THE APEX

Tanenbaum Institute For Science In Sport Supports High Performance At All Levels

Assistant Professor Timothy Burkhart recalls watching the NBA’s Derrick Rose struggle with knee injuries and wondering why some pro-level athletes seemed injury prone? Was it the way that they’re moving? Was there a vulnerability there that didn’t get picked up?

Burkhart, who runs the Biomechanics of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Lab at the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, in conjunction with the orthopaedic surgeons of the University of Toronto Orthopaedic Sports Medicine group, engages in what you might call kinetic detective work. Which (body) parts are most likely to fail, on whom, and why?

Using cutting-edge tools to capture data in the lab and analyze videotapes of the athletes on the court, Burkhart is able to produce an unprecedentedly granular level of analysis. What he learns will help both varsity athletes and weekend warriors prevent and recover from injuries. (Read about Burkhart’s research on page 6.)

KPE graduate student Liam O’Brien investigated whether briefly restricting (and gradually releasing) blood flow to the limbs while training boosts athletic performance. Several studies have found the technique, called ischemic preconditioning (IPC), to improve exercise performance, but there is little evidence as to why. O’Brien wanted to fill in some of the gaps. For example, while most of the studies had measured the effects of IPC on lower body exercises such as running or cycling, O’Brien was interested in investigating the effects of IPC on arm cycling exercise.

“I theorized that if IPC works for upper body exercise, it may be useful for unique populations such as para-athletes or paddlers to help enhance their performance,” he says. (Read more about O’Brien’s research on page 8.)

Burkhart’s and O’Brien’s research are examples of how science, when applied to sport, has the potential to help reduce injury, speed up recovery and enhance performance in all athletic populations. It’s the kind of valuable knowledge that will be generated by U of T’s new Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport (TISS), established with a $20-million gift from the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation.

TISS [www.tiss.ca] will be one of the largest centres for sport science and sport medicine in North America, bringing together sport and exercise researchers at the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, clinician scientists in sport medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and clinicians and researchers at Toronto’s Sinai Health.

KPE Professor Ira Jacobs, who was appointed the institute’s interim director, says the centre will fund research to support high performance athletes across a spectrum of abilities, from world-class professional athletes to para-athletes to recreational and amateur players who want to optimize their performance and training. “It’s a dream come true for the study of our physical and mental capabilities in sport,” Jacobs says.

It’s a dream that’s been almost four years in the making. That’s how long ago it was when Jacobs, then dean of KPE, got a phone call from Larry Tanenbaum’s executive assistant telling him that the chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) would like to meet with him in his office.

Jacobs had spoken to Tanenbaum on many occasions over the years about his philanthropic contributions to the university and the Faculty specifically, including scholarships for U of T student-athletes made available through the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation. Nevertheless, he wasn’t sure what to expect.

“Whenever someone asked to meet in my office, I never knew if it was going to be a laudatory, happy meeting to say, ‘well done, the Faculty is doing great things,’ or if it was to raise a concern about something serious that they thought merited a conversation with me in person,” says Jacobs.

As it turned out, he had no reason for concern. On the contrary. Tanenbaum shared that the time was right to plan a gift that would be supportive of high performance sport, which had been such an important part of his own professional career.

“He wanted to do something significant, something that would have high impact in the field of high performance sport, and he asked if we could develop a plan that would bring together the fields of sport medicine and sport science,” says Jacobs. “It was a thrill to understand both the nature and the size of the gift he anticipated.” So, the vision was born for TISS, a global centre of excellence for high performance sport science and sport medicine. With a $20-million gift from the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation – the largest philanthropic gift in support of high performance sport research that has ever been given to an academic institution in Canada – and a $21.5–million contribution from U of T and Sinai Health, TISS was officially unveiled in May 2022.

The institute will conduct research ranging from athletes’ nutritional needs to team psychology to rehabilitation of athletic injuries, to list but a few examples. Other important topics include how biomechanics – the study of the physics of movement – and wearable technologies can improve training and performance, leveraging new knowledge in surgical repair of sports injuries, and how to determine when an athlete who has suffered a concussion can safely return to play (still not clear after decades of research, notes Jacobs).

A chair in sport analytics, funded by the gift, will help gather data about athletes across the Toronto region – including from under-represented communities and the thousands of U of T students who play varsity and intramural sports – to generate new knowledge that both high performance and everyday athletes can use. A database of sports injuries, for example, could track which treatments are most effective for different demographics.

The gift will also fund a chair in musculoskeletal regenerative medicine and a professorship in orthopaedic sports medicine. The rest of the funding will provide a pot of funds to which scientists associated with the three partners can apply to accelerate their research, innovations and clinical programs.

Professor Gretchen Kerr, dean of KPE, says she is delighted for the Faculty to be a part of this exciting research enterprise. “The Tanenbaum Institute’s cutting-edge research will play a leading role in advancing high performance sport in a manner that is healthy, safe, welcoming and inclusive,” she says, adding that Jacobs was a natural choice for interim director.

Jacobs says one of the things he is most looking forward to is sharing the institute’s findings via regular conferences and public lectures that will “give scientists an opportunity to communicate with each other and give those who are in the high performance world – athletes, coaches, etc. – an opportunity to receive cutting edge and applicable new knowledge.”

He is also excited about the open science framework (OFS) that will be cultivated at TISS – something that was important to the donor. OSF has scientists sharing their research with each other from the planning stages.

“This will enable researchers to know who else is doing research in their area of interest and, rather than see it as a competition, see it as something that advances science more rapidly,” says Jacobs. “They may be able to add something to it or create collaborations and networks that would otherwise either not happen at all or would take a lot longer to occur. The end goal is to make knowledge available to everyone more effectively and efficiently.”

“Professor Jacobs has been instrumental in developing the Tanenbaum Institute from the very beginning, working alongside colleagues in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Sinai Health and experts from the high performance world to match the aspirations of the three partners with those of the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation. It’s wonderful to see their vision come to fruition.”

As interim director, Jacobs will work with two advisory committees, one focused on research and the other on external relations and partnerships, as well as with high performance sports groups that will provide students with work and research opportunities. The Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport will also offer scholarships in sport science for graduate students and post-docs.

— Professor

interim

Jacobs says he is immensely appreciative of the Larry and Judy Tanenbaum Family Foundation for recognizing the power of research to amplify the immense potential of sport.

“Their generous gift will empower TISS to generate, advance and disseminate transformational knowledge in the world of high performance sport that will be of benefit to all – not only in the GTA and Canada, but the world.”

— Jelena Damjanovic with files from Scott Anderson

Mark your calendar for the Institute's inaugural conference to be held Saturday, September 9, 2023. Leading experts will discuss the intersection of sport science and sport medicine for high performance. More information will be available soon at www.tiss.ca