Athletes: Play Sports Clean, Hard and True
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)Orthopaedic surgeons stress the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs.
Orthopaedic surgeons stress the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs.
Mayo Clinic's medical experts offer breadth and depth about health issues and background related to the Olympic Games and Olympians. These are just some of our experts. Call us -- we'll do our best to meet your needs.
Do the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics have you inspired to get fit? University of Michigan Health System fitness experts say there are many ways you can get off the couch and get moving without hurting yourself "” even during commercial breaks.
The world-record pace for the marathon continues to improve for both men and women. For men, the record pace for the marathon is now about as fast as the record pace for the 10,000-meter run just after World War II. Today, champion athletes are running more than four times farther at speeds of well under five minutes per mile.
You could say two is a small number. But that's still two too many for Frederick O. Mueller, Ph.D., professor of exercise and sports science in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Attendees at the 2008 Olympics a half-a-world away, Aug. 8-24, will experience a cultural jolt and may have some concerns about their health. Richard Lee, M.D., University at Buffalo professor of medicine, is a specialist in geographic medicine and travels frequently to China. He returned from there recently and in the following Q&A offers suggestions for international travelers headed for Beijing.
As one of only 120 board-certified pediatric sports medicine physicians in the country, Mark Halstead, M.D., instructor in orthopaedic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has particular insight into young athletes and the injuries that commonly occur. His experience enables him to address a number of misconceptions that exist regarding pediatric sports injuries.
Sports-related concussions in young athletes frequently go unrecognized, and often do not receive proper respect for the potential seriousness that even a mild injury may have.
Not every child is sitting around playing an Xbox. Some are at the other end of the spectrum, playing multiple competitive sports year-round. That imbalance leaves them open to injury.
David Baron helped develop the doping education program for the Beijing Olympics. He's a veteran of six Olympic Games, having served as a doping control officer and a psychiatrist for the athletes. Because doping is a behavior and a lot of the side effects are psychiatric, his interest lies in what motivates athletes to use drugs and how we can intervene.
A former Olympic-class race walker, Howard Palamarchuk, DPM, knows firsthand the strain that running, walking and jumping can have on the lower extremities. He notes that a universal complaint among the Olympic athletes this year has been the choice of pavement materials for the long-distance courses in Beijing.
Mentally preparing for the Olympics is just as important as physical training, says Michael Sachs, Ph.D., a kinesiology professor at Temple's College of Health Professions. The main objective is to keep the athletes focused on their event.
Athletes prepare and train for the Olympics by stressing sameness explains Michael Brown, Ph.D., associate professor of kinesiology and exercise physiologist at Temple's College of Health Professions. "Competitors thrive on routine, so coaches will work to maintain their athlete's sleep patterns, training patterns and eating habits," he said.
As a parent, watching your son play sports encourages a variety of emotions: pride, excitement and fear. No parent wants to see his or her son injured on the field. But, it is hard to know at what age young boys should begin to protect their privates and start wearing a cup.
Dehydration occurs when your body takes in less water than you are using. While playing sports, it is easy for a child to lose track of their fluid intake and become dehydrated. Without proper hydration, your child could suffer serious consequences. You can avoid dehydration by ensuring that you pay attention to your child's fluid intake.
Caution from parents and coaches can prevent injuries in young baseball players.
Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland has the region's first sports medicine clinic just for kids. The Sports Medicine Center for Young Athletes, a division of the hospital's pediatric orthopedic surgery department, evaluates treats and rehabilitates children and adolescents with sports-related injuries. The center also designs injury prevention programs specific to adolescents, whose growing bones and cartilage are more susceptible to injuries than those of adults.
PENN Medicine experts are specially equipped to share insight into health issues particular to the Beijing Games. Areas of expertise include: 1) Air quality and athletic performance; 2) Ensuring a safe and ample blood supply for visitor and athletes ; 3) Detecting the next generation of performance enhancers.
Heading a ball appears to spectators as one of the most dangerous plays in soccer. However, only 6.6 percent of injuries are caused by this flashy move"”and contact with the ball accounted for only 7 percent of concussions, while player-to-player contact resulted in more than 70 percent.
Child Sports Concussion/Head Injury - Dr. James Kelly, Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and author of the AAN's Sports Concussion Guideline, can answer your questions about concussion suffered by children and adults while playing football, hockey and other fall and winter sports. Each year in the United States about 1.5 million people sustain a brain injury. Brain injury is a major cause of death and disability for children and adults.