Sport and Exercise Physiology Testing Guidelines: Volume II - Exercise and Clinical Testing

The British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences Guide

R. C. Davison, Paul Smith, James Hopker, Michael Price, Florentina Hettinga, Garry Tew, Lindsay Bottoms, Paul Smith, James Hopker, Michael J Price, Florentina Hettinga, Garry Tew, Lindsay Bottoms

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000537642
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Medicina
• Subtopic: Fisiología

Since its first published edition more than 30 years ago, the BASES (British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences) Physiological Testing Guidelines have represented the leading knowledge base of current testing methodology for sport and exercise scientists. Sport and exercise physiologists conduct physiological assessments that have proven validity and reliability, both in laboratory and sport-specific contexts. A wide variety of test protocols have been developed, adapted and refined to support athletes of all abilities reach their full potential. This book is a comprehensive guide to these protocols and to the key issues relating to physiological testing.

With contributions from leading specialist sport physiologists and covering a wide range of mainstream sports in terms of ethical, practical and methodological issues, this volume represents an essential resource for sport-specific exercise testing in both research and applied settings. This new edition draws on the authors' experience of supporting athletes from many sports through several Olympic cycles to achieve world leading performances. While drawing on previous editions, it is presented in a revised format matching the sport groupings used in elite sport support within the UK sport institutes. Building on the underpinning general procedures, these specific chapters are supported by appropriate up-to-date case studies in the supporting web resources.

Part I

1.1 Professional competency and working with others

Michael J. Price, Andrew M. Miles and Paul M. Smith

DOI: 10.4324/9781003045267-3

Introduction

Achieving and maintaining a minimum standard of professional competency is an important aspect of many careers and sport and exercise science is no exception. Careers such as medicine, nursing and physiotherapy require practitioners to record and evidence their ongoing professional development and the relevant professional bodies conduct regular audits in order for practitioners to retain their registration. Whilst BASES does not currently require ongoing evidence of continued development, it does have a strong ethos of achieving and maintaining high standards and professional development as evidenced in its accreditation and re-accreditation pathways. These require practitioners to meet minimum standards to achieve initial accreditation and to evidence continued professional development and sustained growth to secure re-accreditation.

Within the UK, whether as part of a research role, clinical (or sport) service provision or learning and teaching, sport and exercise science practitioners must abide by the BASES Code of Conduct. This code encompasses specific elements of research ethics, personal and professional conduct and competence. Indeed, there are many linked chapters within this textbook, which relate to these specific issues to help you ensure your practice is consistent with good practice.

Members, at all times, must have regard to the following principles:

• a) All Clients have the right to expect the highest standards of professionalism, consideration and respect.
• b) The pursuit of scientific knowledge requires that research and testing is carried out with utmost integrity.
• (c) The law requires that working practices are safe, that the welfare of the Client is paramount, and that data is used and stored in accordance with the law.

BASES Code of Conduct (Paragraph 4.3) March 2017

NB: In anticipation of the publication date of this textbook, note that the BASES code of conduct is currently under review and with a new version available by early 2022.

Maintaining and extending professional competency

The premise underpinning professional competency suggests that an individual achieves some initial baseline, or minimum threshold standard in the form of a measure of his/her ‘fitness to practice’ or a ‘licence to practice’. In some professions, this criterion requirement is associated with formal, professional-body-endorsed academic training at either the undergraduate or postgraduate level (e.g., British Association of Sport Rehabilitators and Trainers – BASRaT). In other professions, demonstration of professional competency may be attached to evidencing competence through professional practice or training after graduation to achieve professional-body recognition through an accreditation scheme or similar process (e.g., BASES or British Psychological Society). Having achieved this initial baseline, there is an expectation that practitioners maintain and extend their competency and knowledge base through ongoing training and continuous professional development. An employer, a professional organisation and/or private providers can provide ongoing training. Responsibility for maintaining and extending competence lies with the practitioner, but is typically regulated or mandated by the profession.

Employers require minimum knowledge and standards, often identified as ‘essential’ or ‘desirable’ skills and knowledge within person specifications and job descriptions. Many identify that a candidate/applicant must have professional-body endorsement/accreditation or similar credentials. This is imperative and ensures an employee can ‘hit the ground running’ with the minimum acceptable professional knowledge and skills. By ensuring recruits have the required professional skillsets at the outset, employers can focus any initial induction on job- and employer-specific training such as health and safety, data handling and internal policies and practices, some of which are included in chapters of this textbook immediately following this introduction.

Safeguarding and welfare is relevant in all contexts of a client-based industry, but special consideration is required when working with young and/or vulnerable populations. In the UK, anyone working with minors (i.e., participants under 18 years of age) or vulnerable groups (e.g., clinical patients or some individuals with physical and/or learning disabilities) must gain formal clearance through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). Sport and exercise practitioners should thus be aware and informed of such areas, referring to policies of their own organisation, BASES’s governance documents or policy documents (e.g., Safeguarding and Welfare Policy). In the context of applied sport and exercise science practices, we also refer readers to a wealth of sport- and exercise-science-specific information and applied recommendations within a repository of BASES Expert Statements and the Useful Resources at the end of this chapter.

