Reporting from UKsem 2011 – the largest Sports and Exercise Medicine and performance Conference in Europe. London’s Excel conference centre 23rd November – no downtime for the BJSM blog!

Richard Frobell opened with 3 major revelations. #1. ACL injuries are associated with arthritis – whether you have a reconstruction or not.  (citation classic, 103 citations to date).

#2. Give a piece of rehabilitation a chance! Not everyone needs a knee reconstruction. Really? New England Journal of Medicine RCTs demonstrating that = 1; disputing it = 0. (See Frobell, 2010, 53 citations already), THE hot topic of 2010/2011 and great to have Dr Frobell here himself. Audience experts included the IOC’s Lars Engebretsen so discussion was energetic. They were seen breakfasting together later so no risk of Scandinavian Spring just yet.

#3. There is limited return to sporting activity after ACL rupture. With or without surgery. This is where I was about to slash up. Depressing keynote stuff. Who chose him?

But then the good news. Prevention is key and possible. There are success stories. More of that tomorrow’s program. Sessions on prevention of football and tennis injuries, of knee and groin debacles. Hope springs eternal, no need to jump into the boxing ring that is available here for conference attendees. No need to walk up to the fencers, brandishing only the complimentary Prograin Minitub from maximuscle and say in true Homer Simpson fashion, ‘give it your best shot pal, I don’t need that poncy white protective gear, go on, try me!’.

Seriously though, I am a Frobell fan as BJSM readers and podcast listeners know. Great clinical insights, great presentation. Privilege to be in the shop at the same time as the KneeMaster.

Great day planned for Thursday 24th and BJSM Blog will be there. Blair, Dvorak, Daniel Coyle from the Talent Code, Bahr, Franklin-Miller. Track us on @BJSM_BMJ and you’ll be first with the updates. And competitions are in the wings!

Say hi to journal manager Claire Jura at the BJSM booth (ground floor, right side) and sign up for free stuff.

And do your ACL prevention exercises daily!

Teaser video – Richard Frobell kindly agreed to do a 20-second spot for the podcast of a conversation on ACL management he had with Lars Engebretsen. The discussion will be hosted on the BJSM podcasts – which are getting 4000 listens per month!

This E-lettter is in response to Setting standards for the prevention and management of travellers’ diarrhoea in elite athletes: an audit of one team during the Youth Commonwealth Games in India Abstract | Full Article

The article by Tillett and Loosemore describes guidelines for the prevention and management of travellers’ diarrhoea (TD) based on their experience with the elite athletes and noncompeting members of Team England during the 2008 Youth Commonwealth Games in India. The authors recommended that all team members receive oral and written advice regarding prevention of TD, that all team members are issued alcohol hand gel and instruction for its use, and that all noncompeting team members receive ciprofloxacin for TD prophylaxis. As ciprofloxacin use in elite athletes is considered controversial because of a possible association with tendon rupture, the authors recommended that elite athletes consider the nonabsorbable antibiotic rifaximin as a prophylactic for TD. However, none of the elite athletes on Team England actually received rifaximin as a prophylactic therapy for TD. Further, the authors stopped short of recommending rifaximin for the treatment of TD, simply recommending treatment with empiric antibiotics per local advice and the results of stool culture.

We report here that, in 2008, some elite athletes from the United States received rifaximin either for the prophylaxis or treatment of TD while in Beijing, China. In this small sample of elite athletes, rifaximin was safe and well tolerated, and no adverse events were reported. Rifaximin has been found safe, well tolerated, and effective for both the prophylaxis and treatment of TD in other populations1-8. Based on our experience and the excellent safety profile of rifaximin for the treatment of TD, the use of rifaximin as an antibiotic therapy for the treatment of TD in elite athletes deserves further consideration.

Bradley Connor and Scott Rodeo

References

1.           DuPont HL, Ericsson CD, de la Cabada FJ, et al. Prevention of travelers’ diarrhea with rifaximin- a phase 3 randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial in U.S. students in Mexico [abstract]. Am J Gastroenterol. 2006;101(suppl):S197-S198.

2.           DuPont HL, Ericsson CD, Mathewson JJ, et al. Rifaximin: a nonabsorbed antimicrobial in the therapy of travelers’ diarrhea. Digestion. 1998;59(6):708-714.

3.           DuPont HL, Haake R, Taylor DN, et al. Rifaximin treatment of pathogen- negative travelers’ diarrhea. J Travel Med. 2007;14:16-19.

4.           DuPont HL, Jiang ZD, Ericsson CD, et al. Rifaximin versus ciprofloxacin for the treatment of traveler’s diarrhea: a randomized, double-blind clinical trial. Clin Infect Dis. 2001;33(11):1807-1815.

5.           DuPont HL, Jiang Z-D, Belkind-Gerson J, et al. Treatment of travelers’ diarrhea: randomized trial comparing rifaximin, rifaximin plus loperamide, and loperamide alone. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2007;5:451-456.

6.           DuPont HL, Jiang Z-D, Okhuysen PC, et al. A randomized, double-blind,
placebo-controlled trial of rifaximin to prevent travelers’ diarrhea.
Ann
Intern Med. 2005;142(10):805-812.

7.           Steffen R, Sack DA, Riopel L, et al. Therapy of travelers’ diarrhea with rifaximin on various continents. Am J Gastroenterol. 2003;98:1073- 1078.

8.           Taylor DN, Bourgeois AL, Ericsson CD, et al. A randomized, double- blind, multicenter study of rifaximin compared with placebo and with ciprofloxacin in the treatment of travelers’ diarrhea. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2006;74:1060-1066.

Conflict of Interest

Dr Connor has received grant support from and is a consultant for Salix Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Dr Rodeo has nothing to disclose.

The deadline for proposals for the 2011 IOC World Conference on Prevention of Injury & Illness in Sport is November 1st 2009 – act now!

- K. Khan

Based on the tremendous success of the 1st and 2nd World Congresses on Sports Injury Prevention in Oslo in 2005 and Tromsø in 2008, their successor, the IOC World Conference on Prevention of Injury & Illness in Sport, will be held in Monaco from 7 to 9 April 2011. The scientific committee now welcomes your proposals for meeting sessions and speakers. The deadline for submission of proposals is 1 November 2009.

When submitting proposals, please refer to the enclosed definitions of meeting sessions. To be considered for inclusion in the programme, your proposal must strictly follow the format outlined in the enclosed instructions. Your proposal will be evaluated by the scientific committee, and the final programme of invited speakers will be ready by 1 February 2009.

The IOC World Conference on Prevention of Injury & Illness in Sport will follow the model of the 2005 & 2008 congresses, with a multidisciplinary perspective on sports injury prevention for different sports and different injury types, including studies on intervention methods, epidemiology, risk factors and injury mechanisms. However, as reflected by the change in title, the scope of the congress will be expanded from sports injury prevention, to also include the prevention of other health problems associated with sports participation.

The three-day programme will include four or five keynote lectures, about 20 symposia, 15-20 workshops, in addition to free communications and posters. Please note that, at this time, we are asking only for proposals for keynote lectures, symposia and workshops – not abstracts for free communications. The deadline for submission of abstracts for free communications and posters will be 1 January 2011.

Please reply to Cherine Fahmy at info@ioc-preventionconference.org at your earliest convenience, but not later than 1 November 2009.

Note that although the congress committee will cover the cost of accommodation and social events for invited speakers, we will not be able to reimburse travel costs, since we plan to invite a considerable number of international speakers to be able to feature a first-class programme. We encourage you to visit the congress website, where more information will be posted over the next few months.

Monaco is situated on the most beautiful coast in Europe, built on a rock between the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea. Its mild climate, easy access, excellent hotels and security are the principal qualities which make Monaco a prestigious destination for an unforgettable event. Furthermore, the Grimaldi Forum, a state-of- the-art conference centre for the 3rd millennium, daringly built out over the sea with a total area of 35.000 m2, is the perfect location to receive a high standard congress such as the IOC World Conference on Prevention of Injury & Illness in Sport”.

We welcome your programme proposals and look forward to a spectacular congress in Monaco in June 2011! Yours faithfully,

Roald Bahr (s)
President, Scientific Committee

Fredrik Bendiksen (s)
President, Organising Committee

Photo by _Pixelmaniac_ (available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license)