Optimizing biomechanical and neuromuscular performance in Paralympic and Olympic athletes

Biomechanics, sports physiotherapy, and neuromuscular performance research increasingly recognize balance, trunk strength, respiratory function, proprioception, and motor control as important determinants of athletic performance, injury risk, and recovery. However, these variables are assessed and trained inconsistently across Paralympic sport, Olympic sport, recreational activity, and rehabilitation. Differences in impairment profiles, sporting demands, equipment, and testing environments further complicate comparisons between athlete populations. Current evidence provides valuable insights into individual performance determinants and rehabilitation outcomes, but Paralympic and Olympic athletes are often studied separately, while rehabilitation research remains insufficiently connected to elite performance science. As a result, uncertainty persists regarding which measures are most reliable, which metrics predict performance or injury-related outcomes, and how findings can be translated into practical physiotherapy and training decisions. Greater standardization, population-sensitive assessment, and integration across performance and rehabilitation settings are needed.This Research Topic aims to bring together sports physiotherapy, biomechanics, rehabilitation, and elite performance research to clarify how biomechanical and neuromuscular characteristics influence athletic performance, injury risk, and return-to-sport outcomes. It will examine which measures are most meaningful across Paralympic, Olympic, and recreational athletes; how respiratory, trunk, balance, proprioceptive, and neuromuscular function should be assessed; and how these findings can guide individualized training, injury prevention, rehabilitation, and return-to-sport decisions. The Research Topic also seeks to identify opportunities for harmonizing testing protocols, developing appropriate normative data, and applying technology-supported methods in clinical and sporting environments.To gather further insights into biomechanical and neuromuscular performance across sport, rehabilitation, and athlete populations, this Research Topic will consider Paralympic, Olympic, recreational, and injured athletes, with attention to both laboratory and applied settings; studies that address only general performance outcomes without examining biomechanical, respiratory, neuromuscular, or physiotherapy-related mechanisms are outside its primary scope. We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Comparative physiology and biomechanics across Paralympic, Olympic, recreational, and injured athletes• Respiratory function, respiratory muscle training, and their relationship with athletic performance and rehabilitation• Core and trunk strength, stabilization, and their implications for movement efficiency and injury prevention• Balance, proprioception, postural control, and neuromuscular coordination as performance and injury-related measures• Neuromuscular determinants of performance, injury risk, rehabilitation progress, and return to sport• Assessment methodology, including field- and laboratory-based testing protocols, reliability, validity, and responsiveness• Normative data and reference values for Paralympic and other adaptive athlete populations• Physiotherapy-led interventions targeting core stability, respiratory function, balance, and neuromuscular control• Rehabilitation-to-performance pathways following musculoskeletal injury• Criteria and decision-making frameworks for return to sport in Olympic and Paralympic athletes• Wearable sensors, motion analysis, force platforms, electromyography, and other instrumented assessment technologies• Translation of biomechanical and neuromuscular findings into applied coaching, physiotherapy, and training practice Topic editors: Bihter Akınoğlu, DAVID MICHAEL OSULLIVAN Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/87193/optimizing-biomechanical-and-neuromuscular-performance-in-paralympic-and-olympic-athletes