This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you may go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13512470/
and if you wish to take away this text from our website please contact us
Competitive swimming sports activities drugs is an interdisciplinary discipline encompassing musculoskeletal damage prevention, train physiology, biomechanics, rehabilitation, and efficiency optimization. This research aimed to characterize the expansion, contributors, collaboration networks, and thematic evolution of analysis involving aggressive swimmers.
A two-layer search technique was utilized to the Web of Science Core Collection utilizing sport-specific subject phrases and chosen Web of Science classes, together with Sport Sciences, Orthopedics, Rehabilitation, Pediatrics, Nutrition & Dietetics, and Psychology Applied. Publications had been analyzed utilizing VOSviewer and Bibliometrix to judge annual output, productive authors, establishments, international locations, journals, quotation patterns, co-authorship networks, and key phrase co-occurrence.
The search recognized 1,825 publications revealed between 1969 and June 2026. Annual output elevated from fewer than 5 publications per 12 months earlier than 1985 to a peak of 95 publications in 2021. Sport Sciences was the dominant Web of Science class, accounting for 92.7% of information. The United States, Australia, and Portugal had been the main contributing international locations. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise was the most efficient journal, with 142 publications. Major analysis clusters concerned swimming biomechanics, coaching physiology, athlete monitoring, and scientific sports activities drugs, together with swimmer’s shoulder, rotator cuff pathology, scapular dysfunction, and overuse damage.
The discipline has developed from an early emphasis on hydrodynamics and stroke mechanics towards train physiology, coaching monitoring, damage prevention, rehabilitation, immunology, diet, and athlete well being. Research stays concentrated in a restricted variety of international locations and establishments, whereas damage surveillance, para swimming, masters swimming, and standardized return-to-sport standards stay underdeveloped.
Competitive swimming sports activities drugs has developed right into a multidisciplinary analysis discipline integrating biomechanics, physiology, musculoskeletal damage administration, and efficiency science. This bibliometric map identifies influential contributors and rising analysis priorities whereas highlighting the necessity for standardized damage definitions, improved surveillance, and clinically relevant return-to-sport steerage.
Keywords: aggressive swimming, sports activities drugs, bibliometric evaluation, swimming accidents, biomechanics, rehabilitation, swimmer’s shoulder
Competitive swimming is among the most generally practiced sports activities worldwide, which entails the strokes of freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly carried out throughout a variety of pool and open-water occasions. Participation spans youth and age-group packages, collegiate competitors, masters swimming, para swimming, and elite worldwide competitors, with many swimmers starting intensive coaching at a younger age. Swimming offers substantial well being advantages, together with cardiovascular health, muscular endurance, pulmonary operate, and psychological well-being. Despite being identified for a low-impact sport, aggressive swimming requires exceptionally excessive coaching volumes. Many swimmers observe day by day, 5 to 7 days per week, and infrequently full between 8,000 and 20,000 yards per day, which exposes the musculoskeletal system to repetitive actions. As a end result, overuse accidents have develop into a big concern in aggressive swimmers.1,2
Research, together with NCAA knowledge reviews 4.00 accidents per 1000 hours of publicity in males and three.78 accidents per 1000 hours in ladies, with greater than one-third of accidents leading to misplaced coaching or competitors time. The shoulder is essentially the most injured area, accounting for about 40 to 91% of reported accidents. Other widespread websites of accidents are the hip adductors, ligaments of the knee, lumbar disc of the backbone, and different musculoskeletal problems have been reported throughout varied age teams and aggressive ranges. These accidents can have an effect on athlete’s efficiency as it will possibly interrupt coaching, and it will possibly result in extended absence from competitors.3–5
Injury patterns fluctuate in response to stroke mechanics. Freestyle and butterfly contain repetitive overhead movement, inner rotation, and high-volume loading of the rotator cuff and scapular stabilizers, which can contribute to shoulder ache, tendinopathy, impingement signs, and scapular dyskinesis. Butterfly additionally produces repeated lumbar extension, probably rising stress on the posterior components of the lumbar backbone. Breaststroke is extra strongly related to medial knee signs due to the valgus and rotational forces generated through the whip kick.5–7
