Sanborn Regional High School, Kingston, N.H.

A mysterious and debilitating condition, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome is showing up more frequently in young athletes. There is no cure, but researchers and practitioners are finding effective ways to manage the symptoms and reduce their impact on quality of life.

Technology now exists to monitor the body's response to training in ways never before thought possible. It's opening new doors to performance enhancement for those who know how to separate valuable data from background noise.

Elastic therapeutic tape is an emerging modality that offers great potential to reduce the impact of soft tissue and joint injuries while enhancing the healing process.

Research shows that free radicals can wreak havoc on muscle tissue health, slowing recovery and impairing performance. With the right diet, athletes can take advantage of antioxidant power to ward off these effects.

At the University of Alaska-Anchorage, track and field athletes are taught to play an active role in setting their own individual strength and conditioning priorities.