(HealthDay News) — You and your athletic child should keep some safety rules in mind before the game starts.
The Nemours Foundation offers these suggestions to help keep kids safe:
- Make sure kids always wear protective gear that’s appropriate for the game. Examples may include goggles, a helmet, mouth guard or knee pads.
- Make sure the gear is properly maintained.
- Try to ensure that the playing surface is in good shape.
- Kids’ sports should always be carefully supervised by an adult.
- Make sure your child understands the rules and basics of the sport, and that the sport isn’t too challenging for the child.
PARIS (AFP) – – Acupuncture eases pain in the limbs because it releases a natural molecule called adenosine, neuroscientists in the United States reported on Sunday.
The mechanism was discovered through experiments in lab mice, which were given an injection of an inflammation-inducing chemical in their right paw.
The researchers inserted fine needles below the midline of the mice’s knee, at a well-known acupuncture location called the Zusanli point.
They rotated the needle gently every five minutes for 30 minutes, mimicking a standard acupuncture treatment.
During and just after this operation, levels of adenosine in the tissues surrounding the needle surged 24-fold. The mouse’s discomfort — measurable by the rodents’ response time to touch and heat — was reduced by two-thirds, they found.
The same test was carried out on mice that had been genetically engineered to lack adenosine. The acupuncture failed to have any effect, and the mice reacted in discomfort, as before.
The team then experimented with an adenosine booster. They gave mice a leukaemia drug called deoxycoformycin, which makes it harder for tissues to remove adenosine.
As a result, levels of adenosine accumulated in the muscles, nearly tripling the duration of the acupuncture’s effectiveness.
“Acupuncture has been a mainstay of medical treatment in certain parts of the world for 4,000 years, but because it has not been understood completely, many people have remained skeptical,” said Maiken Nedergaard of the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, who headed the research.
Previous work has focussed on acupuncture’s effectiveness on the central nervous system — the trunk of nerves in the spinal cord and brain — rather than the peripheral nervous system.
In the central nervous system, acupuncture creates signals that cause the brain to produce powerful anti-pain chemicals called endorphins.
The paper is published by the journal Nature Neuroscience
YOU have been playing a lot of tennis recently, and now you think you have tennis elbow. Or you’re a swimmer with an aching shoulder. A cyclist with sore knees. A runner with pain in your heel.
Do you go to a doctor, or tough it out?
Now, before you read on and decide I’m a therapeutic nihilist, I have to tell you that the idea for this column was suggested by a doctor-athlete, Paul D. Thompson, a marathon runner and a cardiologist at Hartford Hospital in Hartford.
And his answer to his own question?
“I think most folks should not go, because most general doctors don’t know a lot about running injuries,” he said, adding, “Most docs, often even the good sports docs, then will just tell you to stop running anyway, so the first thing is to stop running yourself.”
In fact, he said, because you probably will have to make a co-payment if you see a doctor, you will be adding insult — the fee — to your injury.
Dr. Volker Musahl, an orthopedist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, had the same sort of response. He competes in marathons and triathlons.
“If you want to continue to run, don’t see a doctor,” Dr. Musahl said.
Read the rest of the story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/fashion/01best.html
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – – China’s star NBA center Yao Ming and wife Ye Li are the proud parents of a baby girl, a statement released by his US representatives on Friday said.
The baby was born in Houston on Friday and weighs 7 pounds, 9 ounces, according to the announcement from BDA Sports Management. Both mother and daughter are in good health.
“I am very excited about the arrival of our daughter,” Yao said. “This is a very special moment in our lives and we thank everyone for their kindness and support.”
The couple’s decision to return to their home in Houston, where Yao plays for the NBA’s Rockets, had sparked some debate among Yao’s fans in China, some of whom were dismayed by the idea the child could have an American passport.
Yao and his wife returned to the USA earlier this year after spending several months in China as he recovered from a broken foot that forced him to miss the entire NBA season.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100523/tsp-auto-prix-aus-gbr-hamilton-5820418.html
MELBOURNE, May 23, 2010 (AFP) – British Formula One ace Lewis Hamilton has been slapped with a driving charge after allegedly spinning his wheels when he was in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix, police said Sunday.
Victoria Police said Hamilton’s lawyer had been given a summons in which Hamilton was charged with intentionally losing control of a vehicle in the March 26 incident which saw police impound the private car he was driving.
“A summons has been served on his solicitor,” a police spokesman said.
Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, has apologised for the “over-exuberant” driving outside Melbourne’s Albert Park track after a practice for the grand prix.
“What I did was silly, and I want to apologise for it,” he said in a statement at the time.
Police said the McLaren Mercedes driver was pulled over by a police patrol for performing a burnout as he turned into a busy street.
They allege that Hamilton’s car had “accelerated heavily and lost traction to the rear wheels” in making the turn.
