Silverthorne Kade, Morrison Matthew, Cowley Nicholas, Munteanu Gabriella, Creaby Mark W, Timmins Ryan G, Chiang Chieh-Ying, Weakley Jonathon
School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, McAuley at Banyo, Brisbane, Australia.
Sports Performance, Recovery, Injury and New Technologies (SPRINT) Research Centre, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Sports Med. 2025 Sep 9. doi: 10.1007/s40279-025-02305-3.
Powerlifting is a strength sport featuring some of the world's strongest athletes. Recent decades have seen an exponential increase in research into the applied sport science and medicine of powerlifting and its Paralympic counterpart, para powerlifting. A scoping review of the area would provide athletes, coaches, policymakers, and researchers with an overview of the existing evidence to support performance, reduce injury, and foster further growth of these sports.
The primary objectives were to identify the current research into the applied sport science and medicine of powerlifting and para powerlifting, analyse the characteristics of the research, provide a brief summary of the research in each area of sport science and medicine, identify gaps in the current literature, and provide recommendations for future research.
Systematic searches of SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, MEDLINE, and Scopus were performed from the earliest record to June 2025 (Open Science Framework registration: https://osf.io/fkjsz ), and the reference lists of several pre-existing systematic reviews were manually searched. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they investigated powerlifting or para powerlifting as a sport or the applied sport science of powerlifters or para powerlifters from a performance or injury perspective.
A total of 2117 articles were identified in the database search, with three additional eligible studies discovered through other sources. In total, 218 studies met the inclusion criteria and were ultimately included in the review. The most researched sport science and medicine topic was physical qualities (n = 48), followed by competition (n = 45), training (n = 38), biomechanics (n = 36), nutrition and supplementation (n = 25), injury (n = 18), and psychology (n = 8). More than half of the included studies were published in 2020 or later, and researchers from the USA were the most prolific with 57 publications. Para powerlifting was investigated in 45 studies, which mostly originated from Brazil (n = 31). Participants represented varying levels of competition, powerlifting divisions, and age categories, although many studies did not clearly report these characteristics. Only seven studies investigated female athletes exclusively.
This scoping review summarises the current literature investigating powerlifting and para powerlifting and can be used to enhance the applied sport science and medicine within the sports. While the amount of research has grown considerably in recent years, it is evident that certain demographics and areas remain under-investigated (e.g., injury mechanisms) or warrant updated examination (e.g., the prevalence of performance-enhancing drug use, which was last reported in 2003 and is currently unknown). Thus, this review highlights several areas for future research based on the gaps in the existing literature and provides a range of recommendations that can be implemented to improve reporting, transparency, and interpretation.
力量举是一项力量型运动，汇聚了世界上一些最强壮的运动员。近几十年来，针对力量举及其残奥会对应项目——残疾人力量举的应用运动科学与医学的研究呈指数级增长。对该领域进行一次范围综述将为运动员、教练、政策制定者和研究人员提供现有证据的概述，以支持这些运动项目的表现提升、减少损伤并促进其进一步发展。
主要目的是识别当前关于力量举和残疾人力量举的应用运动科学与医学的研究，分析研究的特征，对运动科学与医学各领域的研究进行简要总结，找出当前文献中的空白，并为未来研究提供建议。
从最早记录到2025年6月对SPORTDiscus、CINAHL、MEDLINE和Scopus进行系统检索（开放科学框架注册：https://osf.io/fkjsz ），并手动检索了几篇先前系统综述的参考文献列表。如果研究从表现或损伤角度调查力量举或残疾人力量举作为一项运动以及力量举运动员或残疾人力量举运动员的应用运动科学，则符合纳入条件。
在数据库搜索中总共识别出2117篇文章，通过其他来源又发现了3篇符合条件的研究。总共有218项研究符合纳入标准并最终纳入综述。研究最多的运动科学与医学主题是身体素质（n = 48），其次是比赛（n = 45）、训练（n = 38）、生物力学（n = 36）、营养与补充（n = 25）、损伤（n = 18）和心理学（n = 8）。超过一半的纳入研究发表于2020年或之后，美国的研究人员发表量最多，有57篇出版物。45项研究调查了残疾人力量举，其中大部分来自巴西（n = 31）。参与者代表了不同的比赛水平、力量举级别和年龄类别，尽管许多研究没有明确报告这些特征。只有7项研究专门调查了女性运动员。
本范围综述总结了当前关于力量举和残疾人力量举的文献，可用于加强这些运动项目中的应用运动科学与医学。虽然近年来研究数量有了显著增长，但显然某些人群和领域仍研究不足（如损伤机制）或需要更新审查（如提高成绩药物使用的流行情况，上一次报告是在2003年，目前未知）。因此，本综述基于现有文献中的空白突出了几个未来研究领域，并提供了一系列可实施的建议，以改善报告、透明度和解释。
