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Tag: Sports medicine

  • Benefits of running in the cold outweigh warm weather running

    Benefits of running in the cold outweigh warm weather running

    Newswise — Chicago, IL, November 27, 2023 – Some year-round runners dread plunging temperatures, but according to recent research, the benefits of running in the cold weather outweigh warm weather running — and could help you burn bad fat, lose more weight, and make you feel better overall.

    “Cold weather doesn’t have to force runners indoors and I encourage my patients to continue safely running outdoors,” explains Dr. Joshua Blomgren, Midwest Orthopaedics at RUSH, and Aid Station Medical Captain for the Chicago Marathon. “Exercise is medicine, even in the winter.”

    Benefits of chilly weather running 

    • Produces less heat stress. Recent research explains why running in the heat is more difficult. Higher body temps are associated with increased exertion, cardiovascular, and metabolic strain.
    • Boosts metabolism. Our bodies are programmed to preserve fat, slowing down our metabolisms in response to decreased exercise. Running in the cold ‘tricks’ the body, altering metabolism slowdown, and helping to maintain a healthy weight.
    • Elevates your mood. Seasonal Affective Disorder occurs when days are shorter and there’s less sunlight. It’s estimated that 6% of Americans are affected by SAD, and 14% may suffer from a milder form of winter blues. Exercise releases feel-good chemicals like serotonin and endorphins. 
    • Helps burn more calories. Running burns significant calories and helps us maintain and lose weight in winter. It can help us live longer too. Runners have a 25 – 40% reduced risk of premature mortality and live an estimated three years longer than non-runners, according to Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases.
    • Can turn bad fat into good fat. There are different types of body fat: white, brown, and shades in between. White fat is “unwanted” body fat. Brown fat is metabolic tissue that burns calories. Scientific literature suggests that exercising and exposing your body in cold temps can convert white fat to brown fat.

    Run safely

    Dr. Blomgren cautions winter runners to take certain safety measures to fully enjoy winter running. He recommends they dress in appropriate layers and wear wicking fabrics instead of cotton or wool, wear a head covering, drink plenty of water before and after a run, and watch paths for hidden ice. A nose and mouth covering can warm the cool, crisp air making it less harsh to breathe. A good rule of thumb is to avoid running in sub-zero temperatures and be alert to any signs of frostbite. 

    About Midwest Orthopaedics at RUSH 

    MOR is an international leader in musculoskeletal health consistently ranked among the top ten in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. It is comprised of renowned orthopedic and spine surgeons pioneering the latest advances in surgical and non-surgical care.  Visit www.rushortho.com. 

    Midwest Orthopaedics at RUSH

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  • Wake Forest Athletics Announces Enhanced Partnership with Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and Wake Forest University School of Medicine

    Wake Forest Athletics Announces Enhanced Partnership with Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and Wake Forest University School of Medicine

    BYLINE: Myra Wright

    Newswise — WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The top priority for everyone in Wake Forest Athletics is safety and through an innovative and enhanced partnership with Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and Wake Forest University School of Medicine, health care for all 400-plus Demon Deacons student-athletes will be enhanced through a multitude of ways, including on-campus care from trained physicians.

    Dr. Chris Miles, sports medicine specialist at Wake Forest Baptist and associate professor of family medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, has been named medical director for this partnership and Dr. John Hubbard, orthopaedic surgeon at Wake Forest Baptist and associate professor of orthopaedic surgery at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, has been named surgical director.

    Both Miles and Hubbard have a long history of caring for Wake Forest’s student-athletes. 

    As medical director, Miles will serve as the primary facilitator and coordinator of medical care for all of Wake Forest Athletics. All Wake Forest Athletics caregivers will communicate their medical diagnoses and medical management plans with Miles, creating a streamlined communication system to provide world-class medical care to all of Wake Forest Athletics.

    As surgical director, Hubbard will monitor and communicate modifications through surgical pathways and will be responsible for the timelines for surgical cases.

    “We are so pleased to be taking this next step in our longstanding relationship with Wake Forest Athletics which will enhance the health care provided to student-athletes,” said Dr. Julie Freischlag, CEO of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, executive vice president of health affairs at Wake Forest University and chief academic officer of Advocate Health, of which Wake Forest Baptist and Wake Forest University School of Medicine serve as the academic core. 

