{"id":682,"date":"2020-09-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/why-respiratory-health-was-the-english-institute-of-sports-focus-long-before-coronavirus\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:12","slug":"why-respiratory-health-was-the-english-institute-of-sports-focus-long-before-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/why-respiratory-health-was-the-english-institute-of-sports-focus-long-before-coronavirus\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Respiratory Health Was the English Institute of Sport\u2019s Focus Long Before Coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n Sep 04, 2020 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Why Respiratory Health Was the English Institute of Sport\u2019s Focus Long Before Coronavirus<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Data & Innovation<\/a>, Human Performance<\/a> <\/div>\n
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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/why-respiratory-health-was-the-english-institute-of-sports-focus-long-before-coronavirus\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n
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Craig Ranson introduces and explains how the EIS\u2019 Systematic Assessment of Respiratory Health programme has increased athlete availability to train and compete.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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Respiratory health was a big deal for the English Institute of Sport [EIS] long before Covid-19.<\/h4>\n
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By John Portch<\/h6>\n

\u201cWhy respiratory health? I get asked this all the time; why is it our No1 priority?\u201d reflected Dr Craig Ranson, the Director of Athlete Health at the EIS.<\/p>\n

Ranson was speaking at July\u2019s Virtual Leaders Meet: Total High Performance Summit where he delved into some of the key focus areas for the EIS\u2019 Athlete Health directorate during the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic cycle.<\/p>\n

First, he explored the Performance Data Management System [PDMS] developed in-house by the EIS<\/u><\/a>, before turning his attention to respiratory health.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur data tells us that respiratory illness is the health issue posing the greatest performance threat in Olympic and Paralympic cycles,\u201d he explained. \u201cNow that\u2019s not only over the past four months where it\u2019s certainly posing the biggest health threat [with] Covid primarily being a respiratory illness – that\u2019s certainly been the case over the last six to eight years as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He refers the audience to a screenshot taken from the Athlete Health dashboard, which is used by athletes, coaches and practitioners across the EIS. It reveals that medical problems represent the greatest burden on Great Britain\u2019s athletes.<\/p>\n

Ranson then presented a series of additional stats to show that respiratory illness is far and away the greatest athlete health burden. \u201cAll of those different diagnoses here pale in significance to upper respiratory tract infection diagnoses, which affect nearly half of athletes in that two-year period [2016-2018] account for nearly eight days lost per episode,\u201d he commented. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to tackle one thing in this cycle it\u2019d better be respiratory health.\u201d<\/p>\n

He cites the example of Lizzy Yarnold, who, at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, defended her title in the women\u2019s skeleton competition to become the first Briton to win back to back Winter Olympic gold medals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sub-story to that is that this bit of history may never have happened,\u201d revealed Ranson. \u201cShe was very close to not sliding on that gold medal run because of a respiratory illness. That spurred us on to tackle this seriously and develop a programme called Systematic Assessment of Respiratory Health – or SARAH – and we partnered with some experts in the NHS, some of the best respiratory hospitals in the world, in a partnership where we looked at using our medical records data to identify the 200 athletes who are most susceptible to respiratory illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey underwent a total airway assessment right from the tip of their nose to the bottom of their lungs; carefully identifying any issues with their immune function, allergy susceptibility, sinus and nasal disease; gastric reflux, which can mimic respiratory problems; laryngeal function and disordered breathing; all the way to common things like asthma and airways inflammation. That programme takes about an hour to do with our respiratory physicians and physiologists and we can give really detailed information back to the sports medicine doctors and ways to optimise the respiratory health handle and time loss in those athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n

By June 2019, those eight days of restricted training per respiratory illness were reduced to less than five.<\/p>\n

Ranson then touched upon the 2018\/19 respiratory health campaign that saw 1,000 packs distributed to athletes on Great Britain\u2019s World Class Programme. \u201cOne of our doctors came up with this brilliant marketing idea, where are Christmas present, a package, was distributed containing information on how to look after yourself during the Christmas period – how to wash your hands and how to maintain good hygiene; and a few products that would keep them healthy and safe over the festive season, including a piece of chocolate, which Dr Rebecca [Robinson], the Chief Medical Officer of British Canoeing, tweeted about thanking us for the chocolate designed to help the immune system of the athletes.\u201d The athletes were also provided with details of when doctors might be available for support and advice.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This was another initiative where the PDMS informed the Athlete Health team\u2019s approach. \u201cWe aggregated four years of data for respiratory illness; and it is no surprise that over the winter period from October through to February we saw most of the respiratory illness, but a real spike in January, especially in early January, which tended to be associated with athletes going home for Christmas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know now more than ever how easy it is to spread respiratory illness; seeing new people, seeing family, grandparents, cousins; coming back and missing one or two weeks\u2019 of training because they are suffering from respiratory illness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their reasoning was sound and the Christmas packs were fun, but were they effective? \u201cIn the years before we saw 58 episodes of respiratory illness in that first month back and a considerable 41 per cent drop down to 34 in the year that we did this initiative. In particular, a 60 per cent drop in that first week after Christmas, where we typically saw lots of athletes losing time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The arrival of the pandemic presents an extra level of challenge but, as Ranson explained, the EIS\u2019 athlete availability, effort and recovery [AER] app was swiftly fitted with a Covid bolt-on<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cwe can recognise early signs of illness from the athlete reporting before they even think about travelling into their training site; and there is automatic reporting to medics in their sport; and their coaches know who is available and who might need a phone call before they even set foot outside the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EIS\u2019 approach to respiratory health – and the data used to inform decisions – could prove decisive come major competitions.<\/p>\n

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Looking for more performance insight?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Performance<\/em> 21<\/em> is available for download now and leads with a selection of insights lifted from our At Home With Leaders podcast series, which has featured the likes of England Rugby\u2019s Eddie Jones<\/strong>, the Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 Mark Shapiro<\/strong>, and Chelsea\u2019s Emma Hayes<\/strong> speaking directly from their home offices.<\/p>\n