Asthma Common Among Olympic Athletes

HealthDay – 3 mins 8 secs ago THURSDAY, Aug. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Asthma and airway hyper-responsiveness are the most common chronic conditions among Olympic athletes, affecting about 8 percent of the competitors, according to a new study.

The Australian researcher suggested the conditions may be linked to the athletes' intense training, particularly those who participate in endurance sports or winter sports. The inhalation of cold air contributes to airway damage.

Airway hyper-responsiveness involves marked narrowing of the airways in response to some kind of outside trigger.

"Inhaling polluted or cold air is considered an important factor which might explain the cause in some sports, but not in all," explained study author Kenneth Fitch, of the University of Western Australia, in a university news release. "The quality of inhaled air could be harmful to the airways, but does not cause the same effect in all sports."

Fitch counted the number of athletes with asthma and airway hyper-responsiveness from the five Olympic games between 2002 and 2010. He identified the athletes by tracking the use of inhaled beta-2 agonists, an anti-asthma drug commonly used by top athletes.

In 2001, the International Olympic Committee recognized the increased use of the drug between 1996 and 2000, and issued a new rule requiring athletes to provide proof of their condition to safeguard the health of Olympic athletes, not as an anti-doping measure, according to the news release.

Fitch noted that athletes with asthma have routinely beaten their opponents. He added, however, there is no proof that treatments for the condition improved their performance. He suggested that training harder than other athletes could help explain why many athletes develop asthma or airway hyper-responsiveness as adults.

The study was published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute provides more information on asthma.

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Scientists skeptical as athletes get all taped up

Reuters – 2 hrs 17 mins ago LONDON (Reuters) - German beach volleyball player Ilka Semmler wears it on her buttocks - in pink. Swedish handball player Johanna Wiberg prefers it in blue from her knee to her groin. British sprinter Dwain Chambers has even worn it with a Union Jack design.

Athletic tape made in every color under the sun seems to be the latest must-have sports injury treatment at London 2012, where athletes may have been influenced by other big name tape fans such as Serena Williams and David Beckham.

Called Kinesio tape and developed by a Japanese doctor more than 30 years ago, the adhesive strapping is designed to provide muscle and joint support without restricting movement.

According to Kinesio's product website, it is also designed to be used with a particular taping technique - a skill practitioners need to learn on a special training course.

More than 4,000 people in Britain are now trained in the art of Kinesio taping, it says, and many of them look after some of the country's top sportsmen and women.

But does it really work?

Compared with the abundance of its use, rigorous scientific research on Kinesio tape is scant. But a handful of research papers suggest its ability to relieve pain or improve muscle strength is limited.

"Kinesio tape may be of some assistance to clinicians in improving pain-free active range of movement immediately after tape application for patients with shoulder pain," wrote scientists in one study published in the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physiotherapy.

But the researchers added their findings did not support the use of Kinesio tape for decreasing pain intensity or disability in patients with shoulder problems.

SCIENTIFICALLY SUPPORTED?

In a review of all the scientific research so far, published in the Sports Medicine journal in February, researchers found "little quality evidence to support the use of Kinesio tape over other types of elastic taping in the management or prevention of sports injuries".

Kevin Anderson, managing director of Kinesio UK, which supplies the tape in Britain and trains people in how to apply it, says the scientific research has yet to catch up with what athletes and physiotherapists say about the tape's benefits.

"There's a lot more needed on the research side to confirm the positive results we're seeing so far," he told Reuters.

"There's nothing magical in the tape, it certainly can't improve your performance or make you into Superman, but the way people use the tape is to lift the skin, reduce the pressure and that helps relieve pain and swelling."

Whatever the science, German beach volleyball player Sara Goller sported two long pink strips of the tape on her left leg during matches on Tuesday, while her partner Laura Ludwig had two vertical blue strips on her stomach.

"I don't really mind the color, it's more about what it does. It can release or put tension on a muscle, it depends on what you want. Our physio is really good at doing it," Goller told Reuters.

FADS, FASHIONS AND PLACEBOS

John Brewer, a professor of sports science at Britain's University of Bedfordshire, remains doubtful.

"As a scientist, I'm still not convinced about the underlying mechanisms," he told Reuters, voicing skepticism about the supposed 'lifting' effect and the ability of tape applied to the skin to enhance the performance of muscles deep inside the body.

Steve Harridge, a professor of human and applied physiology at King's College London, said many athletes appeared to be wearing tape even when they had no injury, possible hoping for some preventative or enhancing effect.

"It may be a fashion accessory, and it may be just one of those fads that come along from time to time, but to my knowledge there's no firm scientific evidence to suggest it will enhance muscle performance," he told Reuters.

Both scientists agreed, however, that there may be a benefit, in the form of the placebo effect.