    Read the full news release. 

     

    Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist

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  • UTHealth Houston student shares key takeaways from clinical rotation with Houston Texans

    UTHealth Houston student shares key takeaways from clinical rotation with Houston Texans

    Newswise — After a rare view inside the world of professional sports and orthopedic medicine through a clinical rotation with the Houston Texans this summer, Analisa Narro, a fourth-year student with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, brought back key lessons from the enriching experience.

    The rotation was part of the NFL’s 2023 Diversity in Sports Medicine Pipeline Initiative, which aims to increase and diversify the pipeline of students interested in pursuing careers in sports medicine and, over time, help diversify NFL club medical staffs. McGovern Medical School was among 19 medical schools in the U.S. to participate in the program in its second year.

    During her month-long rotation, which ended Aug. 18, Narro observed and participated in the care of players, working directly with and under the supervision of orthopedic team physicians, primary care team physicians, and athletic trainers. She also learned return-to-play guidelines and on-field treatment considerations for NFL players.

    “Being able to see sports medicine at such a high level was incredible,” said Narro, a third-generation American from San Antonio, whose family is originally from Mexico. “It’s like I had my very own tutor at all times teaching me the art of sports medicine.”

    A day in the life

    A typical day at NRG Stadium involved Narro observing the attending physicians performing physicals on the Texans, after which she would stand on the sidelines during practice to monitor for injuries and observe any treatment of players. The athletic trainers also discussed a variety of sports medicine topics with Narro, ranging from blood-flow resistance training to taping ankles, which Narro was able to practice on one of the trainers.

    Additionally, team physicians discussed with her various orthopedic topics each day, including anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructions, posterior tibial slope, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections, and physical exam maneuvers, making the rotation one of the best learning experiences Narro said she’s had to date.

    One highlight of Narro’s experience was being on the sidelines when the Texans played a preseason game against the Miami Dolphins on Aug. 19. Although the Texans lost that game, Narro said the memory will stay with her for a long time.

    “I had never been to an NFL game before, but now I don’t think I’ll be able to match it,” Narro said. “Getting to see the game so close, and how team physicians manage different injuries, was exhilarating and inspirational.”

    Making connections

    When she wasn’t at the stadium, Narro shadowed some of the team physicians and other orthopedic surgeons in clinic as well as the operating room, giving her a clearer picture of a career in sports medicine.

    Some key connections she made included James Muntz, MD, professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery with McGovern Medical School and internal medicine team physician for the Texans; Steven Flores, MD, assistant professor and the sports medicine and shoulder fellowship program director in the department and head team orthopedist for the Texans; and Alfred Mansour III, MD, associate professor in the department and a team physician for the Houston Rockets.

    “These are well-established attending physicians, all well regarded in the sports medicine arena, who would give me advice for my future in orthopedics and beyond,” Narro said. “That was invaluable.”

    Diversity

    Diverse medical students in training, including those training to become sports medicine-focused physicians, are historically underrepresented. But enrollment of diverse students is increasing, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. During the 2022-2023 academic year, the number of Black or African American enrollees increased by 9%, and enrollees who are Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish origin increased by 4%.

    Since her rotation with the Houston Texans ended, Narro said many younger Hispanic women have reached out to her in an effort to build mentor-mentee relationships, which she looks forward to cultivating.

    “Through this experience, I gained access to a level of sports medicine that isn’t typically offered to Hispanic women,” Narro said. “This makes me excited to see where diversity in sports medicine is heading.”

    University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

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  • Advances in Physical Therapy Offer Unexpected Paths to Recovery

    Advances in Physical Therapy Offer Unexpected Paths to Recovery

    Newswise — At LifeBridge Health Physical Therapy in collaboration with NovaCare Rehabilitation, individuals are discovering new and unexpected ways that physical therapy can transform their quality of life.

    “The majority of our patients are orthopedic patients, injured athletes, and people living with general aches and pains,” says Market Manager Todd Shrager, P.T., A.T.C. “But our collaboration with a national leader like NovaCare keeps us at the forefront of physical therapy research and enables the therapy team to bring an entire roster of unique services and specialists to the community.”
    The roster is indeed diverse, with services ranging from concussion management and aquatics therapy to hand therapy and vestibular rehabilitation (for patients living with inner ear disorders). But perhaps the most unique service is ReVital, the industry’s first cancer rehabilitation program, which is specially designed to help patients manage and recuperate from the often-harsh side effects of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

    “Our ReVital therapists are trained and certified to understand not only what cancer can do to the body, but also what cancer treatment can do,” explains Shrager. “It’s a holistic, full-body approach that’s focused on survivorship and wellness even after the patient’s treatment ends.”

