RxPG News : Sports Medicine

Rotational-biomechanic elements of the golf stroke key to being a golf pro!

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 21:04:30 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) When it comes to hitting a golf ball hard, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified several biomechanical factors that appear to separate the duffers from the pros.

For the first time, several key rotational-biomechanic elements of the golf stroke in its entirety, from backswing to follow-through, were analyzed, and then the data were used to generate benchmark curves, said Jessica Rose, PhD, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery and senior author of the study. She and her fellow researchers found that swing biomechanics were highly consistent among a group of professional players. At certain phases of their swings, their movements were almost indistinguishable from one another.

"The set of biomechanical factors we examined were selected to capture the essential elements of power generation," Rose said. The lead author of the study is former Stanford medical student David Meister, MD.

The findings, scheduled to be published online July 29 in the Journal of Applied Biomechanics, could be used to help improve golfers' ability to hit the ball farther and do so without increasing their risks of injury. The authors point to studies showing that improper swing biomechanics is the leading cause of golf-related injuries. They also cite studies showing that 26-52 percent of golf-related complaints involve lower-back injuries, 6-10 percent involve shoulder injuries and 13-36 percent involve wrist injuries.

"Over-rotation is one of the leading causes of back injury," Rose added.

Researchers collected data for the study using an array of eight special digital cameras in the Motion & Gait Analysis Laboratory at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. Using the same precise technology they typically use to analyze gait and upper limb movement disorders, they recorded three-dimensional motion images of the golf swings of 10 professional and five amateur male players. Among the five non-professional golfers, one was a college-level amateur with a handicap of 4; two were amateurs with handicaps of 15 and 30, respectively; and two were novices. Most of the professional players were alumni of the Stanford Men's Golf Team.

Although men were the exclusive subjects of this study, Rose said the findings likely extend to women, as well, but need to be examined.

Researchers analyzed several biomechanical elements of subjects' golf swings, including S-factor (tilt of the shoulders), O-factor (tilt of the hips) and X-factor — the relative rotation of the hips to the shoulders, measured in degrees — which is considered key to power generation. Previous research has shown that pro golfers who hit the ball far generally have a larger peak X-factor than their peers, but this study is more extensive in that it considers X-factor in relation to other rotational biomechanics of the golf swing over the full duration of the motion.

Among the 10 pros in this study, peak X-factor during a hard swing was highly consistent, varying just 7.4 percent from a mean of 56 degrees. Their club speeds at impact with the ball also were highly consistent, varying just 5.9 percent from a mean of 79 mph. In contrast, peak X-factor of the three least skilled amateurs — the handicap-30 golfer and two novices — fell below the professional range: 48, 46 and 46 degrees, respectively. These smaller X-factor angles correlated with slower club speeds at impact: 68, 66 and 56 mph, respectively.

In addition, the study describes S-factor, a term coined by the researchers, for the first time. S-factor is the angle or tilt of the leading shoulder relative to the level position. The researchers found that peak S-factor occurred right after impact and was highly consistent among the pros, varying just 8.4 percent from a mean of 48 degrees. The handicap-15 player and two novices had lower S-factors of 42, 42 and 33 degrees, respectively, while S-factors of the handicap-4 player and handicap-30 players both fell within the professional range.

The study also found that peak free moment — the golfers' turning force, or torque, measured using a special scale — was highly consistent among the pros, varying only 6.8 percent from a mean.

The authors conclude that peak free moment, X-factor and S-factor "are highly consistent, highly correlated to [club head speed at impact], and appear essential to golf swing power generation among professional golfers."

In addition, the researchers found overall biomechanical differences between the professionals and amateurs. "For example, the peak free moment of Novice #1 was reduced and delayed compared with the professionals," the authors note. "His X-factor was excessive in early backswing, but insufficient in downswing compared with professionals. Novice #2 had a reduced X-factor throughout backswing and downswing." Both of these players had lower club speeds at impact than the pros did.

"A precise understanding of optimal rotational biomechanics during the golf swing may guide swing modifications to help prevent or aid in the treatment of injury," they wrote.

Conrad Ray, the Knowles Family Director of Men's Golf at Stanford University and a co-author of the study, said the findings give scientific backing to the elements of golf-swing form that professionals have long understood are vital for generating power. The study also helps to clarify some unresolved questions about golf-swing biomechanics, Ray said. "One question that always comes from students is, 'What starts the downswing?'" he said. "People have had different answers. Some would say the hands, or others would say the shoulders or the lower body. But the study confirms that rotation of the hips initiates the downswing. So that, to me, is an interesting finding."

Ray, who as the men's head golf coach led the Cardinal to five appearances in the NCAA championships and its eighth national title, in 2007, said the study validates the importance of X-factor in generating club speed. "All golfers want to know how to hit the ball longer, and this study support that speed is really a factor of relative body rotation," he said.

There were some limitations to the study. Although club speed at impact is a common measure for determining power generation, the authors note that they were unable to measure the outcome of the swings, such as distance and accuracy; measurements were made in a lab, with players hitting the ball into a net. "Down the road, it would be interesting to correlate ball data to the rotational biomechanics," Ray said.

Sport doctors say non-alcoholic wheat beer boosts athletes' health

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Many amateur athletes have long suspected what research scientists for the Department of Preventative and Rehabilitative Sports Medicine of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen at Klinikum rechts der Isar have now made official: Documented proof, gathered during the world's largest study of marathons, Be-MaGIC (beer, marathons, genetics, inflammation and the cardiovascular system), that the consumption of non-alcoholic weissbier, or wheat beer, has a positive effect on athletes' health. Under the direction of Dr. Johannes Scherr, physicians examined 277 test subjects three weeks before and two weeks after the 2009 Munich Marathon.

The study focuses on the health risks for marathon runners and the potential positive effects of polyphenols. These aromatic compounds occur naturally in plants as pigment, flavor, or tannins, many of which have been credited with health-promoting and cancer-preventative properties. Unique to this study was the combination of different polyphenols that were tested on the large pool of participants. The research team met the scientific requirements of the study by conducting a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Non-alcoholic Erdinger wheat beer was selected as the test beverage, chosen for its rich and varied polyphenol content and its popularity with marathoners and tri-athletes. The active group drank up to 1.5 liters of the test beverage per day, while a second group consumed an equal amount of an otherwise indistinguishable placebo beverage that contained no polyphenols and was especially produced for the study.

One result from the study was the discovery that, after running a marathon race, athletes experience intensified inflammatory reactions. The immune system is thrown off balance and runners are much more likely to suffer from upper respiratory infections. This heightened susceptibility to illness following strenuous sport activity has been identified as an open window. Furthermore it was shown that non-alcoholic wheat beer containing polyphenols has a positive, health promoting effect on the human body: inflammation parameters in the blood were significantly reduced, and there was a lower frequency of infection with milder symptoms.

Reduced Inflammatory Reaction: Dr. Scherr, who also serves as physician to the German National Ski Team, explains: The analysis of the leukocytes, or white blood cells, which constitute one of the most important parameters for inflammation, revealed values in the active group that were 20% lower than in the placebo group.

Support for the Immune System: Compounds in the test drink had a compensatory or balancing effect on the immune system. Dr Scherr: We were able to prove that it strengthens an immune system that has been weakened by physical stress. It also prevents the system from over-performing.

Prevents Colds: Runners who drank the non-alcoholic wheat beer were up to three times less susceptible to infection than those in the placebo group. Dr. Scherr: Drinking the non-alcoholic test beverage reduces your risk of developing a cold by one third.

Improvement with Upper Respiratory Infections: People in the active group who did succumb to a cold experienced a milder or briefer infection than those in the placebo group. Dr. Scherr: Results showed a Number Needed to Treat (NNT) of eight. That means that for every eight people who had the test drink, one of them was prevented from succumbing to a cold.

In summary, Dr. Scherr explains: The potential for foods containing polyphenols to have a positive effect on athletes' health has already been suggested in several articles. Nevertheless we were ourselves sometimes surprised at how clearly evident this was in the results. We now have scientific confirmation of those assumptions for this test beverage, with its particular combination of polyphenols, vitamins and minerals.

Dr. Scherr presented this study to the approximately 5,000 scientists, physicians, and trainers attending the world's largest congress for sports medicine in Denver (USA) hosted by the American College of Sports (ACSM) at the beginning of June 2011. The study will be published in the January printed edition of the professional journal

Beetroot Juice enables people to exercise longer

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 00:44:01 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Beetroot juice has been one of the biggest stories in sports science over the past year after researchers at the University of Exeter found it enables people to exercise for up to 16% longer. The startling results have led to a host of athletes – from Premiership footballers to professional cyclists – looking into its potential uses.

A new piece of research by the university in conjunction with the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry has revealed the physiological effects of drinking beetroot juice could help a much wider range of people.

In the latest study, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, the researchers looked at low intensity exercise and found that test subjects used less oxygen while walking – effectively reducing the effort it took to walk by 12%.

Katie Lansley, a PhD student from the university's Sport and Health Sciences department and lead author of the study, said: "As you get older, or if you have conditions which affect your cardiovascular system, the amount of oxygen you can take in to use during exercise drops considerably. This means that, for some people, even simple tasks like walking may not be manageable.

"What we've seen in this study is that beetroot juice can actually reduce the amount of oxygen you need to perform even low-intensity exercise. In principle, this effect could help people do things they wouldn't otherwise be able to do."

When consumed, beetroot juice has two marked physiological effects. Firstly, it widens blood vessels, reducing blood pressure and allowing more blood flow. Secondly, it affects muscle tissue, reducing the amount of oxygen needed by muscles during activity. The combined effects have a significant impact on performing physical tasks, whether it involves low-intensity or high-intensity effort.

So far the research on the impacts of beetroot juice has only been carried out on younger people who are in good health, but the researchers believe there is no reason why the effects of beetroot juice wouldn't help others.

"While we haven't yet measured the effects on the elderly or those with heart or lung conditions, there is the potential for a positive impact in these populations which we intend to go on and investigate further," Katie Lansley added.

Beetroot juice contains high levels of nitrate. The latest study has proved that this is the key ingredient which causes the increase in performance, rather than any other component of the beetroot juice.

Professor Andy Jones, the senior scientist on the study and a pioneer of research into beetroot juice, said: "In this study, we were able to use - for the first time - both normal beetroot juice and beetroot juice with the nitrate filtered out. Test subjects didn't know which one they were getting. The drinks both looked and tasted exactly the same. Each time the normal, nitrate-rich juice was used, we saw a marked improvement in performance which wasn't there with the filtered juice – so we know the nitrate is the active ingredient."

Simple, accurate in-office tool predicts athletes at high-risk for ACL injury, study details

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Previously, determining athletes at high-risk for ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injuries required expensive and complex laboratory-based motion analysis systems, such as those used in creating video games. But a new study presented today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) Annual Meeting, offers physicians a low-cost, in-office, tool to help identify athletes at increased risk.

ACL injuries are devastating to athletes, and the risk factor for female athletes is much higher, said Greg Myer, sports biomechanist at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital. In an earlier study, we used motion analysis systems to measure and calculate torques on ligaments which accurately predicted which athletes are high-risk, but this method was expensive, labor intensive and required sophisticated equipment. So in this study, we looked for a low-cost, in office, simpler method to predict which athletes are high-risk.

Unfortunately, women are two to eight times more likely to injure their ACL than men, according to recent studies. Researchers believe this may be due to differences in hormone levels on ligament strength and stiffness, neuromuscular control and fatigue, lower limb biomechanics, ligament strength, as well as a difference in neuromuscular control in women when landing jumps (women appear to have less hip and knee flexion or bending and land more knock kneed than men.)

The good news, according to Myer, is that those athletes who have the higher risk factors of increased knee torques or load are those who also benefit the most from the remedy of neuromuscular training in jumping, posture and building landing strength.

The simpler, lower-cost measure to predict high-risk athletes for ACL injury provides the next critical step to bridge the gap between expensive in-laboratory identification of injury and identification of these injuries in the doctor's office. The simplified method, which can be done in the doctor's office combines measuring the tibia or shin bone with a standard measuring tape and an athlete's weight in combination with motions of the knee during landing captured with standard camcorders. These simple factors can quickly identify young females who demonstrate a primary risk for ACL injury. The in-office method strongly correlated to the expensive laboratory method with variables that ranged from 0.87 to 0.98.

This method may be used as a training camp protocol in partnership with team clinicians or set up and run in the athletic training setting, said Myer. Current evidence indicates that athletes identified as high-risk for ACL injury using this approach are more responsive to neuromuscular training aimed at reducing this risk factor. This tool can also be used to get high-risk athletes into appropriate interventions to further reduce their potential of injury risk which may increase both the efficacy and efficiency of future interventions aimed to prevent ACL injury in female athletes.

Hip exercises found effective at reducing, eliminating common knee pain in runners

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A twice weekly hip strengthening regimen performed for six weeks proved surprisingly effective at reducing -- and in some cases eliminating -- knee pain referred to as patellofemoral pain (PFP) in female runners.

The study by Tracy Dierks, assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, was based on the theory that stronger hips would correct running form errors that contribute to PFP, even though study participants were given no instruction in gait training. The study used a pain scale of 0 to 10, with 3 representing the onset of pain and 7 representing very strong pain -- the point at which the runners normally stop running because the pain is too great. The injured runners began the six-week trial registering pain of 7 when they ran on a treadmill and finished the study period registering pain levels of 2 or lower; i.e. no onset of pain.

I wasn't expecting such huge reductions, to be honest, Dierks said. We've had a couple of runners who have been at level 2, but the overwhelming majority have been a 2 or below.

PFP, one of the most common running injuries, is caused when the thigh bone rubs against the back of the knee cap. Runners with PFP typically do not feel pain when they begin running, but once the pain begins, it gets increasingly worse. Once they stop running, the pain goes away almost immediately. Dierks said studies indicate PFP essentially wears away cartilage and can have the same effect as osteoarthritis. His study participants showed many of the classic signs of PFP, the most prominent being their knees collapsing inward when running or doing a squat exercise move.

The pilot study thus far involved five runners and a control group that comprised another four runners. Hip strength measurements were taken before and after the runners in the control group maintained their normal running schedule for six weeks. Hip strength measurements were taken for all of the runners before and after the next six-week period in which they all performed the hip-strengthening exercises. The exercises, performed twice a week for around 30 to 45 minutes, involved single-leg squats and exercises with a resistance band, all exercises that can be performed at home. This study is part of an ongoing study involving hip exercises and PFP pain, with 11 runners successfully using the intervention. Dierks said he plans to seek funding to test the exercises on a larger group of runners.

Earlier research had focused on the feet as a possible root of PFP, with studies only recently looking more closely at the hips. Dierks said studies have found an association between PFP in women and weak hips, but his study is the first to test a possible treatment. He noted that PFP is considered multi-factorial, so his study is examining one of several possible causes of the pain.

The first goal is the deepest

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Jack Brimberg and Bill Hurley of The Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, point out that sports commentators will often argue the importance of scoring the first goal and often suggest that a team improves its chances of winning considerably by scoring it. This kind of punditry more commonly arises during playoff games which tend to be played more defensively.

However, although the total number of goals scored in a soccer or hockey match is usually small, Brimberg and Hurley wanted to find out whether that first goal is all important or not. They have done this by calculating the probability of the first-goal team winning at discrete points in the match after the first goal is scored based on the number of minutes remaining in the game. They also take overtime into account to adjust the weighting on their formula appropriately.

Team X is playing team Y. Team X scores first and there are T minutes left in regulation time. They then assume that goal scoring follows the law of statistics known as a Poisson distribution, which for hockey and soccer it does. Scoring in other sports, such as tennis and baseball follow a different set of statistical rules as there are different scoring factors and more goals scored in a match.

Therefore, the number of goals scored, N, follows the Poisson pattern and has a probability of a certain number being scored in total by both sides of lambda. If both teams are playing hard, to win, then there is an equal chance of them scoring after that first goal. However, there are factors such as league position and seasonal performance to take into account, so each of those has a parameter in the final formula.

The formula breaks down as follows: From the first whistle, team X has a 50:50 chance of winning. However, if the team scores at just 5 minutes of play, with 55 minutes left to play in the first period of a hockey match, then the team's chances rise to 7 to 3 (70%). However, if they score the first goal much later in the game, with say, 25 minutes remaining in the second period, then their chances of winning the match rises to 4 to 1 (80%).

Of course, probability and statistics are notoriously difficult to pin down in real life, so it is best to take any such mathematical punditry with a pinch of salt when watching the fortunes or misfortunes of your team. That applies whether you're catching the Toronto Maple Leafs in hockey or your flight of fancy is The Newcastle Magpies in soccer.

The researchers' ultimate aim is not to see sports pundits out of a job, but to provide an interesting example of how statistics problems might be taught in the classroom. The current example requires explanation and understanding of several important topics in statistics, they explain, including the exponential, Poisson, and binomial distributions, probability trees, and the use of conditioning to calculate complex probabilities.

Nanyang Technological University launches first-ever sports degree in Singapore

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) NTU has launched a new Bachelor of Science in Sport Science and Management degree programme. The first of its kind in Singapore, the four-year, direct honours programme aims to produce professionals with relevant knowledge and pertinent skills for engagement in the sports industry.

The new degree is aimed at facilitating the growth of the sports and leisure industry in Singapore and the region. Signs of growth in the Asia Pacific sports market are evident. According to a global study by an independent management consulting firm, the total value of the market is expected to reach $17 billion by end of 2009.

National awareness and interest in sports is at an all-time high. Singapore organised the world's first-ever Grand Prix night race last year. It was also one of the 11 ports for the 2009 Volvo Ocean Race, touted to be the F1 for sailing. Singapore will be hosting the Asian Youth Games in 2009 and the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010. Our local athletes have also given outstanding performances at the recent Olympics and Paralympics Games in Beijing.

Professor Er Meng Hwa, NTU's Senior Associate Provost, says, The strong push to become a sporting nation signals a serious and concerted effort from the government to create a vibrant sports industry in Singapore. We're pleased to launch this degree to nurture professionals in Sport Science and Management at a time when there is unparalleled national interest in sports.

NTU has a tradition in promoting sports. National fencers Tay Yu Ling from the College of Science and Eddie Sng from Nanyang Business School (Accountancy), are third-year undergraduates at NTU. In 1983, NTU was the South-East Asian Games Village. In 2006, NTU signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Singapore Sports School and Republic Polytechnic to provide pathways for sports practitioners and talented athletes to pursue a university degree in Singapore while still competing internationally. Come 2010, the university will be the Youth Olympic Village of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games.

Professor Michael Chia, Head of Physical Education and Sports Science at the National Institute of Education is currently overseeing the programme. He shares, The curriculum has several unique features. Firstly, students will undergo a core curriculum in sport and exercise science, followed by a specialization in either sport science or sport management. Secondly, as with all other NTU undergraduates, they will have research opportunities and industry experience through an internship programme. To broaden their experience, students can even opt to read electives on science, arts, humanities and social sciences, technology and society, business and management. Students will be taught by well-qualified and talented faculty. Graduates of the Sport Science and Management programme will be well-prepared for careers in the sports, leisure and wellness industry in Singapore and beyond.

Industry response, including from the Singapore Sports Council (SSC), has been very positive, underscoring its unanimous support of the new programme. With more initiatives and events scheduled in the near horizon, the sports scene in Singapore is going through a rapid expansion across all sports sectors. As part of its future planning, the SSC has been looking at how upcoming sports development projects will drive demand for sports professionals.

Mr Oon Jin Teik, Chief Executive Officer of SSC says, We need a steady supply of manpower with the right skill sets and competencies to address the needs of the sports industry. We have identified sport science and sport management as critical areas where we need to expand our capabilities in human capital. Thus, NTU's launch of the sport degree with specialisation in these fields is well-aligned with the advancement in Singapore sports.

Professor Chia anticipates strong student enrolment. He adds, This being the only sports degree programme in Singapore, admission is likely to be competitive. We expect the first cohort to fill up fast.

A virtuous cycle: Safety in numbers for riders

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) It seems paradoxical but the more people ride bicycles on our city streets, the less likely they are to be injured in traffic accidents.

International research reveals that as cycling participation increases, a cyclist is far less likely to collide with a motor vehicle or suffer injury and death - and what's true for cyclists is true for pedestrians. And it's not simply because there are fewer cars on the roads, but because motorists seem to change their behaviour and drive more safely when they see more cyclists and pedestrians around.

Studies in many countries have shown consistently that the number of motorists colliding with walkers or cyclists doesn't increase equally with the number of people walking or bicycling. For example, a community that doubles its cycling numbers can expect a one-third drop in the per-cyclist frequency of a crash with a motor vehicle.

It's a virtuous cycle, says Dr Julie Hatfield, an injury expert from UNSW who address a cycling safety seminar in Sydney, Australia, on September 5. The likelihood that an individual cyclist will be struck by a motorist falls with increasing rate of bicycling in a community. And the safer cycling is perceived to be, the more people are prepared to cycle.

Experts say the effect is independent of improvements in cycling-friendly laws such as lower speed limits and better infrastructure, such as bike paths. Research has revealed the safety-in-numbers impact for cyclists in Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, 14 European countries and 68 Californian cities.

It's a positive effect but some people are surprised that injury rates don't go up at the same rate of increases in cycling, says Sydney University's Dr Chris Rissel, co-author of a 2008 research report on cycling.

It appears that motorists adjust their behaviour in the presence of increasing numbers of people bicycling because they expect or experience more people cycling. Also, rising cycling rates mean motorists are more likely to be cyclists, and therefore be more conscious of, and sympathetic towards, cyclists.

Safety concerns are among the most significant barriers preventing Australians from cycling, including among those who cycle regularly, according to the report, titled Cycling: Getting Australia Moving. Despite this, over 1.68 million adults cycled in 2006, an increase of almost 250,000 since 2001. During this period, Australian capital cities experienced an average 22 percent increase in bicycle journeys to work. The city of Melbourne led with a 42 percent increase, while the city of Sydney lagged the field with a nine percent increase. 2006 figures reveal that 12,132 Sydneysiders cycle to work.

Dr Rissel says transport authorities should highlight the fun, convenience and health and environmental benefits of cycling, rather than what he views as an undue emphasis on danger and safety messages, which can deter cyclists: We should create a cycling friendly environment and accentuate cycling's positives rather than stress negatives with 'safety campaigns' that focus on cyclists without addressing drivers and road conditions. Reminding people of injury rates and risks, to wear helmets and reflective visible clothes has the unintended effect of reinforcing fears of cycling which discourages people from cycling.

Recreation and park agencies play a key role in promoting healthy lifestyles

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) When community leaders brainstorm ways to improve the health and well-being of youth and families, a team usually brings together doctors and health care professionals, hospitals, public health organizations and schools. But recreation and park agencies are another key player in the fight against childhood obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and chronic diseases says a new report.

Community recreation and parks is the health provider that you don't know about, says Andrew Mowen, Ph.D., lead author and associate professor of recreation and park management at Penn State. Traditionally, these agencies are considered as organizers of games and sports in a town's parks or ball fields. But our study shows that 9 out of 10 recreation and park professionals are actively involved in a health partnership, sometimes several of them.

Mowen and his research team conducted a nationwide survey of over 1,200 recreation and park administrators, who were members of the National Recreation and Park Association. Also, in-depth interviews were completed with 16 recreation professionals across the United States in order to understand key themes and issues for the survey.

Twenty years ago, health care providers didn't consider recreation and park professionals to be a partner in the campaigns to promote health. But in the 1990s, community-based health partnerships were starting to consider the role of recreation and parks in promoting physical activity and quality of life, since many related programs are offered by recreation and park managers, said Geoffrey Godbey, co-principal investigator of the study, and professor emeritus in the recreation, park and tourism management department.

The study found that 88 percent said their organization was involved in a health partnership, with an average of four partnerships per agency. The most common partners were schools, public health agencies and non-profit organizations.

Municipal recreation and parks agencies provide access to low-cost facilities such as ball fields, parks and walking trails for programs, which are highly visible and well known to local residents. Such agencies already reach out to at-risk groups targeted in health campaigns such as children, older adults, low-income and minority families.

Health campaigns naturally involve recreation and park departments because they provide low-cost, close-to-home opportunities for physical activity, such as trails, recreation centers, outdoor courts, and outdoor swimming facilities, says Mowen. Parks, trails and recreation centers can also serve as settings for physical rehabilitation.

Successful partnerships were likely to show high levels of trust among partner agencies, a recognized need for the collaboration, administrative support, and staff empowerment. Common health partnership challenges include a lack of seed funding, communication and turf issues, and garnering full support from community stakeholders such as local government or school board members. Despite these barriers, study results suggest that small, rural recreation and park departments are increasingly interested in being an active health partnership participant.

Having facilities is critical, but then, programs also have to be established to bring in residents and encourage them to take part, say Mowen. Partnerships that include after-school programs, diet and nutritional information, and policy efforts to promote recreational settings should be encouraged.

The study was designed to provide baseline information on the state of current health partnership practices within the profession, their successes and their challenges, says the Penn State researcher. Such information can be used to help a community effectively develop a program in health and physical activity promotion.

Energy drinks linked to risk-taking behaviors among college students

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Over the last decade, energy drinks -- such as Red Bull, Monster and Rockstar -- have become nearly ubiquitous on college campuses. The global market for these types of drinks currently exceeds $3 billion a year and new products are introduced annually.

