Research into body composition with DXA system
Vertec product specialist Bill Reid with Gloucester Rugby Club performance nutritionist and former player James Hudson and Birmingham City University programme leader for sport and exercise nutrition Dr Matt Cole.
Birmingham City University and Gloucester Rugby Club are running a collaborative research project to investigate changes in body composition throughout a competitive season in elite professional rugby players. Vertec Scientific has supplied a Hologic Horizon W DXA scanner that will be used for the project.
University programme leader for sport and exercise nutrition Dr Matt Cole said: “It is widely accepted that a rugby player’s body composition can have a significant impact on their ability to train and perform at the highest level. In recent years several research groups have published body composition data of elite athletes including Kenyan marathon runners, rugby league players, football players and jockeys, but there is lack of understanding within elite rugby union populations. Furthermore, many of these studies simply report body composition at just one specific time point and so it is of interest to understand how body composition is influenced by the varied demands of a full competitive season of rugby training and matches.”
See the full report on page 12 of the October 2017 issue of RAD Magazine.
