Hydration to Maximize Performance and Recovery: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors Among Collegiate Track and Field Throwers

Lawrence W Judge; David M Bellar; Jennifer K Popp; Bruce W Craig; Makenzie A Schoeff; Donald L Hoover; Brian Fox; Brandon M Kistler; Ali M Al-Nawaiseh

doi:10.2478/hukin-2021-0065

Hydration to Maximize Performance and Recovery: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors Among Collegiate Track and Field Throwers

J Hum Kinet. 2021 Jul 28:79:111-122. doi: 10.2478/hukin-2021-0065. eCollection 2021 Jul.

Authors

Lawrence W Judge¹, David M Bellar², Jennifer K Popp³, Bruce W Craig¹, Makenzie A Schoeff¹, Donald L Hoover⁴, Brian Fox¹, Brandon M Kistler⁵, Ali M Al-Nawaiseh⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Kinesiology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, United States.
² Department of Kinesiology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, United States.
³ College of Health and Human Sciences, Purdue University, Lafayette, IN, United States.
⁴ Department of Physical Therapy, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, United States.
⁵ Department of Nutrition and Health Science, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, United States.
⁶ College of Physical Education and sport sciences, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan.

Abstract

Hydration plays an important role in performance, injury prevention, and recovery for athletes engaged in competitive sports. Therefore, it is important that strength and conditioning coaches understand an athlete's hydration needs to prevent illness and enhance performance. The purpose of this study was to identify hydration knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of collegiate track and field throwers, as well as identify barriers to hydration and sources of nutritional information. The Rehydration and Refueling in Collegiate Track and Field Throwers Survey was sent to 271 track and field thrower coaches with a request to forward the email to current track and field throwers. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated regarding knowledge, attitude, and behavior scores among the participants in this sample. Differences among response patterns were assessed via Chi-square analysis. Alpha level was set at p = .05. Results demonstrated that 97.3% (n = 287) of respondents knew that dehydration would decrease performance, but 50.5% (n = 149) erroneously believed thirst was the best indicator of dehydration. Chi-square analysis demonstrated a significant difference in reported values between participants who intended to eat a performance-enhancing diet and those who consumed less fluid than recomended values (207 - 295 m)l in the 2-3 hours prior to competition (χ2 = 10.87, p < .05). Pearson correlation coefficients demonstrated a large association between knowledge and behavior (r = .70, p < .05), a medium association between knowledge and attitude (r = .41, p < .05), and a small association between attitude and behavior (r = .21, p < .05). This suggests that strength and conditioning coaches and health staff need to educate and monitor hydration behaviors among collegiate track and field throwers to optimize performance.

Keywords: carbohydrates; hypohydration; thirst.