Although few researchers have examined energy drink consumption, a researcher at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) has been investigating links between energy drinks and public health concerns like substance abuse and risky behaviors.

Two new research reports by RIA Research Scientist Kathleen E. Miller, Ph.D., examine the relationships between energy drink consumption and risk-taking in college students as well as toxic jock identity -- characterized by hyper-masculinity and risk-taking behaviors among college-age athletes.

Miller's research validates and expands upon existing concerns about energy drink consumption: The principal target demographic for energy drinks is young adults ages 18-25, but they're nearly as common among younger teens, she explains. This is a concern because energy drinks typically contain three times the caffeine of a soft drink, and in some cases, up to 10 times as much. They also include ingredients with potential interactions such as taurine and other amino acids, massive doses of vitamins, and plant and herbal extracts.

Miller is a sociologist and an adjunct research assistant professor in the Department of Sociology in UB's College of Arts and Sciences. The research was funded by a $471,000 grant by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

In the first set of results published online in June in the Journal of Adolescent Health, Miller identified links between energy drink consumption, risky substance use and sexual risk-taking.

Frequent energy drink consumers (six or more days a month), according to Miller's findings, were approximately three times as likely than less-frequent energy drink consumers or non-consumers to have smoked cigarettes, abused prescription drugs and been in a serious physical fight in the year prior to the survey. They reported drinking alcohol, having alcohol-related problems and using marijuana about twice as often as non-consumers. They were also more likely to engage in other forms of risk-taking, including unsafe sex, not using a seatbelt, participating in an extreme sport and doing something dangerous on a dare. The associations with smoking, drinking, alcohol problems and illicit prescription use were found for white but not African-American students.

A total of 795 Western New York male and female undergraduate students participated in the study and 39 percent reported consuming at least one energy drink in the previous month. There was significantly higher consumption by men (46 percent) than by women (31 percent) and higher consumption by whites (40 percent) than by blacks (25 percent). Eighty-seven percent of the students in the study were white; 52 percent were male.

Two-thirds of the energy drink consumers in Miller's study had used energy drinks as mixers with alcoholic beverages. The growing popularity of this practice further heightens concern, Miller says.

It is widely, but incorrectly, believed that the caffeine in energy drinks counteracts the effects of alcohol, so students will have the energy to party all night without getting as drunk, she explains. While the combination may reduce perceptions of intoxication, it does not reduce alcohol-induced impairments of reaction time or judgment.

According to Miller, these findings suggest that frequent energy drink consumption may serve as a useful screening indicator to identify students at risk for what scientists call problem behavior syndrome.

Energy drink consumption is correlated with substance use, unsafe sexual activity and several other forms of risk-taking, Miller notes. For parents and college officials, frequent energy drink consumption may be a red flag or warning sign for identifying a young person at higher risk for health-compromising behavior.

Although energy drink consumption can be used to predict other problem behaviors, it does not necessarily follow that drinking these substances is a gateway to more serious health-compromising activities, Miller cautions. It is entirely possible that a common factor, such as a sensation-seeking personality or involvement in risk-oriented peer sub-cultures, contributes to both. More investigation is needed to study these relationships further, over longer periods of time.

In the second set of results, published in the March/April issue of the Journal of American College Health, Miller looked at energy drink consumption and toxic jock identity.

For many people, being an athlete is an important part of who they are, Miller explains. Some go a step farther, though, and come to see themselves as 'jocks.' For them, sport is wrapped up in a larger identity that also emphasizes hyper-masculinity and a willingness to take excessive risks. Unlike an athlete identity, a jock identity can be considered toxic, according to Miller, because it's associated with a wide range of risky or problem behaviors, including problem drinking, sexual risk-taking, interpersonal violence, academic misconduct, delinquency and even suicide attempts.

Miller's research found that undergraduates who consumed energy drinks more often were also more likely to develop a jock identity and to engage in risk-taking behaviors. Ultimately, she says, undergraduates' frequent use of Red Bull and other energy drinks should be seen by peers, parents and college officials as a potential predictor of 'toxic jock identity.'

In the wake of several recent deaths linked to energy drinks, a number of countries have instituted restrictions on their use. Some, like France, Turkey, Denmark, Norway, Uruguay and Iceland ban high-caffeine/taurine energy drinks altogether, Miller notes. Sweden only permits them to be sold in pharmacies as medicinal products. Canada, which banned these drinks until 2004, now requires warning labels cautioning against use by children or pregnant women, use in large quantities or use with alcohol. However, energy drink consumption remains unregulated in the United States.

Miller says she hopes to develop future research into the influence of personality traits, peer norms and other factors that may influence the relationships among energy drink consumption, race, gender and risk-taking. Better understanding of these relationships, she argues, may be useful in developing programs for preventing substance use and other health-compromising behaviors.

Study: perception of hole size influenced by performance

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Golfers who play well are more likely to see the hole as larger than their poor-playing counterparts, according to a Purdue University researcher.

Golfers have said that when they play well the hole looks as big as a bucket or basketball hoop, and when they do not play well they've been quoted as saying the hole looks like a dime or the inside of a donut, said Jessica K. Witt, an assistant professor of psychological sciences who studies perception in athletes. What athletes say about how they see the hole and how well they play is true. We found golfers who play better judge the hole to be bigger than golfers who did not play as well.

We know a relationship exists between performance and perception, but we are uncertain how they affect each other. For example, do golfers see the hole as bigger so they putt better? Or if they putt better, does that mean they see the hole as bigger? I believe it is a cyclical relationship, but more studies are needed to clarify if one affects the other.

Witt's findings are published in the June Psychonomic Bulletin and Review journal. She co-authored the paper with Sally A. Linkenauger and Jonathan Z. Bakdash, both graduate students at the University of Virginia, and Dennis R. Proffitt, the Commonwealth Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia.

These findings also are consistent with Witt's earlier work in softball. In 2005 she found a correlation between player batting averages and how they perceived the size of the softball.

Historically, the study of perception in athletes has been limited to how the eye sees and processes incoming information, Witt said.

There is so much more to perception, she said. It's an active process because it encompasses aspects of your body and your body's abilities. We're not saying a person's perception is not immune to cognitive influences. Even if you know the hole is a certain size, you can't help but see it is a bigger or smaller. It's showing that perception is not just based on the optical information.

Witt's research team conducted three experiments. In the first, 46 golfers were asked to estimate the size of the hole after they played a round of golf. The diameter of a golf hole is 10.8 centimeters. The golfers selected from a poster one of nine black holes that ranged in size from 9-13 centimeters. Those who selected larger holes were the same players who had better scores on the course that day.

The second and third experiments were conducted in the laboratory and were used to clarify whether performance influence perceived hole size or remembered hole size. In these studies, golfers putted near or far on a traditional putting mat. In one study, they judged the size of hole from memory, and in the other study, the group judged its size while viewing the hole. Participants in both studies who putted closer drew the circle to be bigger than those who putted farther away.

Witt's future studies include determining what visual tricks could help golfers see the hole as larger, possibly leading to better scores. Currently Witt's findings, as well as other research, emphasize that golfers should stay focused on the hole.

If you look at the hole, the hole is going to remain the center of your vision where there are more receptors. This means you are more likely to see it clearly, which will hopefully help you putt better, she said.

In addition to studying possible visual tricks golfers can use while playing, Witt also plans to follow the same golfers during a golf season to identify if perceived hole size changes for a player of a given handicap as daily performance levels rise and fall.

Baseball diamonds: the lefthander's best friend

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) That's because the game was designed to make a lefty the Natural, according to David A. Peters, Ph.D., the McDonnell Douglas Professor of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, and uber baseball fan. Peters is a mechanical engineer who specializes in aircraft and helicopter engineering and has a different approach to viewing America's Favorite Pastime.

First of all, some numbers.

Ninety percent of the human population is right-handed, but in baseball 25 percent of the players, both pitchers, and hitters, are left-handed, said Peters, a devoted St. Louis Cardinal fan who was at Stan the Man's last ball game at Sportsman's Park in 1963.

There is a premium on lefthanders for a number of reasons. For starters, take seeing the ball.

A right-handed batter facing a right-handed pitcher actually has to pick up the ball visually as it comes from behind his (the batter's) left shoulder. The left-handed batter facing the right-handed pitcher has the ball coming to him, so he has a much clearer view of pitches.

Then, Peters says, consider the batter's box. After a right-hander connects with a ball, his momentum spins him toward the third-base side and he must regroup to take even his first step toward first base. In contrast, the left-hander's momentum carries him directly toward first.

The left-handed batter has a five-foot advantage over the right-handed batter, says Peters. And that means the lefty travels the 90 feet to first roughly one-sixth of a second faster than the righty. That translates to more base hits for the left-hander, whether singles or extra base hits because lefties are getting to the bases more quickly.

Even Jim Thome and Jason Giambi?

The left-handed pitcher generally is much more difficult to steal off, as, from his stretch, he peers directly at the runner; the right-hander must look over his shoulder and wheel to first base, giving the runner more of a warning of the pitcher's intent.

Positions advantageous to southpaws are pitching, first base and right field. For the positions, the advantage is the favorable angles lefties get, enabling them to throw the ball more quickly across the diamond to second, third and home. One position a lefty rarely plays is catcher, for the obvious reason that it is difficult for a southpaw catcher to throw over so many right-hand batters.

It wasn't all that long ago when first basemen were predominantly left-handed and most right fielders were left-handed, Peters says. That has changed at least since the late sixties.

There's even a bias toward the lefthander in ballpark design. Right field in most parks (just think of Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park) is usually shorter than left field because of the preponderance of right-handed hitters.

While traditional thinking holds that the right-handed batter has the advantage over the left-handed pitcher, because the breaking ball goes into the batter's power threshold, it's not always the case, says Peters. And it's that familiarity thing again.

Because only 10 percent of the population is left-handed, kids grow up and mature in baseball seeing a left-hander just 10 percent of the time they bat, he says. So, it can be hard for both lefties and righties to face a southpaw. It's why some left-handed batters look dreadful matched against a lefty.

Some batters don't like facing southpaws because their ball is purported to have a natural movement away from a right-hander and into a lefty.

There's no scientific evidence to support this, but I wonder if lefties get that movement from learning to write in a right-hander's world, Peters says.

Hormone disorder may contribute to lack of menstruation in teenage athletes

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Researchers from Harvard University have found a way to predict which teenage female athletes will stop menstruating, an important risk factor for bone thinning, according to a preliminary study. The results will be presented at The Endocrine Society's 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

Amenorrhea, or absence of menstruation, occurs in as many as 25 percent of female high school athletes, compared with 2 to 5 percent in the general population, according to the study's presenter, Madhusmita Misra, MD, a pediatric endocrinologist at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

Amenorrhea in athletes is known to cause infertility and early onset of low bone density and may increase the risk of breaking bones. Evidence suggests that intense exercise associated with caloric restriction, and therefore a state of energy deficit, is most responsible for menstrual irregularities among athletes.

The hormonal factors that link energy deficit and the stopping of periods in athletes are not well characterized, she said. These factors are important to determine in order to develop therapies that will lead to resumption of periods and hence improved bone density.

In females ages 12 to 18, Misra and her colleagues measured levels of various hormones, including ghrelin. Giving ghrelin to animals and humans has been shown to cause impaired secretion of hormones that regulate ovarian and menstrual function, and ghrelin levels are elevated in people with anorexia nervosa, another condition of severe energy deficit, she said. Until now, ghrelin levels have not been studied in teenage athletes in relation to ovarian hormones.

The researchers studied 21 teenage athletes with amenorrhea, 19 normally menstruating athletes and 18 nonathletic girls. The body mass index, a measure of body fat, was lower in the amenorrheic girls than in the other two groups, but overall these athletes were not underweight. All girls were more than 85 percent of the ideal body weight for their ages. The amenorrheic group reported similar levels of physical activity as the normally menstruating group, and both groups of athletes reported more physical activity than the non-athletic group.

Even after controlling for BMI, the research team found that ghrelin levels were higher in athletes that were not menstruating than in either of the other two groups. The data also showed that athletes with higher ghrelin levels had lower levels of the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone.

These findings suggest that hormonal disorders may explain why amenorrhea occurs in some but not all adolescent athletes, Misra said. In addition, ghrelin may be an important link between an energy deficit state and the hormones that regulate menstrual function.

They plan to further study the role of ghrelin in menstrual function in more subjects and over an extended time.

ATV study to improve fit, safety among kids

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The University of Kentucky is conducting a first-ever study of its kind to analyze all-terrain vehicle (ATV) safety, particularly in children. UK trauma surgeon Dr. Andrew Bernard is the primary investigator of a comprehensive multi-year investigation which will measure a number of physical and behavioral issues accompanying pediatric ATV usage. The research will begin June 9 at the Wenner Gren Biomedical Research Facility on the UK campus.

One of the ways to improve ATV safety for children is to buy the proper size vehicle. Current recommendations for determining the right vehicle size are based upon age categories, 6-11, 12-15 or 16 and above. The problem with these categories is that each of these age groups can have a wide variability in the rider size.

Since most children injured on ATVs are riding adult size vehicles, this study will attempt to determine the fit between a child and a vehicle that is adult-size, said Bernard. It will also try to determine how often a youth in a certain age bracket is actually fitted with the wrong vehicle.

During the 2008 Memorial Day weekend, there were 13 ATV-related deaths nationally and four of those in Kentucky. It's an all too common headline in this state, which ranks third in the nation for ATV deaths.

The premise of the Phase I aspect of this unique study is that age is not the best indicator of how a child is properly fit to, and can safely use, an ATV. Thus, quantification of pediatric biometrics, or the measurement of physical characteristics, in ATV riders is the first goal of this research program. The resulting experimental procedure involves use of a custom-designed variable incline ramp that simulates riding an ATV over varying terrain. Video cameras will be focused on the child sitting on the ATV and will record a host of parameters, including arm reach, leg angle, head and trunk inclination. Grip reach and strength will also be quantified in an effort to determine how brake lever design contributes to safety with regard to braking capabilities.

Young research subjects are being recruited to sit on youth and adult size ATVs while key body dimensions are being measured and compared to ATV dimensions. Subsequent phases of this study will include an examination of visual perception, hazard recognition, as well as and ATV braking and steering.

Although some pediatricians would respond that this research is unnecessary because a child should not be on an ATV at all, the approach taken by this research will provide consumers, manufacturers, and potentially government regulators important information for those parents who choose to allow a child to ride, said Dr. Bernard.

ATVs are the fastest growing part of the motor sports industry and Kentucky is one of the leading states in the country in per capita ATV death rates over the last five years, said Bernard. Kids are going to ride and there is little that can be done to prevent that. However, there are things that can be done to dramatically lower the likelihood that a child or adult will be injured on an ATV.

Racism not an issue in firing of NBA coaches

Wed, 14 May 2008 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Race is not a factor in the firing of NBA coaches, although white coaches with losing records had somewhat longer tenures before being fired than African-American coaches with more losses than wins, a new study shows.

The University of Michigan study looked at differences between firing of African-American and white coaches in the National Basketball Association. The study found no difference in technical efficiency by race of coach, and found no evidence that there are differences in firings based on race, says lead researcher Rodney Fort, U-M professor in the Division of Kinesiology.

The only strange thing about race that we came up with is that of the coaches who were fired, white coaches seemed to have a little bit longer tenure, Fort said. In other words, losing white coaches may get a slight benefit of the doubt relative to African-American coaches. Fort stressed this as an area for future research.

Fort said the NBA is the most integrated professional sport, so the results are not all that surprising, but they are significant.

The market for coaches in the NBA works like any other healthy labor market is ideally supposed to work--coaches must perform. By using the same scoring method researchers used, owners can calculate their current coach's value, or technical efficiency, by how many wins were produced. It appears that many owners already use the score system, since the league average score was about 13 percent higher than the average score of fired coaches, according to the paper. This is a valuable tool when setting salaries, Fort said.

Fort stresses that there are many types of racism in professional sports and the study looked at only one type over a three-year period. It does not mean that racism is absent in hiring or salary decisions in the NBA, or in the more general networking relationships among players and coaches, he said.

Fort and colleagues looked at 27 coaches of color over a three-year period. They chose the NBA because there are enough African American coaches to have a reliable research sample, Fort said. In contrast, an earlier study of hiring and firing NFL coaches found racial disparity, Fort said, but there were only five African-American coaches in the football league sample.

As the number of coaches of color in football increases into the future, we need to see if they are still being treated in a discriminatory way, Fort said, referring to the earlier study. This does not mean (racism in hiring coaches) is not a problem in the NFL, it means we need to look at football again.

How exercise changes structure and function of heart

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) For the first time researchers are beginning to understand exactly how various forms of exercise impact the heart. Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators, in collaboration with the Harvard University Health Services, have found that 90 days of vigorous athletic training produces significant changes in cardiac structure and function and that the type of change varies with the type of exercise performed. Their study appears in the April Journal of Applied Physiology.

“Most of what we know about cardiac changes in athletes and other physically active people comes from ‘snapshots,’ taken at one specific point in time. What we did in this first-of-a-kind study was to follow athletes over several months to determine how the training process actually causes change to occur,” says Aaron Baggish, MD, a fellow in the MGH Cardiology Division and lead author of the study.

To investigate how exercise affects the heart over time, the MGH researchers enrolled two groups of Harvard University student athletes at the beginning of the fall 2006 semester. One group was comprised of endurance athletes – 20 male and 20 female rowers – and the other, strength athletes – 35 male football players. Student athletes were studied while participating their normal team training, with emphasis on how the heart adapts to a typical season of competitive athletics.

Echocardiography studies – ultrasound examination of the heart’s structure and function – were taken at the beginning and end of the 90-day study period. Participants followed the normal training regimens developed by their coaches and trainers, and weekly training activity was recorded. Endurance training included one- to three-hour sessions of on-water practice or use of indoor rowing equipment. The strength athletes took part in skill-focused drills, exercises designed to improve muscle strength and reaction time, and supervised weight training. Participants also were questioned confidentially about the use of steroids, and any who reported such use were excluded from the study.

At the end of the 90-day study period, both groups had significant overall increases in the size of their hearts. For endurance athletes, the left and right ventricles – the chambers that send blood into the aorta and to the lungs, respectively – expanded. In contrast, the heart muscle of the strength athletes tended to thicken, a phenomenon that appeared to be confined to the left ventricle. The most significant functional differences related to the relaxation of the heart muscle between beats – which increased in the endurance athletes but decreased in strength athletes, while still remaining within normal ranges.

“We were quite surprised by both the magnitude of changes over a relatively short period and by how great the differences were between the two groups of athletes,” Baggish says. “The functional differences raise questions about the potential impact of long-term training, which should be followed up in future studies.”

While this study looks at young athletes with healthy hearts, the information it provides may someday benefit heart disease patients. “The take-home message is that, just as not all heart disease is equal, not all exercise prescriptions are equal,” Baggish explains. “This should start us thinking about whether we should tailor the type of exercise patients should do to their specific type of heart disease. The concept will need to be studied in heart disease patients before we can make any definitive recommendations.”

Active seniors curb health care costs

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Group Health seniors are not only sweating to the oldies in local health clubs. They are also keeping health care costs down, according to a study by researchers at Group Health and the University of Washington (UW). The study appears in the January 2008 issue of the journal Preventing Chronic Disease.

The research found long-term total health care costs grew more slowly for older Group Health patients who regularly used their SilverSneakers health club benefit. Group Health members age 65 and older can choose either or both of two activity programs: EnhanceFitness®; or SilverSneakers, which includes access to a health club and free physical activity classes geared to seniors' needs.

Physical activity can help seniors improve their balance to prevent falls; boost cardiovascular health to prevent heart attacks; and improve overall metabolism to help delay diabetes onset and complication of diabetes, said study co-author Dr. James LoGerfo, a professor of medicine and health services at the UW and an affiliate investigator at the Group Health Center for Health Studies.

The researchers studied nearly 5,000 senior Group Health patients who participated in SilverSneakers. More than 9,000 control patients were matched to participants by age and sex. By year two, compared with control participants, SilverSneakers participants had significantly fewer inpatient admissions and lower total health care costs.

Lorraine and Jack Swisher of Bellevue are Group Health members and regulars at the Bellevue Family YMCA SilverSneakers. Age 73 and 75, respectively, they both have chronic conditions and believe their increased physical activity has let them stay healthy and save their funds to travel to Antarctica, snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, and go on a recent safari in Africa. Granted, few seniors are quite as active—or well-traveled—as the Swishers, but the researchers said that all people can benefit from regular physical activity.

The class is a very social time for everyone, plus it helps me with my balance and flexibility, said Lorraine. The exercises can be adapted to any ability, and you can easily practice them while traveling or at home.

Dr. Huong Q. Nguyen, assistant professor of biobehavioral nursing systems at the UW, is the study's lead author. She stresses the important takeaway from this study is for older adults, especially on fixed incomes, to remain active and incorporate physical activity in their lives for many reasons, including cutting down on unexpected health care costs. The other important message is for health plans that offer such physical activity benefits to have mechanisms in place that support wide adoption and consistent use by senior members.

Silver Sneakers is one of the few programs that health plans can offer which have been shown to benefit their senior population, said LoGerfo. Another is EnhanceFitness, a program for seniors available locally in community and senior centers around Puget Sound and Spokane. The program focuses on simple exercises that build not only flexibility and aerobic fitness but also balance and strength, which are the most important elements for preventing falls. Group Health offers both programs.

Sports medicine programs benefit from pulmonologist on staff

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) (Chicago, IL, October 22, 2007) � Despite the high prevalence of asthma among athletes, a new study finds that the majority of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sports medicine programs do not have a pulmonologist on staff. The study presented at CHEST 2007, the 73rd annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), found that less than 25% of NCAA-affiliated athletic trainers report having a pulmonologist on their sports medicine program staff. However, the presence of a pulmonologist on staff increased the likelihood of a program�s adherence to national asthma management guidelines, which may, ultimately, improve the clinical care of athletes with asthma.

�Studies estimate that exercise-induced asthma among athletes is double the rate seen in the general population; however, diagnosing asthma and other respiratory disorders in athletes can be challenging,� said the study�s lead author, Jonathan Parsons, MD, Associate Director, The Ohio State University Asthma Center, Columbus, OH. �There are many mimics that can be confused with asthma. Pulmonologists offer expertise that may provide assistance in managing asthma that often will help improve health and performance of many athletes.�

Dr. Parsons and researchers from The Ohio State University surveyed 541 athletic trainers affiliated with the NCAA about their asthma management programs. Researchers found that only 22% of responders reported having a pulmonologist on their sports medicine program staff. Furthermore, sports medicine programs with a pulmonologist on staff were significantly more likely to follow national asthma management guidelines published by the National Education and Prevention Program � part of the National Health, Lung, and Blood Institute � and a position statement concerning asthma management in athletes published by the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA). The guidelines and position statement recommend having an emergency action plan for the management of acute asthma attacks, yet, only 20% of respondents in the survey reported their program having a specific, written protocol for managing acute asthma exacerbations during games or practice.

�At this point in time, we can�t predict which athlete may have an asthma attack or how severe that episode may be. Hence, having a plan for how to respond to such an event and having necessary equipment and medication immediately available is paramount,� said Dr. Parsons. �For sports medicine programs, having both an asthma management plan and a pulmonologist on staff is optimal; however, having an asthma management plan is essential.�

The NATA position statement also states that all patients with asthma should have a rescue inhaler available during games and practices, and that athletic trainers should have an extra rescue inhaler for each athlete for administration during emergencies. Current survey results showed that 61% of respondents� programs mandate that a rescue inhaler be available for practices, and 59% indicated that a rescue inhaler is required to be available at all games. However, researchers note that some states prohibit athletic trainers from carrying inhalers unless prescribed for a specific athlete. The position statement further recommends that athletes with a history of asthma or of taking a medication used to treat asthma and those suspected of having asthma should consult a physician for proper medical evaluation, including having a pulmonary function test. However, only 17% of survey respondents reported objective lung function testing being performed in their program when exercise-induced asthma is suspected by history.

�Following asthma management guidelines can help improve clinical care for athletes with asthma and may help decrease asthma-related morbidity in this population,� said Alvin V. Thomas, Jr., MD, FCCP, President of the American College of Chest Physicians. �Collegiate sports medicine programs should be encouraged to follow a comprehensive approach, which includes having a plan for managing asthma and other chronic diseases among athletes.�

Marines land at UO, leave with plans to wear Oregon-made training suits

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) EUGENE, Ore. -- (Oct. 10, 2007) -- A few came. They ran. They left. As a result of their August visit the U.S. Marine Corp begins training in 2008 in new running suits chosen after tests of competing products in the University of Oregon's environmental chamber.

The experience was enough to make both the University of Oregon and Beaverton-based InSport Inc. proud. UO researchers were unaware that it was InSport's training clothes that they had recommended until the company announced Oct. 2 that it had won a $14 million contract to produce the suits for the Marine Corps, said John Halliwill, a professor of human physiology and co-director of the UO's Exercise and Environmental Physiology Laboratories.

The Marine Corps cold-called us and asked us to run tests for them and to report back to them, Halliwill said. We weren't supposed to know who the suits came from, and, to be honest if someone had mentioned InSport to me last summer I wouldn't have known who they were talking about. But I do now.