Management of swimming-related musculoskeletal damage usually consists of short-term modification of coaching quantity, correction of stroke mechanics, focused rehabilitation, and progressive return to sport. Rehabilitation generally emphasizes rotator cuff and scapular stabilizer strengthening, core stability, flexibility, kinetic-chain operate, and correction of muscular imbalance. Surgical therapy is rare however could also be thought of in athletes with structural pathology, instability, or persistent signs regardless of an satisfactory course of nonoperative administration. Return-to-sport selections stay heterogeneous and are continuously primarily based on symptom decision, restoration of power and vary of movement, correction of biomechanical deficits, and tolerance of progressive swimming workloads.4,8,9
Despite the expansion of swimming-related analysis, the sector spans a number of partially overlapping domains, together with biomechanics, train physiology, damage epidemiology, rehabilitation, sports activities psychology, diet, and athlete monitoring. A bibliometric evaluation can make clear how these domains have developed, determine influential contributors and collaboration networks, and reveal areas wherein clinically related proof stays restricted. Therefore, this research aimed to characterize the worldwide literature on aggressive swimming sports activities drugs from 1969 via June 2026, with specific consideration to publication tendencies, influential authors and establishments, geographic distribution, quotation patterns, collaboration networks, and rising analysis themes.10
This research was designed as a bibliometric evaluation of revealed literature and didn’t contain human contributors, identifiable affected person data, or intervention task. Institutional overview board approval was subsequently not required. The evaluation was carried out in accordance with established suggestions for bibliometric analysis.11,12
The Web of Science Core Collection was searched on June 15, 2026. Web of Science was chosen as a result of it offers standardized bibliographic metadata, quotation monitoring, journal-category indexing, and compatibility with generally used bibliometric software program. The search was restricted to information listed from database inception via the date of retrieval.
Bibliometric evaluation was employed to judge publication tendencies, influential contributors, collaboration networks, and rising analysis matters inside aggressive swimming sports activities drugs, following established reporting pointers.11,12 Data had been extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection, chosen for its complete protection, standardized metadata, and citation-tracking capabilities, following commonplace bibliometric protocol.11,12
The following two-layer search technique was utilized:
TS=(“competitive swimming” OR “competitive swimmer*” OR “elite swimmer*” OR “master swimmer*” OR “collegiate swimmer*” OR “youth swimmer*” OR “age-group swimmer*” OR “junior swimmer*” OR “open water swimmer*” OR “synchronized swimming” OR “swimmer* shoulder” OR “swimmer* knee” OR “breaststroker* knee” OR “Paralympic swimming” OR “swimming biomechanics”)
AND WC=(“Sport Sciences” OR “Orthopedics” OR “Rehabilitation” OR “Pediatrics” OR “Nutrition Dietetics” OR “Psychology Applied”)
Records had been eligible in the event that they addressed aggressive swimming, aggressive swimmers, or the scientific, biomechanical, physiological, psychological, dietary, or rehabilitation elements of aggressive swimming. Records targeted solely on leisure aquatic train, nonhuman aquatic locomotion, marine biology, pharmacology unrelated to sport, or swimming as a normal public-health exercise had been exterior the meant scope. The evaluation included all doc varieties, and no language restrictions had been utilized. The closing dataset contained 1,825 publications.
For every publication, knowledge on authors, establishments, international locations, journals, publication 12 months, quotation counts, and key phrases had been extracted. Network visualization and bibliometric mapping had been carried out utilizing VOSviewer.
Research on aggressive swimming has been an increasing space of research since 1969, with publication output crossing 50 publications per 12 months for the primary time round 2010, and has remained above that repeatedly. The output reached its peak at 95 publications in 2021. Despite the slightest decline from 2016 to 2017, the general noticed development reveals a continued curiosity in aggressive swimming sports activities drugs. The 2026 determine of 43 publications doubtless signifies partial 12 months indexing quite than a discount within the analysis exercise.
