By William H. Glover Jr. J.D.

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 1 Corinthians 9:24 (NASB)

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1 (NASB)

Excerpts from the Movie Chariots of Fire:

I want you to do more than just watch a race. I want you to take part in it. I want to compare faith to running in a race. It’s hard. It requires concentration of will, energy of soul. You experience elation when the winner breaks the tape. But how long does that last? Who am I to say, “Believe, have faith,” in the face of life’s realities? I would like to give you something more permanent, but I can only point the way. I have no formula for winning the race. Everyone runs in her own way, or his own way. And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within. Jesus said, “Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. If with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me.” If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, then that is how you run a straight race. I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure. Run in God’s name and let the world stand back and in wonder.

Do you not know? 

Have you not heard? 

The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.

His understanding is inscrutable.

He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.

Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength;

they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. Isaiah 40: 28-31 (NASB)

Concussion in Sports Online Course Now Available

INDIANAPOLIS – Linemen in college football shield the quarterback from would-be tacklers, but what’s to protect these burly linemen from health threats associated with their size? Exercise alone won’t do it, according to new research from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

Two-thirds of Division I linemen studied were obese, putting them at significant risk for metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance compared with players at other positions. High levels of physical activity—shown to help prevent obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases—weren’t enough to counteract the health threats brought on by the linemen’s weight and lifestyle factors, researchers found. The study is the first to report on the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance in a large cohort of Division I collegiate football players.

“These findings are consistent with a recent study showing retired NFL linemen were twice as likely to develop metabolic syndrome as players of other positions,” said lead researcher James R. Borchers, M.D., MPH. “Given the serious health consequences of these conditions, we need to study college football players over time—and we need to counsel them about managing their health risks.”

Borchers pointed out that, while this study revealed similarities between Division I linemen and their professional NFL counterparts, the comparison may not apply to football players at Division II and Division III schools.

The study measured 90 football players, grouping them according to positions played. Group A comprised offensive and defensive linemen; Group B included wide receivers and defensive backs, and Group C consisted of tight ends, linebackers, quarterbacks, punters and kickers. Participants were measured for body composition, blood pressure, insulin level, cholesterol and other factors. Eight percent were overweight (20-25 percent body fat) and 21 percent (all linemen) were obese, with at least 25 percent body fat. Twenty-one percent of participants were found to have insulin resistance, a condition associated with coronary artery disease and diabetes. 

Forty-two percent of obese participants had metabolic syndrome, defined as showing abnormality in at least three of the following five measures:

-          Triglyceride

-          HDL-C

-          Abdominal obesity

-          Glucose

-          Blood pressure

Metabolic syndrome is thought by some to be a more important risk factor than tobacco use in the future development of coronary artery disease. While high levels of physical activity are known to reduce the rate of metabolic syndrome among adolescents, the relationship between activity and metabolic syndrome in obese individuals is unclear. Today’s Division I football players have significantly higher body fat and total body mass than their counterparts of the 1980s and ‘90s, giving rise to additional concerns about their long-term health.

The American College of Sports Medicine is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. More than 35,000 international, national, and regional members and certified professionals are dedicated to advancing and integrating scientific research to provide educational and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine.

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NOTE: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise® is the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, and is available from Lippincott Williams & Wilkins at 1-800-638-6423. For a complete copy of the research paper (Vol. 41, No. 12, pages 2105-2110) or to speak with a leading sports medicine expert on the topic, contact the Department of Communications and Public Information at 317-637-9200 ext. 133 or 127. Visit ACSM online at www.acsm.org.

The conclusions outlined in this news release are those of the researchers only, and should not be construed as an official statement of the American College of Sports Medicine

Sports Medicine / Fitness
Article Date: 22 Oct 2009 -

As debate continues over health system reform, a proposal with vast preventive power is drawing widespread support. Scientists, physicians, public health experts and others have rallied in favor of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Act of 2009. The measure (S. 1810 in the Senate and H.R. 3851 in the House), provides that the Department of Health and Human Services update federal physical activity guidelines at least every five years.

The bill’s sponsors reflect bipartisan support for healthy lifestyles as preventive medicine: Reps. Bart Gordon (D-TN), Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Ron Kind (D-WI) and Zach Wamp (R-TN); Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Sam Brownback (R-KS).

“The first federal guidelines for physical activity, released in October 2008, were a big step forward,” said James Pivarnik, Ph.D., FACSM, president of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). “The American public would be well served by guidelines that are updated regularly, like federal guidelines for nutrition, based on the latest scientific and medical information.”