Halliwill and lab co-director Christopher Minson led the testing, in which 29 Marines (22 men and seven women) jogged on a treadmill for 30 minutes at 6 mph and at a 2 percent incline on four separate occasions. The climate in the lab was manipulated to mimic two common training periods: either cool and humid early mornings (45 degrees Fahrenheit and 70-80 percent relative humidity) or warm and humid late mornings (55 degrees and 40-65 percent relative humidity).

The UO's state-of-the-art environmental chamber is a 12-foot-square room capable of simulating altitude up to 18,000 feet, holding temperature constant at a set point between 14 degrees and 122 degrees Fahrenheit, and controlling humidity anywhere from 10 percent to 95 percent. The chamber was installed in 2005, built with a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense and a $150,000 gift from Dave and Nancy Petrone of San Mateo, Calif. It can be switched from one extreme environment to another in 30 minutes, and the system allows researchers to monitor minute vascular and respiratory changes of subjects both at rest and when exercising.

The Marines had a specific need to see how the suits performed during typical winter conditions at U.S. Marine bases such as Quantico and Camp Pendelton, but testing had to be completed during the summer so that the suits could be deployed in time for winter, Halliwill said. We have the ability to create weather on demand, practically any climate or weather condition we want with the flip of a switch, so we were able to give them Base Quantico in winter even though it was August in Oregon.”

Each Marine was weighed immediately before and after each running session. Hearts were monitored throughout the sessions, and each subject was asked every five minutes about skin moisture, comfort and difficulty they perceived while in one of the jogging suits. Subjects each day took a two-hour break and then repeated the procedure a second time.

Researchers recorded heart rates, pre-exercise weight of the suits, changes in body weight in each run, moisture retained in suits and underwear and the moisture transferred into the environment.

Dealing with cooler temperatures is not difficult in terms of clothing, Minson said. What is difficult is moisture management. Even on relatively dry days, moisture from sweating can build up under a suit that does not ventilate well. This leads to less heat loss and less comfort. Most importantly, the excess moisture in clothes can lead to very rapid heat loss when exercise is stopped, which can be uncomfortable at best, but can be dangerous in certain circumstances. Moisture management is one of the areas where the material by InSport really stood out.

In the end, the Marines reported more comfort and a preference for Design 2, which turned out to be InSport's product, over Design 1, and, the researchers concluded in their report: In our view, and we believe supported by the data, Design 2 is superior to Design 1 and should be considered for adoption by the Marine Corps.

The recommended product, according to participating Marines, generated less friction. Researchers noted that neither design was tested for wind- or water-proofness, which usually are important to people during their exercise regimens. There were few significant differences between the suits in the tested environments, but Design 2 weighed less before exercise, retained less moisture and allowed for better moisture transfer to the environment than the other product.

The 'arms' race: Adult steroid users seek muscles, not medals

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The majority of non-medical anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) users are not cheating athletes or risk-taking teenagers. According to a recent survey, containing the largest sample to date and published in the online open access publication, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, the typical male user is about 30 years old, well-educated, and earning an above-average income in a white-collar occupation. The majority did not use steroids during adolescence and were not motivated by athletic competition or sports performance.

The study, conducted by a collaboration of researchers from around the country coordinated by Jason Cohen, Psy.D. candidate, used a web-based survey of nearly 2,000 US males. Whereas athletes are tempted to take anabolic steroids to improve sports performance, the study suggests that physical self-improvement motivates the unrecognized majority of non-medical AAS users who particularly want to increase muscle mass, strength, and physical attractiveness. Other significant but less highly ranked factors included increased confidence, decreased fat, improved mood and attraction of sexual partners.

Although often considered similar to abusers of narcotics and other illicit drugs (e.g., heroin or cocaine), non-medical AAS users are remarkably different. These users follow carefully planned drug regimens in conjunction with a healthy diet, ancillary drugs and exercise. As opposed to the spontaneous and haphazard approach seen in abusers of psychotropic drugs, everything is strategically planned to maximize benefits and minimize harm. This is simply not a style or pattern of use we typically see when we examine substance abuse said Jack Darkes, Ph.D., one of the authors. The notions of spontaneous drug seeking and loss of control do not apply to the vast majority of AAS users, added co-author Daniel Gwartney, M.D.

These findings question commonly held views of typical AAS users and their underlying motivations, said Rick Collins, one of the study's authors. The focus on 'cheating' athletes and at risk youth has led to irrelevant policy as it relates to the predominant group of non-medical AAS users. The vast majority of AAS users are not athletes and hence, are not likely to view themselves as cheaters. The targeting of athletes through drug testing and other adolescent or sports-based interventions has no bearing on non-competitive adult users.The study concludes that these AAS users are a driven and ambitious group dedicated to gym attendance, diet, occupational goals and educational attainment. The users we surveyed consider that they are using directed drug technology as one part of a strategy for physical self-improvement within a health-centered lifestyle, said Collins. Effective public policy should begin by accurately identifying who's using steroids and why. We hope our research - the largest adult survey of non-medical AAS use we know of - is a significant step forward in that direction.

British attitudes to exercise show misleading guidelines 'should be changed'

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) British adults now believe that moderate activity is more beneficial than vigorous exercise, according to new research by the University of Exeter and Brunel University. Although most large studies show that the greatest health benefits are derived from regular participation in vigorous activities, such as jogging and competitive sports, 56% of men and 71% of women now believe moderate activities, like walking, are most beneficial. The first study to investigate attitudes to moderate and vigorous activity since Government physical activity guidelines changed in the mid 1990s, this research is now published in Preventive Medicine.

Traditionally, adults were encouraged to take part in 20 to 60 minutes of vigorous exercise three or more times a week. In 1990, research showed around 90% of British adults believed vigorous exercise was important in maintaining and improving health and fitness. Since 1995 the Department of Health has instead promoted 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times a week, which can be achieved through everyday activities such as walking, housework or gardening. The research team believes this shift in attitudes is threatening the nation�s health and is calling for evidence-based guidelines.

Dr Gary O�Donovan, exercise physiologist from the University of Exeter and lead author on the paper said: Time and time again, the largest and most robust studies have shown that vigorously active individuals live longer and enjoy a better quality of life than moderately active individuals and couch potatoes. It�s extremely worrying that British adults now believe that a brief stroll and a bit of gardening is enough to make them fit and healthy. The challenge now is to amend Britain�s physical activity guidelines so that they emphasise the role vigorous activity plays in fighting obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.

In addition to halving the risk of diabetes and heart disease, recent studies have shown that regular exercise offers protection from certain cancers. The research team believes that 30 minutes of brisk walking per day might be sufficient to reduce the risk of breast cancer, but regular participation in vigorous exercise is probably necessary to reduce the risk of prostate and colorectal cancers.

The researchers argue that in order to enable the public to make fully-informed decisions about exercise, policymakers should describe the dose-response relationship between physical activity and health. Dr. O�Donovan explains that: Brisk walking offers some health benefits, but jogging, running and other vigorous activities offer maximal protection from disease.

Dr. O�Donovan adds: Sedentary adults should complete a six- to twelve-week programme of moderate exercise before beginning a programme of vigorous exercise. Men older than 45 and women older than 55 should consult their GP before taking up vigorous exercise.

The survey, which was funded by the Sports Marketing Research Trust, shows for the first time, the extent of awareness of the current Government exercise recommendations: 78% of men and 84% of women interviewed were aware that moderate activity is currently recommended for adults.

Examples of moderate activities in healthy adults

How pitching changes little leaguers' shoulders

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) At this year's Little League World Series, new rules for the first time forced players to limit the number of times pitchers could throw the ball, and coaches had to strategize how pitchers were used more carefully.

Under the old system, a pitcher age 12 and under could throw up to six innings per week and six innings per game. But in response to an increase in reported cases of young pitchers experiencing arm and shoulder problems, this year the Little League instituted pitch limits rather than innings limits, and required specific rest periods when a pitcher reached the threshold of pitches delivered in a day. Under the new rules, anyone who throws more than 20 pitches in a day needs to rest a day before he can pitch again. If pitchers throw 85 pitches in a day, they must rest at least three days before pitching again.

When Dr. Scott Mair and colleagues at the University of Kentucky began research into what throwing really does to young arms and shoulders seven years ago, they had many questions about those physical changes since most research until then had focused only on adult players. Now that their research is complete, Mair has those answers, along with one surprising finding.

To evaluate these adaptive changes, the study followed 32 male baseball players between 13 and 21 years of age for six years to study changes in the shoulder's range of motion and strength, along with any growth plate changes shown by X-ray images.

What the researchers found was that repeated pitching does cause changes in the upper arm bone and soft tissue in the shoulders of young baseball players, but that these types of changes generally help protect players from injury, so it's not necessarily a bad thing. Mair said these changes may actually allow for better throwing velocity and less injuries to the shoulder.

However, he cautioned, pitching too much and playing year-round can push those adaptive changes to the point of injury. Young men in particular may be prone to injury, because some play the game year-round, and because the bones and muscles in their arms are still growing and changing.

One surprise finding in the study was that X-rays showed changes in the growth plate in the throwing shoulder in almost all of the kids. In the past it had been thought that these types of changes only occurred when there was a problem and resulted in pain with throwing.

Overall, Mair said parents of young baseball players shouldn't be overly concerned about their children's shoulders. Throwing is fine as long as it's in moderation and the parents and child use common sense, he said. A 10-year-old pitcher shouldn't be throwing through pain to win a Little League game, for example.

Young players do need a break from throwing, Mair said. In the old days kids played baseball in the summer and then played basketball or football in the winter. That was better for growing children because varying the sports used different muscles and movements, he said. But now, some children play only baseball year-round, and that can be a problem. It can cause shoulder changes that go beyond normal adaptation, and can lead to pain and even growth plate injuries.

Kids that are pitching in three different leagues and pitching 12 months of the year tend to get growth plate problems that turn into a source of pain, Mair said.

Jim Madaleno, a senior athletic trainer for the UK Department of Athletics and father of a 14-year-old son who was part of Mair's study, knows all too well about the variety of pain that can come with playing sports. Aches and pains are a part of it, but when an ache and a pain become significant enough that it alters how you're doing your everyday activity, then you should consult a physician, he said.

Now that this part of the research is complete, Mair said there's still a lot of work to be done in finding out how the growth plate responds to throwing, how to keep kids from being injured, determining pitch counts and days of rest needed, and in educating kids, parents and coaches.

Both Mair and Madaleno agree children shouldn't be pushed to play a sport just because they may be better at it than others. There needs to be time put aside to let the kids be kids, and not just kids who are in a sport, Madaleno said.

High school footballers wearing special helmets to monitor brain injuries

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) As they root for the home team from the bleachers this fall, high school gridiron fans in the small Illinois town of Tolono don�t necessarily see anything out of the ordinary down on the field.

But just out of sight, tucked inside many of the maroon helmets worn by the Unity High School Rockets, a revolution of sorts is taking place. This season, 32 varsity team members are sporting helmets outfitted with the same electronic encoder modules now used by a handful of college teams.

The purpose of the high-tech headgear, which uses six strategically placed, spring-loaded accelerometers to wirelessly beam information to a Web-based system on a laptop computer on the sidelines, is to more effectively � and more immediately � detect when blows to players� heads may result in concussions or more severe brain injuries.

In addition, impact data � including location of hits, magnitude of force and length of hits � is recorded for analysis by a University of Illinois research team led by kinesiology and community health professor Steven Broglio.

�Unity is the only high school in the country using the Head Impact Telemetry System, or HITS,� Broglio said. �There are 12 million high school football players across the nation,� he said. �This is a huge population we don�t know much about.�

The system being used in the research partnership between the U. of I. and Unity was developed by Simbex, a research and product-development company based in New Hampshire. It works in tandem with helmets made by Riddell, the nation�s largest helmet manufacturer, and was first tested on the Virginia Tech football team in 2002.

Broglio said a number of other researchers at universities across the nation, including Virginia Tech, the University of North Carolina and Dartmouth, also are using the system as the basis for studies of biomechanical processes caused by concussions and traumatic brain injuries.

At Unity, each varsity player was given a baseline assessment for neurocognitive function prior to the start of the season.

�The baseline assessments are all over the map,� Broglio said. �Because the kids� brains are still developing, they have different ranges and abilities.�

On the field during practice or on game day, when the encoder in an athlete�s helmet registers a hit, the system beams impact information to the sidelines laptop, which is monitored by the team�s athletic trainer.

�If an athlete is diagnosed with a concussion, he will not return to play until neurocognitive function returns to baseline performance,� Broglio said.

The fact that high school athletes� brains may not yet be as fully developed as their college or professional counterparts is a large part of Broglio�s motivation for studying the system�s effectiveness on the younger players.

The U. of I. researcher noted in many high schools across the country it�s not unusual for players to take a forceful hit, sit out briefly, then return to play. And sometimes they�ll even mask symptoms from coaches and trainers because they don�t want to miss the action.

Unfortunately, Broglio said, �what other researchers are finding is that people with multiple concussions have incurred Alzheimer�s Disease at a higher rate. Getting their �bell rung� as high school athletes may have permanent repercussions. There seems to be a link.�

He noted that there�s also some evidence in the literature that among high school athletes, the force of an impact may actually be less than it is with older players.

The main focus of Broglio�s continuing research is to sort it all out � to determine how the younger players actually function on the field, and gather data that �will ultimately protect and treat athletes who suffer concussive head injuries.�

�We will look at how hard and where they get hit,� he said, adding that one possible outcome of the work may be determining the need to develop a different type of helmet for high school athletes.

�We may find they�re getting hit in different places and need more padding in those areas of the helmet, for example.�

In Tolono, the system�s ability to monitor where athletes are incurring hits has already led to another discovery, just a couple of weeks into the season.

�The system picked up one athlete who was hitting with the top of his head, a practice that could result in spinal-cord injury,� Broglio said. Because they were able to identify the pattern, the team�s coaches were able to work with the athlete to correct the habit.

�As we�ve gone through this first few weeks using the system, for the most part it�s been very good,� said Scott Hamilton, the Rockets� head coach. �As this revolutionizing (of the sport) gets better and better, it will be great. Anything to protect our kids is a wonderful concept.�

As is often the case with most innovative technologies when they�re first developed, however, the initial cost of the system is likely to prohibit widespread use � especially at the high school level. Broglio said the system being tested at Unity has a price tag of about $60,000; each helmet costs an additional $1,000.

Nonetheless, he and Hamilton remain hopeful that as more companies compete and additional systems enter the marketplace, the cost eventually will become more affordable for more schools.

�Anytime you talk about money, it�s a fine line between how much money do you spend, and how much is it worth to protect the kids.�

Computer models help raise the bar for sporting achievement

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Computer models now under development could enhance the design of sports equipment to help people of all abilities realise their sporting potential.

The models, more sophisticated and more specialised than others previously used in sports equipment design, produce unprecedentedly realistic simulations of how potential ball designs, for instance, will actually behave when in use.

This data can then be harnessed by sports equipment design teams to ensure that the final products they develop behave (e.g. bounce and spin) as required and, above all, with more consistency than ever before. This is vital if sportsmen and women are to optimise their skills, apply them with confidence and maximise their achievement.

The capabilities of these ground-breaking computer models, which are being developed at Loughborough University by a team from the Sports Technology Research Group, will be described at this year�s BA Festival of Science in York.

�The UK is at the forefront of sports-related engineering,� says Dr Andy Harland, who leads the team and will deliver the presentation on 13th September. �Our computer models can provide invaluable technical input to the sports equipment design process. For example, by enabling the real-world behaviour of different design options to be simulated with extreme accuracy, they can reduce the need to manufacture expensive prototypes and cut the time required to get improved equipment from the drawing-board to the shops.�

The basis of the models is provided by commercially available, industry-leading Abaqus software. The team take this software and then, by developing and adding complex algorithms*, enhance its ability to simulate mathematically the exact characteristics of a particular piece of sports equipment, of different playing surfaces and so on. The model can then show exactly what will happen when a ball, for instance, has a specified amount of force or spin applied to it, and how it will bounce and roll.

The underlying expertise has been developed with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Further funding targeted at specific objectives has been provided by adidas, the global sports equipment manufacturer. Key input has already been made to the design of the adidas +Teamgeist football used in last year�s World Cup in Germany. As well as other football projects, Andy�s team are currently working on models that will aid the design of next-generation running shoes which reduce the risk of injury.

The capabilities being developed could also allow designers to tune sports equipment more closely to the needs of the user, leading to increased participation in sport and therefore important health benefits across the population.

�There�s plenty of anecdotal evidence that children and some adults are deterred from taking part in sport by ill fitting or badly designed equipment,� Andy Harland comments. �It�s ironic that a largely sedentary activity like developing computer models can make a real contribution to the quality of sporting performance and the enjoyment millions of people derive from physical activity.�

Advanced technologies aim to transform the coaching of top athletes

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Groundbreaking research now under way in the UK could help our leading athletics coaches deliver outstanding results in the years ahead.

The SESAME (Sensing for Sport and Managed Exercise) project is developing innovative video and body sensor technologies designed to aid the training of both novice and elite athletes. The aim is to combine these technologies into a unique, integrated computer system that substantially increases the quantity and variety of data available to coaches during training sessions.

The project, which is being funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), will be described at this year�s BA Festival of Science in York. SESAME has the potential to significantly improve future UK medal prospects in events such as sprinting, long jump and pole vault, for example.

�Many sports depend on correct technique to optimise athlete performance and reduce injury risk,� says Dr Robert Harle of the University of Cambridge, who will deliver the presentation on 13th September. �So there�s significant value in developing technologies which can assist the coaching process by providing near-instantaneous feedback on an athlete�s technique during a training session itself.�

The naked eye has long been the tool of choice for athletics coaches, perhaps supplemented by a single fixed video camera producing pictures of limited value. These video limitations arise because the coach has to use the camera either to provide useful close-up pictures of a running athlete but which only cover one or two strides, or to generate longer-range shots which show more strides but make it harder to see the athlete�s technique in the necessary detail.

SESAME is therefore developing a leading-edge data recording and analysis system that will greatly increase the amount of useful information available to a coach. The system will produce simultaneous shots from multiple video cameras located in different positions that can autonomously track a moving athlete and then transmit pictures to the coach for near-instant, slow motion replay. This will require significant technical innovation as no video system currently available can cost-effectively deal with this amount and variety of data.

In addition, the project is developing on-body sensors that will use small, low-power electronics which exploit recent advances in wireless communications to collect data about arm angle, knee lift, body lean etc. This data will be transmitted straight to the coach and synchronised to the video streams to permit extensive data mining and analysis. Identifying the optimum means of presenting this synchronised information to the coach is a key SESAME objective.

Crucially, this new system will enable the coach to give an athlete, during the short time when they are walking back to their mark, immediate feedback and advice on improving their technique � with no interruption to training schedules. For example, they could highlight the need for a sprinter to increase or decrease their stride length or knee lift in order to achieve maximum running speed, or for a jumper not to look down during take-off.

Achieving all the project�s goals will require wide-ranging multidisciplinary expertise, from computer science and engineering to biomechanics and medical science. A consortium has been assembled to deliver the cutting-edge capabilities needed. The partners are University College London, the Royal Veterinary College, the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff as well as the University of Cambridge. Technology developed by the project is beginning to be trialled, with a view to availability within around 3 years.

�Our aim is to use technology to help coaches, not replace them,� Robert Harle comments. �A key aspect of SESAME is to listen to coaches and understand their needs. Their input could help ensure that we develop technology tools which make a real impact on achievement by UK athletes in the future.�

Leading-edge body sensor could help produce sporting champions

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A revolutionary unobtrusive sensor that collects and immediately transmits data from the human body could boost British sporting success in future.

Cufflink-sized and clipped behind the wearer�s ear, the sensor is unique in two key respects. First, it does not hinder performance, yet can gather unprecedentedly wide-ranging and useful data about posture, stride length, step frequency, acceleration, response to shock waves travelling through the body etc.

Second, when worn by an athlete during training, it can transmit the information for immediate visual display on a handheld device or laptop used by their coach at the trackside. The coach can then harness the data to shape the on-the-spot advice and instruction they give the athlete regarding technique. By instantly adding to the value of every training session, the sensor can therefore deliver better sporting performance.

Currently under development at Imperial College London with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Government�s Technology Programme, the new sensor and its potential contribution not just to sport but also to wider healthcare will be outlined at this year�s BA Festival of Science in York.

�The sensor we�re working on is inspired by the semicircular canals of the inner ear, which play a key role in controlling our motion and balance,� says Professor Guang Zhong Yang, who is leading the project and will deliver the presentation on 13th September. Professor Yang is a world-renowned pioneer in the field of Body Sensor Networks (BSN). His multidisciplinary project team is utilising a range of expertise, including computer science, electronics, engineering and biomechanics*.

Crucially, the new sensor does not cause discomfort and, because it is worn behind the ear, does not adversely affect aerodynamics. The data it generates therefore provides an authentic and realistic indication of how the wearer�s body would behave if performing without the sensor. This makes the information extremely valuable.

By contrast, body sensors currently available are cumbersome to wear and so affect technique and performance, making the information they produce less useful. Moreover, their data cannot be displayed in real time, but requires processing before being viewed after the training session. �Having biomechanical data available there and then, during a training session, can make the whole process of improving sporting technique much quicker and easier,� says Professor Yang.

The new sensor is now undergoing trials with elite UK athletes, with a view to entering widespread use within 12-18 months initially for sprinters but eventually for rowers and other athletes.

The sensor could also have significant potential for use in monitoring patients suffering from a range of injuries and illnesses, and even in helping to preserve good health and to promote quality of life generally. It has scope, for example, to be used to monitor patients with degenerative arthritis or neurological gait abnormalities, as well as those who have undergone orthopaedic surgery. In the field of human/computer interfacing, the device could also make a unique contribution to translating body movement and physical exercise into computer games as well as into virtual reality-based sports training.

Professor Yang comments: �I believe it�s really important to ensure that sports-related research like ours will have a genuine legacy in wider fields and a positive impact on society at large.�

Speedier skis on course for World Cup glory

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Skis equipped with an ingenious new self-waxing device that enables them to travel quicker could make a dramatic entry onto the skiing scene in the 2008/09 World Cup season.

The device continuously applies fresh wax to the bottom of the ski during a race. Its developers are now working with manufacturers, with the aim of incorporating it into skis used in top-class international competition as early as next year.

Validated test results from the Alps show that skiers using the revolutionary system can complete a course 1-2% quicker than using conventional skis, which gradually lose their pre-applied layer of wax as they descend a slope. The gap between first and 20th place in a World Cup event can be under two seconds, so the new system has the potential to play a key role in deciding the outcome of major skiing competitions.

The device has been developed by Wildfire Snowsports Limited, a spin-out company from the University of Sheffield, building on university research projects funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The development and capabilities of the device will be described at this year�s BA Festival of Science in York.

In ski racing, wax is applied to skis to create a lubricating effect and so help the skier travel faster. As well as constantly providing a fresh layer of lubricant, the new technology also enables dirt, which can slow a skier down, to be automatically pushed away from the underside of the ski.

�The device fully complies with all FIS (International Ski Federation) rules and is the only one of its kind in the world to have been routinely tested and proven,� says Professor Peter Styring, who has led the project and will deliver the York presentation. �Suitable for skis used in events such as downhill, super giant slalom and potentially cross-country too, the device has also been incorporated into freestyle skis and snowboards � extra speed means riders can achieve extra height in halfpipe* events, for instance.�

A sealed reservoir containing a waxy lubricant is attached to the ski under the front of the foot, replacing the small block that conventionally separates the ski binding from the ski. A series of tiny valves and pipework continuously deliver an optimum amount of lubricant to the base of the ski. The normal pumping motion of the skier�s legs is harnessed to push the fluid through the system � no supplementary energy source is needed.

The biodegradable and environmentally friendly lubricant, a polymer whose composition is a closely guarded secret, was also developed as part of the project. Overall, the initiative has harnessed expertise in the fields of chemical engineering, chemistry, polymer science, mechanical engineering and physics.

�In December, we�re due to begin testing the system with a major global ski manufacturer,� says Peter Styring. �We�re also discussing with another company the scope to retrofit the device to existing skis.�

USC researcher identifies stem cells in tendons that regenerate tissue in animal model

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Athletes know that damage to a tendon can signal an end to their professional careers. But a consortium of scientists, led in part by University of Southern California (USC) School of Dentistry researcher Songtao Shi, has identified unique cells within the adult tendon that have stem-cell characteristics—including the ability to proliferate and self-renew. The research team was able to isolate these cells and regenerate tendon-like tissue in the animal model. Their findings hold tremendous promise for the treatment of tendon injuries caused by overuse and trauma.

The results of their research will be published in the October 2007 issue of the journal Nature Medicine and will be available online at www.nature.com/nm on Sunday, September 9, 2007.

Tendons, the tough band of specialized tissues that connect bone to muscle, are comprised of strong collagen fibrils that transmit force allowing the body to move. Tendon injuries are a common clinical problem as damaged tendon tissue heals slowly and rarely regains the integrity or strength of a normal, undamaged tendon.

“Clinically, tendon injury is a difficult one to treat, not only for athletes but for patients who suffer from tendinopathy such as tendon rupture or ectopic ossification,” Shi says. “This research demonstrates that we can use stem cells to repair tendons. We now know how to collect them from tissue and how to control their formation into tendon cells.”

