The incidence of soft-tissue injuries reaches 60% within the English Premier League and nearly 70% in the National Football League,  whilst high rates of tendon injuries (tendinopathy) are also observed in many other elite athletes (30-45%) and especially distance runners (55%).

These soft-tissue injuries (those affecting muscles, tendons and ligaments) are extremely common across all levels of sport - recreation and contribute a large percentage of the cause of injurys.

Given the high prevalence of such injuries, nutritional strategies that minimise pain-discomfort or the loss of training time due to injury are likely to determine performance success or failure and should be a key priority. The goal of any nutritional strategy should be to enhance the robustness of the body from within tissues, making them more resistant to the stress placed on them during training or competition.

Collagen is the primary protein that forms the structure of tendons, ligaments and bone and therefore plays an instrumental role in the robustness of these tissues. As such, adding more collagen to these tissues will ultimately make for a stronger and more injury resistant structure. In order to achieve this, key collagen-forming amino acids (proline, hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine), which provide the building blocks for collagen synthesis are required. In addition to this, vitamin C plays an important regulatory role in switching on key enzymes that allow these amino acids to be used in the formation of collagen. Based upon this scientific understanding of tendon remodelling key nutritional interventions to support both injury prevention and rehabilitation is crucial. In support of this, recent studies demonstrate that consuming enriched collagen increase collagen-forming amino acids, which are subsequently used to create new collagen proteins. Furthermore, in real-world practice, this nutrition strategy has been shown to be successful in supporting the rehabilitation and return to play from both ACL reconstruction and patellar tendinopathy and reducing knee pain across a number of different athletes.

Science recommendations:

Whilst key amino acids provides the essential building blocks for new collagen formation, the delivery of these nutrients to specific tendons and ligaments is also important. The concentration of these key amino acids peak 60 minutes after ingestion, Collagen should be consumed 60 minutes prior to exercise or rehabilitation sessions in order to enhance the delivery of these amino acids to the targeted area. Ultimately, the goal is to enhance the robustness of tendons, ligaments and bone and maximise the amount of time available to train and compete.

GloNua collagen protein provide all the essential components to aid recovery per serving and all the necessary constituents to support collagen synthesis.

References

• Baar K. (2017). Minimizing injury and maximizing return to play: Lessons from engineered ligaments. Sports Medicine, 47 (1), 5-11.

• Raysmith BP & Drew MK. (2016). Performance success or failure is influenced by weeks lost to injury and illness in elite Australian track and field athletes: A 5-year prospective study. Journal of Science & Medicine in Sport, 19 (10), 778-783.

• Baar K. (2019). Stress relaxation and targeted nutrition to treat patellar tendinopathy. International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism, 29, 453-457.

• Close GL, Sale C, Baar K, &Bermon S. (2019). Nutrition for the prevention and treatment of injuries in track and field athletes. International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism, 29 (2), 189-197.

• Shaw G, Lee-Barthel A, Ross MLR, Wang B & Baar K. (2017). Vitamin C enriched gelatin supplementation before intermittent activity augments collagen synthesis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 105 (1), 136-143.

• Lis DM & Baar K. (2019). Effects of different vitamin C enriched collaged derivatives on collagen synthesis. International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism, 29, 526-531.

• Shaw G, Serpell B, & Baar K. (2019). Rehabilitation and nutrition protocols for optimising return to play from traditional ACL reconstruction in elite rugby union players: A case study. Journal of sports sciences, 1-10.

• Clark KL, Sebastianelli W, Flechsenhar KR, Aukermann DF, Meza F, Millard RL et al. 24-Week study on the use of collagen hydrolysate as a dietary supplement in athletes with activity-related joint pain. Current medical research and opinion, 24(5), 1485-1496.