Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T01:10:28.356Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pre-race warm-up practices in Greyhound racing: a pilot study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2007

A J Windred ,
P G Osmotherly  and
C M McGowan
A J Windred
Affiliation:
Noahs Ark Animal Physiotherapy, Brisbane, Queensland 4030, Australia
P G Osmotherly
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health, School of Health Sciences, The University of Newcastle, New South Wales 2308, Australia
C M McGowan*
Affiliation:
Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, The University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 57, Helsinki 00014, Finland
*
*Corresponding author: c.mcgowan@uq.edu.au
Get access

Abstract

Despite the high athletic demands of Greyhound racing and recommendations for the inclusion of pre-race warm-up by some veterinarians, the extent of warm-up practices by Greyhound owners and trainers remains unexplored. We postulated that little pre-race warm-up occurred and any warm-up activities were performed at random. A cross-sectional study design was used to examine pre-race warm-up practices in a sample of 80 Greyhounds. Warm-up components were recorded and scores were assigned in order to quantify the total amount of warm-up undertaken. Associations between total warm-up and signalment and race characteristics were analysed statistically. Correlations between total warm-up performed and all variables including race distance, race order, grade of Greyhound and trainer were poor (all r < 0.2). No statistically significant association between total warm-up and any variable examined could be demonstrated at the P = 0.05 level, although a weak trend towards graded Greyhounds performing more warm-up was noted (P = 0.09). We conclude that little pre-race warm-up is performed in Greyhounds and that when practised, the amount and methods of warm-up are inconsistently applied.

Keywords

warm-upstretchingexerciseGreyhoundracing
Type
Short Communication
Information
Equine and Comparative Exercise Physiology , Volume 4 , Issue 3-4 , November 2007 , pp. 119 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1Yore, P and Newell, JF (1989). The racing greyhound [Video]. Warners Bay.Google Scholar
2Steiss, JE (2002). Muscle disorders and rehabilitation in canine athletes. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice 32: 267–285.Google Scholar
3Evans, DL (2000). Training and fitness in athletic horses. A Report for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation. Sydney: University of Sydney.Google Scholar
4Lund, RJ, Guthrie, AJ, Mostert, HJ, Travers, CW, Nurton, JP and Adamson, DJ (1996). Effect of three different warm-up regimens on heat balance and oxygen consumption of thoroughbred horses. Journal of Applied Physiology 80: 2190–2197.Google Scholar
5Tyler, CM, Hodgson, DR and Rose, RJ (1996). Effect of a warm-up on energy supply during high intensity exercise in horses. Equine Veterinary Journal 28: 117–120.Google Scholar
6McCutcheon, LJ, Geor, RJ and Hinchcliff, KW (1999). Effects of prior exercise on muscle metabolism during sprint exercise in horses. Journal of Applied Physiology 87: 1914–1922.Google Scholar
7Robergs, RA, Pascoe, DD, Costill, DL, Fink, WJ, Chwalbinska-Moneta, J, Davis, JA et al. (1991). Effects of warm-up on muscle glycogenolysis during intense exercise. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 23: 37–43.Google Scholar
8Gerbino, A, Ward, SA and Whipp, BJ (1996). Effects of prior exercise on pulmonary gas-exchange kinetics during high-intensity exercise in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology 80: 99–107.Google Scholar
9Hajoglou, A, Foster, C, de Koning, JJ, Lucia, A, Kernozek, TW and Porcari, JP (2005). Effect of warm-up on cycle time trial performance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 37: 1608–1614.Google Scholar
10Scheuermann, BW, Bell, C, Paterson, DH, Barstow, TJ and Kowalchuk, JM (2002). Oxygen uptake kinetics for moderate exercise are speeded in older humans by prior heavy exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology 92: 609–616.Google Scholar
11Bishop, D (2003). Warm up I. Potential mechanisms and the effects of passive warm up on exercise performance. Sports Medicine 33: 439–454.Google Scholar
12van der Hoeven, JH and Lange, F (1994). Supernormal muscle fibre conduction velocity during intermittent isometric exercise in human muscle. Journal of Applied Physiology 77: 802–806.Google Scholar
13Strickler, T, Malone, T and Garrett, WE (1990). The effects of passive warming on muscle injury. The American Journal of Sports Medicine 18: 141–145.Google Scholar
14Safran, MR, Garrett, WE, Seaber, AV, Glisson, RP and Ribbeck, BM (1988). The role of warmup in muscular injury prevention. The American Journal of Sports Medicine 16: 123–129.Google Scholar
15Fradkin, AJ, Gabbe, BJ and Cameron, PA (2006). Does warming up prevent injury in sport? The evidence from randomised controlled trials? Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 9: 214–220.Google Scholar
16Ekstrand, J, Gillquist, J and Liljedahl, SO (1983). Prevention of soccer injuries. Supervision by doctor and physiotherapist. The American Journal of Sports Medicine 11: 116–120.Google Scholar
17Bixler, B and Jones, RL (1992). High-school football injuries: Effects of a post-halftime warm-up and stretching routine. Family Practice Research Journal 12: 131–139.Google Scholar
18Wedderkopp, N, Kaltoft, M, Lundgaard, B, Rosendahl, M and Froberg, K (1999). Prevention of injuries in young female players in European team handball. A prospective intervention study. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports 9: 41–47.Google Scholar
19van Mechelen, W, Hlobil, H, Kemper, HCG, Voorn, WJ and de Jong, HR (1993). Prevention of running injuries by warm-up, cool-down and stretching exercises. The American Journal of Sports Medicine 21: 711–719.Google Scholar
20Pope, R, Herbert, R and Kirwin, J (1998). Effects of ankle dorsiflexion range and pre-exercise calf muscle stretching on injury risk in army recruits. Australian Journal of Physiotherapy 44: 165–172.Google Scholar
21Pope, R, Herbert, R, Kirwin, J and Graham, B (2000). A randomised trial of preexercise stretching for prevention of lower-limb injury. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 32: 271–277.Google Scholar
22Nold, JL, Peterson, LJ and Fedde, MR (1991). Physiological changes in the running Greyhound (canus domesticus): influence of race length. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 100A: 623–627.Google Scholar
23Toll, PW and Reynolds, AJ (2000). The canine athlete. In: Hand, MS (ed.) Small Animal Clinical Nutrition. 4th ed.Topeka, KS: Mark Morris Institute, pp. 261–289.Google Scholar
24Ozyener, F, Rossiter, HB, Ward, SA and Whipp, BJ (2001). Influence of exercise intensity on the on- and off-transient kinetics of pulmonary oxygen uptake in humans. Journal of Physiology 533: 891–902.Google Scholar