ACSM led the call for federal physical activity guidelines, and a number of its members lent their expertise to the process of developing them. In 2006, ACSM convened a broad coalition of more than 40 organizations, resulting in six key calls to action - including the creation of regular updates to federal physical activity guidelines. Another recommendation, a National Physical Activity Plan, is under development. Many organizations involved in the 2006 policy roundtable are among those who have endorsed the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Act (click here for list ).

Helping Americans of all ages and health status increase their level of physical activity can do much to cut health care costs, improve individual quality of life and boost productivity, according to research by ACSM experts and others. Physical activity and exercise have been shown to reduce the risk of chronic diseases and conditions including overweight and obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis and others. Recent research shows:

- Seventy-five percent of every dollar spent on health care goes toward treatment of chronic diseases.
- Estimates project that, by 2010, 20 percent of children in the U.S. will be obese.
- 52 percent of U.S. adults do not meet minimum recommendations for physical activity. Only 35.8 percent of high school students are physically active 60 minutes or more, five days per week; just 33 percent attend physical education classes daily.
- Those living in poverty, people of color, people with disabilities, and rural residents face increased obstacles to engaging in safe physical activity and suffer significant disparities in their overall health status.

“Given the low cost of exercise-as inexpensive as a pair of walking shoes-and its manifest health benefits, we need to do all we can to help people engage in appropriate types and amounts of physical activity,” said ACSM’s Pivarnik. “I hope that, while Congress wrestles with health reform legislation, they will pass the guidelines act with its potential for a huge payoff in terms of preventive health care and of dollars saved.”

Source
American College of Sports Medicine

Coaches Vs. Cancer and Health Insurance Reform 2:18

Coaches Tubby Smith, Oliver Purnell, John Thompson III, Mike Brey, and Ed Dechellis describe how cancer has affected their personal lives as they visit capitol hill with the American Cancer Society to speak out for cancer prevention and research. October 14, 2009 (public domain)

Coaches Vs. Cancer and Health Insurance Reform 2:18

Coaches Tubby Smith, Oliver Purnell, John Thompson III, Mike Brey, and Ed Dechellis describe how cancer has affected their personal lives as they visit capitol hill with the American Cancer Society to speak out for cancer prevention and research. October 14, 2009 (public domain)

A high percentage of collegiate and professional athletes begin the season dehydrated, putting their health at risk even before they begin strenuous workouts, according to researchers at Indiana State University.

The rate is especially high among football players, with as many as four out of five members of one college team exhibiting dehydration during pre-season physical examinations, said Susan Yeargin, assistant professor of athletic training in Indiana State’s College of Nursing, Health, and Human Services.

With many teams undertaking grueling workouts twice a day during some of the hottest weeks of the year, football players are especially at risk from dehydration, Yeargin said. That risk was recently in the spotlight in Louisville, Ky. where a high school coach faced reckless homicide charges for the August 2008 death of a player who succumbed to heatstroke. Prosecutors claimed the coach there acted irresponsibly by withholding water from athletes during a practice.

Ideally, the ISU study could help others to avoid a similar fate.

“We hope that our study will serve to educate players, coaches and health care providers and help ensure a higher level of safety for athletes at all levels,” Yeargin said.

Approximately 80 percent of NCAA Division I football players and 50 percent of NFL players who participated in an ISU study were found to be dehydrated during pre-season physical examinations, Yeargin said. Approximately 30 percent of NCAA Division III players were dehydrated.

Dehydration affects the human body in many ways, Yeargin said.

“It’s going to affect an athlete’s physical performance they’re not going to have the dexterity to catch the ball correctly, they’re also going to have cognitive effects such as trouble remembering plays,” she said. “Physiologically, their core body temperature could be higher than it should have been if they were hydrated. Their heart rate will be higher, and they’re going to perceive that they’re working harder than they actually are.”

The study, conducted at the start of the current football season, involved the teams of Indiana State and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology as well as the Indianapolis Colts.

Indiana State student-athletes in volleyball, cross-country and soccer were also surveyed. Fewer participants in those sports were found to be dehydrated.

The study also served to show athletes how they can self-regulate their hydration level, said Lindsey Eberman, assistant professor of athletic training.

“One factor is teaching them about urine color and how they can self-recognize how hydrated they are. We think that has a significant impact on their day-to-day practices. If they recognize their hydration level as lower, they can instill the correct pattern of behavior to ensure that they become hydrated before the next practice,” Eberman said.

