Ranked as one of the best medical institutions in sports medicine research, Aspetar has demonstrated its commitment to helping athletes achieve their full potential by publishing hundreds of peer reviewed articles. 

Aspetar staff members have published more than a thousand peer reviewed articles, with an average of 135 research studies every year, since the Aspetar Research department was established in 2008.

Aspetar’s team of experts aim to assist in the protection of athlete health and wellbeing, whilst also helping to improve athletic performance when returning from an injury. The research activities on sports medicine are targeted to improve the quality of medical care for athletes.

Various topics were covered by Aspetar experts, including best practices on return to play, to surgical advancements, injury epidemiology in professional football leagues, the impact of COVID-19 on football leagues, the impact of COVID-19 on athletes’ behaviors and training habits worldwide, injury patterns in youth footballers, new technologies to assess core temperature in real time in athletes, football boots interactions with the ground, and many others. Aspetar researchers with experts in physical activity and health from different backgrounds and sectors has developed the Qatar National Physical Activity Guidelines .The guidelines provide scientific-based advice on how physical activity can help promote health and reduce the risk of chronic diseases as well as avoid sedentarism  

As one of the departments pilot programs, Athlete Screening Research undertakes pre-competition medical assessments in athletes in an attempt to identify medical conditions that may be detrimental to an athlete’s general health and/or performance. Aspetar’s has medically screened over 18,000 athletes from all around the World and continuously analyses the data to identify specific interventions to safeguard athletes.  

Prof Marco Cardinale, Executive Director of Research & Scientific Support at Aspetar, said:

Our research team is well recognized as a global leader in the field of Sports Medicine research, in line with Aspetar’s vision ‘to be a global leader in sports medicine and exercise science.

This year we introduced new services with new technologies as a consequence of the research efforts. In particular: virtual reality assessment and training, new podiatry manufacturing and personalization with the ability to produce and ship podiatry solutions worldwide, as well as the use of altitude rooms for rehabilitation purposes.

The main projects that Aspetar is working on this year focus on using the latest technologies on new assessments for podiatry for runners to individualise insoles, research projects on football boots and interaction with the football pitch to prevent injuries.

Other research topics that will be addressed this year include using virtual reality assessment and retraining to diagnosis and treat concussion, heat therapy to recover from injuries, development of new criteria for return to play following muscle and ligament injuries, and tailored nutritional interventions for athletes recovering from injuries using new technology.

The multidisciplinary approach in Aspetar is based on working to integrate cutting edge research into daily clinical practice both in the hospital and on the playing field. Aspetar experts are constantly involved in innovative research endeavors. The highly trained sports science research team together with the medical and rehabilitation teams utilise state-of-the-art equipment and techniques to collect data that can be used to allow athletes to reach their full potential

About Aspetar:

Aspetar is a world leading specialised orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital, and the first of its kind in the Middle East. Since 2007, with a world expert team, the hospital has provided top-level comprehensive medical treatment to all athletes in a state-of-the-art facility that sets new standards internationally.

In 2009, Aspetar was accredited as a “FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence” by F-MARC. In 2013, Aspetar was adopted as a reference collaborator centre by the Gulf Countries Council (GCC) Health Ministers Council and “IOC Research Centre for Prevention of Injury and Protection of Athlete Health” in 2014.

In 2015, Aspetar has been recognised as the “IHF Reference Centre for Athlete and Referee Health”. In the same year, the hospital also achieved the obtained on December 15 the Accreditation Canada International (ACI) “Platinum Level”.

Aspetar is a member–organisation of Aspire Zone Foundation, Qatar’s innovative sports and healthy lifestyle destination.