Prior to this research, little existed on the cellular makeup of tendons and their precursors. By looking at tendons at the molecular level, the research team identified a unique cell population—termed tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs) in both mice and adult humans—that when guided by a certain molecular environment, form into tendon cells. The team included leading scientists from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

A type of antioxidant may not be as safe as once thought

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Charlottesville, Va., Sept. 4, 2007 - Certain preparations taken to enhance athletic performance or stave off disease contain an anti-oxidant that could cause harm. According to new research at the University of Virginia Health System, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), an anti-oxidant commonly used in nutritional and body-building supplements, can form a red blood cell-derived molecule that makes blood vessels think they are not getting enough oxygen. This leads to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a serious condition characterized by high blood pressure in the arteries that carry blood to the lungs. The results appear in the September issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

�NAC fools the body into thinking that it has an oxygen shortage,� said Dr. Ben Gaston, UVa Children�s Hospital pediatrician and researcher who led the study. �We found that an NAC product formed by red blood cells, know as a nitrosothiol, bypasses the normal regulation of oxygen sensing. It tells the arteries in the lung to �remodel�; they become narrow, increasing the blood pressure in the lungs and causing the right side of the heart to swell.�

Gaston notes that this is an entirely new understanding of the way oxygen is sensed by the body. The body responds to nitrosothiols, which are made when a decreased amount of oxygen is being carried by red blood cells; the response is not to the amount of oxygen dissolved in blood. He says that this pathway was designed much more elegantly than anyone had previously imagined. �We were really surprised�, he said.

The research team administered both NAC and nitrosothiols to mice for three weeks. The NAC was converted by red blood cells into the nitrosothiol, S-nitroso-N-acetylcysteine (SNOAC). The normal mice that received NAC and SNOAC developed PAH. Mice missing an enzyme known as endothelial nitric oxide synthase did not convert NAC to SNOAC, and were protected from the adverse effects of NAC, but not SNOAC. This suggests that NAC must be converted to SNOAC to cause PAH.

Could regular use of NAC produce the same effects in humans The next step is to determine a threshold past which antioxidant use becomes detrimental to heart or lung function, according to Dr. Lisa Palmer, co-researcher of the study.

�The more we understand about complexities in humans, the more we need to be aware of chemical reactions in the body,� said Palmer.

According to Gaston and Palmer, NAC is being tested in clinical trials for patients with cystic fibrosis as well as other conditions; and clinical trials with nitrosothiols are being planned. These results, Palmer says, should motivate researchers to check their patients for PAH.

The results also open up a range of possibilities in treating PAH. Palmer added that the signaling process could be restorative and healing if they figured out how to keep NAC from fooling the body.

�From here we could devise new ways for sensing hypoxia or we could in theory modify signaling to treat PAH,� Palmer said.

UC's Fry informs fantasy football fans

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) It's fantasy football season! And just in time for the frenzy, Assistant Professor Michael Fry and student Andrew Lundberg have published their results. It amounts to this: you have a set of choices that people can make. All you really want to know � in fantasy and in real drafts � is what set of players is not going to be available when your turn comes up.

UC�s Fry Informs Fantasy Football Fans Fantasy football gains a mathematical foundation, thanks to a researcher in UC�s College of Business.

It's fantasy football season! And just in time for the frenzy, Assistant Professor of Operations Management Michael Fry and MSQA student Andrew Lundberg published their results in the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports. �A Player Selection Heuristic for a Sports League Draft� was based on work conducted at the University of Cincinnati, along with co-author Jeffrey Ohlmann from the University of Iowa.

Sports leagues conduct new player entry drafts in which franchises select, in a pre-determined order, players to complement their existing rosters. We model the decision-making process of a single sports franchise during a player selection draft. The basic premise of our model is that a team selects a particular player based on a combination of the player's estimated value, the value of the other players currently available, and the team's need at each position. � from �A Player Selection Heuristic for a Sports League Draft�

Mike Fry says his numbers stack up.

�Our results are robust,� says Fry. �It amounts to this: you have a set of choices that people can make. They all want the best player available and sometimes people just go for that player, regardless of what they really need. All you really want to know � in fantasy and in real drafts � is what set of players is not going to be available when your turn comes up.�

Football presents a good opportunity for such research because � unlike basketball, for example � players generally have set positions such as running back, quarterback or defensive lineman. Basketball players, on the other hand, often play multiple positions, which makes it harder to identify exact team needs going into a draft. Baseball presents its own set of challenges because there is huge uncertainty about how a drafted player will affect an actual team that season. Baseball players often spend many years in the minors and it is very difficult to tell how a player drafted now will affect your team in the future.

�Hence, baseball drafts are about 50 rounds long while NFL is 7 and basketball is 2,� says Fry. �Although baseball would be interesting because it is more statistically tracked.�

Some of CoB's numbers crew.

Mike Fry is a fantasy football fan�s best friend. In one conversation, he can talk �heuristic,� �tractable deterministic dynamic program� and �sequential decision-making� � then tosses out �league-wide passing stats� and �detailed injury reports.� Fry is one of �Cincinnati�s Numbers Crew� in the Department of Quantitative Analysis and Operations Management, featured in UC Research magazine (Summer 2007).

Fry�s team approached the idea in two phases. He�s a fantasy leaguer himself, so he understands the routine.

�First we decide who the good players are, the same way players are evaluated in real life by scouts,� Fry says. �Then, like sports teams� general managers, we sit down and have a draft. We pick the player you want, and you look at who you need. You might want a cornerback, but you also need a linebacker.�

Fry says that every decision affects other actions down the road, so it is not humanly possible to anticipate all the ramifications and keep track of these decisions.

His advice for fantasy fans

Using commonly available fantasy football player evaluations for the 2007 season we have noticed a few trends from our model�s output:

A traditional maxim in fantasy football is to draft two running backs in the first two rounds because RBs are seen as being the most valuable. However, this year our model generally recommends against this strategy. There are only a few (really two) sure-fire RBs and then a deep crop of 2nd-tier RBs. Thus, our model often recommends taking a RB first, then taking a top QB or WR next and coming back for your 2nd RB later. It can often be a good decision to draft one of the top defenses (generally the Chicago Bears or Baltimore Ravens) earlier than most people would suggest. If you miss out on these top defenses, then you might as well wait until the very end of the draft as there is too much uncertainty in how other defenses will perform. The same is often true for kickers. But the main point is that if you feed garbage into the model, you get garbage out. If you are convinced, for whatever misguided reason, that the Cleveland Browns QB (whoever that turns out to be) is going to be a star and you rank him first, then guess what, the model is going to tell you to draft him very high. That�s not the model�s fault, Fry points out, that�s user error.

But this is all fantasy � pretend. What difference does it make, I mean, really

�The fantasy market alone is a billion-dollar industry,� says Fry, �especially with the Internet.�

OK, so Fry knows the numbers. How�s his game when it comes to fantasy play He�s won his league once and made the playoffs seven times in nine years of playing. And his competition is no small peanuts.

�We have eight PhDs in our group,� he says, laughing. �And one NASA rocket scientist.�

Scientists tackle mystery mountain illness

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Experts at the University are studying an illness known as HAPE (high altitude pulmonary oedema), which causes fluid to build up in the lungs can and can occur from as low as 2,500 metres, affecting people of all age groups and fitness levels.

Little is known about the condition and there is no way of predicting who is likely to be affected although studies have suggested a genetic link. It is thought that around one in 50 people who travel to high altitudes suffer from HAPE.

The database, which is being run in collaboration with researchers from America, Austria, Bolivia, and Britain, aims to encourage registration from previous sufferers of HAPE. It will facilitate research that could potentially identify people susceptible to the condition. Genetic studies using the database may also provide greater understanding of what happens in HAPE sufferers' lungs.

Dr Kenneth Baillie, co-ordinator of the database and a researcher at the University of Edinburgh, said: �There is no way of predicting who is likely to suffer from HAPE, as it can affect anyone even if you are young, healthy and active. Because it occurs from 2,500 metres, it can affect skiers as well as mountaineers. Treatment options are very limited and sufferers need to descend from high altitude and see a doctor straight away.

�A major problem is that sufferers may not know that they have HAPE until it is too late. Once the symptoms start to appear � which may include breathlessness at rest and blueness of the lips � sufferers may not realise the severity of the illness and the urgency of reducing altitude and seeking medical treatment. It may also be that sufferers are not in a position to go down a mountain in time, whether this is due to how ill they are, weather conditions or how high up they are. This all reinforces how important it is to find out who may be susceptible in advance so that they can either try to prevent the onset of the illness or not put themselves in a potentially life-threatening situation.�

Use of the database will be open to researchers worldwide, although details of individual members will be not be given out without their consent.

HAPE is the most common form of altitude sickness and can kill within hours if untreated. As the illness progresses, it can cause drowsiness and lack of coordination, leading to a coma and death. As cases are not registered, nobody knows exactly how many people have died as a result of the condition.

The main treatment is descent, but this is often impossible as a sufferer may need to be carried for miles on a stretcher, only to descend a few hundred feet. Other treatments include breathing oxygen and two drugs, dexamethasone and nifepidine, which may not be available when somebody becomes ill.

Blood vessels inside the lungs constrict in response to low oxygen to such an extent that fluid is forced from the capillaries (narrow tubes through which blood cells pass), leading to flooding of the lung�s air sacs.

Risk factors include rapid ascent, physical exertion and a previous history of the condition. By understanding who is most at risk, potential sufferers could take precautions such as climbing much more slowly or taking drugs to prevent the onset of the condition.

Understanding hypertension in African Americans proves elusive

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Exercise cannot reduce a sodium-retaining hormone in African Americans known to potentially cause hypertension, found Michael D. Brown, Ph.D., the senior author of a study in the September issue of Experimental Physiology. Brown is an associate professor of kinesiology at Temple Universityï¿½s College of Health Professions.

The hormone, aldosterone, influences the kidneyï¿½s regulation of blood pressure, but too much of it can contribute to the development of hypertension because it causes the kidney to retain salt. Aldosterone, released by the adrenal glands on top of the kidneys, plays a role in the complex system used by the body to regulate blood pressure.

ï¿½Although the results are discouraging for African Americans and hypertension, itï¿½ll point us in other directions that may have more potential and could be the key to reducing hypertension,ï¿½ said Brown, who has a background in exercise physiology.

Many African Americans develop the salt-sensitive form of hypertension. Approximately 40 percent of African Americans have hypertension ï¿½ the highest rate of any racial or ethnic group in the United States ï¿½ but there is little data about what makes them more susceptible to this condition, Brown said.

This study is based on the premise that the prevalence of blood pressure sensitivity to salt is extremely high is African Americans. Alterations in aldosterone regulation may play a role because aldosterone causes the kidney to retain salt. Brown said he wanted to find out if exercise could lower the levels.

In the study, he found that the level of aldosterone was related to how the two racial groups distributed body fat. Caucasians generally stored fat in the abdomen area, whereas African Americans had fat distributed throughout the body in a layer under the skin. The six-month study involving 35 Caucasians and African Americans with hypertension found that aerobic exercise training program reduced aldosterone levels in Caucasians by 32 percent, but levels for African Americans were reduced by only 8 percent. Total body fat was reduced only in Caucasians, which might be a clue to the drop in aldosterone.

ï¿½The kidneys help to regulate blood pressure by changing the levels of salt and water in our body. Sometimes the kidneys reset at a higher blood pressure level if it has retained too much salt,ï¿½ Brown said.

While the study showed exercise did not lower aldosterone in African Americans, exercise still has many other benefits for this population, Brown said.

ï¿½Exercise has the capacity to affect so many things. Itï¿½s a way for the body to correct itself,ï¿½ he added.

Brown will continue his research in this area with a $3.5 million National Institutes of Health grant awarded earlier this year. In September, Brown will recruit African Americans with hypertension for a study on how exercise can improve the blood vessel condition. The study will also take an in-depth look at how genes can contribute to hypertension.

ï¿½Solving the cause of hypertension is similar to solving a big puzzle. Each piece of the puzzle represents a contributing factor to hypertension. Each of these pieces, or possible causes of hypertension, needs to be studied in a systematic way,ï¿½ Brown said.

Older climbers face uphill battle on Mount Everest

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) In this era of not surrendering to age, some claim that 60 is the new 40. But new research shows that 60 year olds cannot keep up with 40 year olds on Mount Everest and suffer a sharply higher chance of dying if they do reach the summit.

The study shows that among 2,211 climbers during the spring seasons from 1990 through 2005, the overall chances of reaching Everest's summit were nearly 31 percent, but they dropped to 13 percent for climbers in their 60s. The overall chances of dying on the mountain were 1.5 percent, but they more than tripled to 5 percent for climbers 60 and older.

The researchers did not find any gender differences.

Before we did this analysis, we didn't know whether age would be important. Younger climbers have a physical advantage but probably have less experience than older climbers, said Raymond Huey, a University of Washington biology professor. We used to refer to this advantage of age as the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar effect. As he got older, his physical skills declined but he was so smart and experienced that he was able to compensate and still play professional basketball at the highest levels.

Unfortunately for older climbers, that effect does not apply on the world's highest mountain, said Huey, lead author of a paper describing the research published online Aug. 15 in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. The Royal Society is the United Kingdom's national science academy.

Other authors are Richard Salisbury, a database analyst and mountaineering historian in Ann Arbor, Mich., and statisticians Jane-Ling Wang and Meng Mao at the University of California, Davis.

The findings run counter to the notion published in a medical journal in 2000 that people in their 60s could safely climb peaks of about 26,300 feet. Mount Everest is about 29,030 feet.

I think they were overstating the safety factor. I think it's much more risky, Huey said.

Huey suspects there are two possible reasons why fewer climbers older than 40 reach the summit and successfully make it down again declining physical capacities and a higher degree of caution that causes them to stop short of their goal of reaching the summit.

By the time you are 50 or 60, you've probably been banged up once or twice. You know it hurts, and you've seen consequences of losing fingers or toes to frostbite, Huey said. So older climbers are probably more cautious, but I can't determine whether it's greater caution, reduced fitness or a combination of the two that explains the lower success rate for older climbers.

The research, funded by the National Science Foundation, consisted of a statistical analysis of climbers since 1990, looking at the influence of age and gender on success and death rates. Much of the data come from Elizabeth Hawley, who chronicled climbing expeditions in the Himalayas and for four decades conducted interviews that provided a large historical archive of mountaineering information.

The analysis found virtually no difference between men and women on Everest there are many fewer women climbers, but their rates of reaching the summit and of dying are very similar to those for men.

But age differences were stark. Those at least 60 years old who started up the mountain had a death rate at least three times higher than younger climbers. For those who actually reached the summit, 25 percent died before completing the descent, compared with 2.2 percent for younger climbers. However, because the sample of older climbers is relatively small, the actual difference could be exaggerated or understated, Huey said.

Many more people in general are trying to climb Everest than, say, 30 years ago there are reports that just this spring more than 600 people reached the summit. The first two climbers to scale Everest, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, were 33 and 39 when they succeeded in 1953. For many years, only about 20 percent of the climbers were older than 40, and those older than 60 were very rare. But the scientists found that in recent years nearly half of all climbers are at least 40, and one of every 30 is at least 60 years old. Until now, these older climbers had no way of knowing about how age correlates with their chances of success and death.

Huey believes it is likely more older climbers are now attempting to climb Everest because guided expeditions are readily available and because many older climbers have sufficient disposable income to pay for those guided trips.

Older people are usually healthier now than they were 50 years ago, he said. Many fewer people smoke and health care is better, so increasingly older people are participating in a variety of sports.

But, as the researchers concluded in their paper, On Everest, youth and vigor trump age and experience.

Traditional Chinese exercises may increase efficacy of flu vaccine

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Move on mosquitoes. Step aside sweat bees. Before long, another unwelcome, but predictable, pest will return: the dreaded, oft-spotted flu bug.

But as this years sniffling-sneezing season approaches, theres also a hint of hope present in the pre-germ-season air. In a study scheduled for publication in the August issue of the American Journal of Chinese Medicine, a team of kinesiologists at the University of Illinois suggest that older adults who adopt an exercise regimen combining Taiji and Qigong may get an extra boost from their annual flu shot.

We have found that 20 weeks of Taiji can increase the antibody response to influenza vaccine in older adults, said the studys lead author Yang Yang, an adjunct professor of kinesiology and community health, and a Taiji master with 30-plus years of experience as a practitioner and instructor.

In this study, we found that five months of an easily performed behavioral Taiji and Qigong intervention could improve the magnitude and duration of the HI anti-influenza antibody titer response in a small cohort of older adults, write the authors, who also include Karl S. Rosengren, a U. of I. professor of psychology and of kinesiology and community health, and Jeffrey A. Woods, a kinesiology and community health professor who researches the effects of exercise on immune function. Rosengren and Woods helped design the study. Other co-authors are former U. of I. graduate students Rachel A. Mariani and Jay Verkuilen, and Scott A. Grubisich and Michael Reed of the Center for Taiji Studies, Champaign.

According to Yang, one problem with the flu vaccine is that older adults often do not reach what are considered to be protective levels after receiving the vaccination.

On average, he said, the Taiji group had much higher antibody responses to the vaccination than the control group, and the percentage of persons who achieved protective levels also was higher in the Taiji group. However, because of the small sample size, the percentage of persons from the Taiji group that achieved protective levels was not statistically different from the control.

Our results provide proof-of-concept and suggest that there needs to be a larger dedicated intervention trial with Taiji to definitively determine whether this type of behavioral intervention can improve influenza vaccine efficacy in older adults.

Qigong (chee-kung) and Taiji (tye-chee) or Tai Chi, as it is more commonly known in the U.S. combine simple, graceful movements and meditation. Qigong, which dates to the middle of the first millennium B.C., is a series of integrated exercises believed to have positive, relaxing effects on a persons mind, body and spirit. Taiji is a holistic form of exercise, and a type of Qigong that melds Chinese philosophy with martial and healing arts.

Yang, who will discuss the work as a featured speaker at a Sept. 21 clinical conference hosted by Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said this is the first study to examine the effects of traditional Taiji intervention on the response to influenza vaccine in older adults.

While the Chinese have long believed the exercises result in a range of physical, mental and spiritual benefits for practitioners, until recently, evidence has been largely anecdotal. Yangs overarching research focus is to use Western scientific practices to validate centuries of anecdotal claims and reveal what he calls the essence of the tradition.

We want to demystify it and make the average person go straight to the core of the secret, he said. Our overall goal is to let the essence of this tradition reach the general public. This is my dream.

Recent research, including work by Yang and Rosengren, has demonstrated improvements in quality of life, flexibility, strength, cardiovascular function, pain, balance and kinesthetic strength. Yang said he decided to explore Taijis effects on immune function, and specifically, efficacy of the influenza vaccine, after learning that another study had indicated improvement in immune response to the virus that causes shingles, a disease that often afflicts older adults.

The use of Taiji as a behavioral intervention in older adults is particularly attractive due to age-related loss of function and problems with even moderate intensity exercise interventions, the authors note in their report.

The study is an outgrowth of Yangs dissertation research, which yielded quantitative and qualitative evidence that its elderly participants benefited from both physical and mental improvements after practicing the ancient Chinese exercises. For the current study, 41 subjects were recruited from the larger data pool. Twenty-seven had received the Taiji/Qigong intervention; 14 were from the studys wait-list control group, and another 9 individuals who did not participate in the exercises were added to balance the size of the control group.

Sub-study participants provided detailed medical histories, received sleep-quality evaluations and submitted blood samples for analysis before injection with the influenza vaccine. Blood also was drawn three, six and 20 weeks following vaccination, and samples were sent to a Center for Disease Control-affiliated reference laboratory in New Jersey for blinded analysis of anti-influenza antibody titer by hemagglutination inhibition assay.

Titer, according to Yang, refers to a measurement of the amount of antibodies in the blood.

Those in the exercise intervention group participated in three one-hour classes for 20 weeks, while the control group was directed to continue their regular activities for the same time period. Each class consisted of equal parts Qigong and Taiji, which included movements emphasizing mobility skills such as weight shifting, range of motion and coordination, and sitting and standing meditation.

Although the study had certain limitations including its small subject sample and the fact that it was not a purely randomized controlled trial Yang is confident that further study will yield more substantive proof of a link between Taiji and Qigong and immune function. And he said he was not surprised that this preliminary examination indicated a link.

Because the curriculum is holistic, it touches people on many fronts, he said. So its not surprising that you can feel the immune part, the strength part, the psychological part. Its what this art was designed for to target all these different aspects of life, from a preventative and nurturing point of view.And, he added, those benefits are borne out of a program that emphasizes balance.

We dont believe the slogan, no pain, no gain. In Taiji, its no pain, you get big gain.

Sports hernia repair technique coupled with innovative rehabilitation program speeds return to play

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) CALGARY, Alberta -- Surgical repair of athletic hernia using tension-free mesh and a standardized rehabilitation protocol are successful in returning athletes to competition, according to new research released today at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine at the Telus Convention Center (July 12-15).

Dr. Brunt and colleagues studied the results of more than 60 athletic hernia repair surgeries to evaluate the experience of athletes undergoing tension-free mesh surgical repair using a standardized rehabilitation protocol. The investigators found a high rate of successful return to athletic competition. They also determined that the standardized rehabilitation protocol was useful in providing consistency in postoperative management and a structured approach to activity.

Using a tension-free mesh repair and a standardized rehabilitation protocol we have successfully returned athletes to competition in more than 90% of cases, says principal investigator L. Michael Brunt, M.D., professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Athletic hernia is not a true hernia in a strict sense, which is defined as a protrusion through a hole or defect in underlying tissue or lining. People with athletic hernia have exertion-related pain in the lower abdominal and groin region that is associated with deterioration of the muscle layers. Without treatment, these athletes typically cannot perform at high levels and may no longer be successful at their sport.The standardized rehabilitation protocol is more structured than what has been previously reported. Athletic trainers, physical therapists and athletes appear to have the most success when given well-structured guidelines about what can and cannot be expected or allowed at each stage after hernia surgery.

An athletic trainer for the St. Louis Blues hockey team, Ray Barile, developed the multistep, graduated program used in this study to return the athletes to activity following repair. The program starts with early ambulation and motion and works toward resistance and core muscle building while later progressing to speed and functional activities. The hope is that this program can facilitate a faster rehabilitation and return to sport.

The three main groups of athletes who develop athletic hernias are hockey, soccer and football players. Sprinting, kicking, and skating are the activities that appear to be most problematic, explains Dr. Brunt. The athletes we see have usually undergone an extensive period of conservative management and having failed that, should be considered for surgical repair. On average, athletes in our series had experienced symptoms for more than eight months before undergoing surgery.

Pain from an athletic hernia, or pubalgia, is in the lower abdominal region and pubic bone. Typically this pain has been unexplained for a period of time, and there are few indications of the condition in the patients personal history, physical exam, or imaging scans. Making an accurate diagnosis often involves excluding other reasons for pain and identifying the few subtle findings that make the diagnosis.

Sports hernias have received recent media attention because several high-profile athletes, including tight end L.J. Smith of the Philadelphia Eagles, have been diagnosed with the condition. Athletic hernia can occur in athletes who are not necessarily at the elite level and who play sports only recreationally, Dr. Brunt notes.

Tension-free mesh is used for repair of other types of hernias. With no tension on the repair, the athlete can return to play earlier than when only sutures are used. Less pain is reported in the post-operative period when the mesh is used. Using the mesh helps restore strength and stability to the area affected, allowing easier recovery.

Other surgeons have been successful with different approaches including primary repair and repair with laparoscopic techniques, Dr. Brunt comments. For us, tension-free mesh has resulted in a consistent return to athletic competition and earlier activity than a primary approach could yield.

Dr. Brunt says that proper management of athletes with athletic hernia requires a multidisciplinary approach including sports orthopedists, physical therapists, and surgeons. It is important that physicians who see athletes with groin problems understand the entire spectrum of groin injuries. There are many different types of injuries that can occur, which makes it difficult to make the correct diagnosis since the imaging findings can be relatively nonspecific.

Sports hernia repair surgery plus innovative rehab program helps athletes return to play

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) St. Louis, July 15, 2007 In recent years, sports hernias have sidelined many high-level athletes for months and, occasionally, prevented a return to competitive sports all together. New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that surgical repair of sports hernias using tension-free mesh, coupled with an innovative rehabilitation program, successfully returned athletes to competition in 93 percent of cases.

Lead investigator L. Michael Brunt, M.D., professor of surgery, presented the study Sunday, July 15 at the annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine, held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

He and his colleagues evaluated the results of 61 sports hernia repair surgeries and a follow-up rehab program to determine how quickly they speed an athletes return to play. The surgeries were performed at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Sports hernias have received a lot of attention recently because of some high-profile athletes that have been sidelined with this condition, Brunt says. The benchmark for these athletes is return to play in their sport at the same level they were before the injury. By using the tension-free mesh to strengthen and reinforce the groin and lower abdominal muscles, we found that most athletes were back to their sport within eight weeks of surgery.

A sports hernia is not a true hernia because there is no hole in the abdominal wall through which underlying tissues protrude. A diagnosis can be tricky because symptoms particularly pain in the groin and lower abdomen can masquerade as a groin pull, strained abdominal muscle or other injury.

Those with sports hernias typically experience intense pain only at extreme levels of exertion. The condition is most common among hockey, football and soccer players. Repetitive twisting, turning or kicking motions at high speed are most likely to contribute to the condition.