Comparing the publication patterns by class, sports activities sciences lead at 92.7%, with physiology at 13.4%. Orthopedics at 5.2%, and rehabilitation at 5.4%, which represents the scientific damage and return to sport literature. Engineering and biomedical at 4.5% collectively symbolize the rising software of movement seize methods to stroke mechanisms analysis. Neuroscience, zoology, and pharmacology are notably absent from the highest classes. Psychology at 6.1% signifies analysis on burnout, motivation, and psychological abilities in aggressive swimmers.
Analysis of authorship reveals the highest creator, Pyne DB, with 56 publications. His place on the Australian Institute of Sport established the usual for monitoring athletic hundreds and immune capabilities. This is adopted by Marinho DA (54), Vilas-Boas JP (53), Barbosa TM (50), and Fernandes RJ (47), who collectively symbolize the Portuguese and Spanish cluster. Mujika I’s 24 publications present vital contributions to this discipline, in addition to Chollet D and Arellano R.
Figure 4 presents the ten journals publishing the most important variety of information within the dataset. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise was the most efficient outlet, with 142 publications (7.8%), adopted by the International Journal of Sports Medicine with 92 (5.0%), the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance with 84 (4.6%), the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research with 84 (4.6%), and the Journal of Sports Sciences with 82 (4.5%). Additional productive journals included the European Journal of Applied Physiology, Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, Sports Biomechanics, Journal of Human Kinetics, and European Journal of Sport Science.
The United States was the main contributing nation, with 470 publications (25.8%), adopted by Australia with 238 (13.0%), Portugal with 166 (9.1%), England with 161 (8.8%), and Spain with 158 (8.7%). France, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Italy, Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Poland, and Norway additionally ranked among the many 15 best international locations. Overall, publication output was concentrated in North America, Western Europe, Australia, and chosen East Asian international locations.
The outcomes of the ten most cited papers confirmed that Gabbett’s 2016 “training-injury prevention paradox” paper leads with 1189 citations. The second most cited paper was by Meeusen et al. revealed in 2013 about overtraining syndrome, had 806 citations. The third most cited paper was Mujika and Padillas paper revealed in 2000, which is essentially the most cited paper about swimming particularly, had 556 publications. Raedeke’s paper about athletic burnout is essentially the most cited paper on sport psychology analysis.
| Rank | First Author | Year | Journal | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabbett TJ | 2016 | Br J Sports Med | 1,189 |
| 2 | Meeusen R et al. | 2013 | Med Sci Sports Exerc | 806 |
| 3 | Mujika I, Padilla S | 2000 | Sports Medicine | 556 |
| 4 | Thomopoulos S et al. | 2015 | J Orthop Research | 442 |
| 5 | Simpson RJ et al. | 2015 | Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci | 414 |
| 6 | Raedeke TD | 1997 | J Sport Exerc Psychol | 403 |
| 7 | Junge A et al. | 2009 | Am J Sports Med | 382 |
| 8 | Terjung RL et al. | 2000 | Med Sci Sports Exerc | 336 |
| 9 | Craig AB, Pendergast DR | 1979 | Med Sci Sports Exerc | 300 |
| 10 | Urhausen A, Kindermann W | 2002 | Sports Medicine | 298 |
The co-authorship networks evaluation reveals a collaboration construction organized round 5 geographically distinct however linked aggressive swimming analysis teams. The largest and most densely linked is the Portuguese biomechanics group led by Barbosa, TM, and Marinho, DA. They are additionally collaborating with Costa MJ, Morais JE, and Marques MC. They have produced a big quantity of swimming biomechanics and physiology output. Adjacent to this cluster (Green) is the University of Porto group led by Fermandes RJ and Vilad-Boas JP, and their collaboration networks prolong to worldwide companions in Spain and Italy. The Australian cluster (blue) was led by Pyne DB on the Australian Institute of Sport. There are additionally European coaching science clusters and the Japanese cluster.
