and physical activity factors that contribute to team-based scoring streaks in semi-professional and professional basketball.

You can access the full article here. If you find Miss Palmers research particularly interesting, be sure to subscribe to the HRI newsletter to receive the new 8-part blog series celebrating the success of our past HRI graduates, including Miss Palmer.

The post Maximising the probability of scoring streaks in professional basketball appeared first on Holsworth Research Initiative.

Dr Rodrigo Rico Bini was always interested in cycling. When working in Rio de Janeiro he cycled to work and didn’t even own a car, because driving in Rio’s traffic jammed streets was ‘crazy’. Rio is a big city – the population of Melbourne in one third of the space – and challenging to get around.

He worked as a Lecturer in the Bachelor of Exercise Science at the Brazilian Army School of Physical Education which was in a beautiful location between the Sugarloaf mountain and the sea, but there were only two roads to the school and they were packed daily. Bicycles were in use everywhere – one day he saw a delivery man on a cargo bike ferrying a mattress alongside the Sugarloaf Mountain!

His interest served him well in his academic career when his knowledge of anatomy and the biomechanics of muscles led to his movement analysis lecturer asking him to help a Masters student who needed a muscle expert to help in a cycling project. So, as Rodrigo says, he was ‘hijacked into cycling’ although he is also interested in running and gait biomechanics. This cycling research led him to his academic journey, first a Masters and then a PhD.

The benefits of Bendigo

However he and his wife were also seeking a quieter city with better quality of life – and definitely less traffic. When Prof Michael Kingsley and his team were looking for someone to help them with their research with Bendigo Health into cycling in Bendigo, Rodrigo jumped at the chance.

He and his family are now happily living in Bendigo, having just bought their house, and revelling in the convenience of life in a rural city. However health, well-being and exercise continue to be at the forefront of Rodrigo’s mind. As he says:

Research shows that only 5% of regional and rural people ride a bike regularly. This figure needs to change!

A more active community

This is at the forefront of his work with the Holsworth Research Initiative Human Performance theme. He wants to advocate for cycling – not more ‘weekend warriors’, but a more active form of commuting and lifestyle for all the community.

While big cities like Rio, Melbourne and Auckland can be challenging to ride in, Rodrigo thinks that Bendigo has great potential as a place where a higher number of people use a bike as a commuter vehicle.  The city’s compact size is a great incentive. It is really only ever 10 or 15 kilometres to anywhere in town.

He acknowledges that the winter’s chill and summer heat can be a daunting, but suggests the increasing take-up of e-bikes can help commuters deal with climate extremes. Another issue is perception of cyclist safety on the road – but again smaller cities are more welcoming to cyclists. He advocates working with policy makers around improving safety and perception of safety on the road.

What can we do?

Rodrigo wants the researchers within the Holsworth Research Initiative to engage with the community and bring people together – on campus, in exercise and exercise advocacy, and within the research program. He wants to research how can we improve health and well-being, prevent lower limb pain and injury and get more cyclists on the roads.

For further news on Rodrigo’s research and advocacy for cycling and exercise, watch this space!

This research falls under all three HRI research aims:

to optimise function and performance for all individuals, address the global challenge of inactivity, and enable athletes to perform better and compete more successfully.

The post Spotlight on HRI Researchers appeared first on Holsworth Research Initiative.

Dr Rodrigo Bini has received funding from the Holsworth Research Initiative in the La Trobe Rural Health School to investigate how to improve athletes’ performance as they move between the cycling and running stages of a triathlon – this is the stage where athletes cycle into the transition zone, change from their bike shoes to their running shoes, and then commence their run.

The cycle-to-run transition

How badly is athletic performance affected in this time? According to the Peak Performance website, French researchers found that 70% of national-level triathletes remained up to 10% below their average running velocity over the first kilometre of the run phase. This means an athlete who can maintain performance during this time will gain a crucial edge over their competitors!

Evidence not anecdote

There is a wealth of advice available for athletes and coaches on how to move between these stages, but much of this advice is based on anecdotal evidence and personal experience. It is unclear whether these performance issues are due to  muscle fatigue, oxygen or glycogen dips, blood redistribution or ‘neural catch up’.  There is a lack of evidence-based research in this area.

As Dr Bini explains:

This review will help triathletes and coaches base their strategies on research-based evidence rather than anecdotal evidence and personal experience.

Enabling sports people to perform better

As a first step, Dr Bini will review the existing studies on pedaling cadence, intensity, drafting, shoe-cleat position, training, and bike fitting, and use this body of research to make recommendations for triathletes and their coaches.

This research is a result of the Holsworth Research Institute aim:

Optimising function and performance for individuals and enabling sports people to perform better and compete more successfully.

We look forward to providing updates on this research in a future post.

The post The impact of the cycling stage on the running stage of triathlon appeared first on Holsworth Research Initiative.