Fuelling the athlete to optimise outcome- A NUTRITIONIST’S PERSPECTIVE

ARTICLE BY DAVID DIXON

David Dixon is a SENr registered Sport and Exercise Nutritionist with over 10 years worth of experience having worked in professional football and basketball, semi-professional rugby and a ballet school along with working on TASS and athlete talent programmes.

OVERVIEW
The role of a sport nutritionist is to optimise the health and sporting outcomes of the athlete. In this case study, the input from the nutritionist is presented for a professional women’s basketball player who had recently undergone ACL reconstructive surgery.

In February, a 21-year-old professional female basketball player was referred to the nutritionist by the multi-disciplinary team as concern was shown as to her dietary habits, especially as she was recovering from ACL reconstruction surgery.

During an initial meeting with the player, basic height and weight measurements were taken (W 68kg. Ht 185cm BMI 19.9 kg.m-2). At this stage composition was not thought to be appropriate and
could be counterproductive.

At the time she was three months post-operative receiving physiotherapy, strength, and condition interventions. Her S&C consisted of three days working on lower body and abdominal muscles and two days on the upper body, with some additional soft tissue work and isometric exercises. At the time she was still in a brace and hoped to be back to some running in March of that year. She also reported that she had COVID in January of this year and that she had menstruated in ten out of the last twelve months.

In relation to her diet, she stated that she rated her cooking skills as four out of ten despite having lived in university accommodation for the previous two years. She liked to prep her food in advance as this fitted around her academic and sporting commitments. During her time injured she only ate once a day and spent 12 hours a day asleep. Blood tests for Iron, Vitamin D and calcium were still outstanding.

DIETARY ANALYSIS
A 6-day food diary was completed (covering training, treatment and one rest day) using the software Libro where the athlete inputs details of their food via an app on their smartphone and a report is generated from the input in an analysis software (Nutritics, Dublin Ireland). The results are shown below;

On closer analysis it was apparent that the player only got close to her daily target once in the six-day diary and that she relied on protein shakes (morning, noon, and night) and sandwiches for her food intake. She was under the impression that eating less would keep her weight off during her injury.

ADVICE
A discussion took place about finding the time to pre-prepare her food so that on her busy days she would not have to come home a good, it was confirmed that her freezer was big enough for this not to be a barrier and supported her early thought of when she liked to cook. Her plan was set up to have five feeding opportunities a day based around breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a further opportunity to snack twice a day. Foods that were non-negotiable such as Latte’s and Bagels were kept in the plan, but also cooking stir fry’s, mixed vegetables, yogurt, and milk were added to cover the macro and micronutrients identified as missing in the analysis, such as Iodine.

In addition, a full recovery plan was put into place covering protein, gelatin, vitamin D and Glucosamine and Chondroitin were recommended along with food alternatives. This was shared with the athlete, physiotherapist and Strength an Conditioning coach, so that regular checks could be made with the player, so that everyone knew what was recommended and the any concerns could be shared.

FOLLOW-UP
The player was followed up six weeks later, having heard nothing, when it transpired that the programme had worked well at the start; a fact reported by the MDT who said the recovery was as planned and the player had more energy. However, with the onset of exams and the thoughts of returning home, adherence had dropped off. Therefore, a follow up meeting occurred to reset goals and offer advice on alternative home foods.

SUMMARY
The successful intervention directed at the athlete’s nutrition, during a critical post-surgery phase, has been presented. In most cases as in this, the role of the nutritionist is not full time therefore it is imperative to not only fit in with the MDT but also to get them onboard so they can communicate the same message when the nutritionist is not around in person. In this case the S&C coach and physio were informed of the food plan and were tasked with helping to check on the athlete, to see how she was doing, and to report back any hurdles that needed to be overcome.

The team approach saw the athlete achieve all of their objective strength and function goals. After 10 months of rehabilitation she made a successful return to court and has been able to continue her professional basketball career.