This overlay visualization reveals each the thematic construction of aggressive swimming in sports activities drugs. Looking at figure 8a “Swimming” capabilities because the dominant central hub connecting three large three analysis areas: stroke biomechanics and efficiency science (centered on “performance”, “elite swimmer,” “Kinematics,” “velocity,” and “stroke length”), train physiology and coaching science (“blood lactate,” “lactate threshold,” “tapering,” “periodization,” and coaching monitoring”), and scientific sports activities drugs (“swimmer’s shoulder,” “impingent,” “rotator cuff,” and “scapular dyskinesis”). Looking at Figure 8b, the oldest later (darkish blue) is dominated by biomechanics and fluid dynamics key phrases, that are: “kinematics,” “motor control,” “hydromechanics,” “computational fluid dynamics,” and all 4 aggressive strokes. The inexperienced layer consists of the core efficiency and coaching physiology literature. The latest yellow layer is led by the immunology and overtraining cluster. The vary of overlay visualization is simply from 2005 to 2020 because of VOSviewer limitation, and since there are 5 extra years’ price of knowledge, this generally is a limitation for this analysis.
Cited reference co-citation evaluation reveals that Cohen J’s 1988 Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences, which his evaluation cited universally throughout all subfields. Around his identify within the pink cluster is Craig AB and Pendergast DR’s 1985 paper on stroke price, distance per stroke, and velocity relationships alongside Chollet D’s 2000 paper concerning the coordination index in freestyle. The blue cluster round Gleeson M and Hooper SL is cited in monitoring coaching hundreds and overtraining markers in swimming populations. The inexperienced shoulder cluster linking Sein ML and McMaster reveals the connection between swimmers’ shoulders and scientific drugs analysis.
This evaluation identifies 1,825 publications on aggressive swimming sports activities drugs from 1969 to 2026. Publication output had three phases with a sluggish early interval via the mid Nineteen Eighties, a average development interval via the Nineteen Nineties to 2000s, and a excessive output interval from 2017 and onward, peaking at 95 publications in 2021. This general development could also be linked to better international participation in sports activities and better investments, equivalent to Olympic packages. The decline within the publication following 20221 could also be as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, which influenced athletes’ bodily and emotional exhaustion, and funding cuts from federal analysis organizations. Overall, this displays the progressive development of aggressive swimming as a rigorous scientific discipline.13
Looking on the geographic distribution of publications of the world international locations, it’s seen that 14 of the 15 largest contributors had been developed international locations (United States, Australia, Portugal, United Kingdom, Spain, France, Canada, Japan, Italy, Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Poland, and Norway). Brazil was the one creating nation. With these outcomes it may be stated that growth of the counties and the financial measurement performs vital roles within the contributions of articles on swimming. USA was the main nation with publications at 25.8%, which can be because of large funding, focus of extremely aggressive educational tradition, and the dominance of the English language in international science. Australia had the second most publications at 13.0%, which is likely to be pushed by Australia’s main participation sport for youngsters and its main cultural identification. Portugal had the third highest variety of publication which can be from the numerous publication quantity from the Porto and Brangaca college teams. In reality, from the evaluation of the co-authorship, we will see that the their cluster (pink) confirmed the strongest hyperlink. This reveals Portuguese researchers are additionally essentially the most energetic researchers on this particular subject.
Comparing the publication patterns by class, sport sciences lead at 92.7%, with second class being physiology (13.4%) and that is seen within the outcomes of publication shops as nicely. The high 5 journals that revealed essentially the most articles on swimming had been Medicine & science in sports activities & train (142), International Journal of Sports Medicine (92), International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance (84), Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (84), and Journal of Sports Sciences (82). All 5 of them publish journals which might be primarily categorized in sports activities Sciences, however a few of them are listed in physiology as nicely. We can conclude from these knowledge that swimming analysis focuses on athletes efficiency, train physiology, and the biomechanics of swimming.
