OLYMPICS: How Latvia plans to win bobsledding medal (or at least beat Jamaica)

Vibrostimulating the Latvian bobsleighers can produce victory (study)

Martin Gardiner in Improbable Research

 

With the Winter Olympics about to begin, what better time to ask, ‘Do Latvian bobsleighers have a unique advantage? Specifically, the RE21 from the Latvian Academy of Sport Education? [see photo]

Details were revealed in a 2011 paper for the LASE JOURNAL OF SPORT SCIENCE 2011/2/1 | 3 by Uģis Ciematnieks, Nauris Ķeizans, Sandis Prūsis and Leonīds Čupriks, entitled: ‘VIBROSTIMULATION IN BOBSLEIGH’

“We in Latvian Academy of Sport Education have equipment of local vibrostimulation, that is portable and can therefore be better included in the training process of various kinds of sports.”

Vibrostimulating the athletes with the RE21 paid off, say the investigators, at least in Olympic scenarios where a few-hundredths-of-a-second advantage might be crucial.

“Summarizing the study results, we can conclude that vibrostimulation has effect, the experimental group result in bobsleigh push from standing position increased by 0.04sec, while the control group by 0.07sec after applying local vibrostimulation.”

Also see: Curling brush research (studies of Olympian sports technology)

BONUS (unrelated): “Cardiovascular Responses to Vibrostimulation for Sperm Retrieval in Men With Spinal Cord Injury” [study]