The Royal Society of Medicine (London) hosted a conference on sports medicine, ethics, and law last night (Jan 11, 2011). Before punsters start with the ‘I thought that was a contradiction in terms’, this fascinating meeting brought debate about: ‘Bloodgate’, the ethics of taping a ‘non-injury’ so as this obvious decoy would draw tackles away […]
Category: Debates
Sudden death in sport – still not sorted
Just a quick post getting back into the year – highlighting that the issue of managing cardiac risk factors in sports is not easy. I was reading about various deaths in athletes when I came across this older, but interesting post. Remember also the September 2009 BJSM which dealt specifically with cardiac issues in the […]
Debate: Benefits of High Intensity Anaerobic Exercise for Adolescents and School Children
Duncan S Buchan 1, Julien S Baker 1, Robert M Malina 2, Non E. Thomas 3 1. University of the West of Scotland 2. The University of Texas at Austin 3. Swansea University Dear Editor, We read with interest the recent statement released by BASEM on 26th November 2010 which criticises the way physical education (PE) […]
What constitutes the safe use of PRP in sports injuries? Continuing the PRP debate.
This month’s BJSM is hot off the press! Lars Engebretsen and Kathrin Steffen Warm-Up by introducing us to the International Olympic Committee recommendations and discussing the controversy of PRP. In this BJSM issue the IOC consensus group caution the use of PRP in elite athletes as we await the outcomes of robust scientific evidence. It […]
The PRP debate.
Achilles Tendinopathy is a major clinical problem. Injections with Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) improve tissue repair and tendon structure. PRP also increases blood supply to the tendon collagen tissue by stimulating blood vessels to grow. But, what does this mean for patients with Achilles Tendinopathy? What are the functional outcomes: Does it restore the tendon to its pre-injury […]
Couple of powerful (short) videos – Are you drinking fat?
New York City Health Department has launched an aggressive video campaign to educate Yorkers that sodas have 16 packs of sugar in a 20 oz drink (about 600 ml, say 1.5 cans). The story is certainly ‘sticky’ – clear, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional. The background, of course is that obesity is not as big a […]
Concussion in sport: The Consensus
Concussion is certainly hot this week! Lots of news stories of variable quality. Today we review the International Consensus statement itself. This practical resource was established, using a consensus-based approach, at the 3rd International Conference on Concussion in Sport held in Zurich, November 2008. It updates the recommendations of the 1st (Vienna) and 2nd (Prague) International Symposia on Concussion in […]
Concussion Position Statement: Why it’s not a KO.
The American Association of Neurology has published a concussion position statement but the question is ‘Where is the reference to the international consensus’? No-one would question that neurologists know about concussion but many of them would be the first to admit they are not experts in sport. How should an athlete train when returning to […]
Does stretching reduce injury?
Stretching, or not, has been a controversial issue. This month’s BJSM helps to unravel (or add to) this puzzle. In an entirely web-based study (that gained awareness through media coverage), 2377 physically active adults were recruited in an effort to determine whether stretching modifies injury risk and soreness. The verdict? In the short-medium term stretching reduces the risk […]
Time to debate the cost of the war on drugs in sport?
Did you know that it costs $US 3 million to catch one football player using anabolic steroids? The total budget for testing for drugs in sport clearly exceeds $US 250 million – it is probably closer to $US 500 million annually. That’s a fair chunk of change. Good idea? Or is there a better way […]