Analysis of authorship reveals analysis with specialization in aggressive swimming. Pyne DB has 56 publication which present his dedication on the program on the Australian Institute of sport on coaching physiology and athlete monitoring. Marinho Da, vilas Boas JP, Barbosa TM and Fernandes RJ are all high authors and collectively they symbolize the Portuguese college swimming analysis axis which is a focus the University of Porto and University of Braganca. The significance of those authors assist clarify Portugal’s unexpectedly excessive publication output. Co-authorship community evaluation reveals six main clusters, with the inexperienced cluster (Fernandes RJ, Vilas BOas Jp, Zacca R, AlvesF, Arellano R, Cuenca Fernandes) within the heart, linked to 5 surrounding clusters: pink (Barbosa TM), yellow (Takagi H), blue (Pyne DB), cyan (Mujika I), and pink (Veiga S). The pink and cyan cluster have essentially the most connection. This could also be because of as a result of each clusters are situated in Spain. We can conclude that geography performs a big position in co-authorships.
The overlay visualization the place the node colour reveals the typical publication 12 months from darkish blue (round 2005) to yellow-green colour (round 2020) reveals that the oldest literature focuses on hydrodynamics, kinematics, motor management and computational fluid dynamics. These research had been primarily targeted on the mechanical physics of the 4 aggressive strokes. From 2010 to 2015, the publications had been targeting core coaching science and efficiency literature centering on periodization, blood lactate thresholds, coaching monitoring and tapering methods for elite swimmers. The latest space of analysis shifts in the direction of sports activities drugs, immunology, and general well being. The chronological shift of thematic evolution from foundational bodily rules to physiological care, sports activities diet, and restoration might replicate that as know-how and superior swim methods develop into standardized, researchers optimize inner human biology.14,15
This evaluation was carried out utilizing a two-layer search technique, with sport-specific subject phases with Web of Science Category filters to isolate the aggressive swimming drugs from the aquatic locomotion neuroscience, pharmacological and aquatic biology literature which might be irrelevant to this analysis. Within refined literature, there are a number of gaps. There is an absence of standardized damage surveillance protocols, which signifies that the sector lacks consensus on damage definition, publicity metrics, and return to sport standards, which complicates cross-study synthesis. Para swimming solely seems as a small, distinct key phrase cluster and stays underrepresented relative to its athletic and scientific significance. Similarly, the grasp’s swimming long-term well being damage dangers and coaching responses are nonetheless poorly understood. Geographically, output from North America, Western Europe, and East Asia dominates, with restricted illustration from different areas regardless of rising aggressive swimming participation in these areas. As with all bibliometric analyses, findings are restricted by restriction to Web of Science, key phrase sensitivity, and quotation lag for current publications.16–18
This research has a number of limitations. First, the evaluation was restricted to the Web of Science Core Collection and should not embody related publications listed solely in Scopus, PubMed, SPORTDiscus, or different databases. Second, the findings rely on the chosen search phrases and Web of Science classes. Although class restriction improved specificity, it could have excluded related research revealed exterior the chosen fields. Third, creator and institutional names could also be affected by spelling variants, adjustments in affiliation, or incomplete metadata. Fourth, quotation counts favor older publications as a result of they’ve had extra time to build up citations and shouldn’t be interpreted as direct measures of scientific high quality or scientific significance. Fifth, current publications are topic to quotation and indexing lag, and the 2026 depend represents solely a partial 12 months. Sixth, key phrase analyses rely on creator terminology and database indexing; synonymous phrases might divide conceptually associated analysis until manually harmonized. Finally, bibliometric analyses describe publication patterns and mental construction however don’t assess research high quality, danger of bias, or the effectiveness of scientific interventions.
The bibliometric research illustrates a radical map of aggressive swimming sports activities drugs and presents a rising self-discipline round well being, efficiency, and damage prevention of aggressive aquatic athletes, with 1,825 publications yielded utilizing a selected search technique. Key contributors embody the Australian Institute of Sport physiology group, the Portuguese University of Porto and University of Braganca biomechanics axis, and North American college kinesiology departments. The journals with the very best publication charges are established sports activities science and train physiology shops. Research gaps in rising fields, together with immunology, overtraining monitoring, masters swimming, and sports activities diet, provide alternatives for additional research. Clinicians and researchers working with aggressive swimmers might discover this bibliometric map helpful for figuring out main teams, foundational literature, and understudied areas the place evidence-based observe is proscribed.
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you may go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13512470/
and if you wish to take away this text from our website please contact us
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you'll…
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you…
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you…
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you…
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you'll…
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you…