"The fact that athletes think it's going to do them some good can help in a psychological way," said Harridge.

An effective placebo, Brewer said, "could make all the difference between success and failure".

(Additional reporting by Ross Chainey, Thomas Pilcher and Nigel Hunt, editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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Olympic-Class Athletes Abound in Animal Kingdom

HealthDay – 13 hrs ago FRIDAY, July 27 (HealthDay News) -- When it comes to speed, strength and endurance, even Olympic athletes can't compete with the animals who are champions in their fields, a British researcher says.

For example, cheetahs and pronghorn antelopes are among the animals that are faster than Usain Bolt, who is currently the fastest person in the world, according to Craig Sharp of the Center for Sports Medicine and Human Performance at Brunel University in London.

The fastest a human can run is 23.4 miles per hour (mph). A cheetah is nearly twice as fast, at 64 mph, while a pronghorn antelope can run at 55 mph.

An ostrich is the world's fastest running bird at 40 mph, or 59 feet per second. The fastest greyhound has been clocked at 43 mph and the fastest thoroughbred racehorse at 55 mph.

When it comes to strength, an African elephant can lift 661 pounds with its trunk and carry 1,807 pounds. A gorilla can lift 1,984 pounds and a grizzly bear can lift 1,000 pounds.

Humans have various features that make them well-suited for long-distance running, such as long legs, short toes, arched feet and ample fuel storage capacity, Sharp said. But the top marathoners would be hard-pressed to beat camels, which can maintain speeds of 10 mph for more than 18 hours, or the Siberian huskies that set a record in 2011, racing for eight days, 19 hours and 47 minutes, covering 114 miles a day.

In long jumping, a red kangaroo has covered 42 feet, compared with the human record of 29 feet. In high jump, the red kangaroo can leap 10 feet, compared with the human record of 8 feet.

However, no single animal species matches the physical versatility of humans, which is what the Olympic Games are designed to showcase to best effect, Sharp concluded.

The article was published July 28 in the journal Veterinary Record.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute offers a guide to physical activity.

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Young Athletes Face Unhealthy Food Choices, Parents Say

HealthDay – 1 hr 19 mins ago FRIDAY, June 29 (HealthDay News) -- Children who play organized sports often consume unhealthy foods and beverages, a new study finds.

University of Minnesota researchers interviewed the parents of 60 youth basketball players and found that the youngsters commonly had sweets, such as candy, ice cream and doughnuts; pizza; hot dogs; salty snacks, such as chips, nachos and cheese puffs; and soda and sports drinks.

The parents also reported frequent visits to fast-food restaurants when their children were playing sports.

Although the parents agreed that these foods and beverages are unhealthy, they said rushing to practices and games made them rely more on these types of products due to their convenience.

The researchers also found that parents had difficulty determining whether certain foods and drinks were healthy, and had doubts about whether it was feasible for concession stands at youth sports venues to offer healthy choices.

The study was published in the July/August issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

"The food environment in youth sports exposes kids and their families to many unhealthful foods and beverages and few healthful options," principal investigator Toben Nelson said in a journal news release. "Youth who participate in sports spend considerable time in these activities outside of school, and these sports environments are likely to influence their eating behavior."

The researchers suggested many ways to promote healthy eating in children who play sports, including integrating nutrition education into youth sports programs and finding ways to improve the nutritional quality of food available at youth sports venues.

More information

The Nemours Foundation has more about feeding your child athlete.

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Better Health Screening Urged for Female College Athletes

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago THURSDAY, June 21 (HealthDay News) -- Shortfalls in the screening of female college athletes for a trio of medical issues called the "female athlete triad" could put them at risk for lifelong health problems, according to a new study.

The triad refers to the interrelationship between energy availability, menstrual function and bone mineral density. Research has shown that many female athletes do not take in enough nutrition, which leads to the absence of menstrual periods, and loss of bone density and strength.

Medical College of Wisconsin researchers surveyed 257 NCAA Division I universities to find out when and how often athletes underwent physical examinations and had their health histories checked. The researchers also evaluated the pre-participation examination forms used to further assess athletes' health.

Sixty-three percent of the university athletic programs only completed a full medical history and examination on freshmen and transfer athletes, instead of on all athletes every year or every two years.

Only 9 percent of the universities had nine or more of the 12 Female Athlete Triad Coalition screening recommendations on their pre-participation exam forms, the investigators found.

"For an accurate picture, these forms really need to include a 72-hour food record to measure energy intake," corresponding author Dr. Anne Hoch, professor of orthopedic surgery and director of the women's sports medicine program, said in a Medical College of Wisconsin news release.

"An exercise history or an accelerometer, which is an inexpensive way to measure energy expenditure, is also helpful. These screening tools may result in early identification of athletes at risk for the triad," she added.