Usually there is no discomfort walking around but significant pain when an athlete moves from a stationary position to full stride, Brunt says. For a high-performance athlete that can be enough to make a difference in their ability to compete successfully.

Although sports hernias occasionally occur among recreational athletes, it is far more common among those who play professional or college sports. In recent years, quarterback Donovan McNabb (Philadelphia Eagles) has had surgeries to repair sports hernias, as have forward Darren McCarty of the Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Galaxy soccer players Joseph Ngwenya and Benjamin Benditson.

The injury may also be related to changes in strength training. Most athletes focus more on the lower body and less so on the trunk. This lack of balance can create extra stress across the pelvis that is transmitted to the abdomen and the pelvic floor, which may be a factor in the development of a sport hernia, Brunt adds.

On average, the athletes Brunt operated on had experienced symptoms for eight months and most had undergone conservative management and rest during that time. A full 70 percent played at the college or professional level, and 95 percent were men. Because women have a different pelvic structure, they may be less vulnerable to sports hernias, he notes.

The surgery involves a two-inch incision to remove some of the damaged muscle tissue and instead of a primary repair with stitches, tension-free mesh is used to strengthen and reinforce the area. We think the mesh provides considerable support to let the area heal, Brunt says. Because theres no tension on the repair, this helps athletes return to full physical activity faster than surgery with a sutured repair alone.

The rehabilitation protocol used in the study was developed by Ray Barile, an athletic trainer for the St. Louis Blues hockey team. The multistep, graduated program is more structured than others used to return athletes to activity after groin surgery. It starts with early walking and movement and gradually moves athletes to resistance and core muscle building before progressing to speed and functional activities. Athletic trainers, physical therapists and athletes appear to have the most success when they are given well-structured guidelines about what can and cant be expected or allowed at each stage after hernia surgery, Brunt says.

A survey of athletic trainers who treated 21 of the athletes after surgery showed they rated the program highly (average score 4.5/5.0) in its ability to quickly and safely return athletes to their sport.

More recently, Brunt and his colleagues have accelerated the rehabilitation program to help athletes in midseason get back to competition sooner. This has helped some athletes return to play as early as five weeks after surgery. The tension-free nature of the repair helps facilitate a more aggressive progression to full activity, but Brunt cautions that the proper treatment of athletes with sports hernias requires a multidisciplinary approach. This includes sports orthopaedists, physical therapists and surgeons. It is important that physicians who see these athletes understand the entire spectrum of groin injuries and the methods that work best for returning them to competitive play, he says.

Tennis elbow procedure demonstrates long-term success

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) CALGARY, Alberta -- Arthroscopic treatment of tennis elbow has shown to be successful at long-term follow-up, according to new research released today at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine at the Telus Convention Center (July 12-15).

This is the first longitudinal study of arthroscopic treatment of tennis elbow, says lead investigator Champ L. Baker, III, M.D., an orthopaedic resident at the University of Pittsburgh. The initial success from our original short-term study was maintained long term. I am happy to say that arthroscopic release is a good treatment option for lingering tennis elbow. The patients were enrolled through the Hughston Clinic in Columbus, Ga., where Dr. Bakers father and the senior study investigator, Champ L. Baker, Jr., M.D., practices orthopaedic sports medicine surgery.

Tennis elbow, a potentially debilitating condition, is common and can be successfully managed without surgery in almost 90% of cases. When it cannot be controlled by nonoperative measures, including rest, the arthroscopic technique used in this study is one of the many different surgical options that have good outcomes.

Investigators studied the long-term (130 month) pain and functional scores of 30 patients who underwent arthroscopic release for tennis elbow. The short-term results from this patient group were published in The Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery in 2000 (9:475-82).

The researchers found that arthroscopic treatment provided very good results in terms of long-term pain relief and functional restoration. There were no repeat surgeries or injections. Satisfaction rates were also high, with 93% of the patients stating that they would have the surgery again if needed.

Athletes are not the only population vulnerable to tennis elbow. People in their 40s and 50s who do repetitive activities are often afflicted. Such activities can range from repetitively lifting boxes to repetitive wrist extension during long-term keyboard use. Tennis elbow pain is generally felt on the outside of the elbow.

In 1880, lateral epicondylitis was termed tennis elbow, but it could just as easily be called politicians elbow, because they run for office with their right hands 500 handshakes a day, explains the elder Dr. Baker, immediate past president of the AOSSM. This condition is caused by repetitive motion with the arm extended and the wrist moving up and down.

If youve had tennis elbow for more than a year and cant get better, then it would be a good idea to investigate having this procedure done by an orthopaedic surgeon skilled in arthroscopy. Patients should get better with very few complications, if any, continues Dr. Baker.

Dr. Baker adds that there are other advantages to arthroscopic surgery: I can look inside the joint to spot additional problems. Arthroscopic surgery speeds up the rehabilitation. In all published studies, return to work and play is much quicker with arthroscopic technique versus open surgery, while the complication rate is equal or less.

Women and arthritis sufferers have poorer short-term recovery from arthroscopic knee surgery

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) CALGARY, Alberta -- The factors associated with poor short-term recovery from knee surgery appear to be different than those found to mar long-term outcome from the same surgery, according to new research released today at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine at the Telus Convention Center (July 12-15).

We found that women showed poorer short-term recovery than men in the first year following arthroscopic meniscal tear removal surgery, and people with osteoarthritis also did not do as well as others, says principal investigator Peter Fabricant, BS, a medical student at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. The factors associated with a poorer long-term outcome, such as larger tear size, greater amount of tissue removed, advanced patient age, and higher Body Mass Index, are not the same as those we can associate with short-term surgical recovery.

The meniscus is the shock-absorbing tissue that cushions the knee joint preventing the bones from rubbing. Tears in this tissue can cause pain and loss of function. In arthroscopic partial meniscectomy, the surgeon inserts small surgical instruments and a camera through tiny incisions in the knee to remove torn tissue. An estimated 636,000 arthroscopic knee procedures are performed annually, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Fabricant and colleagues at Yale University studied 126 patients who underwent arthroscopic partial meniscectomy to assess the impact of obesity, age, gender, amount of tissue removed, and degenerative joint changes on short-term recovery. They found that being female and the extent of osteoarthritis were associated with a less-than-optimal first-year recovery.

Other studies have shown that advanced age, obesity, and the amount of meniscal tissue removed all negatively affect long-term outcome from arthroscopic meniscal repair. In our study these variables did not affect short-term recovery. Conversely, gender and osteoarthritis appear to play a role in short-term recovery, as they have been shown to do in the long-term, Fabricant comments.

The current medical literature only offers research findings on long-term outcomes following arthroscopic meniscal repair. We couldnt find anything in the literature to predict recovery during the first year, explains Fabricant. Physicians need to be able to discuss with patients how long it might be before they can return to optimal function levels in work and activities of daily living.

Fabricant and colleagues suggest that severe osteoarthritis in the knee may be a contraindication to surgery. Arthritis may be a marker for a degenerated knee, which may not be able to recover as well as a healthy, non-arthritic knee, Fabricant says.

Osteoarthritis may also be a marker for worse overall knee function in general. Patients with severe osteoarthritis already have loss of cartilage and soft tissue. Further tissue removal appears to have minimal impact on patient knee pain and function during the year following surgery.

The investigators say that it is unclear exactly how female gender complicates surgical recovery. Fabricant notes that there are gender differences both in surgical outcome and possibly in the biomechanics resulting in how the knee was initially injured. Even before surgery, women typically reported more knee pain and decreased knee function compared to men.

Groin injuries averted by preseason injury prevention

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) CALGARY, Alberta -- Professional soccer players who participated in a special preseason groin injury prevention program had fewer groin injuries during that subsequent season than those who were not in the program, according to new research released today at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine at the Telus Convention Center (July 12-15).

The researchers enrolled 315 major league soccer players in a preseason groin injury prevention program to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. The 20-minute program was used as a prepractice warm-up two to three times a week during the preseason period. It included three phases warm-up, dynamic stretching, and strengthening.

The participating athletes had a groin injury incidence of 0.44 injuries per 1,000 hours, while a control group had a groin injury rate of 0.61 injuries per 1,000 hours.

Our 28% injury reduction rate is highly significant, says principal investigator Michael B. Gerhardt, M.D., director of the Center for Athletic Hip and Groin Disorders in Santa Monica, Calif., and team physician for US Soccer and Chivas USA, a major league soccer team. We were anticipating a 5-10% reduction rate, so we were pleasantly surprised that the injury reduction number was so high.

Most professional soccer teams in Europe and the United States recognize groin injury as a major problem, according to Dr. Gerhardt. Groin injury accounts for a large amount of lost playing time. They are common in elite soccer players and especially problematic among male soccer players. The term groin injury encompasses a wide range of injuries ranging from minor groin strains to chronic groin injuries, such as sports hernias, which often require surgery.

The number of groin surgeries was also evaluated. Although not statistically significant, the athletes in the prevention session had fewer surgeries (0.13/1,000 hours) than the control subjects (0.18/1,000) who did not participate in the program. While we were able to prevent the total number of groin injuries, we were unable to significantly reduce the number of surgeries, comments Dr. Gerhardt. Once an injury reaches the chronic stage it is hard to manage with any treatment regimen, including ours. These players typically go on to require surgery.

Chronic injuries are defined as lasting a month or longer. Avoiding acute injuries, which the studys preseason injury prevention program was able to reduce, can hopefully prevent them.

If a simple 15- to 20-minute program can reduce the number of groin injuries that are occurring in professional athletes, I think it will gain widespread use, notes Dr. Gerhardt. Weve seen this with ACL prevention programs, which have been implemented successfully by a variety of teams around the world. I anticipate that professional soccer teams will want their players to participate in a program if it is simple, cost effective, and, most importantly, proven to reduce groin injury.

Dr. Gerhardt attributes the success of the prevention program to the multidisciplinary efforts of several expert therapists, trainers, and physicians.

Neoprene sleeve equal to knee brace during recovery from ACL surgery

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) CALGARY, Alberta -- Users of functional knee braces and neoprene sleeves have similar recoveries from anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, according to new research presented today at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine at the Telus Convention Center (July 12-15).

For patients returning to sport after ACL reconstruction, a functional knee brace, which is sturdy, elaborate, and expensive, does not provide advantages over a soft neoprene elastic sleeve, says principal investigator Trevor Birmingham, Ph.D., P.T., Canada Research Chair in musculoskeletal rehabilitation at the University of Western Ontario and the Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic in London, Ontario.

ACL reconstruction surgery is common, particularly in young, athletic individuals. The ACL is an important ligament inside the knee that helps keep it stable. ACL reconstruction involves replacing the torn ACL with a strip of tendon called a graft. Approximately 100,000 ACL reconstructions are performed annually according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

It is widely believed that the rigid support provided by a functional knee brace protects the graft and improves knee stability and function when the patient returns to sport after surgery and rehabilitation, explains Dr. Birmingham. Others believe that the additional support provided by a brace is not necessary.

To address this uncertainty, Dr. Birmingham and colleagues studied 150 athletes preparing to return to sport following ACL reconstruction. Seventy-six patients were randomized to receive a functional knee brace and 74 to receive a neoprene sleeve. The patients were instructed to wear the orthosis during all physical activities. The researchers found no significant differences between the groups at the one- and two-year follow-up visits.

Based on our clinical experience, we were not completely surprised by the results, Dr. Birmingham comments. These findings provide strong evidence that the average patient does not require a functional knee brace when returning to sport after ACL reconstruction. There may be some patients who will benefit from a brace, and identifying these individuals requires further research. Until then, these decisions are left to the surgeons discretion.

ACL functional knee braces are made by several different companies and have a variety of looks and fitting instructions. They are intended to limit abnormal movement of the knee and prevent excessive strain on the ACL or new graft. They generally provide a rigid support to restrain the knee, although they may also improve neuromuscular control of the knee. Most laboratory studies suggest that different types of functional knee braces perform similarly.

Neoprene sleeves are also made by several different companies and have different looks. Rather than providing rigid support, they are only intended to gently compress the area around the knee and improve neuromuscular control.

The study was large enough and had enough statistical power to detect even slight differences between the functional knee brace and sleeve groups. We can be confident that even if small but true differences between these groups exist, these differences are not large enough to be clinically important, concludes Dr. Birmingham. He notes that the study was not designed to test whether using a neoprene sleeve was better than using nothing at all.

Catastrophic head injury three times greater in high school vs. collegiate football players

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Rosemont, Ill. The incidence of catastrophic head injuries in football is dramatically higher at the high school level than at the college level, according to a study published in the July issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Catastrophic head injuries, which include brain bleeding and swelling, are rare and can be devastating. Athletes with major brain injuries may be left with permanent brain damage.

High school football players have more than three times the risk of a catastrophic head injury than their college peers, says lead author, Barry P. Boden, M.D., from the Orthopedic Center in Rockville, Md., and adjunct associate professor at the Uniform Services University of the Health Science in Bethesda, Md.

Boden and coauthors also found a high percentage of high school athletes playing with neurologic symptoms from a previous head injury at the time they sustained a catastrophic injury.

Football has more direct catastrophic injuries than any other sport tracked by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research (NCCSIR). More than 1.2 million high school athletes played football during the 2001-2002 academic year.

The researchers reviewed 94 incidents of severe football head injuries reported to the NCCSIR during 13 football seasons (Sept. 1989 through June 2002). Catastrophic injury was defined as either direct (resulting from playing the sport) or indirect (resulting from systemic failure secondary to play), and further subclassified those injuries as fatal, nonfatal (injury causing permanent neurological damage), or serious (while severely injured, the players injury is immediately relieved, there is no permanent functional disability, and the player recovers completely).

The researchers found that there is approximately one injury per every 150,000 athletes playing, or 7 catastrophic injuries yearly. There were 0.67 injuries per 100,000 players at the high school level and 0.21 injuries per 100,000 for college level football players.

The incidence of injury is higher at the high school level compared to the college level, which may indicate that the younger brain is more susceptible to a brain injury, explains Dr. Boden. Many of the players who had a severe head injury were playing with minor neurological symptoms from a previous head injury such as a concussion.

From the 94 cases studied, 59 contacts and/or medical records revealed information on prior head injuries. Fifty-nine percent (35/59) of the injured football players had a history of previous head injury of which 71% (25/35) occurred during the same season as the catastrophic event. Nearly 40% (21/54) of the injured athletes were playing with residual neurologic symptoms from prior head injury. The catastrophic injuries resulted in 8 (9%) deaths, 46 (51%) permanent neurologic injuries, and 36 (40%) serious injuries with full recovery.

Dr. Boden suggests that players should be discouraged from using their heads to tackle, since 81% of the injuries were caused by helmet-to-helmet collisions (16/37) and helmet-to-body collisions (14/37).

One of the studys co-authors, Robert C. Cantu, M.D. of Emerson Hospital, Concord, Mass., has studied catastrophic injuries in many sports. He says that although catastrophic head injuries in football have declined since special regulations went into effect, players are still being returned to the field with symptoms of a prior head injury.

The single most important piece of advice that I can give is to never let an athlete play football if he has any neurological symptoms whatsoever, says Dr. Boden. Those symptoms may include amnesia, dizziness, headache, irritability, and personality change.

Of the difference in catastrophic head injuries between high school and college players, Boden theorizes: High school students might take longer to recover from a concussion than college players. Another possible reason for these reported injuries may be that there arent as many team physicians covering high school games as college games. Consequently, some high school athletes may not be properly evaluated or receive medical attention.

Football is a very macho sport. Athletes are taught to play through pain, concludes Dr. Boden. But concussions need to be taken seriously. Many of them are probably being overlooked at the high school level. These injured athletes are allowed to return to play before full recovery, leaving them susceptible to a more significant injury.

Understanding smooth eye pursuit

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) PHILADELPHIA -- Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have shed new light on how the brain and eye team up to spot an object in motion and follow it, a classic question of human motor control. The study shows that two distinctly different ways of seeing motion are used one to catch up to a moving object with our eyes, a second to lock on and examine it.

Without the ability to lock our eyes onto a moving target, something called smooth pursuit, athletes cannot keep their eye on the ball, and a person walking down the street cannot examine the facial expression or identity of a passerby, said Jeremy Wilmer, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology in Penns School of Arts and Sciences and lead author of the study. Researchers found that volunteers showed a range of capabilities when it came to sensing and following motion, and the careful measurement of such differences produced novel insights into the workings of the smooth pursuit system.

Our automatic tendency is to assume you and I see the same baseball, or color, or face, but in fact our experiences can be quite different, Wilmer said. The assumption of a common visual experience can backfire when we assume wrongly that the person next to us perceives the same flying projectile, or red hexagonal sign, or emotion that we do.

Researchers explored the two ways of perceiving motion to see how each contributes to smooth pursuit. The first, called low-level motion perception, is the sense one gets of disembodied motion before knowing what is moving. The second, called high-level motion perception, is the ability to watch an object move through time and space after it has been recognized.

Participants who were good at low-level motion perception caught up to a moving object with their eyes more easily. A completely different set of volunteers exhibited skill at high-level motion perception and were much better at locking onto a moving target once their eyes caught up to it. This result shows that distinct experiences of motion drive different stages of smooth pursuit.

Our experience of the world normally appears quite seamless, Wilmer said, but in fact our brain sees many aspects separately and knits them together into one experience of the world.

The study result builds on research into how piecemeal processing in the brain leads to holistic experience and seamless behavior. It also provides insight into a smooth pursuit system important for both social skills and sports. The first in-depth study of how individuals differ from each other in their ability to sense and follow motion, this research sets the stage for future studies of genetic and environmental influences that shape conscious visual experience.

Smooth pursuit ability is rare in the animal kingdom and only well developed in primates such as humans, and in praying mantises. It could be, Wilmer said, that a penchant for high-level motion perception is essential for our incredibly handy ability to lock onto and examine moving objects.

Wilmer and Ken Nakayama, professor of psychology at Harvard University, reported their findings in the current issue of Neuron.

Biofeedback on abnormal mechanics lowers risk for stress fractures, pain under kneecap

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) More than seven out of 10 runners will sustain an injury over the course of a year, many of these injuries preventable without any adverse effects on running distance or performance, according to Dr. Irene Davis, director of the Running Injury Lab at the University of Delaware, and director of Research for Drayer Physical Therapy Institute.

In earlier studies, Dr. Davis identified the specific gait mechanics associated with common injuries. Now, in a study reported at the Experimental Biology meeting in Washington, DC, she explains how she successfully retrained runners to change their faulty gaits in eight half hour sessions, reducing leg shock by 50 percent and completely eliminating pain under the kneecap.

Her Experimental Biology presentation on April 30 is part of the scientific program of the American Association of Anatomists.

In the laboratory, Dr. Davis uses sophisticated biofeedback devices and monitors, but she says she does similar - and also effective - retraining in the physical therapy clinic at the University of Delaware using basic mechanical information, mirrors and advice to listen to the sound of ones own feet hitting the ground.

The two studies underway in Dr. Davis' laboratory now are with runners who were selected for the study because they were experiencing or had been identified as high risk for one of the two most common running-related injuries: tibial stress fractures (microfractures of the lower leg bone) and patellofemoral pain syndrome (pain under the kneecap).

Each runner undergoes an analysis of their gait. Runners then come to the laboratory for two days, take a day off, return for two, until they have had eight retraining sessions on a special treadmill. The first sessions last 15 minutes, and the final ones 30 minutes. Runners are not allowed to run outside the laboratory during retraining for fear of reinforcing old gait habits.

Dr. Daviss earlier gait mechanics research had found that individuals with tibial stress fractures tend to land harder when each foot hits the ground, and in fact about half of the at-risk runners who have completed the study so far already had experienced microfractures. During their retraining sessions, the runners wore a shock measuring device on their lower legs while they ran on a tread mill. A monitor on the front of the treadmill showed the force of each footstrike measured against a line of what a normal, healthy footstrike should look like. The runners task was to constantly adjust the force with which each of their own feet hit the ground to keep it at or below the line on the screen.

With this feedback, all runners immediately were able to modify the hardness of their footstrike to meet the desired level, but all reported that the softer footstrike level did not feel normal. By the end of the eighth session, however, even when they were receiving relatively little feedback, all runners had adjusted the force of their footstrike by half. Furthermore, they reported that they found the new gait now felt more normal.

The runners experiencing pain under the kneecap followed the same protocol. Dr. Davis earlier gait mechanics studies had found that individuals with kneecap pain (patellofemoral pain syndrome) demonstrate poor hip stability, hips rotating inward, causing a knock-kneed type running gait. On the laboratory treadmill, these runners watched a monitor that compared their gait, measured by markers on their legs, to a normal angular curve.

By keeping their knees apart, not letting them collapse inward, they soon were able to make the two images merge. Before retraining, the group had classified their kneecap pain from five to seven on a ten point scale, ten being the worst. In every case, after retraining, the runners reported zero pain.

A month after the retraining, during which runners had resumed their regular running schedule, they returned to the laboratory treadmill. All had retained the lessons learned.

Dr. Davis recommends that runners without access to gait analysis and biofeedback do a little of what she does in the clinic at the University of Delaware.

For people with or at risk for stress microfractures, we ask them to listen to their footstrikes and simply make the sound softer, says Dr. Davis. For people with pain under the kneecap, we tell them to run in place in front of a mirror and concentrate on keeping their knees apart.

In the meantime, back at the laboratory, she is continuing to recruit patients into the study. Funded by both the Department of Defense and the National Institutes for Health in the interest of helping individuals to remain physical fit throughout their lives, the studies eventually will include 60 runners. Data reported at the Experimental Biology 2007 meeting were for five patients in each group.

Mayo Clinic solves painful puzzle of UT ligament split tear in wrist

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) ROCHESTER, Minn. - - A Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon has discovered a common cause of debilitating wrist pain - a split tear of the UT ligament - that can be reliably detected through a simple physical examination and can be fully repaired through an arthroscopically guided surgical procedure. The findings are published in the April issue of the American Journal of Hand Surgery.

In the study of 272 consecutive patients (53.7 percent males, median age 33.7) with wrist pain who had undergone arthroscopy between 1998 and 2005, the Mayo Clinic team discovered that a positive ulnar fovea sign was highly effective in diagnosing either a complete ligament rupture or the newly described condition, a split tear of the ulnotriquetral (UT) ligament. The test involves pressing the ulnar fovea region of the patients' wrists (the side opposite the thumb) to determine tenderness. The researchers found a positive ulnar fovea test was 95 percent sensitive in revealing patients with a rupture or a UT split tear. The test's specificity was 86.5 percent.

Richard Berger, M.D., Ph.D., who led the study, says the UT split tear is a common but heretofore undefined injury, in which the wrist joint is stable but painful. Typically, ligament injuries involve a rupture in which the ligament is completely severed, he explains. The joint is unstable because the ligament is no longer holding the bones in their proper positions, and the crosswise rupture is easily visible through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The UT split tear is different, because the ligament is still attached to the bones on both ends, but is split open lengthwise, Dr. Berger continues. The joint is stable, and the patient can have an MRI that would be interpreted as normal because there isn't a complete severing of the ligament. Even looking inside the joint with an arthroscope, the split tear isn't immediately obvious unless you know what to look for, and until now no one was looking for it because this type of injury hadn't been discovered. The diagnosis would have been called simple irritation or inflammation.

Dr. Berger says the split tear discovery came as an epiphany, when he performed the ulnar fovea test on a patient while viewing the joint arthroscopically. I saw that the source of the pain was exactly where I was pressing, he says. When I cleared some of the blood vessel debris from the area, it became apparent that what had initially looked like a normal ligament was in fact split open lengthwise, so I was seeing the inside of the ligament.

As Dr. Berger performed the ulnar fovea test on subsequent patients and followed with arthroscopic examination, he noticed that a large majority of those with the positive ulnar fovea sign but stable joints had UT split tears.

It's good news that this simple test is so effective at pinpointing the problem, he says. What's even better is that we have a treatment that can restore full, pain-free function and improve quality of life for decades for these mostly younger patients.

Dr. Berger's treatment for a UT split tear uses arthroscopically guided surgery to suture the ligament and repair the split. After six weeks in a cast that immobilizes the wrist, the patient begins rehabilitation. Dr. Berger says the repair has been highly durable and has helped patients return to full strength at work or play within a few months after surgery.

We've seen sheet metal workers and dairy farmers return to work, he says. We've also had athletes restored: bowlers hurling a 16-pound ball, golfers, and even a major league baseball player. They seem good as new, and we haven't seen a risk of reinjury.

The split tear of the UT ligament will help explain much of the wrist pain for which the cause previously had been unknown, Dr. Berger concludes. It's especially gratifying to not only diagnose the reasons for the pain, but also to have such an effective treatment.

Officiating bias, influenced by crowds, affects home field advantage

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 3, 2007 The roar of the crowd may subconsciously influence some referees to give an advantage to the home team, according to a study that examines the results of over 5,000 soccer matches in the English Premier League. The matches were played between 1992 and 2006, and involved 50 different referees, each of whom had officiated at least 25 games within that time period.

Ryan Boyko, a research assistant in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, led the study, which will be published in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Sports Sciences.

Individual referees and the size of the crowd present are variables that affect the home field advantage. In order to ensure that all games are equally fair, ideally, all referees should be equally unaffected by the spectators, says Boyko.

