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The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is the most frequently damaged ligament in the knee. The role of the ACL is to prevent anterior translation of the tibia relative to the femur, guide the knee into full extension, prevent hyperextension and assist in prevention of varus and valgus movements of the knee in extension (Trees et al. 2005).

Surgical techniques used in the reconstruction of the ACL deficient knee have made significant advances with procedures now performed arthroscopically which minimises disruption of soft tissue and expediates the repair process. Rehabilitation of the knee post-ACL reconstruction has experienced similar changes with “accelerated” protocols being the subject of some debate in recent times.

Early mobilisation and treatment of swelling are characteristics of accelerated protocols advocated by Shelbourne (1990, 1997, 1999, 2006) who demonstrate good outcomes. However where the research does lack is with regard to the degree and nature of acceleration during the later phases of rehabilitation when the individual is preparing for a return to sport. Most authors provide timelines as to when they begin sport-specific movements but provide no further information as to how the athlete is progressed within this stage.

Returning the athlete to competition in the fastest possible time is the goal of accelerated rehabilitation (AR). This paper discusses the effects of such protocols with a view to the short and long-term effects on the individual.

However despite this popularity performance-based research on the Australian Football League (AFL) is sparse with little or no information available on current strength and conditioning practice. Research on injuries in AFL is more readily available and the implications of such work strength and conditioning program design.

As more research is conducted strength and conditioning practitioners will be able to refer to a growing pool of normative data (for injuries and physiology) that will help drive the methodology for optimal physical preparation of AFL athletes. Work has already begun in this area with Dawson et al. (2004) comparing training and game demands in an AFL team. This study determined that almost all high-intensity activity lasted less than 6 seconds with directional changes in a 0-90 degree arc. This sort of information is vital in determining optimal work to rest ratios and drills for conditioning.

In recent times the speed of the game has increased significantly (Dawson et al. 2004) and this has led to a growing emphasis on speed, power and agility as essential physiological components in AFL.

Some of the information presented in this paper is anecdotal and based on conversations with and observations of a current performance manager of an AFL team. Most professional organisations are hesitant to publish their methodologies for fear of losing an advantage, so this source gleans a valuable insight into current strength and conditioning practice.

Advances in all aspects of human performance have been significant in recent years, especially in the fields of training methodology and sport science. Increasing professionalism amoung individual and team sports has seen athletes undergo more structured and rigorous training than ever before. However analysis of recovery does appear to be an area that is lacking as is evidenced by the following quote from Kentta and Hassman (1998) - “there are many methods used to measure the training process but few with which to match the recovery process against it” (p 1).

Physiologists and biochemists have proposed a gamut of biological markers to assess recovery including various enzymes, metabolites, hormones and immune cells. To date it appears as though research has focused on the investigation of individual markers with only limited success. The next challenge is to identify the right combination of markers for each individual in each particular sport. This may be some way off given that Petibois et al. (2002) state that performance decrement is the only available diagnostic tool for detection of overtraining.

To date physiologists have extensively explored fatigue and recovery in metabolic terms resulting in a significant body of literature focusing on by-products of exercise such as lactate and phosphate. A review of the literature revealed a significantly lesser number of papers examining the neural aspects of fatigue, particularly central fatigue. Possible reasons for this might be the increased difficulty in measuring and assessing neural components such as nerve conduction velocity (Ross et al. 2001) and neural drive (Noakes, 2000).

Nevertheless it is evident that the central aspect of neural fatigue requires further investigation, and several studies looking at reflex responses (Koceja et al. 2004 and Ross et al. 2001) provide interesting initial findings. There is no question that the next logical step for researchers is to look at the neural changes/adaptations within different sporting contexts in order to expand on the knowledge base that currently exists.

The performance and achievements we see in sport today is a result of progression in many variables, and one of these variables is the development of strength and power. The idea that athletes must be stronger, faster and more powerful than the opponent is something that has been widely accepted and embraced by coaches and competitors, and can now be seen as a world wide phenomenon.