Further research is required to determine the most sensitive and specific items to include on a screening tool for the Female Athlete Triad, the researchers suggested.

The study was published in a recent online edition of the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine.

More information

The Nemours Foundation has more about the female athlete triad.

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Females, Young Athletes Take Longer to Get Over Concussions

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Athletes Really Do Play Through the Pain

HealthDay – 45 mins ago THURSDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- A new study confirms the widespread belief that athletes can tolerate more pain than other people, a finding that may hold clues for managing pain in the general population.

German researchers reviewed 15 studies that included a total of more than 550 athletes and more than 330 people with normal activity levels. The studies included both men and women, and evaluated pain thresholds (the minimum level of intensity at which a person feels pain) and tolerance (the maximum level of pain a person can handle before it becomes too much).

Although pain threshold didn't differ between athletes and other adults, the review found that athletes had consistently higher pain tolerance. The amount of pain athletes could endure varied depending on the type of sport.

For example, endurance athletes had moderate pain tolerance and their scores were fairly uniform. Athletes involved in game sports had a higher tolerance for pain than other athletes, but there was wide variation in their scores.

These results suggest that endurance athletes are more alike in their physical and mental profiles, while athletes involved in game sports are more diverse, the researchers from the University of Heidelberg said.

The findings, which appear in the June issue of the journal Pain, may prove useful in pain management. Prior research has found that exercise can help improve quality of life and functioning in non-athletes with pain, even if the pain itself doesn't go away, lead investigator Dr. Jonas Tesarz said in a journal news release.

"It may be advisable in exercise treatment for pain patients to focus on the development of their pain-coping skills that would affect tolerance, rather than the direct alleviation of pain threshold," Tesarz said.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about pain.

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Heart Test Spots Sudden Death Risk in Young Athletes

HealthDay – 16 hrs ago FRIDAY, April 27 (HealthDay News) -- Electrocardiograph (EKG) screening of young athletes can help identify those at risk for sudden cardiac death, according to a new study.

Researchers screened nearly more than 1,300 young athletes and conducted EKGs on 586 of them based on medical history, family history, a physical exam or prior EKG. Six athletes were found to have a heart disorder known to cause sudden cardiac death.

The study looked at how sensitive and specific the EKGs were as tests. Sensitivity refers to how confidently a doctor can rule out a problem and that it isn't a "false negative." Specificity refers to how sure a doctor can be that a positive test result is accurate.

For medical history alone, the sensitivity and specificity to detect heart disorders linked to sudden cardiac death were 33 percent and 69 percent. For physical exam, the figures were 16 percent and 91 percent. For EKG, sensitivity was 100 percent and specificity was 95 percent.

Half of disorders known to cause sudden cardiac death were detected by EKG alone, said Dr. Jessie Fudge, who is completing a fellowship in primary care sports medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle.

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College Athletes in Low-Contact Sports Have More Overuse Injuries

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Overuse Injuries Common Among Female College Athletes

HealthDay – 1 hr 1 min ago FRIDAY, April 6 (HealthDay News) -- Overuse injuries account for more than one-quarter of all injuries suffered by U.S. collegiate athletes, a new study has found.

Women -- especially those who played field hockey, soccer, softball and volleyball -- accounted for the majority of the overuse injuries (62 percent).

For this study, researchers analyzed three years of data from male and female collegiate athletes participating in 16 team sports at the University of Iowa.

During the study period, 319 male athletes sustained 705 injuries and 254 female athletes suffered 612 injuries. Overall, 288 athletes reported more than one injury. Of all the injuries suffered by the athletes, 29 percent were overuse injuries and 71 percent were acute injuries.

Overuse injuries tend to occur gradually and are caused by repeated small injuries, without a single, identifiable event. Acute injuries -- typically suffered by athletes playing high-speed and full-contact sports such as football or hockey -- have specific and identifiable causes.

The most common overuse injuries were general stress (27 percent), inflammation (21 percent) and tendinitis (16 percent).

Overuse injuries were most common among athletes in low-contact sports that involve long training sessions or in which athletes repeat the same movement numerous times, such as long-distance running, rowing and swimming. Four women's sports in particular -- field hockey, soccer, softball and volleyball -- had the highest rates of overuse injuries.

The study appears in the April issue of the Journal of Athletic Training.

"Overuse injuries may present not only physical challenges, but also psychological ones that could significantly affect an athlete's recovery and performance," study co-author Tracey Covassin said in a journal news release.

"Understanding the frequency, rate and severity of overuse injuries is an important first step for designing effective injury-prevention programs, intervention strategies and treatment protocols to prevent and rehabilitate athletes with these types of injuries," Covassin said.

More information

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has more about common sports injuries and conditions.

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