Boyko studied the number of goals scored by a team at home versus those scored while away, and found that teams scored 1.5 home goals on average, and 1.1 while away. Crowd size also had an impact on the number of goals scored by the home team, and for every additional 10,000 people in the crowd, the advantage for the home team increased by about 0.1 goals.

In addition to affecting the number of goals scored, the away team received more penalties, implying that referees are making calls in favor of the home team, possibly as a result of the influence of the crowd. Some individual referees are more susceptible to these influences than others. In fact, more experienced referees are less biased by the impact of a large audience, which suggests that they may develop a resistance to effects of the crowd.

Match results within the English Premier League were chosen for study because the games are heavily attended and the teams are located within the same time zone, eliminating long-distance travel as a factor involved with home field advantage. Information about the results of English Premier League games is also widely available online.

While previous research has studied the home advantage with regard to the influence of the crowd, player performance, and referees' decision-making processes, little work has been done on the variation of partiality from referee to referee. While understood to be present in sports that are both judged and scored, earlier studies had also shown that the home field advantage is more pronounced in sports that are subjectively judged, such as figure skating, as opposed to those that are objectively decided, such as speed skating, indicating a relationship between the judging process and the home field advantage.

The findings could suggest ways to increase the fairness of matches by identifying referee susceptibility to the external factors that are present at most sporting events.

Referee training could include conditioning towards certain external factors, including crowd response, Boyko says. Leagues should be proactive about eliminating referee bias. The potential is there for a game to be altered because of factors that subconsciously affect the referee.

The psychology of baseball

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Its the seventh game of the World Series bottom of the ninth inning, your team is down 4-3 with runners on second and third and youre on deck. You watch as your teammate gets the second out. That means youre up with a chance to win a championship for your team...or lose it.

Youre known as a clutch hitter, and youve hit safely in 22 straight games an impressive streak to be sure. But as you step into the batters box, your hands are sweating and your mind is racing. You think about the last time you faced this pitcher and the curveball he threw to strike you out. You look at him standing on the mound and he looks tired. You try to pick up clues from his body language. How fast is his fastball today? Will he tempt you with that curveball again?

Psychologists are asking different questions: Does your recent hitting streak really matter? Is there even such a thing as a clutch hitter? Will the pitchers curveball fool you? And then there are the more basic ques-tions: How is it possible to hit a 100 m.p.h. fastball without being able to see it for more than a split second? How is it that even sandlot players mere children can intuitively do the complex geometry needed to get to precisely the right spot to catch a fly ball?

University of Missouri psychologist Mike Stadler uses research from dozens of behavioral scientists, plus some of his own, to try answering these complicated questions in his new book, The Psychology of Baseball. Baseball turns out to be a good laboratory for studying psychological phenomena, Stadler says, because youre pushing the human system to its limits. And thats a good way to see how the system works.

Psychologists have been studying baseball players almost as long as the Red Sox had been disappointing fans in Boston, and much of the attention has naturally focused on the most heroic part of the game: hitting. Baseballs great sluggers, such as Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Albert Pujols, make it seem so effortless, which makes it hard to accept the scientific consensus that hitting is basically impossible. Thats right, impos-sible. Why? A ball thrown by a major league pitcher reaches speeds of 100 m.p.h. and an angular velocity (the speed in degrees at which the ball travels through your field of vision) of more than 500 degrees per second. A typical human can only track moving objects up to about 70 degrees per second. Add to this the fact that it takes longer to swing a bat than it does for a pitch to go from the pitchers hand to the catchers mitt, which means a hitter must start his swing before the ball is released and has less than a half a second to change his mind. All that equals impossible.

Not surprisingly, professional baseball players are able to keep their eye on the ball longer (up to 120 de-grees per second) than the average human being. In one study, pro players who were asked to keep their eyes on the ball did one of two things. They either watched the pitch until it reached speeds too fast to keep track of the farthest a player could track a pitch was 5.5 feet in front of the plate or, less commonly, they watched for the first few feet and then quickly moved their line of vision to where they thought the ball would end up and watched it as it crossed the plate. So it turns out that your little league coachs advice watch the ball until it meets the bat is actually physically impossible. But even the worst Major League hitters succeed two out of every 10 trips to the plate. Are the hits they get just pure luck? Not exactly.

I guess what interests me most in some ways is that even though we have the perceptual limitations and even though we have the reaction time limitations, theres still enough mental machinery there to help us solve the problem, Stadler says.Hitters must make some assumptions and guess where the ball is going to be and when it is going to be there in order to make contact. Because the barrel of the bat is long enough to cover the entire plate but is only a few inches thick, predicting where the ball will end up horizontally across the plate is much less important than pre-dicting where it will be vertically. And a large portion of predicting at what height it will cross the plate has to do with predicting the speed of the ball.

Arizona States Rob Gray has used a virtual hitting simulation something he describes as a purposefully simplified video game to help determine what cues help hitters make contact with the ball. In a 2002 study, he varied the speeds of the virtual ball randomly from about 70 to 80 m.p.h., and hitters failed miserably, with batting averages of about 0.030. Thatll get you cut from a T-ball team. But in the same simulation, hitters fared much better with batting averages of 0.120 when pitches were thrown at just two different speeds: slow (75 m.p.h.) or fast (85 m.p.h.). Its the randomness, not an over-powering fastball, that fools hitters. Grays conclusion: It is clear that successful batting is nearly impossible in the situation in which pitch speed is random and in which no auxiliary cues (e.g., pitchers arm motion or pitch count) are available to the batter.

So, back to you now in the batters box. You can at least take comfort in knowing that the pitcher youre facing only has a few pitches: a fastball, a changeup, and maybe a slider or a curveball. Youve practiced hitting each of those pitches thousands of times during your career, and can draw on your knowledge of those at-bats. There are also cues like the pitchers arm speed and the rotation of the ball that help you make an educated guess about what pitch is coming. You may need to get used to a pitchers speed, but you have a decent idea of where the ball is going at least enough of a good idea to succeed at your job 30 percent of the time.

Now the question is: Are you going to perform in this clutch situation, with the game and the championship on the line, or will you choke? Research dating back to a 1984 study by Florida States Roy Baumeister (an APS Fellow) and including work by Michigan States Sian Beilock suggests that if you put a player in a pressure situation, he develops a greater than normal self-focus what we colloquially call trying too hard. When you learn a process like a baseball swing, it is important to practice it step-by-step, and novice hitters actually think through their actions of shifting their weight, rotating their hips, and so forth. But experts do this naturally. Indeed, Gray used his hitting simulation to show that when expert hitters were asked to focus on a particular part of their swing, it adversely affected their performance.

If we force you to go back and think about each stage of what youre doing, you actually start interfering with this procedural knowledge, this motor memory, and you start messing it up, Gray says. Its like tinkering with a machine thats running really efficiently. You start trying to control everything yourself and it messes it up and it hurts your performance.

Its hard to imagine a more pressure-filled situation than the World Series, so it wouldnt be a stretch to think the hitter might overthink his swing. But what if hes a clutch hitter? What if hes been on a hot streak the last few weeks? The scientific consensus is that there is no such thing as a streaky hitter; though try telling that to anyone whos been on the losing end of one of David Ortizs 15 walk-off hits with the Red Sox or Derek Jeters 14 consecutive World Series games with a hit. Still, the statistical analysis seems to show that streaks and clutch hitting could just be a result of simple probability.

Physicist Ed Purcell of Harvard did a statistical analysis and concluded that all streaks and slumps except for Joe DiMaggios remarkable 56-game hit streak fall within what could be expected by chance. Think of it this way: If you flip a fair coin a couple million times, its not hard to imagine that there might be times when it comes up heads 20 times in a row.

There is additional support for this view. Dick Cramer, baseball statistician and founder of STATS, Inc., hy-pothesized that if baseball did have clutch players, they would be consistent from year to year much like the leagues best home- run hitters are consistent across years. What he found in fact is that a player might be one of baseballs best clutch hitters one year, then plummet to the bottom the very next year.

Not everyone is ready to discount clutch hitting. Gray, for example, thinks clutch hitters might know how to relax and not try too hard in situations where there is a lot on the line. So maybe its not so much being a clutch hitter as it is being a nonchoker. A study of bowlers lends support to this idea. Professional bowlers, the study showed, are much more likely to bowl a strike after a series of strikes than they are to bowl a strike after a series of nonstrikes. That was true for weekend sports, like horseshoes, as well.

It could be that too much of baseball is decided by factors other than the hitter the pitcher and the fielders certainly have some influence to be able to accurately determine whether hitters are clutch or streaky. What happens when a streaky hitter comes up against a pitcher whos also on the top of his game? Or what if the hitter makes good contact during two of his at-bats but is robbed by spectacular fielding plays both times?

Everything ultimately comes down to the hitter succeeded or he didnt, Stadler says. But theres a lot more behind that number in the box score that the box score just doesnt capture.

So, lets say youre back at the plate, and youve fallen behind in the count 2-2. The next pitch comes and, like you predicted, its another curve ball. Youre ready. You give a good swing. The ball sails deep into the outfield. The centerfielder takes off to his right immediately, tracking the ball with ease. Hes not actually com-puting any complicated formula in his neurons while sprinting, but he seems completely sure about where the ball is going to land. Then, whack! He runs straight into the outfield wall, and the ball flies over his head for a game-winning home run.

Like hitting, fielding also seems like it should be a mental and physical impossibility which makes it fas-cinating to psychology researchers. If you put a player in the outfield and make him stay put, he is actually quite bad at predicting where a ball is going to land, yet he will run effortlessly to that spot when allowed to do so. How?

One of the first theories developed to explain fly-ball catching was developed by physicist Seville Chapman, who hypothesized that fielders used the acceleration of the ball to help them determine where the ball will land. To simplify the problem for experimental purposes, balls were only hit directly at the fielders, who then moved either forward or backward in order to keep the ball moving at a constant speed through their field of vision so, they started with their eyes on home plate and then moved in a way that kept their eyes moving straight up at a constant speed until they made the catch. If they moved too far forward, the ball would move more quickly through their field of vision and go over their head. If they moved too far backwards, the ball would appear to die in front of them.

This theory seemed too simple to Mike McBeath, a psychologist at Arizona State. For one thing, Chapmans model predicted that fielders would use the same process for balls hit to their left or right, simply making a sideways calculation along with the basic speed calculation. But that would mean balls hit to the side should be harder to catch, and McBeath (and every sandlot outfielder) knows thats simply not the case. Any outfielder will tell you that a ball hit directly at him is the most difficult to catch, so McBeath reasoned instead that, when a ball is hit directly at a fielder, the fielder lacks some crucial bit of information for making the catch. He came up with a method that was similar to Chapmans but included an extra piece: He hypothesized that fielders kept the ball moving through their field of vision in a straight but diagonal line. So if the outfielder is looking at home plate when the ball is hit, he then keeps his eyes on the ball and runs so his head moves along a constant angle until the ball is directly above him, which is when he snags it. To test this, McBeath had fielders put video cameras on their shoulders, and the cameras moved in this manner.

Yet ask any Major Leaguers about this, and youll get blank stares. McBeath did talk to pro outfielders, and responses ranged from Beats me to Youre full of it. Thats because theres no conscious processing in-volved; its all taking place at the level of instinct, even though the geometry is sophisticated.

It turns out that outfielders arent the only ones who operate according to McBeaths strategy. Dogs use it to catch Frisbees, bats and insects use it to catch prey, infielders use the model only upside-down to field ground balls, and, now, robots use it, too. Because the algorithm for catching fly balls is actually so simple, McBeath has been able to work with robotics experts to program robots to catch fly balls. (Or at least to get to the right spot; catching is a different problem for a robot with no hands.)

Its neat, says McBeath, an expert on perception. Its not always true that the way humans and animals do things is the best way. The geometry of a moving fielder from the perspective of the fielder seems like it would be a nightmare of a formula. But what weve shown is that we can reduce it down to this really simple geometric solution.

Chapmans model is still used to describe the special case of catching balls hit directly at the fielder. Both fly-ball catching theories require that the fielders make adjustments on the go, which explains why were so bad at predicting where a ball will go if we stand in one place.

It also explains why our World Series outfielder ran straight into the wall when tracking the game-winning home run. Using McBeaths method, players tracking a fly ball only know that they are capable of getting to the spot where the ball will land. This intuitive geometry offers no insight into whether that ball is going, going gone.

Are the good players born or made?

Its tempting to assume that there is some innate ability involved in becoming an elite ball player. Baseball playing does seem to run in families think Ripken or Bell or Bonds. Plus, studies have shown that baseball players are a select group of athletes with amazing skills such as being able to track objects moving at ex-tremely high speeds of angular velocity.

Back in 1921, psychologists at Columbia convinced Babe Ruth to take a series of tests and found that he re-acted faster to sound and visual signals than the average human being. His hand-eye coordination was better than most of the population, and he could perceive information significantly better than the average person.

The secret of Babe Ruths ability to hit is clearly revealed in these tests, wrote Hugh Fullerton, the author of the Popular Science Monthly article that described the tests. His eye, his ear, his brain, his nerves all func-tion more rapidly than do those of the average person.

Similar tests were recently done on St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols and, not surprisingly, he also ranked near the top of the human population. But psychologists havent been able to determine a causal link between this superior physiological functioning and succeeding at baseball. These characteristics might make people better at baseball, but it could be that baseball players with these abilities are better because they practice hitting base-balls all the time.

Mike Stadler, University of Missouri, subscribes to a set-point theory, meaning that players are born with a certain range of talent, but they get to the top of their range through hard work and practice. For most of us, no matter how hard we practice, we wont make the Major Leagues.Others have the talent to make it, but need to develop their skills to become superstars.

Certainly speed, reflexes and hand-eye coordination are important, but there are other factors as well. All fielders seem to follow Mike McBeaths theory to help them catch fly balls. But McBeath, Arizona State Uni-versity, found that some are naturally more aggressive, trying to stay ahead of the curve, so to speak, and these fielders tend to be more successful getting to balls that are difficult to catch. Others lag behind, wait for the ball to move off the straight line and then must make adjustments, which slows them down.

Baseball teams use personality tests the most famous of which are William Winslows Athletic Motiva-tion Inventory and the Athletic Success Inventory, which is based off AMI to help them weed out the great players from the good players when it becomes draft time. Instead of looking at players heights and speeds, these tests distinguish between their levels of ambition, coachability and leadership. Baseball teams dont like to give away their secret formulas, but University of Washingtons Ronald Smith and others have looked at the correlation between these tests and success in professional baseball. Smiths studies found a few characteristics achievement motivation, coping with adversity and peaking under pressure correlated well to a long career in the Majors, but, in particular, hitters with higher self-confidence are more successful Major League players. This characteristic doesnt seem to be as important in football or basketball, probably because the whole team is more responsible for a successful outcome in those sports. In baseball, its just the pitcher against the hitter.

For hitters, failure is such a commonplace experience that you have to have people who maintain confi-dence through even a long string of failure, Stadler says.

Does a fastball rise and a curveball curve?

The terms rising fastball and off-the-table curveball have become part of the baseball lexicon. But most psychologists and physicists agree that neither really exists. Because of gravity and because a pitcher throws from a mound a few inches above where the batter stands, it is impossible for a fastball to rise even for a sidearmed pitcher.

Still, many hitters swear theyve seen and even been struck out by these tricky pitches. As a graduate student working on his PhD dissertation at Stanford, Mike McBeath, now at Arizona State, was intrigued by this contradiction and took a month off from his research to write a paper on the illusion of the rising fastball. What he came up with is a model that explains how a fastball could be perceived to have risen even if it had in fact dropped a few feet from the time it was released.

If a batter misjudges the speed of a pitch and is expecting the ball to be slower than it actually is, he expects that it will fall farther by the time it crosses the plate. So he swings where he thinks the ball should be crossing the plate, but that swing is actually a few inches under the ball. Because it is impossible for him to follow the ball from the time of release to the time of contact, the result is a ball that appears to have been so fast that it jumped up over the bat.

The opposite is true for the curveball. The batter assumes the ball is coming faster than it actually is, so by the time it gets to the plate, its lower than the batter expected, giving the impression that it fell a few inches.

The curveball definitely does curve some, McBeath says. Theres been high-speed photography verifying that. Its just that it appears to curve in funnier ways than its verified to do.

Side-to-side curvature has very little impact on the batter because the bat is big enough to cover the entire plate. Misjudging the speed, however, can cause the batter to swing over or under the ball So, maybe players should really be talking about rising and off-the table swings rather than pitches.

Modified ligament surgery improves outcomes for baseball pitchers, other athletes

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) In the largest study of its kind, surgeons at Hospital for Special Surgery have determined that by modifying a classic ligament surgery, they can return more athletes, such as baseball players, to their prior level of competition. The modified surgery repairs a torn medial collateral ligament (MCL), which links and stabilizes bones of the lower and upper arm where they meet at the elbow.

Less traumatic than the classic Tommy John surgery, the modified surgery called the docking procedure, with time, is likely to become the gold standard for treating these injuries.

This paper, in the largest series of patients ever published, shows that this particular operation in throwing athletes demonstrates better results than the classic operation, said David W. Altchek, M.D., senior author of the study and co-chief of the Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York. The study was presented at a special session of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons, held during the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons annual meeting.

MCL injury is most common in professional and amateur athletes involved in so-called overhead throwing sports, such as baseball, softball, football, lacrosse and tennis. These sports involve a throwing motion at high velocity that exerts an exceptional force at the elbow. Repeated over time, this motion can cause inflammation and microtrauma, which can eventually lead to an MCL tear. When this ligament is torn, an individual has a full range of motion and can go about daily life, but a professional or semi-professional athlete cannot perform at their usual level because they cannot exert a significant force.

Specifically, the MCL attaches the ulna, one of two long bones that run from the elbow down to the wrist, with the humerus, the bone of the upper arm. For 30 years, athletes have undergone the Tommy John surgery or Jobe surgery (named after its inventor), in which a tendon is taken from a person's forearm or hamstring and then grafted into the elbow to act as a replacement for the injured ligament. Surgeons weave the harvested tendon in a figure eight pattern through bone tunnels drilled in the ulna and humerus bones and suture the tendon into place. Dr. Altchek's technique modifies the Jobe procedure in several ways. First, he begins with an arthroscopic evaluation of the elbow to examine and fix residual problems. An unstable ligament leads to a shifting elbow, which can cause further problems such as cartilage damage.

Second, Dr. Altchek gains access to the bone in a different way. In the Jobe surgery, surgeons detach major muscles and move the so-called ulnar nerve out of the way to gain access to the bone. Dr. Altchek uses a muscle splitting technique through which surgeons can gain access to the bone by gently prying apart muscle fibers, similar to the way you can poke a finger through a knitted sweater. He doesn't have to detach major muscles and, in most cases, the nerve can be left intact, reducing the problems of postoperative nerve damage. Damage to the ulnar nerve results in numbness and tingling in the ring and small fingers.

Dr. Altchek's procedure also differs from the traditional Jobe surgery by minimizing the number of holes drilled into the bones, thus decreasing the risk of postoperative bone fracture. In Dr. Altchek's surgery only one hole instead of three is drilled into the humerus. Instead of a figure eight design, one can think of the pattern as an elongated D, says Christopher Dodson, M.D., a resident in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at HSS and an author of the study.

In the classic operation, the graft enters the humerus bone in one hole, exits in another and goes into another and then the graft gets tied to itself, Dr. Altchek explained. In the docking procedure, the graft enters the humerus bone, but never exits. Instead, sutures secure the tendon and exit the bone through much smaller exit punctures.

Dr. Altchek first developed the docking surgery in 1994, but it wasn't until now, that it was tested in such a large patient population.

In a study of 100 athletes (mean age 22) who had the docking surgery, with an average follow-up of three years, 90 percent had an excellent result (returned to the same or higher level of competition) and 7 percent had a good result (able to compete at a lower level for more than 12 months). Only 3 percent had postoperative nerve complications. With the traditional Jobe surgery, studies have shown that only 68 percent of elite level throwers return to either their prior or a higher level of throwing and 20 percent have nerve complications.

Surgeons and athletes have applauded Dr. Altchek's modifications. Many surgeons have already been employing his technique in the clinic to improve outcomes, and with time, it is likely that the docking procedure will become the gold standard for treating these athletes.

This study recently appeared in the December issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine (Am J Sports Med 2006;34(12):1926-1932). The Institute for Sports Medicine Research supported the work.

An attending orthopaedic surgeon at Special Surgery, Dr. Altchek serves as medical director for the New York Mets professional baseball team and medical director for the Nets professional basketball team.

RAND study finds walking more likely in neighborhoods with more 4-way intersections

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) People are more likely to walk when they live in neighborhoods where there are more four-way intersections and a diverse mixture of businesses, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

A greater density of housing also may encourage walking, but only once density reaches a relatively high level, according to the RAND Health study that is one of the first to test whether urban design recommendations for creating walkable communities may help achieve their goal.

Our findings may provide some guidance to designers and urban planners as they try to create communities where people are encouraged to walk instead of always traveling by car, said Rob Boer, a RAND natural scientist and lead author of the study. This is one of the first studies to test the notions about what factors in the built environment may increase walking.

Researchers from RAND, a nonprofit research organization, examined survey information from residents in 10 major U.S. cities about their walking habits and compared the results to the characteristics of the neighborhoods where those people lived.

Published in the February edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the study was designed to test four basic criteria developed as a part of the New Urbanism Smart Scorecard to help urban planners create communities that encourage walking.

Researchers found no evidence that shorter blocks encouraged more walking as suggested by the Scorecard. The effect of housing density on walking was mixed. Only when density reached 14 units per acre or more did the number of walking trips increase, according to the study.

Business diversity increased walking until there were four types of businesses in a neighborhood, and then the impact plateaued. While there was a consistent link between the number of four-way intersections and walking, the impact was not particularly strong, researchers say.

We will need to examine whether these items have to be done in concert in order to have a big impact on walking, Boer said. We also need to explore other factors, such as whether people who are interested in walking may seek out certain types of neighborhoods.

Data for the study was taken from the National Personal Transportation Survey of 1995 that included interviews of 42,033 households nationwide. The main cities were Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington. Information about the urban makeup of study neighborhoods was taken from the 2000 Census.

Female lacrosse players at higher risk than males for head, face and eye injuries

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Rosemont, Ill. February 1, 2007 -- Despite playing a game with less physical contact, female lacrosse players in high school and college sustain a higher rate of injuries to the head, face, and eye than their male counterparts, according to a study published in the February issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Although high school injury rates are lower than those of college, the nature of the injuries, body parts affected, and mechanisms of injury are similar, writes Andrew E. Lincoln, ScD. MS, of the Medstar Research Institute, Hyattsville, Md., and coauthors. Female players sustained more head, face, and eye (HFE) injuries partly because of a lack of protective equipment. Before 2005, protective eyewear was not required for females at any level of play. Our findings offer support to US Lacrosse's (2005) mandate of protective eyewear for all female lacrosse players, the authors say.

Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports in the U.S. The number of both youth and collegiate participants has grown dramatically, with the biggest increase occurring in the number of women's NCAA lacrosse teams (which has nearly doubled since 1993). On all levels of play, lacrosse is a fast-paced team sport. The hard rubber ball used in lacrosse can travel at speeds of up to 90 mph in the men's game and 60 mph in the women's game. The use of protective equipment has differed between the sexes because the women's game prohibits deliberate body-to-body contact.

Using sport-specific injury surveillance systems, the researchers collected data on HFE injuries during 4 seasons (2000-2003) of high school and college lacrosse (both practice and competition). High school data came from 23 high schools in the Fairfax County (Va.) Public School System; at the college level, HFE injury data were collected through the NCAA Injury Surveillance System and consisted of a sampling of men's and women's lacrosse programs during the 2000-2003 seasons. Teams from all three NCAA divisions were represented in the sample. [The data collection period preceded the mandate for protective eyewear in girls' and women's lacrosse.]

Based on athletic exposures, both high school girls and college women sustained more HFE injuries than did male players in high school and college. Boys, girls, and collegiate men sustained a majority of HFE injury during games, whereas collegiate women sustained a majority of such injuries during practice. The most common types of HFE injuries for all players were concussions, contusions, and fractures. Despite wearing a required helmet, males suffered more concussions than females in both high school and collegiate play. Concussions in male players were most often caused by direct contact with another player, whereas females sustained concussions by incidental contact with the lacrosse stick, ball, or ground.

In contrast to the concussions sustained by high school boys and college men, females in high school and college experienced significantly higher proportions of injuries to the nose and eyes than did their male counterparts. Fractures and contusions were common in both high school girls and collegiate women. At the time that this study was conducted, the only required piece of protective equipment for female lacrosse players in the field was a mouth guard; goalies also were required to wear a face mask. All male players wear helmets with face masks, mouth guards, and gloves.

The injury patterns we found largely reflect the protection offered by this equipment in that high school boys and college men sustained few facial and eye injuries, whereas a significant proportion of girls' and women's injuries involved the face and eyes, the authors write. This is most likely because of the lack of any required head/face protection other than a mouth guard.

Head, face, and eye injuries are a concern for all lacrosse players, but the mechanisms and types of injuries for males and females are different because of the differences in rules, protective equipment, and the nature of the game. We used prospectively gathered data to develop a program aimed at preventing HFE injuries in women's lacrosse. This program includes the addition of protective equipment, enforcement of rules, and education of the lacrosse community, says study co-author Richard Y. Hinton, MD, MPH, of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore, Md.

