Sports Science Week brings together experts on sports medicine, physiotherapy, nutrition and performance

Next week, FC Barcelona hosts Sports Science Week in the Auditori 1899, an event being held by the Barça Innovation Hub, the club’s research, innovation and training programme. This is the second edition of a week that is being divided into four main areas of sporting knowledge, namely medicine, physiotherapy, nutrition and performance.

On Monday, the director responsible for BIHUB, Marta Plana, will be opening the event that welcomes practitioners from different areas of professional sport. Specialists in each field will be speaking about the various advances and procedures to improve treatments, recover from injuries, enhance nutrition or boost performance.

The week begins on Monday 7 October with a look at high performance sports medicine. Tuesday is focused on physiotherapy, and Wednesday is the second edition of the nutrition congress. The week ends with Thursday and Friday being dedicated to sports performance, the importance of women’s sports and also the progress in e-sports.  

Barça Innovation Hub is the FC Barcelona programme aimed at generating, acquiring and sharing innovative ideas to foster and connect and ecosystem around the sporting world involving sports organisations, leading companies, research centres, universities, entrepreneurs and start-ups.

Barça Sports Medicine Conference

This 11^th edition of this medical congress will be focused on tendon injuries, with discussions of new scientific evidence and innovative clinical techniques. Special attention will be given to clinical operations on tendon pain and its pathology, examples of rehabilitation for specific tendon problems, preventive measures for tendon injuries and an exclusive guide to tendon therapy. In addition, new trends and challenges in sports injuries and rehabilitation will also be revealed to show the limits in sports medicine. That is why special attention will be paid to the use of data to prevent injuries, the impact of new sensors, wearables and smart devices and new technologies in the rehabilitation of injuries.

The participants include Ricard Pruna, FC Barcelona first team doctor; Gil Rodas, BIHUB head of medical services; Jill Cool, research professor at Latrobe University; Jeremy Loenneke, of the Department of Health and Exercise Sciences of the University of Mississippi, Hans Zwerver, professor of exercise and sports medicine at the University of Groningen; Henning Langberg, professor at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences in Copenhagen, and Andreas Ivarsson, head of physiology and research at Arsenal, among others.

‘Barça Sports Phisiotherapy Conference’

For the first time, the Club is organising a conference for sports physiotherapists. Attendees will have access to the latest research and trends in the field of physiotherapys at football clubs around the world, who will be explaining their procedures and ways to treat injuries such as groin strains, chronic ankle instability, and hamstring and tendon injuries.

The panellists include Jim Mozon, from the Liverpool academy; Gwenaëlle Pelé, physiotherapist at PSG; Andreas Serner, physiotherapist and researcher at Aspetar; Telmo Firmino, coordinator of physiotherapists at Benfica; Juanjo Brau, physiotherapist and rehabilitator at FC Barcelona, i Carles Martín, physiotherapist and osteopath for the Barça basketball team.

‘Barça Sports Nutrition Conference’

The second edition of this sports nutrition congress will bring researchers to FC Barcelona to share their knowledge and experience in the nutrition of football teams, where they will be looking to foster a shift from theory to practice. The event includes show cooking and examples of recipes made especially for FC Barcelona first team players.

Victor Hugo Texeira, nutritionist at Porto; Rebecca Randell, scientist at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute; Graeme Close, sports nutritionist at John Moores University in Liverpool; Antonia Lizárraga, nutritionist at FC Barcelona, and Franchek Drobnik, of the CAR research department and member of the FC Barcelona medical services.

ASPC ‘International Forum on Elite Sports’

For the first time, FC Barcelona, ​​the ASPC and the CAR in Sant Cugat have joined forces to hold the 11th edition of the International Forum on Elite Sports. At the two-day meeting, attendees will have the opportunity to acquire knowledge on integrating performance, leadership and management models in professional sports. Among other aspects, they will be talking about the role of women in elite sports and in the world of e-sports.

Among the participants in this conference are Maria Teixidor, board member responsible for the Barça women’s team; Vicky Losada and Lieke Martens, who play for the Barça women’s team; Xavi Pascual, Barça handball coach; Paco Seirul·lo, director of the Department of Methodology at FC Barcelona; Fred Vergnoux, elite swimming coach; Roser Queraltó, Chief Business Officer of the Euroleague; Gerard Figueras, General Secretary of Sport of the Government of Catalonia; Ander Mirambell, Olympic skeleton athlete; Karen Dolphin, from the CIO Sports Commission, and Bobby Sharma, founder member of Electronic Sports Group, among others.

Further information about the ‘Barça Sports Medicine Conference’

Further information about the ‘Barça Sports Phisiotherapy Conference’

Further information about the ‘Barça Sports Nutrition Conference’

Further information about the ’11th ASPC International Forum on Elite Sport’