Urine that is clear in color indicates sufficient hydration while a dark yellow or brown color indicates an individual is dehydrated, she said.

Many athletes, football players in particular, showed improvement in just one day after receiving tips from Indiana State professors and students about ways to self-monitor their level of hydration.

“We saw really good results for that,” Yeargin said. “A good number of the guys came back hydrated after following those tips.”

Another goal of the research is to stress to team physicians and athletic trainers the importance of collecting accurate data during physicals, Yeargin said.

“When they get a baseline body mass on someone during pre-participation physicals they need to make sure that it is a “true” baseline measurement. If they’re going to use that as their primary starting point measurement and the person actually weighs more than that because they were dehydrated when it was taken, then health care providers can’t trust any of their other weight measurements for the rest of pre-season,” she said.

A side benefit of the study is that it educated undergraduate athletic training majors about the importance of research, the professors said. Coincidentally, their study was conducted during the time of the Kentucky high school coach’s trial and Yeargin and Eberman took their students to Louisville last week to sit it on the proceedings.

“The involvement of students in research is so important to the profession of athletic training. Students need to realize how significant research is and how they can apply it to their clinical practice,” Eberman said.

“It can help me if I happen to research in grad school or in the professional community because I will have a better understanding of the importance of research and how to do it,” said Tiffani Vaal, a junior from St. Meinrad.

“As a freshman I had no interest in getting involved in research. I thought it was way too much work, but now that I’ve seen it I know I can do it and it’s interesting,” added Shannen Falconer, a junior from Winnebago, Ill.

Falconer, who was a student-athlete in high school, did not expect such a high percentage of Division I athletes to exhibit dehydration.

“You know you’re going to work hard and sweat a lot and yet to come in already dehydrated was really surprising,” she said.

Source: Indiana State University

National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s Fair Practice Lawsuit Settlement Benefits Members

The National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) announced today that an out-of-court settlement was reached in its Fair Practice Lawsuit against the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) on Sept. 21, 2009. The NATA filed suit against the APTA for antitrust violations that unfairly restricted athletic trainers from practicing manual therapy and gaining access to continuing education courses on manual therapy. The case was scheduled for a status and scheduling hearing in Federal District Court in Dallas on Sept. 22.

The centerpiece of the settlement is a Joint Statement on Cooperation between APTA and NATA, signed by the president of each association’s board of directors. Highlights of the Joint Statement include:

- That physical therapists are neither the exclusive providers of manual therapy nor the exclusive providers of physical medicine and rehabilitation services. The APTA agrees with NATA that athletic trainers are qualified to perform these services.

- That the scopes of practice of athletic trainers and physical therapists overlap.

- APTA recognition of athletic trainers as health care professionals qualified to assist their patients.

- That APTA will not make false or misleading statements about athletic trainers, including improper references to them as “unqualified,” “not qualified,” “non-qualified” or any variation of these terms. The APTA agreed that it will not make false or deceptive statements that mislead patients, employers or others regarding athletic trainers.

- That athletic trainers are qualified and authorized to provide interventions within their state scope of practice and licensure.

- That decisions related to reimbursement are to be decided by public and private insurers, state and federal legislators and regulators, patients and other stakeholders.

- That athletic trainers are qualified to pursue continuing education in manual therapy, and that APTA’s internal policies regarding continuing education does not apply to athletic trainers in the 47 states where ATs are licensed or regulated.

“I am pleased that we can move forward with respect for each profession’s knowledge, skills and abilities in manual therapy and physical medicine and rehabilitation,” said Marjorie J. Albohm, MS, ATC, president of NATA. “In this time of health care reform, it is more important than ever that all health care professionals work as a team to deliver high quality, safe, affordable patient care. Athletic trainers contribute to their patients’ wellness, physical activity level and musculoskeletal health, no matter the age of the patient.”

Albohm said the settlement is also a victory for patients, public and private health insurers, employers and physicians because they will all have increased access to and choice of health care professionals. “We look forward to delivering therapy services and protecting the welfare of our patients,” she said.

The two national associations agreed to confer periodically on issues of common interest and areas of friction, as they arise. “We look forward to a spirit of mutual cooperation with the APTA,” Albohm said. “But we will be vigilant in protecting our members’ ability to practice to the fullest extent of their scope of practice and qualifications,” Albohm said.