The matter will be heard in Melbourne Magistrates Court on August 24.
http://www.the-leader.com/lifestyle/health/x1042554929/How-to-avoid-injuries-while-lifting-weights
When we think about sports injuries, it’s usually the smash-ups that come to mind: football, rugby, soccer and other activities where bodies collide.
But avoiding contact sports won’t necessarily eliminate the risk of injury when you’re trying to get fit.
Each day, about 150 injuries related to weight training are treated in emergency rooms across the country. In a study by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, more than 970,000 weight training-related injuries were reported between 1990 and 2007
Many of the following do’s and don’ts come from www.mayoclinic.com, www.ballyfitness.com, and www.beinghealthy.tv.
What you need
- Wear shoes. Fitness shoes with good traction can help you avoid injuries by keeping you from slipping.
- Use weightlifting gloves to improve your grip and prevent calluses.
- Make sure your equipment is in good condition.
- For the average person, weightlifting belts aren’t necessary unless you plan to do power lifts or dead lifts. Wear the belt as a reminder to keep your spine in correct form.
Before you begin
- Find a workout buddy. Don’t lift heavy weights without a spotter.
- Warm up. Ten minutes of aerobic activity before lifting will help you avoid muscle injury.
As you lift
- Maintain good form. Keep your spine in a stable, neutral position.
- Learn how to pick up weights safely, lifting with your legs instead of your back. Do not lock joints (knees, elbows, etc.).
- Perform each movement slowly to promote safety and to isolate target muscle groups for a better workout.
- Focus on the specific muscles for each exercise. Avoid using the rest of your body to lift the weight.
- If you are using machine weights, make sure each machine is adjusted to fit your body dimensions to allow a full range of joint motion.
- Don’t hold your breath – it can lead to dangerous blood pressure levels. Breathe out as you lift weight and breathe in as you lower the weight.
- Don’t overdo it. You want your muscles to be fatigued, not injured. Stop if you feel any pain and try again in a few days, using lighter weights.
As you progress
- Start small. Don’t grab the heaviest weights on the rack to impress someone at the gym. Begin with a weight that’s comfortable for 12 to 15 repetitions. If you can’t complete that many repetitions with a full range of motion, reduce the amount of weight you’re lifting.
- As you get stronger, a good rule of thumb for increasing weight is to go heavier by no more than 10 percent of what your body is used to lifting. For example, when you can easily lift 40 pounds, add no more than 4 pounds to the barbell when you work to increase your strength.
After you’re done
- Return weights to the proper rack or to a safe spot to avoid accidents.
- Get plenty of rest and avoid doing the same exercises two days in a row. Planning can help: work specific muscle groups on specific days. For example, Mondays – arms and shoulders. Tuesdays – legs, etc.
- Eat a balanced diet and drink plenty of water.
“There’s a higher incidence of ACL injuries in athletes who play sports that require jumping or a quick change of direction like soccer, basketball and volleyball,” says Polly de Mille, R.N., RCEP, CSCS, an exercise physiologist at Hospital for Special Surgery’s Women’s Sports Medicine Center.
Chiaia and de Mille offer the following tips for coaches and trainers to help prevent ACL injuries in young athletes:
• Understand the anatomy of the knee, what the ACL is, and how the body works. This will help in heightening awareness of what causes ACL injuries and who is at risk for them.
• Teach your athletes how to move with good alignment so that the knees are protected. This can be achieved by developing body awareness (brain-body connection), strength and balance to support both knees and ankles.
• Make sure athletes are jumping, landing, stopping and moving with their knees directly over their feet. Do not let the knees collapse inward.
• Work with athletes to develop strength in the hips, thighs and core. These are important in helping to keep knees in the proper position when practicing or in competition.
• Ensure a proper warm-up to get blood circulating to your muscles before games and practice. A proper cool down is also important to assist in recovery.
• Have athletes perform a variety of drills until movement patterns and proper body positioning are second nature.
• Give your athletes a chance to rest. Training at a high intensity in a single sport 52 weeks a year is not ideal for any athlete, especially young athletes. Alternate sports and vary intensity from season to season. When possible, take a break between seasons.
Proper movement patterns are so important in ACL injury prevention. “Customized strength and movement pattern exercise programs are key to helping athletes stay healthy,” says Lisa Callahan, M.D., medical director, Women’s Sports Medicine Program, at Hospital for Special Surgery. “Each athlete will have a different base of strength to build from, so it’s important that coaches and trainers develop the best program for that individual to help ensure proper body mechanics.”
Theresa Chiaia, P.T., DPT, section manager, Sports Rehabilitation and Performance Center, Rehabilitation Department, at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York
Footnote
The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL Reconstruction Surgery) is an important ligament among the 4 ligaments that form a modified hinge joint between the shin bone (tibia) and the thigh bone (femur) in each knee. The key role of the ACL is to prevent the shin bone from sliding out in front of the thigh bone. This ligament also enables rotational stability in the knee.
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