    As part of the ReVital program, physical therapists work closely with the cancer care teams at Carroll, Northwest and Sinai hospitals to create a seamless, comprehensive
    care plan for each patient. It’s a level of collaboration that Shrager says is true of all LifeBridge Health Physical Therapy services.

    “There’s a wonderful continuity of care between us and our patients’ physicians at all of our locations because we are part of the LifeBridge Health family,” he says.

    Collaborative Care for Athletes
    NovaCare and LifeBridge Health have expanded their collaboration to bring medical resources to local athletes throughout the region. In addition to LifeBridge Health’s ongoing partnerships with Loyola University and Carroll County High School Athletics, the LifeBridge Health Sports Medicine team has recently become the official medical provider for The Baseball Warehouse, Pipeline Soccer Club and Baltimore Celtic Soccer Club. Together, NovaCare and LifeBridge Health will help athletes with injury prevention and treatment through physician access, athletic training, physical therapy and education.

    Heal Without the Hassle
    LifeBridge Health Physical Therapy makes recovery easier with 18 full-service locations throughout the community. Click here to find the location nearest you.

    LifeBridge Health

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  • Advanced helmets aim to prevent football concussions

    Advanced helmets aim to prevent football concussions

    Newswise — Frontiers in Bioengineering and BiotechnologyMillions of people in the US are concussed every year playing sports. Players of games like American football are at particularly high risk for injuries that can have devastating long-term consequences. Stanford University scientists working with the company Savior Brain have now designed one potential way of protecting players: a helmet containing liquid shock absorbers that could reduce the impact of blows to the head by a third.

    “Most of the members of our team have a personal connection to traumatic brain injury and we care deeply about ensuring long-term athlete brain health,” said Nicholas Cecchi, a PhD candidate at Stanford University and lead author of the study in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology. “Concussion and repeated head impacts are still a major problem in contact sports, and we believe that improved helmet technology can play an important role in reducing the risk of brain injury.”

    HARM reduction

    Previous research by the Camarillo Lab at Stanford University had suggested that liquid shock absorbers could provide improved protection in sports helmets. To investigate this, the team built a finite element model, used by engineers to simulate performance before manufacturing, of an American football helmet incorporating 21 liquid shock absorbers. This helmet was tested against simulations of the helmet performance evaluation protocol used by the National Football League (NFL), its performance compared to that of four existing helmets. Due to the mounting evidence that the cumulative effect of impacts which don’t cause diagnosed concussions can also have serious health consequences, the team added lower velocity impacts to the evaluation protocol. They measured the head kinematics for each impact to produce a Head Accelerate Response Metric (HARM) score, which is used to evaluate helmet performance under impact. The kinematics were also fed into a model of the head and brain to gauge the resulting strain on the brain.

    Reducing impact by 33%

    The results showed that the helmet with liquid shock absorbers could dramatically reduce impact severity and strain on the brain caused by head impacts, potentially significantly cutting injuries. The helmet with liquid shock absorbers performed better than the existing helmet models, producing the lowest HARM value in 33 out of 36 different impact conditions tested, with an average reduction in score of a third. The liquid helmet also had the best ‘Helmet Performance Score’, a measure used in the NFL’s annual helmet safety rankings, which includes a weighting for how well a helmet protects against blows in different areas of the head. The highest-weighted location is the ‘side upper’ portion of the helmet because impacts here are most likely to cause concussions: the helmet with liquid shock absorbers reduced the HARM score in this area by 39-50% across all impact velocities without compromising protection in other areas of the helmet.

    “The liquid technology offered an average improvement of over 30% for both low and high velocities,” said Dr Yuzhe Liu, corresponding author, who completed the work as a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University. “It can dramatically reduce the loading on the brain that is experienced during all kinds of American football impacts.”

