How to Combat Jet Lag and Travel Fatigue in Elite Footballers

By: PROFESSOR CHRISTA JANSEVAN RENSBURG INTERVIEWED BY ELEANOR TREZISE


Professor Christa Janse van Rensburg  Professor Christa Janse van Rensburg  is a Consultant Rheumatologist, experienced Sports Physician and the Head of the Section Sports Medicine at the University of Pretoria where she oversees the teaching of sport and exercise medicine doctors and conducts research. Notably, she was the team doctor for the South Africa National Olympic Team to the Athens 2004 Olympics and was the medical venue officer for the Loftus Stadium in South Africa during the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2009 and FIFA World Cup in 2010. She was recently appointed the Chair of the Medical Advisory Panel for World Netball. She has investigated the effects of travelling on athletes and in 2020 published a systematic review on this topic in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. She is also a project partner and supervisor of the Drake Football Study, a project which is tracking the mental and physical health of 170 footballers over a 10-year period.

LINKS

Twitter: @ChristaJVR https://twitter.com/ChristaJVR
LinkedIn: https://za.linkedin.com/in/christa-janse-van-rensburg-1bb7b112
BJSM systematic review “How to manage travel fatigue and jet lag in athletes? A systematic review of interventions” https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/16/960.full
BJSM editorial “Practical tips to manage travel fatigue and jet lag in athletes” (incudes a helpful infographic on interventions for pre-, during and post-travel) https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/15/821