NATA filed the civil lawsuit in February 2008 because of ongoing anti-competitive actions taken by the APTA. NATA was informed by members in Fall 2007 that the APTA and the Orthopaedic Section of the APTA had taken actions to restrict athletic trainers’ access to education in – and the practice of – manual therapy techniques. Manual therapy is included in the athletic training competencies, scope of practice and licensure. NATA believed that the APTA’s attempt to limit access to manual therapy courses was an attempt to prevent athletic trainers from competing fairly with physical therapists in providing therapy services.

Both associations will issue the “Joint Statement on Cooperation” to their respective members. Additionally, APTA and NATA will provide a prominent link to the joint statement on their home pages for one year and on a public-access Web page for an additional 24 months.

To review the Joint Statement on Cooperation and other related documents, go to http://www.nata.org/.

Source
National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA)

Concussions are by far the most common, and one of the most difficult to manage injuries seen in sports today. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are between 1.6 million and 3.8 million brain injuries that occur in sports each year – and 63,000 occur in high school athletes alone. The National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) and National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) have joined forces on a national and local grassroots campaign to educate the public, athletes, health professionals, coaches, parents, administrators and others about concussion in sports. The overarching objective of the campaign is to raise awareness of the importance of identifying concussions and implementing appropriate management when they do occur.

As a centerpiece of the NAN and NATA efforts, a 12-minute educational video titled “Concussions in Hockey: Signs, Symptoms and Playing Safe,” has now been released nationally. The video, sponsored by the National Hockey League and the NHL Players’ Association, features comments from Mike Modano of the Dallas Stars and retired NHL players Pat LaFontaine and Eric Lindros. It is available as a free online download on affiliated Web sites, including http://www.nanonline.org/, http://www.nata.org/, http://www.nhl.com and http://www.nhlpa.com/ and also available, upon request, at a cost of $10 at http://www.nata.org/brochures/.

“Concussions can be serious injuries if not treated properly. Concussion symptoms can affect players in all areas of their lives including their physical, emotional and cognitive functioning,” said Ruben Echemendia, PhD, NAN past president and director of the NHL’s Neuropsychological Testing Program. “Swift and appropriate evaluation by trained sports medicine professionals is crucial before an athlete returns to play. That is why we counsel students and coaches to err on the side of caution and ‘when in doubt, sit out.’”

This educational campaign explicitly urges athletes to immediately consult with their athletic trainer, team physician or coach if they think they might have a concussion. “Even if an athlete’s symptoms appear to be very mild, if they don’t feel right, they must immediately tell somebody in charge,” Echemendia said.

For more information, NATA has published a position statement (pdf download) on concussions, which is available at www.nata.org/statements/position/concussion.pdf. NAN has also published a sports concussion white paper, which is available here.

The National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) is a professional association founded in 1975 to advance Neuropsychology as a science and health profession, to promote human welfare and to generate and disseminate knowledge of brain-behavior relationships. NAN has become a vibrant organization of the world’s leading scientist-practitioners, academics, clinicians and researchers in the field of brain functioning. The association’s current membership is over 3,500 with representation by 17 countries. Visit http://www.nanonline.org.

Source
National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA)

** SPORTS MEDICINE / FITNESS News **

Work out with friends for a natural high

Exercise classes or going for a run with a friend will make you feel better than working out alone, according to new research published today in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

When we exercise, happiness’ hormones called endorphins are released by the body giving us a natural high’, a feeling of elation. To find out if this hormone release is affected by working out in a group, a team of scientists from the University of Oxford measured endorphin production in a group of rowers, both when they exercised alone and when they trained together as a team.

Endorphins help to reduce the feeling of pain and Emma Cohen and her team carried out a pain threshold test before and after the exercise sessions as a way of measuring how much endorphins had been produced.

Their results showed sportsmen to have a significantly higher tolerance to pain after exercising in a group than they did after exercising alone, suggesting that their group workouts led to a greater production of feel good endorphins.

Not only do these results imply a benefit to exercising with others, they also help to explain why group activities like dancing, laughing and making music make us feel so fantastic. A greater production of endorphins during these activities, suggest the authors, could be a way to help humans to bond in groups and improve social interactions.

The Royal Society, the national academy of science of the UK and the Commonwealth, is at the cutting edge of scientific progress. We support many top young scientists, engineers and technologists, influence science policy, debate scientific issues with the public and much more. We are an independent, charitable body which derives our authoritative status from over 1400 Fellows and Foreign Members.

 Athletes With Smaller ACLs May Be More Susceptible To Injury

 
——–A study comparing images of the knees in people who did and didn’t have previous injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament suggests that people who tore their ACLs are more likely to have a smaller ligament than do similarly sized people who have never injured a knee.

