Biomedical engineering in exercise and sports

In recent years, Biomedical Engineering moved toward a dominant position among the disciplines related to innovation, health and interdisciplinary research. In the field of Exercise and Sports, where intense efforts to achieve excellence and increase competitiveness are always required, technology is an important mean to increase performance as well as comprehension of the movement dynamics, and to assess the effectiveness of training procedures.
The efforts of both basic and applied research in this field have great interest for the entire community due to their fall-outs in other fields such as the assessment of evidence based rehabilitation effectiveness, the design and implementation of counteracting measures in microgravity environments, the study of how to limit or counteract ageing-induced modifications in neuromusucular functions and work-related musculoskeletal disorders.
Fifteen topics are described and discussed in the present book. They can be grouped into four different clusters: Skeletal Muscle (size and contraction, metabolis, fatigue, force assessment, and proteomic profiling of the exercise-induced adaptations), Biomechanics (modelling and simulation, disciplines and performances, and disability-induced impairment), Technology (sport equipment, shoe construction, and shoe-surface interaction), and Electrical stimulation in Sports (basic mechanisms, forms of stimulation, energetics of the contractions, and assessment of effectiveness).
Indice
Skeletal muscle
In-vivo interaction of fascicles and tendons as measured by the optic fiber and ultrasonographic tecniques
Muscle metabolism during and after exercise examined noninvasively by NMR spectroscopy
Muscle fatigue and the mechanisms of task failure
Quantitative muscle force measurement using intramuscular pressure
Proteomic profiling of skeletal muscle structure and function and exercise-induced adaptations
Biomechanics
Estimating forces in sport biomechanics
Biomechanics in different disciplines and factors affecting performance
Disabled athletes: medical issues, fitness and biomechanics
Technology
Bioengineering approach to sport equipment design and assessment
Biomechanical and orthopaedic concepts in athletic footwear construction
Biomechanical aspects of playing surfaces and shoe-surface-interaction
Electrical stimulation in sports
Electrical stimulation of the peripheral nervous system
Neuromuscular electrical stimulation: what is activated?
Comparison of muscle energetics during voluntary and electrically induced contractions in humans
Neuromuscular electrical stimulation for muscle strength training