Current Studies – Canadian Pro Rodeo Sport Medicine

Research

Research shapes the future of rodeo and ensures the well-being of western sport athletes. By participating in a current research project, you’ll play an important role in enhancing performance, improving recovery, refining equipment, and exploring new training approaches. Join one of these current research studies to invest in the future of our sport.

YEEHAW: Year-long Evaluation of Electrophysiology, Heart and Autoregulatory function in Wranglers

YEEHAW is a project observing changes in cerebral auto regulation in rodeo athletes across a season. This is going to be the first of its kind and the goals are really to give a voice to rodeo athletes in the world of concussion research, to maintain the integrity of the sport while keeping the athletes safe, and to collect information that will potentially help optimize the lives of these athletes in rodeo and in their lives after rodeo.

There are 3 different brain blood flow regulatory mechanisms going to be observed to see if there are any changes happening caused by the forces received during rodeo events, which will give us information around which aspects we should be focussing on in terms of recovery for optimal brain function.

What it will look like:
Three time points will be observed (early-, mid-, end of season) in order to collect data on the potential changes that happen during the season. Each testing session will take roughly 1 hour and will include measurements of cerebral auto regulation (measured with blood pressure changes), neurovascular coupling (measured through neural activity tasks), and cerebrovascular reactivity (measured using changes in carbon dioxide levels).

Thank you for your interest in this study, if you want further information and/or would like to participate please email raelyn.javra@ucalgary.ca

An Assessment of Post-Concussion Symptoms Using Lower Body Negative Pressure and Tilt Cycling

This study is investigating cerebral blood flow responses to lower body negative pressure during submaximal exercise following a concussion. The aim of the study is to understand how exercising under negative pressure impacts post-concussion symptoms during exercise to help explore potential treatment options to improve those experiencing post-concussion symptoms.

Participation will involve 2 visits to the lab, separated by around a week. Each day will take approximately 1-hour and involves an incremental maximal exercise test on a supine cycling device. For all visits, you will be required to wear a TCD headpiece (to measure cerebral blood velocity), blood pressure monitor, 3-lead EKG, and a mouthpiece (to measure end-tidal breathing volumes).

This study will be taking place at the University of Calgary and will run from now till around January 2025. In order to participate, one must be between the ages of 14-60 years of age, have experienced at least one concussion in their lifetime and experience concussive-like symptoms.