NSSO Blogs & Articles
Want to learn more about sports safety, health and fitness? The NSSO Blogs & Articles Page is the place to go! NSSO will feature new and relevant articles, as well as archive the previously published ones for your convenience. NSSO staff, independent writers, and NSSO members are all welcome to contribute. Check back for more information as we get this page up and running. In the meantime, click below on any link to read our current articles:
Players say U of M violated NCAA practice rules
Some of the players on the 2008 and 2009 University of Michigan football team said that the team consistently violated rules pertaining to off-season workouts and summer activities. Players told the Detroit Free Press for a story published on the newspaper's web site that the amount of time they spend on football activities during the season and in the off-season greatly exceeds the limits. The players spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity because they feared repercussions from coaches. The limits are designed to protect players' well-being, ensure adequate study time and prevent schools from gaining an unfair competitive advantage. Read more...
Young baseball player returns from brain injury
Learn how a young baseball player recovered from serious brain injuries suffered while playing baseball last spring. Learn how traumatic brain injuries (TBI) affect 5.3 million Americans, many of whom incurred the injuries while participating in sports activities. Do you know the symptoms of concussions and brain injuries? Find out in this informative article by Bob Groves, staff writer of NorthJersey.com. Read more...
Athletic cups recalled due to injury hazard
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Under Armour Athletic Cups, announced a voluntary recall of athletic cups including adult, teen, and youth sizes. The cups were sold individually and as part of a set with compression, slider, or jock shorts. The cups can break if hit, posing a risk of serious injury hazard to athletes. Learn more in this report by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Read more...
Concussions linked to postheading in soccer players
Athletes with a history of multiple concussions are significantly more likely to suffer from impaired balance after repeated purposeful heading of a soccer ball, according to a study presented here at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine. The findings underscore the need for clinicians to exercise caution before authorizing athletes to return to soccer after a concussion. Read more...
Summer camps health and safety concerns
Summer is finallyÊhere. So, whatÊhealth and safety concerns should you consider as we enter the hotter months -- now that your child/teen is playing summer sports or starting outdoor camps? The American Academy of Pediatricians offers recommendations to follow to helpÊyouÊkeep your teenÊhealthy andÊavoid injury (there's more on their web site). Read more...
"Max's Law" addresses concussion concerns.
A bill aimed at reducing brain injuries for athletes involved with school sports has been passed by the Legislature and is headed for Gov. Ted Kulongoski's signature. The law would compel coaches in every school sport to be trained annually on how to recognize concussion symptoms and assign appropriate medical treatment when they occur Read more...
How to keep spring in your step
An orthopaedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine and member of the Department of Orthopaedics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, Dr. Klion has personal experience in trying to avoid the very injuries he sees in patients every day. With warmer being conducive to running, Dr. Mark Klion offers several good running tips for those of us who want to get out and get into shape while also keeping the 'spring' in your step: Read more...
Baseball hip injuries on the rise
An intriguing New York Times article on the increase of hip injuries in Major League Baseball offers many explanations: athletes are more concerned with preventing leg injuries, leaving the hip exposed; players coming off steroids are more easily injured; athletes are starting their athletic careers earlier, thus leading their bodies to break down sooner Read more...
Butler focuses on the prevention and rehabilitation
Butler student-athletes have access to a comprehensive sports medicine program that focuses on the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of athletic-related injuries. Under the supervision of head athletic trainer Ryan Galloy, Butler's student-athletes are served by an extensive team of physicians, health care professionals and certified athletic trainers. Read more...
Casualty exercise prepares doctors for 2010 Olympics
It was a scene 2010 Olympic organizers pray never happens, but one they know has every potential for taking place. A bus accident, the collapse of spectator stands, a wipeout by an athlete that takes out several others. All of these have the potential for causing mass casualties during the 2010 Winter Games Read more...
Could standard treatment for brain injury be wrong?
Traumatic brain injury - not heart disease, stroke or cancer - is the number one cause of death and disability in people under 45. Each year, some 1.5 million Americans, including soldiers, athletes, the elderly and children, sustain head injuries, and nearly half of them will be hospitalized and treated in an emergency room or intensive care unit. But what if they are treated incorrectly? Read more...
Student wins award for sports injuries research
Joseph, a senior at Saint Charles Preparatory School, Columbus, Ohio, conducted the largest ever national study of high school athletic anterior cruciate ligament injuries He found that athletes were eight times more likely to be injured during competition than during practice. The highest risk sport for ACL injury was football for boys and soccer or basketball for girls. He also found that in sports played by both genders, girls were eight times more likely than boys to suffer an ACL injury. Read more...
How to choose the right running shoe
Everyone has that old pair of running shoes with their soles warn down, lining ripped out, and arches gone but they just wont throw away. Although you may be sentimental about an old pair of shoes there comes a point where you need to throw in the towel and buying a new pair of running shoes. Trust me, your feet and back will thank you when you realize how much more support you are getting with a new shoe pair of running shoes... Read more...
Ballerinas and female athletes share health threats
ScienceDaily (May 31, 2009) - A study led by sports medicine researcher Anne Hoch, D.O., at The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee has revealed that young female professional dancers face the same health risks as young female athletes when they don't eat enough to offset the energy they spend, and stop menstruating as a consequence. Read more...
