athletes Tag

17 Nov

Posted at 23:57h in Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_55977" align="alignleft" width="142"]Tara L Sharma DO Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology at UWMC Seattle, WA 98133 Dr. Sharma[/caption] Tara L Sharma DO Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology at UWMC Seattle, WA 98133 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Flying can lead to reduced oxygen partial pressures and cerebral blood flow causing worsening clinical outcome in cases of moderate to severe TBI; however, not much is known regarding the clinical consequences of flying in individuals with concussion or mild TBI. Because many athletes suffer concussions during games, it is necessary to know if flying afterward may potentially hinder their ability to return to play. Overall, we found no associated between air travel and increased symptom severity in both our entire cohort and the subset of football players.

30 Oct

Posted at 12:30h in Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, OBGYNE, Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Suvi Ravi Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä, Finland MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The results of studies comparing the prevalence of menstrual dysfunction in athletes and non-athletes have been inconsistent. Menstrual dysfunction can have many different causes but one of the most common in athletes is low energy availability (i.e., inadequate energy intake relative to energy expenditure). Disordered eating/eating disorder as a result of e.g. body weight dissatisfaction, which is the discrepancy between actual and desired weight, can be a risk factor for inadequate energy intake and thus could play a role in menstrual dysfunction. We studied a cohort of athletes and non-athletes, in adolescence (14-16 years) and subsequently in young adulthood (18-20 years) to determine the prevalence of menstrual dysfunction and body weight dissatisfaction. Menstrual dysfunction in our study was defined as primary amenorrhea, which is the absence of menses by the age of 15, prolonged menstrual cycle (>35 days), or secondary amenorrhea i.e., absence of menses for at least three consecutive months. 

10 Apr

Posted at 19:06h in Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Gastrointestinal Disease, Microbiome
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Orla O’Sullivan Computational Biologist, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, Co. Cork, Ireland  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Previously we had demonstrated that professional rugby players had significantly increased microbial diversity compared to both low and high BMI controls. This microbial diversity correlated with creatine kinase levels in the blood (which we had used as a proxy for exercise) and protein intake. In this present study we went a step further and demonstrated that these same athletes had distinct functional potential in their gut microbes compared to controls and furthermore both the host derived ( urine) and bacterial derived ( faecal water) metabolites were also distinct in the athlete group. In particular we found that the athlete’s microbiome is primed for tissue repair and to harness energy from the diet, reflecting the significant energy demands and high cell-turnover evident in elite sport. Thus, the state of physical fitness is not limited to the host alone; it appears to also include conditioning of the microbiota.

12 Oct

Posted at 14:08h in Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, OBGYNE
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28794" align="alignleft" width="180"]Prof. Kari Bø PhD Norwegian School of Sport Sciences Oslo, Norway Prof. Kari Bø[/caption] Prof. Kari Bø PhD Norwegian School of Sport Sciences Oslo, Norway MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The background is that more and more female elite athletes continue to exercise into their 30s and beyond and more want to become pregnant and some to continue to compete at the same level after giving birth. MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report? Response: To date there is little scientific knowledge on elite athletes and others who perform strenuous exercise (eg women in the military) during pregnancy and after childbirth and we therefore have to be cautious when recommending intensity levels of both endurance and strength training exercise. However, given the knowledge we have now.
  • Elite athletes planning pregnancy may consider reducing high impact training routines in the week after ovulation and refraining from repetitive heavy lifting regimens during the first trimester as some evidence suggests increased miscarriage risk.
  • There is little risk of abnormal fetal heart rate response when elite athletes exercise at <90% of their maximal heart rates in the second and third trimesters.
  • Baby birthweights of exercising women are less likely to be excessively large (>4000g) and not at increased risk of being excessively small (<2500g).
  • Exercise does not increase the risk of preterm birth.
  • Exercise during pregnancy does not increase the risk of induction of labour, epidural anesthesia, episiotomy or perineal tears, forceps or vacuum deliveries.
  • There is some encouraging evidence that the first stage of labour (before full dilatation) is shorter in exercising women.
  • There is also some encouraging evidence that exercise throughout pregnancy may reduce the need for caesarean section.

29 Sep

Posted at 19:43h in Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Heart Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Headshot portrait of Dr. Kim Harmon, family medicine, sports medicine.Kimberly G. Harmon, MD University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) in a young athlete is tragic devastating families and communities.  It has been characterized as “rare” by some, however, previous studies have looked at broad age ranges of athletes and used various methods to determine the incidence rate, sometimes only including athletes which have events during school sponsored events.  In addition, many studies only look at sudden cardiac death and do not include sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) where the athlete has a cardiac arrest but is resuscitated and survives. SCA is important to include as ideally we would like to prevent both SCA and SCD in athletes.  In this paper, over 1/3 of all US high school athletes were studied for six years to determine the incidence and the causes of SCA/D.   Media reports were used to identify cases and then autopsies were obtained in those who died.

13 Jul

Posted at 12:16h in Author Interviews, Orthopedics, Surgical Research
Brett D. Owens, MD Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery Brown University Alpert Medical School Providence, RIMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Brett D. Owens, MD Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery Brown University Alpert Medical School Providence, RI Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Last year at this meeting we presented the results of a prospective multicenter study of collegiate contact athletes who experienced in-season shoulder instability events. While most were able to return to sport within a week, only roughly one quarter were able to successfully return without recurrent instability. We continued to follow this cohort and 39 athletes with additional eligibility the subsequent season. We found that 90% of the 29 who underwent arthroscopic stabilization successfully returned the next season compared with 40% of the 10 underwent nonoperative treatment