    The team intends to develop the model significantly to protect players better – for instance by incorporating improvements to the facemask and chinstrap. They also plan to develop the model into a physical helmet that could be tested in real-life conditions, and in the future to produce similar helmets for other sports. However, different levels of play or different sports may need assessment by different metrics and design redevelopment.

    “The next step for our team is to translate the computer model to a physical prototype,” said Cecchi. “After successfully completing that, we would also be interested in conducting human studies that could demonstrate either a reduction in concussion incidence or an attenuation of impact severity for sub-concussive impacts. We have plans to expand our implementation of liquid shock absorbers to more areas of the helmet, and more helmeted applications, to further improve brain safety for a wide variety of populations.”

    Frontiers

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  • Inequality in International Athletics: A Closer Look

    Inequality in International Athletics: A Closer Look

    Newswise — Athletes from less affluent countries need more education on health to prevent injuries during hard training. But, paradoxically, more knowledge can also increase the risk of injury if there is no access to medically trained expertise. This is the conclusion of researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, in a new study on inequality in athletics.

    “There were astronomical differences in support resources between juniors from different parts of the world. European competitors had entire medical teams and computer-based analysis programs to aid them, while the main support for young East African competitors often consisted of a family member or teacher from their home village,” says Professor Toomas Timpka at the Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences at Linköping University.

    The researchers have conducted studies among juniors and seniors who participated in two international athletics championships at elite level in 2017. In the final study recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, 780 athletes from different countries were asked if they had experienced symptoms of injury during their preparations and, in that case, if this had led them to adapt their training. 

    They were also asked about their ability to independently acquire and use health knowledge to prevent injuries – something the researchers term health literacy. This is an area of which little is known.

    The researchers also used the UN’s annual development index, which ranks countries based on a number of factors, including education and income levels. This was used to estimate the medical support resources of the national teams. Taking development indices into account is new for research, according to Toomas Timpka.

    The differences in knowledge between adults and young people were shown to be great. Only 13 percent of the juniors were judged to have basic health literacy, compared with 41 percent of the adults. Regardless of age, athletes from countries with a high development index were more knowledgeable than competitors from other parts of the world.

    But the results also show that good individual knowledge is not all that matters. 

    When comparing athletes within a well-resourced national team, it was certainly shown to be more likely that those with good knowledge would reduce their training when feeling an injury than compatriots with less knowledge.
    But in more resource-poor national teams, such as the Kenyan team, the opposite was true. There, a knowledgeable person had a lower probability of reducing training compared to a less knowledgeable compatriot.

    The researchers conclude that knowledge in individual athletes is not enough. At worst, it can even cause them to overestimate their ability to make the correct judgement. What makes a difference is whether they have access to medically trained people for advice and support. But here, inequality is great between countries.

    In order to address the inequality in health literacy among young people, Toomas Timpka believes that World Athletics, the international athletics federation, should cooperate with the UN Development Programme. Then, everyone who dedicates themselves to athletics could get a school education that lives up to the global sustainability goals.

    Doing something about the unfair distribution of support resources is more difficult. Direct financial contributions unfortunately risk disappearing through corruption, according to Toomas Timpka. One possibility could be that the richer associations, through World Athletics, share their personnel and technical resources with less fortunate athletes ahead of major championships.

    The researchers have not investigated the consequences of the differences in support for the competitive results of the athletes. This will be followed up in connection with the World Athletics Championships in Budapest in the summer of 2023. 

    Linkoping University

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  • Experts available to offer advice and guidance on outdoor swimming as weather improves

    Experts available to offer advice and guidance on outdoor swimming as weather improves

    Two world-leading experts from the University of Portsmouth are available to offer advice and guidance on outdoor swimming as the weather improves.

    While there are anecdotal claims of the mental and physical benefits of cold water swimming, world-leading experts say it also carries great risk if not done with caution. 

    Professor Mike Tipton’s research in the Extreme Environments Laboratory at the University of Portsmouth has revealed the main problem with the passtime is cold water shock (CWI) – which peaks in water temperatures between 10-15⁰C.

    CWI can affect anyone, regardless of whether they are strong swimmers or not, and increases the difficulty in getting out of the water. It is caused by a rapid fall in skin temperature and includes gasping, hyperventilation, release of stress hormones, hypertension and arrhythmias.

    Professor Tipton said: “Just because we’re seeing sunnier days, don’t be fooled into thinking seas, lakes and rivers are already warm enough to swim without caution or consideration.

