The motivation for advancing precision medicine and precision rehabilitation is anchored in inter-individual differences in responsiveness to various treatment strategies. A better understanding of these differences is thus necessary to optimize treatment efficacy for each individual. Exercise training is no different. While exercise training is a multipotent “medicine” that induces profound health benefits, these adaptations vary widely among people. In this lecture Dr. Bamman will discuss progress in understanding IRH, including a multidimensional learning framework that can be useful toward identifying key features that may become targets for augmentation.

By 2050 the number of people with diagnosed diabetes in the United States will reach 29 million. Increased sedentary behavior, coupled with early onset of type 2 diabetes (T2D), has popularized exercise interventions as both an investigative tool of the health benefits associated with physical activity and as a feasible lifestyle modification. We know that exercise benefits most, but not all, individuals with insulin resistance (IR) and T2D, such that some people derive less metabolic benefit from exercise. The beneficial effects are well studied, but why some individuals do not respond favorably to exercise is largely unexplored and lack a translational focus. Over the past decade, we have focused our research efforts on identifying those individuals with T2D that do not respond favorably to exercise and investigated the underlying mechanisms which can predict this lack of response. These findings will change how we prescribe exercise as a treatment and prevention for T2D. Our innovative approach is translational by combining human in vivo and in vitro models with cutting-edge methodologies such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), high resolution respirometry and epigenetic regulation studies. In my talk, I will explore several aspects of molecular metabolism in human skeletal muscle tissue and cells in the contexts of diabetes and exercise training.

Measures of peripheral blood flow and oxygen delivery are routinely shown to be potent predictors of cardiovascular disease and neurodegeneration. Most interestingly, skeletal muscle health may be the primary factor affecting these measures, instead of being exclusively influenced by microvascular function. This session will present a series of experiments detailing the relation between lean mass and peripheral vascular measures with a substantial emphasis on sex differences and the preservation of cognition. Peripheral vascular measures will be discussed across many conditions, including but not limited to myofascial release, passive limb heating, and blood flow restriction resistance training.

Respiratory muscle performance testing and respiratory muscle training (RMT) have been utilized across the continuum of health and human performance with generally positive outcomes. Despite the impact of respiratory muscle performance impairments on physical function and benefits of RMT, respiratory muscle performance testing and RMT are not routinely implemented in clinical practice. This session will highlight the role of respiratory muscle performance on clinical outcomes, the benefit of RMT across different clinical populations, and how to implement respiratory testing and training in clinical practice and research.

Creating Olympic champions requires incredible talent, work ethic, coaching, and body awareness. It also requires a team of scientists and clinicians who work behind the scenes to monitor training loads, performance, and recovery. We will discuss some of the ways we use science to improve performance for athletes at U.S. Figure Skating and its implication for other populations.

Sports offers young athletes the opportunity to develop physical, mental, and social skills in a motivating and fun environment. For children with lifelong disabilities, sports can offer even greater physical benefits, especially when paired with neuromusculoskeletal therapeutic techniques. This lecture will discuss the intersection of neurological and sport-specific interventions to promote neuromusculoskeletal growth during development, and how adaptive sports can help therapeutic interventions.

This lecture will provide a brief overview of platelet rich plasma and stem cell procedures for orthopaedic injuries and disorders. Indications for these procedures will be discussed as will the anticipated benefits related to the microenvironment. Exercise-based interventions will be discussed within the context of manipulating the cellular microenvironment to achieve benefits synergistic to regenerative medicine procedures.

Pursuing an active lifestyle while aging should be the goal to achieve longevity and mitigate sarcopenia. We will explore various modes of exercise training and present the influence of these on the various systems of the body. These include bone, metabolism, muscular strength, cardiovascular, and mental health. Additional insight will be presented on the effects of similar training in injured individuals to prevent disuse atrophy.

The motor unit links the neural and mechanical mechanisms that modulate strength and, therefore, the motor unit is directly influenced by resistance exercise training. Increases in discharges or recruitment of motor units is often hypothesized to explain increases in strength following resistance training. The lecture will focus on the complexity of motor unit firing rate and recruitment patterns, describe studies that have directly examined motor units, and relate findings to rehabilitation programs.

The corticospinal pathway, which includes the motor cortex and spinal motoneurones, is a primary descending pathway involved in the neural control of human movement. This lecture will focus on acute and chronic adaptations that occur along the corticospinal pathway during locomotor activity, with a discussion of practical applications.