Strength has the ability to not only improve the physical prowess of an athlete, but can also have an injury prevention role provided technique is not compromised. Advanced power movements can be rather complicated and successful execution of these lifts requires a thorough understanding of technical points in order to safely and effectively integrate them into a training program.

This manual is will show and explain the principals of a few selected exercises and in addition, give a brief overview of the muscles involved in the different movements.

Annual training plan overview for a semi-professional rugby league athlete. This includes all training programs for the specific preparation phase of the training year.

The ever-increasing emphasis that is placed on athleticism and sporting success has led scientists to investigate numerous training methods that can have a positive effect on performance. One such method that has received significant attention is complex training (CT).

This method of alternating heavy and light resistances has the end goal of improving power output. In their recent review of complex training Docherty et al. (6) credit Verhoshansky with early work in this field as far back as 1973. Although this was one of the first publications on the topic, one suspects that the Soviets (and possibly other eastern bloc countries) may have been using complex loading as a training tool for some time.

Researchers that have found CT to be beneficial credit a post-activation potentiation (PAP) as the major physiological factor. Docherty et al. (6) explain that the explosive capability of a muscle is enhanced after it has undergone maximal (or near maximal) contractions.

Although some studies have not found any benefit from performing this type of training, the majority of research has supported it’s application as a tool to enhance expression of muscular power and explosiveness. However as with most relatively new training techniques, there is a need for more long-term studies. More work also needs to be done to determine the optimal combination of training variables for different sports and those with varying training ages.

Osteoporosis is a debilitating condition with the US recording 1.5 million related fractures per annum and a mortality figure approaching 300,000 per year (37). More recently, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) stated that 13-18% of women in the US over 50 years have osteoporosis with an additional 37-50% suffering osteopenia (27). In 2002, 1.9 million Australians suffered osteoporosis and this figure is expected to reach 2.2 million in 2006 (www.osteoporosis.org.au).

Given these statistics, it is not suprising that there is a myriad of research available on osteoporosis and possible interventions that will be discussed in this article. A significant body of evidence exists supporting the application of strength and high-impact activity for maintaining and even increasing bone mineral density (BMD) (3,7,11-13,17-20,22,23,25,26,29,31,38,39,41-44), however there appears to be a distinct lack of options within Australia where people can access programs specifically designed to address low BMD through resistance training.

It is recognised that exercise alone is not the solution to this health problem (45), but it is an easily accessible option that would assist many individuals in addressing the loss of BMD that occurs with age and perhaps preventing related fractures, providing early interventions can occur. Ongoing education of health professionals about their role in a holistic treatment approach, plus accessibility to specific exercise programs would be important steps in allaying the incidence and severity of this condition.

Talent identification (TID) and development has become a vital component of many sport programmes (Falk et al. 2004). This is particularly true in Australia where significant resources have gone into developing a national Talent Search program that is implemented through the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). The significance of TID in this country probably stems from greater competition between sports for talented individuals (Hoare and Warr, 2000) within a relatively small population base compared to sporting superpowers such as the USA, Russia, Germany and more recently, China.

The literature reviewed indicates a high success rate of TID within sports that are individual and repetitive with specific anthropometric and physiological requirements such as rowing, weightlifting, cycling, canoeing and athletics (Hoare and Warr 2000, Australian Law Reform Commission 1996). However the use of TID within sports requiring more decision-making and “game sense” requires further investigation before accurate prediction models can be accepted (Falk et al. 2004, Hoare and Warr, 2000, Lidor et al. 2005, Pienaar et al. 1998, Reilly et al. 2000, Reilly and Gilbourne 2003).

The use of gene-based technologies as a TID method is beginning to receive greater attention as knowledge about the human gene map (Perusse et al. 2003) becomes more apparent. This introduces an ethical dilemma and has re-ignited the age-old debate of nature versus nurture.