About this Research Topic

Background

In the field of sport and exercise, it is important that data collected in research are conveyed and translated as accessible information to practitioners, coaches and athletes. This is essential for all parties to be able to set objective and meaningful interventions to improve performance. For practitioners, it is also key that such research is relevant to their athletes’ needs and reflective of sports performance environments. Therefore, communication, collaboration and adoption of evidence-based practice is vitally important when applying findings from research data to athlete interventions.

Frontiers in Sports and Active Living has organized a series of Research Topics focused on research which aims to improve the translation of sport science from ‘Evidence to Practice’. Our key objectives are:

1) To highlight effective examples of translational science between scientific research and real-life sport performance environments;

2) To encourage collaboration between researchers and practitioners to improve coherence and a better understanding of each other’s fields, including the environment, athletes’ preferences and coaches’ expertise/experience;

3) To provide guidance on how to form integrated models in sport performance.

Please see below for the other Research Topics in this series:

Evidence to Practice: Bridging the Gap in Environmental Challenges (Cold, Heat, Hypoxia) in Sport and Exercise
Evidence to Practice: Bridging the Gap in Sport Nutrition
Evidence to Practice: Bridging the Gap in the Prevention of Injuries in Elite Sport
Evidence to Practice: Bridging the Gap in Strength and Resistance Training

In particular, this Research Topic seeks to ‘bridge the gap’ related to environmental challenges in sport and exercise, with special focus on the cold, the heat and hypoxia. Overall, research on acclimatization/acclimation, training, competitions, recovery, rehabilitation or therapeutic interventions related to challenging environmental conditions are targeted. We welcome contributions that explore the use of environmental stressors in sport and exercise, including training and competition settings, with their potential translation in enhanced performance, recovery and rehabilitation processes or preventive and therapeutic protocols. Although an extensive number of studies have been published so far on these environmental-related topics, several issues regarding their effective translation and implementation to the field remain unresolved. The following expected content (non-exhaustive list) would participate to ‘bridge the gap’:

● Athlete-centered case or data report/monitoring of competitive or training in challenging conditions to better delineate “athlete and coach problem” and advance practical knowledge,

● Research conducted in sport-specific ecological settings to advance our understanding of environmental stress-induced adaptations,

● Promoting integrative approaches to develop new knowledge and improve scientific support during sports competitions and preparation periods,

● Reporting injured athletes or patients’ safety and health, tolerance to environmental stress exposure, training or conditioning/rehabilitation to refine intervention characteristics (exercise and/or environmental dosage),

● Translation to therapeutic interventions within the general population (e.g., hypertensive, obese, aged individuals).

We encourage investigations on variation of cold (e.g., cold water immersion, cryotherapy, Wim Hof), hot (e.g., heat acclimatization/acclimation, hot water, sauna) or oxygen supply at systemic (i.e., hypoventilation, normobaric or hypobaric hypoxia) or localized (i.e., blood flow restriction, ischemic conditioning) levels.

The studies investigating combination of several of these stressors are encouraged, particularly in non-athletic populations.

All papers must include a strong focus on translational research and practical applications.

Topic Editor Gregoire Millet co-founded and is a member of the scientific committee of the company 'becare.swiss'. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.

Keywords: Environmental Stressors, Hypoxic Dose, thermoregulation, Humid and Tropical Condition, Adaptation

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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