Researchers calculated the total volume of the ligaments based on magnetic resonance images of human knees. The ACLs among those with previous injuries were, on average, about 10 percent smaller than were ACLs among those without an injury.

In those with previous injuries, the uninjured ACL in the opposite knee was measured for the study. Their ligaments were compared to the ACLs in uninjured people of similar height and weight.

Those who had torn their ACLs had experienced noncontact injuries, meaning the injury occurred during some sort of movement of the body rather than because of a blow to the knee.

Researchers caution that the retrospective study does not mean that a smaller ACL will necessarily result in injury. Instead, they say the research offers more clues about the variety of factors – such as activity level, neuromuscular coordination, gender and muscle strength – that appear to be contributors to ACL injury.

In this group of participants, weight was the strongest predictor of ACL volume.

“If you compared two people of the same weight, based on our data set, we would expect the injured person had the smaller ACL,” said Ajit Chaudhari, assistant professor of orthopedics at Ohio State University and lead author of the study.

Knowing that the knee’s anatomy can influence susceptibility should help researchers who are trying to figure out why ACL injuries occur and who is most likely to experience these injuries, Chaudhari said. Most study results guide the assignment of a percentage of risk to one or more factors associated with torn ACLs, but to date no research had looked solely at the size of the ligament in injured and non-injured knees.

The research is published in a recent issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine.

The anterior cruciate ligament, responsible for rotational stability in the knee, is located behind the kneecap and is one of four ligaments that join the thigh and shin bones. Noncontact tears of the ACL tend to occur in athletes when they pivot, stop quickly or land from a jump. Previous research suggests that college-age women athletes are at three- to 10-times higher risk of tearing their ACLs than their male counterparts, depending on the activity, but scientists have not determined why this is.

“Comparisons of the volumes of ACLs between men and women have been done, which have suggested that ACL volume may matter. Studies have also found that female ACLs had fewer fibers than male ACLs that were tested. But even with those findings, any differences between males and females could be a coincidence. There are so many variables that interact that you can’t really tell what’s causative unless you compare people who have had an injury to those who haven’t had an injury,” said Chaudhari, also director of Ohio State’s Sports Biomechanics Laboratory.

He and colleagues took MR images of the knees of 54 participants, who were divided into two groups. Volunteers with previous injuries were matched with uninjured participants of the same age, gender, height and weight.

The previously injured participants’ healthy knees were imaged for the study. Chaudhari said the fibers of a torn ACL tend to fray like a rope, meaning the volume of injured ACLs could not be measured in a meaningful way. Chaudhari recently presented related research that indicated that there is no significant difference in the size of two ACLs in the same body.

Researchers used the MR images to determine the outline of each ACL under the guidance of an orthopedic surgeon experienced in operating on injured knees. They validated this method of determining ACL volume by practicing the measurement technique on five pig knees obtained from a butcher.

Of the 27 injured participants, 16 had smaller ACLs than their matched controls. Overall, the injured group had an average ACL volume of 1,921 cubic millimeters, while the control group had an average volume of 2,151 cubic millimeters.

In this group of participants, weight and height were strongly correlated as potential variables affecting the size of the ligament.

Chaudhari said that based on what is currently known about the fibrous makeup of the ligament, it’s no surprise that a smaller ACL is more susceptible to injury.

“If you have a weaker ACL, it’s more likely to tear if all other factors are equal,” he said. “If being larger in size means the ACL has more fibers, then that would make it stronger. If the individual building blocks are of similar strength, then it comes down to how much total tissue there is.”

It’s too soon to consider knee imaging as a way to screen potential athletes, Chaudhari said, because of the high expense and the fact that knowing the size of the ACL still doesn’t tell the whole story of how the knee will react to activity.

“I would certainly not say in any way, shape or form that people should start using ACL size as a determinant of whether they should play any sport,” he said.

But what it does tell researchers is that there might be more than one way to go about trying to prevent knee ligament injuries. While many prevention efforts focus on the strength of muscles surrounding the knee, Chaudhari and other researchers hope to study whether the ACL itself can be made stronger, or larger, or both, while a child is still growing and developing.

This work was supported by the OSU Roessler Scholarship Fund, the Wright Center for Innovation in Biomedical Imaging, and a National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Awards grant.

Co-authors are Eric Zelman of the College of Medicine, David Flanigan and Christopher Kaeding of the Department of Orthopedics, and Haikady Nagaraja of the Department of Statistics, all at Ohio State.

Source:
Ajit Chaudhari
Ohio State University
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