{"id":5793,"date":"2014-04-16T08:21:14","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T07:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/?p=5793"},"modified":"2014-04-24T16:39:20","modified_gmt":"2014-04-24T15:39:20","slug":"the-fatigued-athlete-and-red-s-lessons-from-the-field-and-the-basem-spring-conference-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bjsm\/2014\/04\/16\/the-fatigued-athlete-and-red-s-lessons-from-the-field-and-the-basem-spring-conference-2\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The fatigued athlete’ and RED-S: Lessons from the field and the BASEM spring conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sport and Exercise Medicine:<\/span> The UK trainee perspective,\u00a0a monthly blog series<\/span><\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"athlete<\/a><\/p>\n

By Dr Khine Swe Win<\/strong><\/p>\n

I recently attended\u00a0the British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine (BASEM)<\/a>\u00a0spring conference, \u201cThe fatigued athlete\u201d in Manchester. It provided the latest evidence in diagnosis, prevention and management of underperformance syndromes.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, the new\u00a0IOC consensus statement on Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport\u00a0<\/a>(RED-S)\u00a0was a discussion topic of interest at the conference. The RED-S replaces the previous term \u201cfemale athletes triad\u201d (a medical condition often observed in physically active girls and women, that involves three components: (1) low energy availability with or without disordered eating, (2) menstrual dysfunction and (3) low bone mineral density, (Mary Jane De Souza\u00a0et al 2013<\/a>)).<\/p>\n

The new term recognizes the complexity of the condition’s pathophysiology and multisystem involvement, affecting both men and women. The background theory of RED-S is the imbalance in the energy availability and the energy expenditure, or misbalance between training load and recovery. Low energy availability can have serious implications for many body systems such as nutrient deficiencies, low immunity, risk of infections and illnesses, and chronic fatigue, resulting in short-term and long-term compromise of optimal health and performance.<\/p>\n

Multiple monitoring tools<\/strong>\u00a0have been used to detect early signs of fatigue and health decline in athletes. A good monitoring tool should be reliable, reproducible, standardized, sport-specific and provide immediate feedback. Of the many monitoring models, here are some examples that I have come across:<\/p>\n