Book excerpt: Translational Sports Medicine covers the principles of evidence-based medicine and applies these principles to the design of translational investigations. This title is an indispensable tool in grant writing and funding efforts with its practical, straightforward approach that will help aspiring investigators navigate challenging considerations in study design and implementation. It provides valuable discussions of the critical appraisal of published studies in translational sports medicine, allowing the reader to learn how to evaluate the quality of such studies with respect to measuring outcomes and to make effective use of all types of evidence in patient care. In short, this practical guidebook will be of interest to every medical researcher or sports medicine clinician who has ever had a good clinical idea but not the knowledge of how to test it. Readers will come to fully understand important concepts, including case-control study, prospective cohort study, randomized trial and reliability study. Medical researchers will benefit from greater confidence in their ability to initiate and execute their own investigations, avoid common pitfalls in translational sports medicine, and know what is needed in collaboration. - Focuses on the principles of evidence-based medicine and applies these principles to translational investigations within sports medicine - Details discussions of the critical appraisal of published studies in translational sports medicine, supporting evaluation with respect to measuring outcomes and making effective use of all types of evidence in patient care - Written by experts in the sports medicine field