Rope a Dope: Drug Testing in Sports Enters a More Aggressive Era

Scientific American – 3 hrs ago For thousands of world-class athletes, a passport is something they can't forget to pack before heading off to London for the summer Olympic games. But for a few athletes, a different kind of passport is keeping them out of competition entirely.

A new anti-doping program known as the athlete biological passport (ABP), which looks for indirect evidence that an athlete has cheated, is being implemented by several international sports authorities. Already the testing scheme, developed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), has ensnared world-class athletes

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Pre-Season Fitness Not a Factor in Collegiate Sports Injury Risk

HealthDay – 1 hr 40 mins ago MONDAY, July 23 (HealthDay News) -- Levels of pre-season fitness do not predict how quickly college athletes may be injured during the season, but their gender and the type of sport they play do, a new study indicates.

Canadian researchers assessed pre-season fitness among athletes on six varsity teams and found that women had a shorter time to injury than men. Certain sports, such as volleyball, also had a much shorter time to injury than other sports, including hockey and basketball.

The pre-participation fitness tests given to the athletes in the study included a vertical jump test to assess anaerobic power, and measurements of lower body strength, lower back and hip flexibility, agility, upper body strength, core strength and flexibility, and shoulder flexibility.

More than two-thirds of the athletes suffered an injury during their seasons, with muscle or tendon strains in the legs or feet being most common. While 55 percent of the athletes missed at least one practice due to injury, most did not miss any games. About 40 percent of the injuries occurred during pre-season practice, the study found.

On average, female athletes suffered their first injury about 40 percent of the way through the season, compared with 66 percent of the way through the season for male athletes, the University of Alberta researchers reported.

Injuries occurred sooner in volleyball than in any other sport -- less than 20 percent of the way through the season for women and 35 percent of the way through the season for men.

The safest sport was men's hockey, according to the findings, with first injuries occurring an average of three-quarters of the way through the season.

Pre-season fitness had no overall effect on athletes' time to injury during their season, concluded the study published online in the journal Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy, Rehabilitation, Therapy & Technology.

"The only association we found between pre-season fitness and injury was that

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FastMed Urgent Care Offers School Students Free Sports Physicals

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2012FastMed Urgent Care offers Charlotte students enrolling in school athletics free sports physicals at all Charlotte area locations for a limited time.

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC (1888PressRelease) July 11, 2012 - From now through July 31, FastMed Urgent Care is offering free sports physicals at all Charlotte area locations for local students enrolling in sports at their schools.

Parents and students in the Charlotte communities can get their school sports physical at no cost at the following addresses:



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Some Sports May Help Protect Men's Bones

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Energy and Sports Drinks Eat Away at Teeth, Study Finds

HealthDay – 3 hrs ago WEDNESDAY, May 2 (HealthDay News) -- Sports and energy drinks are causing irreversible damage to the teeth of teens and young adults in the United States, the authors of a new study claim.

High acidity levels in the drinks erode tooth enamel, the glossy outer layer of teeth, the researchers contend in the May/June issue of the journal General Dentistry.

"Young adults consume these drinks assuming that they will improve their sports performance and energy levels and that they are 'better' for them than soda," study author Poonam Jain said in a news release from Academy of General Dentistry, which publishes the journal.

However, "most of these patients are shocked to learn that these drinks are essentially bathing their teeth with acid," Jain said.

For the study, the researchers analyzed acidity levels in 13 sports drinks and nine energy drinks. They found that acidity levels varied widely between brands and even flavors of the same brand. The effect on teeth of these acidity levels were assessed by immersing samples of human tooth enamel in each beverage for 15 minutes, followed by immersion in artificial saliva for two hours.

The cycle was repeated four times a day for five days, to simulate the exposure of teeth in teens and young adults who drink one of these beverages every few hours.

Damage to the tooth enamel was evident after five days, the researchers reported, and energy drinks caused twice as much damage as sports drinks.

Damage to tooth enamel is irreversible, the experts noted. Without the protection of enamel, teeth become overly sensitive and are more likely to decay and develop cavities.

The American Beverage Association (ABA), which represents the beverage industry, took issue with the study.

"This study was not conducted on humans, and in no way mirrors reality," the group said in a statement released Wednesday. "The authors used slices of tooth enamel samples from extracted molars, and then placed them in petri dishes of liquid for extended periods of time. People do not keep any kind of liquid in their mouths for 15-minute intervals over five-day periods."

The association added that the lab experiments could not mimic the environment of the human mouth, where saliva helps neutralize any acidity from food and drink.

The ABA also noted that other factors besides exposure to food or drinks -- things such as dental hygiene, lifestyle and genetics -- also influence tooth erosion.

According to the dentistry academy, an estimated 30 percent to 50 percent of U.S. teenagers consume energy drinks and as many as 62 percent consume at least one sports drink per day.

People "don't realize that something as seemingly harmless as a sports or energy drink can do a lot of damage to their teeth," Jennifer Bone, a spokeswoman for the academy, said in the news release.

She advised patients to minimize their consumption of sports and energy drinks, and also suggested that they chew sugar-free gum or rinse their month with water after consuming the drinks.

"Both tactics increase saliva flow, which naturally helps to return the acidity levels in the mouth to normal," she explained.

After consuming sports or energy drinks, patients should wait at least an hour before they brush their teeth. Otherwise, they will spread acid onto the tooth surfaces and increase the erosive action, Bone said.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians offers tips to keep your teeth and mouth healthy.

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College Athletes in Low-Contact Sports Have More Overuse Injuries

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