Camelbak's Hydration Advisor, Doug Casa, is passionate about hydration. He recently shared a really interesting study over on the Camelbak Blog about the effects of dehydration on performance. Read more about the study, after the jump.
Hypohydration and Hyperthermia Impair Neuromuscular Control after Exercise. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, American College of Sports Medicine. Nov 2012. Purpose of study: To evaluate the effects of dehydration and high body temperature during exercise on movement technique and balance. Introduction: Lower extremity musculoskeletal injuries such as ankle sprains or pulled calf muscles due to sport and physical activity are extremely common and costly. Besides being associated with great financial costs, these injuries are also associated with devastating long-term consequences, such as the early development of osteoarthritis or constant discomfort. These consequences demonstrate the need for effective injury prevention. The first step towards effective lower extremity injury prevention is identifying and understanding the risk factors for injury. Previous schools of thought have suggested that fatigue may be the significant risk factor to injury. However, all previous studies in the matter have not isolated the three factors of dehydration, high body temperature and fatigue to accurately access the risk. Read the conclusion on the Camelbak site. For more information on the methods used and the documented results:Hypohydration and Hyperthermia Impair Neuromuscular Control after Exercise.