Rachel's research focuses on how the cardiovascular system adapts to a range of exercise stimuli across different populations. Her work focusing on the Athlete's Heart is linked with developing pre-participation cardiac screening guidelines and aiming to address the question "Can you do too much exercise?"
This research also links into Rachel's interest understanding acute response and chronic adaptation to exercise and implementing exercise interventions across the lifespan in both health and disease. This body of research aims to address both the physiological mechanisms underpinning therapeutic benefit from exercise and also the impact on quality of life and mental health and wellbeing.
Areas of research focus and technical expertise include:
- 12-lead electrocardiography
- Cardiac structure and function using echocardiography including cardiac mechanics
- Muscle sympathetic nerve activity via microneurography
Refereed Academic Journal Articles
Unnithan VB, Rowland TW, George K,
Lord R, Oxborough D (2018) Left ventricular function during exercise in trained pre-adolescent soccer players. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. 28 (11):2330-2338. doi: 10.1111/sms.13258
Popple E, George K, Somauroo J, Sharma S, Utomi V,
Lord R, Cooper R, Malhotra A, Forster J, Oxborough D. (2018) Right ventricular structure and function in senior and academy elite footballers. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. 28 (12):2617-2624. doi: 10.1111/sms.13272
Lord RN, Utomi V, Oxborough DL, Curry BA, Brown M, George KP. (2018) Left ventricular function and mechanics following prolonged endurance exercise: an update and meta-analysis with insights from novel techniques. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 118 (7):1291-1299. doi: 10.1007/s00421-018-3906
Lord R, Macleod D, George K, Oxborough D, Shave R, Stembridge M. (2018) Reduced left ventricular filling following blood volume extraction does not result in compensatory augmentation of cardiac mechanics. Experimental Physiology. 103 (4):495-501. doi: 10.1113/EP086761
Lodge F, Khatun R,
Lord R, John A, Fraser AG, Yousef Z. (2017) Prevalence of subclinical cardiac abnormalities in patients with metal-on-metal hip replacements. International Journal of Cardiology. 15 (271):274-280. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2018.05.047
Rothwell O, George K, Somauroo J,
Lord R, Stembridge M, Shave R, Hoffman MD, Wilson M, Ashley E, Haddad F, Eijsvogels T, Oxborough D. (2017) Right Ventricular Structure and Function in the Veteran Ultramarathon runner: Is there Evidence for Chronic Maladaptation? Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography. 31 (5):598-605.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.echo.2017.11.021
Cocking S, Landman T, Benson M, Lord R, Jones H, Gaze D, Thijssen D H, George K. (2017) The impact of remote ischemic preconditioning on cardiac biomarker and functional response to endurance exercise. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. 27 (10):1061-1069. doi: 10.1111/sms.12724
Lord R, George K, Somauroo J, Stembridge M, Jain N, Hoffman, MD, Shave R, Haddad F, Ashley E, Jones H, Heemels A, Oxborough D. (2016) Alterations in Cardiac Mechanics following Ultra-endurance Exercise: Insights from Left and Right Ventricular Area-Deformation Loops. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography 29 (9):879-887
Oxborough D, Heemels A, Somauroo J, McClean G, Mistry P, Lord R, Utomi V, Jones N, Thijssen D, Sharma S, Osborne R, Sculthorpe N, George K. (2016) Left and right ventricular longitudinal strain-volume/area relationships in elite athletes. International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging 32 (8): 1199-1211
Lord R, George K, Somauroo J, Jain N, Reese K, Hoffman, MD, Haddad F, Ashley E, Jones H, Oxborough D. Exploratory Insights from the Right-sided Electrocardiogram following Prolonged Endurance Exercise. European Journal of Sport Science, Eur J Sport Sci. 2016 Nov;16(8):1014-22. doi: 10.1080/17461391.2016.1165292
Giraldeau G,
Kobayashi Y,
Finocchiaro G,
Wheeler M,
Perez M,
Kuznetsova T,
Lord R,
George KP,
Oxborough D,
Schnittger I,
Froelicher V,
Liang D,
Ashley E,
Haddad F. (2015) Gender Differences in Ventricular Remodeling and Function in College Athletes, Insights from Lean Body Mass Scaling and Deformation Imaging. American Journal of Cardiology 116 (10):1610-6.
Utomi V, Oxborough D, Ashley E,
Lord R, Fletcher S, Stembridge M, Shave R, Hoffman MD, Whyte G, Somauroo J, Sharma S, George K. (2015) The impact of chronic endurance and resistance training upon the right ventricular phenotype in male athletes. European Journal of Applied Physiology 115 (8):1673-1682.
Rachel has strong collaboration with both research and clinical colleagues across the globe including:
Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
University of the West of Scotland, UK
Bangor University, Bangor, UK
Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
University of British Columbia, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK
Countess of Chester Hospital, Chester, UK
Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar
