Blood Biomarkers in Sports Medicine and Performance and the Future of Metabolomics

Methods Mol Biol. 2019:1978:431-446. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9236-2_26.

Abstract

The field of sports medicine and performance has undergone an important transformation in the past years where the scientific approach is becoming increasingly more important for teams and athletes. Physical and physiological fitness, nutrition, fatigue and recovery, as well as injury prevention are key elements of the scientific monitoring of athletes nowadays. Many different methods are used nowadays as part of the scientific monitoring and testing of the competitive athlete. Among them, physiological and metabolic testing, biomechanical and movement assessments, GPS-based tracking systems, heart rate monitors, power meters, and training software are an integrative part of the scientific monitor program of many teams and athletes.Blood biomarkers through traditional blood analysis have been used for over three decades (mainly in Europe) to monitor athletic performance. In the same manner that different cells in the body respond to the stress of an infection or a disease, cells in athletes respond to the stress of competition and training. Nowadays, the area of blood biomarkers is an emerging field in the US offering important level of possibilities to monitor athletes. The field of metabolomics can offer a significantly higher level of blood biomarkers for sports medicine and performance monitoring.

Keywords: Biomarkers; Metabolism; Performance; Sports medicine.

MeSH terms

  • Athletes
  • Athletic Performance / physiology*
  • Biomarkers / blood*
  • Europe
  • Humans
  • Metabolomics / methods*
  • Monitoring, Physiologic / methods
  • Sports Medicine / methods*

Substances

  • Biomarkers