Once a practitioner is ‘skilled’ in both a professional and internal organisational capacity, s/he then needs to remain up to date of emerging developments in both contexts. There is a shared responsibility between the employer, the profession and an individual to ensure that practitioners are able to access continued professional development (CPD) opportunities. As alluded to previously, employers and practitioners should be proactive in seeking training opportunities which extend beyond compulsory in-house requirements. Practitioners should be able to clearly demonstrate the retention of their ‘fitness to practice’ through accessing CPD opportunities such as external (professional) training events, conferences, peer-reviewed publications, opportunities to shadow/observe other practitioners/supervisors, engaging in professional networks and remaining aware of evolving professional regulatory standards. Engagement with a suitable (academic or clinical) mentor (or supervisor) can prove beneficial, helping to ensure a practitioner remains abreast of area-specific requirements, identifying and capitalising upon gainful CPD opportunities.

A fundamental activity to help practitioners recognise those areas of their professional practice in need of improvement is reflective practice (Huntley et al., 2019). Reflective practice is a cognitive process that allows practitioners to examine their own professional practice by asking themselves questions about how and why they do things and considering the impact of their actions and decisions on their practice and on the experiences of their clients. Although many reflective practice articles within sport and exercise science appear biased towards sport and exercise psychology (Huntley et al., 2014), reflective practice is key to all applied practice disciplines. However, a study of coach education noted a lack of confidence in understanding reflective practice and thus limited engagement with it (Cropley et al., 2012). Although it is beyond the scope of this chapter to discuss models of reflective practice and the process per se, it is important to note the range of reflective practice models available – each with associated pros and cons (Knowles et al., 2014).

Working in multi- and interdisciplinary teams

An important requirement in the context of BASES-supervised experience is the consideration and appreciation of working as a component of an integrated, multidisciplinary (or interdisciplinary) team, a factor that is key for sporting, exercise and health arenas. As a specialist within a particular field of study, you will typically find yourself working alongside others to achieve a common goal: whether evaluating a patient’s pre-operative fitness, or the impact of a specific intervention on an elite athlete’s performance.

Within the sport and exercise sciences, a subtle difference exists between the terms ‘multidisciplinary’ and ‘interdisciplinarity’. With a client at the centre of a wheel (the hub), a multidisciplinary approach would have professions within their individual silos on the rim, all heading towards the centre with no interaction – a parallel provision of support. However, interdisciplinary work implies that there is some interaction between professional areas. For example, a change in sporting equipment and/or technique (i.e., biomechanics) or improvements in strength (i.e., strength and conditioning) might improve exercise efficiency/economy (i.e., exercise physiology), thus leading to an improvement in situation-specific confidence (i.e., training and/or competition) and an improvement in performance. Likewise, in a clinical setting, an improvement in physiological/metabolic fitness and function (i.e., physiology), resulting from behaviour change (i.e., health psychology; see West et al., 2019), will lead to improved self-efficacy (i.e., psychology), leading to greater independence and improvement in overall quality of life.

Within the clinical sciences, many good examples of the workings of multi-and interdisciplinary teams exist, but the extent of literature pertaining to such an approach in the sport and exercise sciences remains somewhat scant. This situation continues despite Burwitz et al. (1994) raising the importance of this approach more than a quarter of a century ago. In the context of the sport and exercise community, some good examples exist of multidisciplinary approaches to the support and preparation of individual elite athletes and/or squads.

There will always be limitations to research endeavours and/or programmes of clinical provision/sport science support. A frequent shortfall is the poor translation of existing knowledge to applied practice. While the concept of ‘evidence-based practice’ is broadly accepted, a paradox exists wherein a practitioner may turn to ‘practice-based evidence’. To contextualise this point, an example relates to the broad topic of coaching or sport science support of elite athletes. While a vast amount of scientific literature exists for well-trained groups of athletes, little exists for truly elite, international competitors. In this example, Ross et al. (2018) describe a need to adopt a blended approach to the collection and assimilation of knowledge to create often novel and unique solutions and practical applications. Here, one might draw on all available knowledge, gaining insight from a scientific, professional experience and anecdotal perspectives.

This chapter provides the reader with a general overview of professional practice, competency and the concept of multi- and interdisciplinary teams; your challenge is to seek subject-specialist information to help you become more informed and the most competent and effective practitioner possible. Consulting the considerable array of information contained within the BASES policy documents, guidelines and expert statements is highly recommended.

References

• Burwitz, L., Moore, P. M. and Wilkinson, D. M. (1994). Future directions for performance-related sports science research: An interdisciplinary approach. Journal of Sport Sciences, 12, 93–109.
• Cropley, B., Miles, A. and Peel, J. (2012). Reflective practice: Value of, issues, and developments within sports coaching. Sports Coach UK...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part I
• PART II
• Part III
• Part IV
• Part V
• Index