Sport and Exercise Medicine

Physical activity and health

We investigate the importance of physically active lifestyles in preventing major chronic diseases. In work led by Professor Mark Hamer, we use data to understand how much physical activity is needed to prevent illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Professor Mike Loosemore conducts research into sedentary behaviour and how we can design interventions to incorporate more movement into daily lives.

We engage with cohort studies, including UCL Centre Longitudinal Studies, the Whitehall II Study, and English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Our ongoing projects include:

• Compiling international cohort studies that use wearable technology to measure physical activity, sedentary and sleep [propassconsortium.org].
• Evaluating the impact of group exercise on activity levels in people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in central London.
• Examining links between exercise and neurocognitive function.

Musculoskeletal

We investigate pathologies around the lower limb, especially the knee and hip. This is led by Professor Fares Haddad. We research the effects on functional outcomes and lifestyle after interventions such as hip replacement. We have devised several unique techniques and scores to evaluate this in detail.

Our research themes include: 

• Meniscal preservation and replacement.
• Optimal imaging for knee injuries.
• The natural history of meniscal and cruciate injuries.
• Tendinopathy, where we have created a ‘think tank’ of experts to understand the natural history, diagnosis, and optimum management of the condition.

Sports medicine

Our work supports the health and wellbeing of athletes. We are one of just eleven research centres from across the world designated as an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Research Centre for Prevention of Injury and Protection of Athlete Health.

Our focus areas are:

• Respiratory illness in elite athletes.
• Concussion: developing an office tool for concussion to be used in clinic.
• Oral health and performance (in collaboration with Eastman Dental Institute).

Our facilities

The research facilities include imaging, laboratory, and clinical facilities housed at the Institute of Sport, Exercise & Health. The exercise physiology labs based on Tottenham Court Road are equipped to assess a wide range of performance parameters covering the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems. The institute also houses a fully-equipped gym for controlled exercise training studies.

The Sport and Exercise Medicine Group

PhD students

John Mitchell

Project: physical activity and cognition

Evelyn Watson

Project: sports and social mobility

Natalia Rojas

Project: long COVID in children

Funding / Partnerships

• British Heart Foundation
• Medical Research Council
• National Institute Health Research
• Greenhouse Sports
• Metropolitan Police
• British Olympic Association
• International Olympic Committee
• English Institute of Sport
• HCA Healthcare UK

Select publications

1. Blodgett JM, Ahmadi MN, Atkin AJ, Chastin S, Chan HW ... Teixeira-Pinto AM, Ekelund U, Lee IM, Holtermann A, Koster A, Stamatakis E, Hamer M; ProPASS Collaboration (2023). Device-measured physical activity and cardiometabolic health: the Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting, and Sleep (ProPASS) consortium. Eur Heart J. 2023 Nov 10:ehad717.
2. Stamatakis E, Ahmadi MN, Gill JMR, Thøgersen-Ntoumani C, Gibala MJ, Doherty A, Hamer M (2022). Association of wearable device-measured vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity with mortality. Nat Med. 2022 Dec;28(12): 2521-2529.
3. Pearson N, Sherar LB, Hamer M. Prevalence and Correlates of Meeting Sleep, Screen-Time, and Physical Activity Guidelines Among Adolescents in the United Kingdom. JAMA Pediatr. 2019.
4. Pinto Pereira, S.M., Garfield, V., Farmaki, AE. et al. Adiposity and grip strength: a Mendelian randomisation study in UK Biobank. BMC Med 20. 2022.
5. Patricios J, Schneider GM, van Ierssel J, Purcell LK, Davis GA, Echemendia RJ ... Loosemore M, et al (2023). Sport Concussion Office Assessment Tool - 6. Br J Sports Med. 2023 Jun;57(11): 651-667.
6. Childs C, Barker LA, Gage AM, Loosemore M. Investigating possible retinal biomarkers of head trauma in Olympic boxers using optical coherence tomography. Eye Brain. 2018.
7. Schwellnus M, Kipps C, Roberts WO, et al. Medical encounters (including injury and illness) at mass community-based endurance sports events: an international consensus statement on definitions and methods of data recording and reporting. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2019.
8. Pedlar CR, Kipps C, Myrissa K, Barry M, Kwaja I, et al. Medical encounters at community-based physical activity events (parkrun) in the UK. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2021. 
9. Hull JH, Burns P, Carre J, Haines J, Hepworth C, et al. BTS clinical statement for the assessment and management of respiratory problems in athletic individuals. Thorax. 2022.
10. Wilson MG, Hull JH, Loosemore M, Haddad FS, et al. Cardiorespiratory considerations for return-to-play in elite athletes after COVID-19 infection: a practical guide for sport and exercise medicine physicians. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2020.