Qatar - Aspetar team has published over 1,000 peer-reviewed articles

Doha: Ranked as one of the best medical institutions in sports medicine research, Aspetar has demonstrated its commitment to helping athletes achieve their full potential by publishing hundreds of peer-reviewed articles. 

Its staff members have published over a thousand peer-reviewed articles, with an average of 135 research studies every year, since the Aspetar Research department was established in 2008.

Prof. Marco Cardinale, Aspetar Executive Director of Research and Scientific Support said:“Our research team is well recognized as a global leader in the field of Sports Medicine research, in line with Aspetar's vision 'to be a global leader in sports medicine and exercise science. This year we introduced new services with new technologies as a consequence of the research efforts. In particular: virtual reality assessment and training, new podiatry manufacturing and personalization with the ability to produce and ship podiatry solutions worldwide, as well as the use of altitude rooms for rehabilitation purposes.”

Its team of experts aims to assist in the protection of athlete health and well-being, whilst also helping to improve athletic performance when returning from an injury. The research activities on sports medicine are targeted to improve the quality of medical care for athletes.

Various topics include best practices on return to play to surgical advancements, injury epidemiology in professional football leagues, the impact of COVID-19 on football leagues and on athletes' behaviours and training habits worldwide, injury patterns in youth footballers, new technologies to assess core temperature in real time in athletes, football boots interactions with the ground, among others. 

Aspetar researchers with experts in physical activity and health from different backgrounds and sectors have also developed the Qatar National Physical Activity Guidelines. The guidelines provide scientific-based advice on how physical activity can help promote health and reduce the risk of chronic diseases as well as avoid sedentarism.

As one of the department's pilot programmes, Athlete Screening Research undertakes pre-competition medical assessments in athletes in an attempt to identify medical conditions that may be detrimental to an his general health and/or performance. It has medically screened over 18,000 athletes worldwide and continuously analyses the data to identify specific interventions to safeguard athletes.

The main projects that Aspetar is working on this year focuses on using the latest technologies on new assessments for podiatry for runners to individualise insoles, research projects on football boots and interaction with the football pitch to prevent injuries.

Other research topics that will also be addressed in 2022 include using virtual reality assessment and retraining to diagnosis and treat concussion, heat therapy to recover from injuries, development of new criteria for return to play following muscle and ligament injuries, and tailored nutritional interventions for athletes recovering from injuries using new technology.

The multidisciplinary approach in Aspetar is based on working to integrate cutting edge research into daily clinical practice both in the hospital and on the playing field. Its experts are constantly involved in innovative research endeavours. 

The highly trained sports science research team together with the medical and rehabilitation teams utilise state-of-the-art equipment and techniques to collect data that can be used to allow athletes to reach their full potential.

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