Sports Medicine
Head:
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Hecksteden Anne
Team:
Dr. Raffaele Mazzolari, PhD
Dr. Patrick Rodrigues, PhD
Brit Stepper, MSc

Focus
- Interplay of health and physical activity across the full spectrum of engagement, performance, and loading capacity - from training therapy and preventive exercise to elite sports
- Individualization and decision support in preventive and competitive sport
>Understanding and optimizing individual response to exercise training
>Fitting exercise based and pharmaceutical prevention
>Recovery management and injury risk mitigation in elite sports - Molecular aspects of training adaptation and exercise physiology
- Gender differences in competitive sports (e.g. differences in trainability and performance capacity between cycle phases including their interindividual variability)
Lifespan Perspective
- As many effects of training require long-term engagement, physical activity across the lifespan is an integral part of sports medicine. The overarching focus is individualization and decision support
Externally Funded Projects
- I-REP Individualisierte Regeneration & Verletzungsprädiktion im Hochleistungssport. (Bundesinstitut für Sportwissenschaft, ZMI4-070503/23-24, in Kooperation mit der Deutschen Sporthochschule Köln)
- The effect of using internal and external measures of exercise intensity to guide training prescription and monitoring on acute physiological response and chronic adaptations in healthy adults. (Tiroler Nachwuchsforscher*innenförderung, Dr. Mazzolari)
Methods
- Physical examination and sports medical history
- Spiroergometry with all relevant forms of exercise (bicycle ergometer, treadmill, hand crank, field tests) and for a wide range of study participants
- Capillary and venous blood sampling at rest and during exercise
- Measurement of oxygen saturation in blood and tissue
- Echocardiography and sonography (in laboratory and field)
- Muscle biopsies
Publication Highlights
- Hecksteden A, Hoppstadter J, Bizjak DA, et al. Effects of acute exercise and training status on glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper (GILZ) expression in human skeletal muscle. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 2023; Epub ahead of print.
- Hecksteden A, Keller N, Zhang G, et al. Why Humble Farmers May in Fact Grow Bigger Potatoes: A Call for Street-Smart Decision-Making in Sport. Sports Medicine - Open. 2023 2023/10/14;9(1):94.
- Werner C, Hecksteden A, Morsch A, Zundler J, Wegmann M, Kratzsch J, Thiery J, Hohl M, Bittenbring J, Neumann F et al. Differential effects of endurance, interval and resistance training on telomerase activity and telomere length in a randomized, controlled study. Eur Heart J, 2019;40(1):34-46. (geteilte Erstautorenschaft)
- Barth V, Kasbauer H, Ferrauti A, Kellmann M, Pfeiffer M, Hecksteden A, Meyer T. Individualized Monitoring of Muscle Recovery in Elite Badminton. Front Physiol 2019; 10:10.3389/fphys.2019.00778 (geteilte Seniorautorenschaft)
- Ludwig N, Hecksteden A, Kahraman M, Fehlmann T, Laufer T, Kern F, Meyer T, Meese E, Keller A, Backes C: Spring is in the air: seasonal profiles indicate vernal change of miRNA activity. RNA Biol, 2019;16(8):1034-1043. (geteilte Erstautorenschaft)
- Hecksteden A, Meyer T. Blood-borne fatigue markers during major international football tournaments a retrospective analysis of data from the FIFA World Championships and UEFA European Championships 2006 – 2016. Sci Med Football, 2020;4(2):135-141.
- Hecksteden A, Skorski S, Egger F, Buder F, Kellner R, Meyer T. Dwarfs on the shoulders of giants: Bayesian analysis with informative priors in elite sports research and decision making. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. 2022(4): doi: 10.3389/fspor.2022.793603
- Hecksteden A, Schmartz G, Egyptien Y, aus der Fünten K, Keller A, Meyer T: Forecasting football injuries by combining screening, monitoring and machine learning. Sci Med Football. 2022. Epub ahead of print. doi: 10.1080/24733938.2022.2095006 (geteilte Erstautorenschaft)
- A full publication list of Prof. Hecksteden is available at: https://www.i-med.ac.at/sportmedizin/Publikationsliste_2310.pdf