First national review of pediatric soccer injuries finds 1.6 million ER visits over 13-year span

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Rosemont, Ill. February 1, 2007 -- Girl soccer players may be sustaining more injuries than boys, but boys are twice as likely to be hospitalized for their injuries, according to the first comprehensive look at U.S. emergency room data on youth soccer injuries. The review appears in the February issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Coauthors Robert E. Leininger, Christy L. Knox, MA, and R. Dawn Comstock, PhD, of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Columbus Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, found startling differences in age, gender, injury rate, diagnosis, and disposition of injuries in their analysis of youth soccer injury statistics.

Past research on soccer injuries has tended to focus on pro players, injuries to specific body parts, and age- or gender-specific soccer injuries. This study is the first to investigate soccer-related injuries among the entire US pediatric population.

The authors reviewed pediatric, soccer-related data from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), a nationally representative sample of 100 US hospital emergency departments (EDs). The NEISS collects information such as patient demographics, injury type and injury event and is updated daily. Though only a sampling of injuries seen in US EDs, data are weighted and the results extrapolated to calculate the numbers of injuries treated in all US emergency departments. The researchers reviewed 1.6 million soccer-related injuries to children ages 2 to 18 years of age seen in EDs participating in the NEISS from 1990 to 2003.

During the 13 years studied, the overall pediatric soccer-related injury rate did not increase significantly, though it reached a peak in 2000. Over the same time period, however, there was a statistically significant increase in the number of injuries among girls 2 to 18 years of age. The increase in the girls' injury rate may reflect a sharp increase in female participation in soccer, the authors theorize.

Overall, girls sustained more ankle and knee injuries and were more likely to have sprains or strains than boys. The number of sprains/strains and lower extremity injuries increased with age, and upper extremity injuries were most common in children ages 5-14. Concussion was the most common injury in players 15 to 18 years of age.

Future research is needed to further examine soccer-related injuries by gender, the authors write. Society norms in the US, which may allow very young boys to be more physically active and to engage in activities such as soccer with less parental supervision whereas very young girls may be less likely to do so, may explain the gender difference.

The researchers studied 4 specific age groups: 2-4 years, 5-9 years, 10-14 years, and 15-18 years of age. They found a 4-fold increase in the percentages of injuries occurring in players ages 10-14 (49% of all injuries) from those aged 5-9 years (12.3% of all injuries). It is possible that the middle school-aged player is bigger, stronger, and playing harder, leading to an increase in the likelihood of injury, says Knox.

Injuries to the face, head, and neck were more common in very young soccer players (2 to 4 years of age) than in older children. The youngest players (especially boys) were also more likely to be hospitalized for soccer injuries than their older counterparts. In general, younger children have great difficulty expressing themselves in words, says coauthor Christy Knox. When that child is injured, it seems prudent to hospitalize and observe that child.

Children 2 to 4 years of age should be closely supervised while playing soccer because of the risk of head injuries and rate of hospitalization, the authors write. More research needs to be done on soccer helmets to see if the risk for concussion and other head injuries can be decreased, and heading should be minimized among younger players.

The authors call for the establishment of a national database of all soccer participation and injury data. With increased knowledge of the epidemiology of soccer-related injuries for all pediatric age groups, prevention and training can be improved, and the endemic rate of injury can be decreased even as participation increases, they say.

Compared to contact sports, soccer has a fairly low injury rate. We want children to stay healthy and active, and to be safe when playing any sport. Parents, players, coaches, referees, soccer organizations, and the medical community should work together to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for all participants, the authors conclude.

RAND study of Los Angeles County neighborhoods and their impact on children enters second phase

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Researchers are knocking on doors across Los Angeles County asking families to take part in the latest phase of a RAND Corporation study that is examining the impact neighborhoods have on children and families.

The effort is part of the second wave of the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey, a $12 million effort that is studying thousands of families to improve understanding of the factors that influence children's educational and social development around the United States.

The initial phase of the study was begun in 2000 by RAND, a nonprofit research organization, and already is yielding insights into how neighborhoods influence children. Published results have examined whether Los Angeles youngsters are ready for school, probed neighborhood factors that may contribute to obesity, and provided the first concrete estimate of the number of undocumented immigrants who have health insurance.

About 3,000 families participated in the first wave of the federally funded study. Researchers hope to enroll 1,000 additional families during the next phase, which has begun in more than 60 neighborhoods across Los Angeles County. The project is led by researchers from RAND and the UCLA School of Public Health.

Survey interviewers from the Research Triangle Institute are leading the efforts to identify families to take part in the next phase of the study. Families that enroll will be asked to complete an interview covering topics such as neighborhood life, children's friends and activities, work and health insurance, child care, and residential mobility. They may also be asked to participate again in future rounds of the study.

To assess the health status of a portion of adult and child participants, researchers are checking height and weight, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, breathing, and examining levels of stress hormones.

The L.A. FANS study was designed to update and expand past research about how the urban landscape affects children, according to Narayan Sastry, a RAND researcher and co-director of the study. That knowledge helps schools decide how to engage parents, guides cities as they build and staff parks, and influences many other government and private programs.

Much of what we know about how neighborhoods affect the well-being of kids and adults comes from studies done in cities on the East Coast and in the Midwest, Sastry said. But Los Angeles represents how the nation has changed, with large numbers of immigrants and a mobile population. It's important to see if lessons from the past and from other parts of the country are valid in today's growing urban areas in the West.

Among the ideas the study is examining is that neighborhood characteristics are important if children are to thrive academically. Study findings suggest that a neighborhood's average family income may have an important effect on how well children learn, and that growing up in a poor neighborhood may influence children's learning well beyond the effect of growing up in a poor family. Study results also suggest that strong ties among neighbors may affect a variety of outcomes for adults and children.

While everyone interviewed in the first wave of the survey is a Los Angeles County resident, researchers have been able to extrapolate many of their findings to the rest of the United States because the county is in many ways a microcosm of America.

Does endurance exercise promote life-threatening changes in athletes' hearts?

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Some high-level athletes who take part in endurance sports can develop a rare but life-threatening condition called ventricular arrhythmia (VA) in which the heart beats at an abnormal rate and rhythm. Now, a new study has shown that most of the athletes with VA have dysfunctional right ventricles.

The finding adds weight to the hypothesis that endurance sports might contribute to changes in the heart that lead to dysfunction and heart rhythm disturbances, according to the authors of the report published in the European Heart Journal [1] today (Monday 22 January).

VA is a heart rhythm disturbance that occurs in the ventricles (lower chambers) of the heart. It can be the cause of sudden death in athletes. There are many underlying causes of VA and often it is due to inherited diseases. Previous studies have found that VA in endurance athletes, such as cyclists, runners and kayakers, often originates from the right ventricle (RV), even when there are no previous symptoms that would enable a diagnosis of a condition called arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) to be made, and no family history of ARVC. A family history is usually present in 30-50% of reported cases of ARVC.

Researchers at the University Hospital Gasthuisberg at the University of Leuven in Belgium, set out to study whether abnormalities in the functioning of the RV might be present in endurance athletes with VA.

They studied 22 endurance athletes [2] who had been referred to them with VA between July 1997 and April 2005. None had abnormal wall thickening of the left ventricle (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) or coronary abnormalities. They compared them with 15 endurance athletes without VA and a control group of non-athletes without VA. The athletes were Belgian and Dutch men aged between 18 and 55.

Using four methods for quantitative angiography (X-ray of the heart chambers) to study the RV, they measured the volume of blood in the relaxed RV (end-diastolic volume, EDV), the volume of blood left in the RV after the heart had contracted (end-systolic volume, ESV) and the fraction of blood pumped out of the RV in each heart beat (ejection fraction, EF). In addition, they measured the change in the diameter of the part of the RV where the blood flows out to the arteries (RV outflow tract shortening fraction, SF), and the thickness of the ventricular walls.

Hein Heidbüchel, professor of cardiology/electrophysiology and director of the clinical EP laboratory who led the team, explained: Although arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy is a known cause of arrhythmias in athletes, we found that we could diagnose it unequivocally in only six of the 22 athletes (27%). However, we could assign arrhythmias as definitely or probably originating from the right ventricle in 82% of the patients an RV origin of the arrhythmia was manifest in 12 (55%) of the 22 and probable in six (27%) of them.

All athletes had a higher end-diastolic RV volume compared to controls, as expected in an athlete's heart. Importantly, we found that athletes with VA had an RV end-systolic volume that was significantly higher than athletes without VA, and, accordingly, athletes with VA had a significantly lower RV ejection fraction. This significance remained after we had excluded two athletes with presumed ARVC because of a family history of arrhythmias or sudden death.

The decrease in EF was not profound (down by approximately a fifth) but consistent among all athletes with VA and consistent across all measurement methods. The difference between the two groups of athletes indicated that the RV was not fulfilling its function of pumping blood out from the heart effectively in those with VA.

Prof Heidbüchel said: Our study clearly demonstrates RV functional abnormalities in high-level endurance athletes with VA. The observed RV dysfunction is more subtle than in familial or overt ARVC. ARVC was only present in a minority of the athletes, based on conventional, internationally accepted criteria. One explanation could be that these athletes presented with arrhythmias in the early stage of underlying ARVC, triggered by intense exercising. However, we know that athletes with ARVC are at increased risk of dying suddenly, in which case, diagnostic criteria for ARVC should be adapted to better detect this early manifestation of the disease.

An alternative explanation for our findings is that exercise also acted as a promoter of the RV changes, maybe in synergy with other environmental or genetic factors, and hence led to arrhythmias. Our study does not provide definitive proof for either of these explanations, but our data contribute to the accumulating, indirect evidence that endurance exercise may have detrimental effects on the RV in some athletes.

Determination of the underlying genetic profile of these athletes may provide further data and that work is under way. We also do not know whether substance abuse may have contributed to the observed changes, although all study subjects denied such use and there was no other evidence for it in any of them.

Although they are still awaiting results of the genetic tests, Prof Heidbüchel and his colleagues questioned whether the findings were due to the expression of early ARVC, especially as there was other evidence to support the second explanation. The hypothesis that high-level endurance exercise is an underlying cause of the VA is supported by other studies that suggest that endurance exercise and volume overload subject the thin-walled RV to a greater increase in workload than the thick-walled left ventricle, with subsequent changes to the structure of the RV.

Prof Heidbüchel said that athletes who undertake endurance sports should not worry too much. Ventricular arrhythmias are very uncommon. But they need to be vigilant and honest with themselves: if they have a family history of ARVC, arrhythmias, sudden death or other heart complaints, or if they have experienced exercise-induced light-headedness, palpitations or fainting, then they should see their doctor for an evaluation.

On the golf tee or pitcher's mound, brain dooms motion to inconsistency

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) If you've ever wondered why your golf swings, fastballs or free throws don't quite turn out the same way each time, even after years of practice, there is now an answer: It's mostly in your head. That's the finding of new research published in the Dec. 21 issue of the journal Neuron by electrical engineers at Stanford University.

The main reason you can't move the same way each and every time, such as swinging a golf club, is that your brain can't plan the swing the same way each time, says electrical engineering Assistant Professor Krishna Shenoy, whose research includes study of the neural basis of sensorimotor integration and movement control. He, postdoctoral researcher Mark Churchland and electrical engineering doctoral candidate and medical student Afsheen Afshar authored the study.

It's as if each time the brain tries to solve the problem of planning how to move, it does it anew, Churchland says. Practice and training can help the brain solve the problem more capably, but people and other primates simply aren't wired for consistency like computers or machines. Instead, people seem to be improvisers by default.

A major conclusion of the study, in fact, is that movement variability is not primarily a mechanical phenomenon, as had widely been thought. After looking at neural activity and muscle activity, the Stanford researchers concluded that less than half the reason for inconsistency in movement lies in the muscles.

This is the first study to successfully record neural activity during the planning period and link it on a trial-by-trial basis to performance during those trials, Churchland says.

The Stanford team decided to do just that with the help of rhesus macaque monkeys. The monkeys were trained to perform a simple reaching task. When shown a green spot, they were rewarded with juice if they reached slowly to touch the spot. For a red spot, they were trained to reach fast. During the trials the researchers would monitor the activity of individual neurons in the premotor cortex, a part of the brain responsible for movement planning, while the monkeys were planning their reaches. Then the researchers would record the speed of the resulting motion.

Over a series of thousands of trials, the researchers observed subtle variations in the speeds of the reaches. The monkeys rarely reached with the same exact speed, whether for a green or red spot. More importantly, after some sophisticated statistical processing, the scientists found the small variations in reach speed were predicted by small variations in brain activity during movement planning, before the movement even began.

Getting people to move -- challenges in promoting physical activity

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Programs that discourage smoking have been reasonably successful. However, public health programs that encourage physical activity have not. While the benefits of regular physical activity are well documented in the medical literature and the problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle are even more apparent, public health officials struggle for methods to promote increased physical activity that will work in American society. In a study published in the January 2007 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers examine the challenges in promoting physical activity in a society less and less inclined to walk, run or exercise.

Writing in the article, Antronette K Yancey, MD, MPH, at the UCLA School of Public Health, states, Although the science of physical activity promotion is advancing rapidly, the practice of promoting physical activity at a population level is in its infancy. The virtual absence of a public health practice infrastructure for the promotion of physical activity at the local level presents a critical challenge to chronic disease, and particularly obesity, control policy.

The authors examined the current public health infrastructure and found that there are political and systemic barriers to effective physical activity promotional efforts. Competing interests have often conspired to hamper such programs. For example, funding public school Physical Education often loses out to increased money for more academic programs. While healthy eating to prevent obesity is desirable, demonizing the food industry as the sole cause of obesity undermines the importance of physical activity and deflects attention from activity-restricting consequences of other industries. With the automobile, oil and tire industries putting us in cars and the movie/TV, video game and spectator sports industries putting us in chairs, the public is encouraged to remain sedentary. The message that there is a fuller spectrum of benefits from physical activity is easily lost.

Dr. Yancey continues, Physical activity promotion constitutes a critical role for public health practice, given the increasing prevalence of inactivity and sedentary behavior, the substantial protection against obesity and chronic disease conferred by regular physical activity, the major contribution of sedentariness and obesity to health disparities and the increasing understanding of the central role that physical activity plays in overall health and quality of life. The public health infrastructure for physical activity promotion, while undeveloped and untested, is not unlike the public health infrastructure for other major health concerns before they were recognized as such. Given the evidence, the time is right to move forward with putting the infrastructure into place. To not do so is to place future generations at risk.

Improperly sized tennis racket grip doesn't cause tennis elbow

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Rosemont, Ill. December 1, 2006 Researchers apparently have gotten a grip on the relationship between the development of tennis elbow (tendonitis) and the size of the grip on the racket a player uses.

A grip that is either too big or too small for the player's hand is not a factor in whether or not a player may develop tennis elbow, according to a study published in the December issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine. An optimal grip size may influence the force with which a player hits the ball, but variations in grip size are unlikely to be contributing factors in overuse injuries such as tennis elbow, concludes George F. Hatch III, MD, currently of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, and colleagues. (Dr. Hatch conducted the study while in training at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles.)

Clinicians who treat patients with tennis elbow often tell them to try a different size grip in order to alleviate muscle fatigue, says Dr. Hatch. Our study demonstrates that those recommendations have no scientific basis. Therefore, it is reasonable to recommend whatever grip size feels most comfortable for them.

Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) is the most common upper extremity complaint among recreational players, accounting for 75% to 85% of elbow injuries. Researchers believe it results from repetitive impacts between the ball and racket coupled with poor wrist stability especially during the backhand swing. The backhand stroke seems to be the culprit because it results in overexertion and micro-tearing within two primary muscles inside the forearm.

Hatch and coauthors at Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic studied 16 NCAA Division I and II tennis players (10 men, 6 women) with no prior history of elbow problems. Twelve players were right-handed; four left-handed. All players were proficient at using a one-handed backhand. Players' recommended grip size was determined using an industry standard: measuring the distance from the bottom lengthwise crease in the palm to the tip of the ring finger with a ruler.

The researchers inserted electrodes into five different muscles in each player's dominant arm to measure the firing pattern of their muscles (electromyogram, EMG). After a warm-up period, players then performed three single-handed backhand strokes using identical model rackets with three different grip sizes: the recommended grip size, a small grip size (1/4 inch smaller than recommended), and a large grip size (1/4 inch larger than recommended). One-quarter inch size variations were chosen because most commercially available adult-sized rackets have grip sizes ranging from 4 inches to 4 5/8 inches. A ball machine set at a constant speed and angle provided consistent ball delivery. Each player's strokes were captured on high speed video which was then synchronized with the corresponding EMG.

Of the five forearm muscles studied, none showed significant variations in firing patterns during three phases of the backhand stroke: accelerated forward motion of the racket, ball impact, and early follow-through. Close attention was paid to two specific muscles, the extensor carpi radialis brevis (ECRB) and the extensor digitorium communis (EDC), which are located beside each other in the forearm and originate from the bony prominence on the outside of the elbow. Overuse, microtrauma, and failed healing in both of these muscles can result in tendonitis. Yet larger and smaller grip sizes did not affect the activity of these two muscles, the authors found.

Based on our data, we recommend recreational tennis players use the currently accepted grip size measurement technique as a starting point in when picking a grip size, says Dr. Hatch. However, the player should feel free to increase or decrease the size of the grip based upon what feels most comfortable. Previous studies have shown that improper form is one of the biggest risk factors for the development of tendonitis.

Phys ed class more effective when there's more talking

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A new approach to traditional high school gym class dramatically increases how often teens exercise outside of school.

Researchers at Ohio State and Denison universities developed and tested the new program in which students at a rural Ohio high school learned how create a personalized exercise program. The students spent one gym class each week learning the skills necessary for planning a lifelong exercise program.

Nearly half of the students said that they spent no time exercising outside of school prior to beginning the program. That number dropped to less than one in 10 students once the program ended.

Traditional gym classes don't work for many students, said Rick Petosa, a study co-author and an associate professor of physical activity and educational services at Ohio State. Sports-based physical education does not increase physical activity outside of school.

The new approach to gym class, called Planning to be Active, was developed by Petosa and Brian Hortz, an assistant professor of physical education at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.

Most current physical education research focuses on increasing the number of minutes of physical activity in the classroom, Hortz said. Instead of exercising during class time, we had students spend their time thinking about, planning and analyzing their approach to exercise outside of the classroom.

The results appear in a recent issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.

The study included 143 students from the same high school the intervention school to participate in the new program. An additional 97 students from a neighboring high school served as a comparison group Hortz did not present the new program to these students.

Students at both schools attended physical education classes five days a week, where the emphasis was on learning the skills necessary to participate in sports.

Each week for eight weeks, Hortz met with the students at the intervention school during one gym class period.

During these lessons the students learned how to develop their own personal exercise plan. For example, some students planned to exercise with family and friends, while other students chose to exercise alone.

The program encouraged students to plan the way that they preferred to be active, Hortz said.

The intervention group participated in sport-related activities during their other daily gym classes.

All students were asked to keep a seven-day record of how often they exercised outside of normal school hours (between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.) They kept these written records at two different times one week before the program started and the week after the program ended. A 30-minute exercise session counted as a workout for a day.

At the beginning of the study, nearly half of the students (46.9 percent) participating in the intervention program said they spent no time exercising outside of school.

By the end of the study, that shrank to less than one in 10 students (9.1 percent.) Walking, bicycling and small group games, such as three-on-three basketball, were among the top activities students participated in during their leisure time.

These findings suggest that the program encouraged sedentary students to become active, Petosa said. Exercise doesn't have to be a strenuous, heart-pounding, sweat-inducing session that leads to exhaustion. In fact, research shows significant health benefits can be gained when a sedentary person becomes moderately active.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that teenagers get 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activity each day. Walking briskly, which many students in this study said that they did, qualifies as moderate exercise.

By the end of the study, the students from the intervention group increased the number of days they exercised to nearly three days (2.94 days), up from 0.89 days at the study's beginning. The comparison group only increased their work out frequency by half a day, from 1.34 days to 1.81 days.

The number of students who worked out at a moderate pace four or more days a week increased eight-fold (from 4.2 percent to 33.6 percent.)

We conducted the study from January to March, when it was most convenient for the school systems in the study, Hortz said. The slight rise in activity among students in the comparison group may be due to the fact that the weather improved, making it more conducive to exercising outdoors.

Hortz and Petosa are continuing their collaboration, and are currently evaluating the program in about a half-dozen high schools this school year.

Physical activity starts to decline during adolescence and continues to do so throughout adulthood, Hortz said. We're trying to help change students' attitudes toward physical activity. This program lets them exercise whenever, however and wherever they want to.

Regular, moderate exercise reduces the risk of colds in postmenopausal women

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) SEATTLE -- Postmenopausal women who want to decrease their risk of colds would be well advised to dust off their sneakers and get moving, suggests a new study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Through the first randomized clinical trial to investigate the impact of moderate physical activity on common-cold incidence, Cornelia (Neli) Ulrich, Ph.D., and colleagues found that postmenopausal women who exercised regularly for a year had about half the risk of colds compared to those who did not work out routinely. The findings appear in the November issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

This adds another good reason to put exercise on your to-do list, especially now that cold season is here, said Ulrich, the paper's senior author and an associate member of the Hutchinson Center's Public Health Sciences Division. However, Ulrich is quick to point out that regular exercise in moderation such as 30 to 45 minutes of brisk walking each day is the key; other studies have shown that excessive, exhaustive exercise can deplete immune function and increase the risk of colds.

The researchers found that the ability of moderate exercise to ward off colds seemed to increase over time. The enhanced immunity was strongest in the final quarter of the year-long exercise intervention, Ulrich said. This suggests that when it comes to preventing colds, it's really important to stick with exercise long term. Overall, the non-exercisers experienced about twice as many colds as the exercisers, but in the last three months of the intervention, the non-exercisers had a threefold greater chance of coming down with colds.

The yearlong study involved 115 previously sedentary, overweight, postmenopausal Seattle-area women. None smoked or took hormone-replacement therapy. Half were randomly assigned to a moderate-intensity, aerobic-exercise group and half, who served as a comparison group, attended a weekly stretching class.

While the members of the exercise group were asked to work out at home and at a gym for 45 minutes a day, five days a week, in fact they achieved an average of about 30 minutes of exercise per day. They were supposed to do a little more exercise, but even so, we found it was enough activity to boost immune function in the long run, Ulrich said.

Brisk walking was the activity of choice, accounting for 52 percent of gym-based and 74 percent of home-based exercise. It's been shown that just a 30-minute walk can increase levels of leukocytes, which are part of the family of immune cells that fight infection, Ulrich said, referring to a possible biological explanation for the protective effect.

A major strength of this study was its yearlong duration, large number of participants and randomized, controlled, clinical-trial design, considered the gold standard of study designs in medicine.

Even though the study was larger and longer than others that have addressed the impact of exercise on the risk of colds and upper-respiratory infections, it still may not have had enough participants or followed them long enough to provide a definitive answer, cautioned first author Jessica Chubak, a research associate at the Hutchinson Center. It would be interesting to see what would happen over the course of a longer exercise intervention, she said.

The overall goal of the study, funded by the National Cancer Institute, was to assess the impact of physical activity on markers of breast-cancer risk. In addition to reducing their incidence of colds, the women in the exercise group also achieved significant reductions in weight, total-body fat and intra-abdominal fat.

In addition to Ulrich, Chubak and colleagues at the Hutchinson Center, collaborators on the study also included investigators from the University of Washington, University of Alberta and University of New Mexico.

According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Americans suffer an estimated 1 billion colds per year, resulting in a leading cause of doctor visits and missed days from work and school. Adults in the United States report an average of two to four colds per year.

Concussion in athletes: Can they accurately evaluate their own condition?

Sat, 16 Sep 2006 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Rosemont, Ill. What did Trent Green say and when did he say it?, sports medicine doctors may be asking after the Kansas City Chiefs' starting quarterback suffered a severe head injury in last Sunday's Chiefs-Bengals game. New research suggests Green's assessment of his own condition may not be as accurate as the read-out from a computer.

According to a study in the October issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine, reliance on athletes' self-reported symptoms after concussion is likely to result in underdiagnosis of concussion and may result in premature return to play. A computer-based neurocognitive test designed specifically to measure the effects of sports-related concussion is more reliable when used with an athlete's self-report and may save the player from additional injury, the study finds.

Overreliance on athlete symptoms has recently been criticized based on the tendency of some athletes to underreport symptoms, presumably in an attempt to speed their return to the playing field, the authors write. We present data in this study that suggest reliance on symptoms alone is inadequate and is likely to lead to missed diagnosis of the injury in a significant number of athletes.

Mark R. Lovell PhD and colleagues in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center compared 122 athletes who suffered concussions with a control group of 70 non-concussed athletes. High school and college athletes in 6 states were studied over a 3-year period. Football players represented the majority (82%) of the concussed group; swimmers were the majority (50%) of the control group.

All athletes in the study underwent preseason (baseline) evaluation using Immediate Postconcussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT), a widely-used computer program which measures 4 neurocognitive functions: verbal memory, visual memory, reaction time and visual motor processing speed. ImPACT is used throughout professional and amateur sports and was utilized in this study as part of the athletes' overall medical management. ImPACT also includes a postconcussion symptom (PCS) scale in which the athletes themselves rate the severity of their symptoms, such as headache, nausea, dizziness and trouble sleeping.