Are kids' sports becoming too dangerous?
Are parents and coaches pushing kids too hard to succeed - sometimes to the point of injury? According to the latest statistics from the National SAFE KIDS Campaign and the American Academy of Pediatrics, about 30 million children and teens participate in some form of organized sports. Of those, more than 3.5 million children ages 14 and younger get hurt, receiving medical treatment for sports injuries Read more...
Doctors advise: skip the flip-flops this summer
You may want to reconsider your footwear plans for this summer, warn some doctors. Dr. Rosty Serebryany, a chiropractor at Athletic Edge Sports Medicine in Toronto, says he's seen a bevy of summer shoe-related injuries in his practice. Women may not be able to resist strappy shoes and sandals in the summertime, but those attractive pieces of footwear can lead to injury. Read more...
Why exercise can be harmful to your health
Have you ever seen lions running? You bet they run when they're hungry and chasing prey. The only other time they exercise is at mating season. Exercise is simply not high on their priority list, and they survive well without buying Nike running shoes. Questioning the value of exercise to humans, however, is like damning Motherhood and apple pie. But every year in my office I see examples of excessive exercise causing needless injury, and it results in many aggravating problems. Read more...
The cause and treatment of gluteal strains
A strained gluteal muscle is a partial tear of the small fibers of the gluteal muscles. The gluteal muscles are a group of three muscles in the buttocks. This is not a common injury, but is sometimes seen in runners, dancers or other athletes. Read about causes, treatment, prevention... Read more...
Debate over heart screenings refuses to go away
Dr. Barry J. Maron, director of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, estimates that 125 athletes ranging from age 8 to 39 die from sudden cardiac arrest in the U.S. each year. The debate over whether more intensive screening of athletes could prevent some of these deaths tends to pick up steam after a high-profile case. A recent example is Ryan Shay, the marathoner who died of an irregular heartbeat due to an enlarged heart after collapsing during the U.S. men's Olympic trials in November 2007. Read more...
Flexing your tech muscles: injuries to avoid
Thanks to near constant onslaught of new technology-from ultra-small computers and garage band video games to Wii-today's users are falling victim to a completely new set of gadget-induced injuries. A 2006 study done in the United Kingdom found that nearly half of all computer users have experienced some kind of computer-related injury and users between eighteen and twenty-four reported even higher injury rates (70 percent!). Read more...
It's time for enzymes! It's Enzyme Time!
Taken as a supplement, enzymes can benefit digestion, immune function, reduce inflammation, pain, swelling (papain and bromelain) and more. Taking proteolytic enzyme supplements after injury helps your body get rid of dead and damaged cells and greatly reduces recovery time, up to one-half or even one-third as long (1)! One study, conducted by J.M. Zuschlag, M.D., found that preemptive enzyme treatment before playing sports also benefits athletes... A Must Read! Read more...
Region 10 BOE approves football program
Board member Elaine Schiavone had a problem voting in favor of the program because of the risk of injury to the athletes. "I did research on the Internet," Schiavone said. "Concussions in football are 2-to-1 over any other sport." Tanner argued there are injuries in all sports and mentioned soccer as a sport with a high rate of injury. By educating the athletes, coaches and trainers, Tanner believes injuries would be kept to a minimum... Read more...
Amar'e Stoudemire discusses protective eyewear
"There is no doubt that if I had kept wearing protective eyewear, I would have prevented my eye injury," said Stoudemire. "I am committed to wearing protective eyewear anytime I am on the court, and I encourage all athletes to do the same." According to the National Eye Institute, more than 100,000 eye injuries related to sports and recreation occur each year and 42,000 require a trip to the emergency room. These types of eye injuries are the leading cause of blindness in children and completely preventable... Read more...
Preventing baseball injuries
A new study finds that baseball injuries to children have dropped by 25% in the last decade but keeping kids safe requires extra attention from parents, coaches, and doctors. Recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics: Baseball and softball for children 5 through 14 years of age should be acknowledged by pediatricians as relatively safe sports. Catastrophic and chronically disabling injuries are rare; the frequency of injuries does not seem to have increased during the past 2 decades... Read more...
Making sense of exercise advice
Will orthotics solve a foot problem or create a new one? Is there a right or wrong way to run? Will stretching prevent injuries, or possibly cause them? Whether you're a weekend athlete or avid exerciser, the range of conflicting advice about running and fitness can wear you out. New York Times reporter and running enthusiast Gina Kolata explores the challenges of sifting through advice from the experts in her latest Personal Best column... Read more...
Lystedt Law addresses concussion in youth sports
The Lystedt Law is named in honor of Zackery Lystedt, a Seattle-area young athlete who suffered a concussion in 2006 during a middle school football game. After returning to the same game, he later collapsed on the field. (See http://www.biawa.org for Lystedt's story.) The legislation, according to ACSM and its partners, is the standard for a no-cost, highly protective model for national duplication. Read more...
Youth baseball-related injuries down 25 percent
Despite the decrease, additional opportunities for injury prevention remain. Spring marks baseball season for more than 19 million children and adolescents who play each year as part of a team or in backyards throughout the United States. The good news for these players is that the number of injuries from the sport is on the decline. A new study by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital found that the number of children and adolescents treated for baseball-related injuries in hospital... Read more...
