lable at ScienceDirect

Physical Therapy in Sport 10 (2009) 119–120

Contents lists avai

Physical Therapy in Sport

journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/ptsp

Editorial

The perfect athlete?

You either had to be on another planet or have no interest whatso ever in sport (in which case you will not be reading this) to havemissed the performance of Usain Bolt at this years’ World AthleticsChampionships in Berlin. To do a double on the 100 and 200 m andbreak world records in both following an Olympic year is a trulyamazing feat. He is now the first man to hold Olympic and Worldtitles in the 100 and 200 m at the same time. And at the age ofjust 23, he has a long career ahead of him if he can remain focusedand injury-free. His presence on the sprinting scene has changedthe ‘playing field’ in both his style and attitude, but will anyoneelse be able to get even close to the times he has set? Whilst ithas been a delight to watch, the sport of sprinting is about compe-tition and spectators like to see a close contest, rivalries evolve andbattle commence. So whilst Usain may be the perfect athlete, is hegood for athletics? The answer has to be yes in the short term, hehas single handedly raised the interest and profile in sprintingand athletics for what is a minority sport in many countries. Inthe long term, who knows, will the public get bored of seeinghim consistently winning by such a margin? Will he inspire a futuregeneration of sprinters? or has he set the bar so high he is untouch-able? Will Tyson Gay just have to wait until Usain false starts inorder to get a look in? However perfect Usain is, all athletes arehuman and therefore fallible. This was demonstrated by anothergreat athlete in Berlin. Russia’s Yelena Isinbyeva has done forWomens’ pole vault what Sergi Bubka did for the men’s. Olympicand World Champion, she has broken the outdoor world record14 times and the indoor record 12 times. However, in Berlin, shefailed to clear a single height, which just goes to show even thebest athletes in the world can have a bad day in the office.

Onto the contents of this final issue of the tenth volume. Spon-dylolysis is a particular problem in certain sports such as gymnas-tics, tennis and fast bowlers in cricket, and the clinician’s dilemmais being able to clinically differentiate this from other causes of LBPin athletes in the absence of CT and SPECT scans. The single leghyperextension (SLH) test has been advocated as a clinical test topositively diagnose spondylolysis. In the first piece of originalresearch, Gregg and colleagues present a retrospective study ofthe relationship between six different variables in a cohort of 82subjects that were referred for a SPECT scan to confirm or denythe presence of active spondylolysis. Interestingly, the SLH testdid not demonstrate a significant association with the pathology.Additionally, adolescent males suspected of having an active spon-dylolysis were three and a half times more likely to have a positivescan. These results indicate that therapists should take into account

1466-853X/$ – see front matter � 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.ptsp.2009.09.002

both the age and gender of the subject when active spondylolysis issuspected.

Taping techniques have been advocated in the management ofchronic ankle instability (CAI). More recently, Mulligan taping tech-nique has been added to the list of possible taping techniques forthis condition, but there is a paucity of research to date on theuse of this technique in athletes with CAI. Hopper and colleaguesfrom Curtin University evaluate this taping method on ankle func-tion in twenty recreational athletes with unilateral CAI. Threedifferent conditions were studied; static balance, recovery patternsof static balance after a 30 s fatiguing protocol and performance ofdynamic balance tasks. The contralateral ankle was used as thehealthy control. The authors found no significant differences in all3 outcome measures with the use of this taping method. Fatiguingprotocols are generally a less well validated outcome measure usedin physical therapy research. Researchers may want to note theprotocol adopted in this study, as it appeared appropriate and rele-vant and would be a neat validation study to undertake.

Low back pain is a common problem in sports such as tennis andgolf. These sports require spinal rotation at high velocity withextended lever arms created by the racquet or club. Various theo-ries as to the cause of LBP in these athletes have been suggested.These include the demands of the sport, poor technique anddysfunction elsewhere in the kinematic chain causing compensa-tion of increased spinal rotation. A deficit of medial rotation inthe leading hip has been suggested to be associated with LBP inprofessional golfers. Murray and colleagues from Queen MaryUniversity of London present a case-control study on 64 amateurgolfers. They reported a significant decrease of ten degrees passivemedial hip rotation in the leading hip in the 28 golfers reportingLBP. This study demonstrates a relationship between reduced hiprotation and LBP but not the cause or effect, it would be interestingto see if increasing medial rotation in these subjects had any effecton their LBP.

There has been much criticism in English football that tradi-tional football coaching techniques have developed predominantlyright footed players. Pavely and colleagues from the University ofSydney present an upper limb equivalent and an interesting studyevaluating bilateral ball passing skills in first grade rugby unionplayers. They found substantial differences in not only the accuracybut also the timing and distance with regard to ball passing on theplayer’s non-preferred side. These findings have implications forrehabilitation as well as coaching/training strategies in order toimprove performance.

Editorial / Physical Therapy in Sport 10 (2009) 119–120120

Continuing from an earlier point on the importance of well vali-dated, routine clinical measures employed by Physical Therapists,Hebert-Losier and colleagues present a narrative literature reviewon the common clinical applications of the calf-raise test. This timelyreview presents the relevant anatomical structures of the triceps surae(namely soleus, gastrocnemius; their aponeurosis and the Achillestendon) and their functional properties and goes on to discuss themany variables that could influence the outcome of the test.

Finally, Carmont and colleagues present an interesting casestudy of bilateral Achilles tendon rupture in a previously asymp-tomatic recreational rock climber.

This is the last issue of 2009 and I would like to thank all ourreviewers on who we depend so much and give up their time so

willingly. I would also like to thank all those behind the scenes,the unsung heroes who contribute so much to the success of thejournal, the Associate Editors, all those on the Editorial Committeeand International Advisory Board, Sarah Davies (Publishing Editor)and Jacky Turner (Journal Manager). Last, but not least, thank you toall the readers of Physical Therapy in Sport.

Seasons greetings to you all.

Zoe HudsonEditor