Sixty-four percent of concussed athletes self-reported an increase in symptoms 2 days after injury. However, 83% of these same athletes demonstrated significantly poorer neurocognitive function as measured by ImPACT relative to their own baseline scores. The addition of the computerized neurocognitive testing resulted in a net increase in sensitivity (accuracy of diagnosis) of 19%. The use of both PCS scores and ImPACT scores resulted in an increased sensitivity of 29% over reliance on PCS scores alone. In contrast, none of the control group of nonconcussed athletes had both symptoms and abnormal neurocognitive testing. The type of sport played had no effect on scores.

Given these results, it is of concern that most return-to-play decisions after concussion have relied heavily on the athlete's self-report of symptoms, the authors conclude. This study demonstrates that even athletes who report being symptom free may continue to exhibit neurocognitive deficits that they are either unaware of or are failing to report.

Amateur boxing linked to brain cell injury

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A study of 14 Swedish amateur boxers suggests that they have higher levels of certain chemicals in their cerebrospinal fluid in the days following a bout, indicating injuries to neurons and other cells important to brain function, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

About 20 percent of professional boxers develop chronic traumatic brain injury, according to background information in the article. Some studies have suggested that amateur boxers also damage their nervous systems, but because their shorter bouts allow fewer blows to the head and because they must wear safety equipment, the effects tend to be less severe. These studies have been based on assessment of thinking, learning, memory and other brain functions long after boxing, rather than an immediate test performed soon after a fight.

Henrik Zetterberg, M.D., Ph.D., The Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden, and colleagues obtained spinal fluids (via spinal tap) from 14 amateur boxers (11 men and three women, average age 22 years) seven to 10 days after a bout and again three months later, after a rest from boxing. At the first assessment, the boxers reported how many hits to the head they received during the match and underwent physical and neurologic examinations; none showed signs of brain injury. The researchers also tested the cerebrospinal fluids of 10 healthy men who were not boxers as controls. Levels of several chemicals that indicate damage to brain cells (neurons) and their axons, the thread-like extensions of the cell that reach toward other brain cells to transmit electrical impulses, were measured.

Seven to 10 days after a boxing match, the group of boxers had higher average levels of chemicals known as neurofilament light protein and total tau than they did three months later. The cerebrospinal fluid levels of these proteins increase in disorders with neuronal and axonal degeneration and damage, and the increase is known to correlate with the size of the brain lesion, the authors write. When applied to the results of this study, the increases in neurofilament protein and total tau probably reflect damage to neuronal axons from hits to the head during a bout. They also had elevated levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein, which indicates damage to the astroglia, specialized cells that surround neurons to insulate and support them. An increase in this chemical was also recently found in patients who experienced severe brain injury, and the levels were linked to the patient's clinical outcome. Levels of all three chemicals were significantly higher in the seven boxers who had sustained more than 15 hits to the head or experienced grogginess during or after a bout, compared with those who had 15 or fewer hits to the head and no grogginess.

Compared with the non-boxers, immediately after a bout the boxers had higher levels of neurofilament light protein and glial fibrillary acidic protein. Three months later, the boxers still had higher levels of neurofilament light protein than the control subjects.

Amateur boxing is associated with acute neuronal and astroglial injury, the authors conclude. If verified in longitudinal studies with extensive follow-up regarding the clinical outcome, analyses of cerebrospinal fluid may provide a scientific basis for medical counseling of athletes after boxing or head injury.

Pressure to be more muscular may lead men to unhealthy behaviors

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Columbus , Ohio -- Women are not the only ones in American society who feel pressure to achieve the perfect body.

New research suggests that men feel pressure to have muscular bodies, and that influence can lead some to symptoms of eating disorders, pressure to use steroids, and an unhealthy preoccupation with weightlifting.

Men see these idealized, muscular men in the media and feel their own bodies don't measure up, said Tracy Tylka, author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University 's Marion campus.

For some men, this can lead to unhealthy and potentially dangerous behaviors to try to reach that ideal.

Tylka presented her research at a symposium August 10 in New Orleans at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.

Of course, women have been pressured for decades to achieve a thin ideal, but this is a more recent phenomenon for men, Tylka said.

Instead of seeing a decrease in objectification of women in society, there has just been an increase in the objectification of men. And you can see that in the media today, she said.

To test how this emphasis on muscularity has affected men, Tylka studied 285 college men. She asked them a variety of questions to determine how much pressure to be muscular that they felt from family, friends, romantic partners and the media.

The findings showed that the more pressure the men felt, the more they felt they had to live up to the ideals.

They start to believe that the only attractive male body is a muscular one. And when they internalize that belief, they judge themselves on that ideal and probably come up short, because it is not a realistic portrayal of men, she said.

While other studies have suggested men can become preoccupied with their muscles, Tylka said this research shows men are also very worried about their body fat.

Not only are men being targeted to be muscular, but they also feel they have to be very lean to show off their muscularity.

And the more dissatisfied that men in the study felt with their muscularity and body fat, the more they engaged in unhealthy behaviors, findings showed.

For example, men who were not happy with their muscles were more likely to say that their weight-training schedule interfered with other parts of their life, that others think they work out too much, that they used protein supplements, and even that they thought about using steroids.

Men who were dissatisfied with their body fat were more likely to report symptoms of eating disorders, such as avoiding certain foods, being terrified about being overweight, and being preoccupied with a desire to be thinner.

Tylka said there is a difference between men who exercise and watch their diet for their health, and those who do so because they feel pressure to change their bodies.

It is good to exercise, to lift weights, and to eat the foods that make your body function well, she said.

But it is not good to be preoccupied with gaining muscle mass. Those that are preoccupied are not working out to get healthier, they are working out to bulk up. They are not eating healthy, they are cutting out major food groups like carbohydrates and eating massive amounts of protein.

While men in American society are feeling increasing pressures to achieve the perfect body, Tylka said women still get a disproportionate share of the pressure.

Women still get objectified more than men, but men are feeling the pressure too.

Few young competitive athletes survive sudden cardiac arrest

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The study is the first of its kind to look at the timing and details of resuscitating young competitive athletes who experienced SCA, a sudden and lethal arrhythmia causing an abrupt loss of heart function.

The findings of this small cohort raise concerns regarding the effectiveness of early defibrillation in young athletes, said Jonathan A. Drezner, MD, Associate Director of the Sports Medicine Fellowship in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle and lead author of the study. The survival rates in these young athletes are significantly lower than expected, despite appropriate and timely response.

In all cases, the athletes suffered a witnessed collapse, meaning there were bystanders who were able to respond immediately to the athlete, and they all received CPR. AED's were applied to all the athletes by athletic trainers or by responding emergency medical services (EMS) and in seven cases, a shock was deployed. Nevertheless, only one out of nine athletes in the study survived, a striking finding considering the young age, otherwise good health and physical conditioning of the athletes, and early defibrillation.

The authors stated that several factors could explain the low survival rate. Most importantly, the underlying cause of SCA in the athletes might have influenced their lack of response to resuscitation and defibrillation. While there has been convincing evidence of successful SCA survival rates due to public access to AED's, the benefit of these programs has been shown in an older population that was more likely to have experienced SCA due to atherosclerosis, or narrowing of the coronary arteries.

In comparison, the underlying cause of SCA in the majority of athletes in this study was attributed to structural heart disease, namely hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the muscle of the heart is abnormally enlarged. These results suggest that SCA caused by structural heart disease may be more resistant to defibrillation, Dr. Drezner remarked.

Delayed recognition of cardiac arrest by first responders, duration and intensity of exercise prior to arrest, metabolic and physiologic adaptations during exercise and vascular changes are other potential factors that may have affected survival.

Dr. Drezner emphasized that improved emergency planning with training in CPR and access to AED's is critical to saving lives. It's possible that in this young athletic population our response time needs to be even shorter, and our CPR even better. Immediate recognition of a cardiac arrest, early CPR, and prompt access to defibrillators are still needed in the hope of preventing these catastrophic events.

The authors concluded that the study findings reinforce a need for future research on SCA in young athletes and the effect of early defibrillation on young patients with structural heart disease. Clearly, we need to understand this better, noted Dr. Drezner.

Natural pine bark extract relieves muscle cramp and pain in athletes and diabetics

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) With the millions of athletes worldwide, this truly is a profound breakthrough and extremely significant for all individuals interested in muscle cramp and pain relief with a natural approach. These findings indicate that Pycnogenol can play an important role in sports by improving blood flow to the muscles and hastening post-exercise recovery, said Dr. Peter Rohdewald, a lead researcher of the study.

Researchers at L'Aquila University in Italy and at the University of Würzburg in Germanystudied the effects of Pycnogenol on venous disorders and cramping in two separate studies.

The first study consisted of 66 participants who had experienced normal cramping at some point, had venous insufficiency, or were athletes who suffer from exercise-induced cramping. The first two weeks of the study was an observation period and participants did not supplement with Pycnogenol. Symptoms related to venous disorders, and the number of cramping episodes each participant experienced over the two observation weeks was recorded.

Next, all the participants were given 200 mg of Pycnogenol once a day for four weeks. After the treatment phase, participants' symptoms and cramping episodes were recorded for one week without any Pycnogenol supplementation.

The researchers found a significant decrease in the number of cramps the participants experienced while supplementing with Pycnogenol. Participants who had experienced normal cramping had a 25 percent reduction in the number of cramps experienced while taking Pycnogenol.

Participants with venous insufficiency experienced a 40 percent reduction in the number of cramps, and athletes with frequent cramping experienced a 13 percent reduction in the number of cramps while on Pycnogenol.

The second study involved 47 participants with diabetic microangiopathy (a disorder of the smallest veins commonly associated with diabetes), or intermittent claudication (a blood vessel disease that causes the legs to easily cramp).This study also used a two-week pre-trial observation period followed by a week of supplementing with Pycnogenol (200 mg per day for one week), followed by a week of observation without Pycnogenol supplementation.

Patients with diabetic microangiopathy had a 20.8 percent reduction in pain, while participants with claudication experienced a 21 percent decrease in the amount of pain experienced while supplementing with Pycnogenol. Results indicated participants who took placebo experienced no decrease in pain.

Cramps are a common problem for people of all ages, ranging to the extreme fit and healthy to people who suffer from health problems. Previously, magnesium was hailed as the natural approach for relieving muscle cramps, however studies continue to show magnesium to be inefficient for reducing muscle cramps.

Pycnogenol improves the blood supply to muscle tissue creating a relief effect on muscle cramping and pain. Poor circulation in the muscle is known to cause cramps and Pycnogenol improved the cramping in patients due to a stimulation of blood flow to their muscle tissue. Nitric oxide (NO) a blood gas, is well known to enhance blood flow and Pycnogenol may be influencing the activity of NO, said Rohdewald. The insufficient production of NO is the common denominator responsible for impaired blood flow in vascular disease.

Strenuous exercise is known to involve muscle damage which may be followed by symptoms of inflammation. In separate studies published this year and in 2004 and 2005, Pycnogenol demonstrated its anti-inflammatory effects in clinical trials for asthma, dysmenorrhea and osteoarthritis.

Good physical function linked to Alzheimer's delay

Mon, 22 May 2006 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) This study followed 2,288 Group Health members age 65 and older for six years. At the start, none showed any signs of dementia or Alzheimer's disease. The researchers contacted the participants every two years, assessing physical and mental functioning. By six years, 319 participants had developed dementia, including 221 with Alzheimer's disease. The participants whose physical function was higher at the start of the study were three times less likely to develop dementia than were those whose physical function was lower.

Everyone had expected the earliest signs of dementia would be subtle cognitive changes, said Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH, director of Group Health Center for Health Studies. We were surprised to find that physical changes can precede declines in thinking. What is considered a brain disease may be intimately connected to physical fitness, he added.

In the study, the first indicators of future dementia appeared to be problems with walking and balance. A weak handgrip may be a later sign of the development of dementia in older people.

The National Institute on Aging supported this study. Coauthors are Li Wang, MS, of the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System; and James D. Bowen, MD, and Gerald van Belle, PhD, of the University of Washington.

In a recent report, in the Annals of Internal Medicine in January 2006, some of these researchers found that when people exercised regularly, they were less likely to develop dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. The cause of this association was not clear, though. This newer study suggests a possible pathway: that regular exercise may help stave off dementia by improving and maintaining physical conditioning.

These results suggest that in aging, there's a close link between the mind and body, said Larson. Physical and mental performance may go hand in hand, and anything you can do to improve one is likely to improve the other. If people notice that they are starting to decline physically, he said, reengaging in physical activity may help them to stop or slow this decline--and reduce their risk of early cognitive worsening.

On the other hand, he said, it is still possible for people who have physical constraints, even paralysis, to stay mentally alert and cognitively fit. Other studies have suggested that staying busy with nonphysical leisure activities and learning new things may also help delay the onset of dementia. Also, healthy body, healthy mind is probably only part of the story, he added: Other elements likely include social support and positive mood.

New computer model of football can help NFL coaches call the next play, evaluate players

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 04:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Just what I need, groans every harassed head coach. Another critic.

Not this time. Indiana University scientist Chuck Bower and two partners from the business world, Frank Frigo of Louisville, Ky., and Bo Durickovic of Austin, Texas, have created ZEUS, a computer model of football as it's played in the National Football League, based on years of NFL statistics. ZEUS runs on an off-the-shelf laptop, perfect for a football sideline or a coach's booth above the playing field.

ZEUS is designed to do what a coach needs to do during a game but can't -- calculate the consequences of a decision before he calls the next play. Accept the penalty or decline it? Challenge the official's call or not? Go for it on fourth down or punt? Go for one extra point or two after the touchdown?

These are the kinds of decisions that often determine the outcome of a game, especially a close one. In many situations the decision is obvious, but sometimes it's not clear which choice offers the best chance to win. That's where ZEUS comes in.

Bower emphasized that ZEUS is not a substitute for coaching skills. It's a valuable addition to a coaching staff's tools, and one that can provide that elusive edge over the competition, he said. The ZEUS engine is powerful enough to simulate the equivalent of every game played in the history of the NFL in less than a second. ZEUS can objectively assess crucial play-calling decisions with startling accuracy.

Another application of ZEUS involves player position value. NFL data are available that are conversions of individual player performance into usable statistical input, including players in the non-ball-handling positions. An example is the work of Aaron Schatz and collaborators at Football Outsiders as detailed in their book Football Prospectus 2005, Bower said.

With the help of this data, ZEUS can convert a player's performance to net wins per season, Bower said. This is a great aid to NFL managers who must work within a team salary cap. For example, suppose a team is trying to decide whether they should re-sign an aging Pro Bowl running back and a veteran tackle with average ability. They have the alternative choice of acquiring a Pro Bowl tackle and then drafting in the second round a running back whom they regard highly but consider under-rated, which would potentially save the team $1 million in salary. Which path should they take? ZEUS can project how many additional wins per season each move should provide.

Information about ZEUS is available at

ZEUS was built through extensive research into NFL game logs, historical statistics and the behavioral traits of coaches.

The core model replicates, with amazing accuracy, the play-calling and statistical outputs of typical NFL teams, Bower said. ZEUS can also be customized for the offense and defense of a particular NFL team and its opponent. Then, with the capability of performing more than a million game simulations in a matter of seconds, it can assess critical play choices on their relative merits.

ZEUS takes the relative output of the simulation and performs an objective analysis of statistical significance and skill sensitivity. There is simply not a more accurate way to assess a critical play-calling decision in football, Bower said.

Fortunately, very good statistical data are available from the NFL on a team-by-team basis. Using these data, distribution curves were developed for the probabilistic outcomes of every possible play choice. Through continued refinement, a core model was developed that very accurately replicates how typical NFL teams perform against each other, Bower explained.

After millions of simulations had been performed, a comparison of several key statistics was conducted against actual NFL historical data. In categories such as average score differential, points, time of possession, rushing and passing yardage, kicking distances and field goal success rates, the results of ZEUS were spot on, Bower said, as can be seen at

Only then was ZEUS used to assess critical play calling. The remarkably close correlation between ZEUS analysis and the best available NFL historical data is shown at

But isn't football inherently different from other areas where game theory has been applied?

Surprisingly, games like chess and backgammon are tactically very similar to games like football and baseball, Bower said. While the physical nature of the game is very different, the situational nature is strikingly similar. A football coach is constantly making decisions with respect to multiple variables (score, field position, down, yards to a first down, etc.). Sophisticated computer models and simulations were introduced in chess and backgammon more than 20 years ago, and much has been learned. To say that technology has revolutionized these games would be an understatement. There is absolutely no reason that ZEUS cannot have an equally revolutionary impact on professional sports such as football and baseball.

ZEUS is currently designed to accommodate NFL rules and the statistical range of NFL teams. However, the model can provide a reasonably accurate assessment of many critical decisions in the college game as well.

With some modification, a very powerful product could be developed to assist the college coach, Bower said. Considering the already intense recruiting competition among college programs, technology may ultimately provide the edge needed to succeed at the highest level.

'Adventure Therapy' effective in maintaining weight-loss in older teens

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Since weight gain in adolescence has been associated with a number of health problems in adulthood, we wanted to find a program that could offer teens an effective weight-loss strategy, says lead author Elissa Jelalian, PhD, a child psychologist with the BHCRC and Brown Medical School.

Seventy-six overweight adolescents (ages 13 to 16) were randomly assigned to one of two treatment plans for 16 weeks: cognitive-behavioral group treatment with Adventure Therapy based on Outward Bound (an educational program that promotes adventure and peer-building activities), or cognitive-behavioral group treatment in conjunction with aerobic exercise.

We found that the older teens in our sample lost more weight through the Adventure Therapy regimen, and many kept it off at the 10 month follow-up, says Jelalian.

While average weight loss was similar for both groups, the authors saw significant differences between the groups six months after completion of the active intervention. Over twice as many adolescents in the Adventure Therapy group maintained their weight loss. Even more impressive, they found that older adolescents in the adventure therapy group demonstrated more than four times the weight loss of their counterparts in the aerobics group at follow-up.

This study supports the idea that at ages 15 and 16, adolescents may benefit significantly from peer support. The Adventure Therapy model embraces positive peer encouragement which is why it's so effective, says Jelalian.

Rather than participating in a supervised exercise session together, adolescents assigned to the Adventure Therapy group were asked to work together in cooperative games, trust-building exercises, and problem solving challenges. The final challenge was for adolescents to participate in a ropes course.

Obesity in children and adolescents is a significant public health concern, the authors write. Data from the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data (NHANES 1999-2000) indicate that approximately 15 percent of children and adolescents are overweight. The recent Surgeon General's Call to Action describes overweight and obesity as a public health epidemic, with specific focus on the impact of overweight for children and adolescents.

The obesity epidemic our country is facing has created a tremendous need for innovative, effective weight loss strategies for overweight teens, says co-author Elizabeth Lloyd-Richardson, PhD, psychologist at The Miriam Hospital and Brown Medical School. The rise in prevalence of pediatric obesity has been associated with a rise in the diagnosis of non-insulin-dependent diabetes, as well as risk factors for heart disease. Weight increases during adolescence have also been associated with fasting insulin, HDL-cholesterol, and systolic blood pressure in young adulthood.

Evidence suggests that losing even small amounts of weight (5 to 10 percent of body weight) can have a significant impact on health, says co-author Rena Wing, PhD, director of the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center at The Miriam Hospital and Brown Medical School.

Furthermore, childhood and adolescent obesity are significant predictors of overweight status in adulthood and pose a risk factor for adult morbidity and mortality, particularly for males, the authors write.

Animal models show that anabolic steroids flip the adolescent brain's switch for aggression

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Neuroscientists are deeply concerned about rising adolescent abuse of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AASs), given the National Institute on Drug Abuse's estimate that nearly half a million eighth- and 10th-grade students abuse AASs each year. Not only do steroids set kids up for heavier use of steroids and other drugs later in life, but long-term users can suffer from mood swings, hallucinations and paranoia; liver damage; high blood pressure; as well as increased risk of heart disease, stroke and some types of cancer. Withdrawal often brings depression, and recent research suggests that some AASs may even be habit-forming.

Overseen by Richard Melloni Jr., PhD, of Northeastern University in Boston, the current study of 76 adolescent hamsters compared how individual hamsters behaved when another hamster was put into their cages. Normally mild-mannered hamsters still defend their turf, learning aggression during puberty by play-fighting, much like humans. Their roughhousing normally includes wrestling and nibbling pretty tame stuff.

However, hamsters injected with commonly used steroids (suspended in oil) became extremely aggressive. Even after the drug was withdrawn, the newly vicious hamsters attacked, bit and chased the intruders. In fact, their aggressiveness measured ten times greater than that of control hamsters injected with oil only. Their full-blown aggression clearly drug-induced -- lasted for nearly two weeks of withdrawal, the equivalent of half their adolescence. Eventually, the aggressiveness subsided; by three weeks of withdrawal, all the hamsters greeted intruders with normal, playful defensiveness.

Autopsy revealed that the outward aggressiveness correlated with inner changes in the brain. When the drugged hamsters were hostile hosts, a part of their brains called the anterior hypothalamus pumped out more of a neurotransmitter called vasopressin. By three weeks of withdrawal, vasopressin levels subsided in parallel with the aggressive behavior. The anterior hypothalamus regulates aggression and social behavior. Thus, vasopressin already known to stimulate that area appears to fuel the engine of aggression. And, says Melloni, Steroids step on the gas for agression.

Thus, the neuroscientists conclude that the aggressiveness triggered by anabolic steroids, although reversible, may last long enough to create serious behavioral problems for adults. Because this part of the rodent and human nervous systems are similar, researchers generalize their findings to humans. As a result, Melloni and his colleagues speculate that anabolic steroids can dramatically shorten teenage fuses (not known for length under the best of circumstances) and make young people pop off for years, a danger to themselves and to others. Melloni and others researchers also are concerned that drug use during a critical window in brain development can change their wiring for good. He says, Because the developing brain is more adaptable and pliable, steroids could change the trajectory if administered during development. His lab is releasing other new findings, as yet unpublished, that the serotonin system implicated in depression may never recover.

If you hit the right areas of the brain at the right time, you make permanent changes, Melloni concludes from the converging evidence.

He hopes that adolescents don't take the ultimate recovery of the vasopressin system to mean it's OK to use the drugs. It's our hope that people considering the use of these drugs weigh the long-term health risks and the serious potential for aggression and violence. Muscle mass and medals aren't worth the risk of hurting someone or landing in jail.

Finally, researchers such as Melloni hope these new insights can lead to treatments for aggressive behavior, with or without steroid abuse. Linking aggression to fluctuations in vasopressin makes it an important neurotransmitter to target for pharmacotherapy, he says.

New study finds anabolic steroids may be addictive

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 05:00:00 PST

( from http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Most people use anabolic steroids to enhance their physical performance, but they deny that steroids may be addictive, noted lead researcher Ruth Wood, PhD, Professor of Cell and Neurobiology at USC. Unlike other commonly abused drugs, the primary motivation for steroid users is not to get high, but rather to achieve enhanced athletic performance and increased muscle mass. The complex motivation for steroid use makes it difficult to determine the addictive properties of anabolic steroids in humans. Our goal was to create an experimental model of addiction where athletic performance and other reinforcing effects are irrelevant.

Wood's study is among the first to examine the potential for anabolic steroid addiction. The research was modeled after well-established methods used to study highly addictive drugs, such as cocaine and heroin. Hamsters were implanted with small cannulas for self-administration of commonly abused steroids into their brains. The animals then spent four hours per day in a chamber with access to two delivery mechanisms. When the hamster operated the active mechanism, he received 1 microgram of testosterone, or one of several commonly abused steroids: nandrolone, drostanolone, stanozolol, or oxymetholone. The inactive mechanism produced no response. A computer recorded the number of times each animal used the active and inactive delivery mechanisms. Overall, the animals showed a marked preference for testosterone, nandrolone or drostanolone, engaging the active delivery mechanism twice as often as the control. However, not all steroids are rewarding: hamsters did not voluntarily inject the weak steroids stanozolol or oxymetholone. By isolating the animals, researchers were able to remove the possibility that the hamster's decision to take the drugs would be affected by any social or behavioral factors

Cleary the animals perceive the steroids to be rewarding, said Wood. This preference demonstrates the drugs' potential for addiction. The researcher noted that the specific pattern of abuse demonstrated by hamsters suggests that a commonly held belief about steroids is true: rather than an acute high like that experienced by a cocaine or heroine user, steroid abusers experience a chronic, long-term sense of well-being. In other words, Wood explained, steroid users feel better on the drugs than they do off of them.

The findings demonstrate that anabolic steroids do have the potential to be addictive, Wood concluded. Coaches and athletes need to be aware of this potential, and add it to the list of dangers associated with using anabolic steroids.

Wood also noted that psychiatrists and other mental health professionals should be aware of the finding, as men who use anabolic steroids to change their appearance may have a serious body image disorder (Body Dysmorphic Disorder) and present for psychiatric treatment.

Androgenic-anabolic steroids are among a class of drugs that are commonly abused by athletes and body-builders. The drugs were banned from Olympic competition in 1975 and classified as controlled substances in 1991. According to the 2002 Monitoring the Future Study conducted by the University of Michigan, the lifetime incidence of steroid use among high school seniors (4.0%) was comparable to that for crack cocaine (3.8%) or heroin (1.7%).