    “We’re already seeing reports of people getting into difficulty in the water, and the best way to prevent this trend from continuing is by raising awareness of the risks of cold water immersion and outline what people can do to swim outdoors safely.”

    A paper published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine outlines what people can do to mitigate any risks associated with CWI. These include taking a medical assessment before entering cold water, nominating a safety observer and agreeing to an emergency signal, and entering the water slowly and gradually.

    Co-author, Dr Heather Massey, added: “We understand that there have been many reports in the news and on social media of the health benefits of outdoor swimming, which can lead to people wanting to try it themselves.

    “We’re still exploring if these claims are supported by science, but what we do know for sure is that people enjoy swimming, especially when the sun is shining.”

    University of Portsmouth

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  • Roger Goodell, Commissioner, National Football League, Joins the American Association of Neurological Surgeons for a Fireside Chat at the 2023 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting

    Roger Goodell, Commissioner, National Football League, Joins the American Association of Neurological Surgeons for a Fireside Chat at the 2023 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting

    Newswise — The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) announced that the 2023 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting will feature an exclusive Fireside Chat with Roger Goodell, Commissioner, National Football League.

    Goodell will join a prestigious group of professionals during the Opening Session of the meeting Friday, April 21, to discuss “Concussion in Sports: What Every Neurosurgeon Should Know.”

    The Fireside Chat will feature Allen K. Sills, MD, FAANS, Chief Medical Officer, National Football League and Margot Putukian, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Major League Soccer. The chat will be moderated by Ann Stroink, MD, FAANS, AANS President, and Dr. Sills.

    Roger Goodell became the eighth chief executive of the National Football League after a 24-year history with the league, holding numerous football and business operations roles prior to being elected commissioner. Commissioner Goodell’s priorities have focused on improving all aspects of the game for fans, players and the clubs. Under Commissioner Goodell’s leadership, the NFL has focused on improvements to player health and safety, benefits for retired players, the league’s personal conduct policy, diversity in hiring practices, stadium development, fan experience, international development, officiating and rules changes, among others. These enhancements have increased the quality, safety and enjoyment of the game.

    The 2023 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting takes place April 21 – 24 in Los Angeles where innovative speakers and community sessions examine new literature, controversies and technology in a focused setting to connect, collaborate and generate new ideas.

     

    About the 2023 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting:

    From April 21-24, 2023, in in Los Angeles, California, neurosurgeons, neurosurgical residents, medical students, neuroscience nurses, clinical specialists, physician assistants, allied health professionals and other medical professionals will join together for the 2023 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting. The annual meeting is the largest gathering of neurosurgeons in the nation, with an emphasis on the field’s latest research and technological advances. The scientific presentations scheduled for the 2023 event represent cutting-edge examples of the incredible developments taking place within the field of neurosurgery.

    For more information, visit www.aans.org/Meetings.

     

    About the AANS:

    Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a scientific and educational association with more than 13,000 members worldwide. The AANS promotes the highest quality of patient care and advances the specialty of neurological surgery. Fellows of the AANS are board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada or the Mexican Council of Neurological Surgery, A.C. Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of disorders that affect the spinal column, spinal cord, brain, nervous system and peripheral nerves.

     

     For more information, visit www.AANS.org.

     

     

    American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS)

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  • Step Forward in Gene Therapy to Treat Cause of Sudden Cardiac Arrest in Athletes

    Step Forward in Gene Therapy to Treat Cause of Sudden Cardiac Arrest in Athletes

    BYLINE: Jennifer Michalowski

    Newswise — University of Utah Health scientists have corrected abnormal heart rhythms in mice by restoring healthy levels of a protein that heart cells need to establish connections with one another. That protein, GJA1-20k, is underproduced in people with a genetic condition called arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, one of the leading causes of sudden cardiac arrest in athletes under the age of 35.

    The finding, reported in the journal Circulation Research, suggests a new strategy for treating the abnormal heart rhythms caused by arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy.

    The results may also have implications for treating dangerous arrhythmias associated with more common conditions, such as those that can develop soon after a heart attack.

    “This is really a new paradigm for the treatment of heart rhythm disorders,” says Joseph Palatinus, M.D., Ph.D., an investigator at the Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute (CVRTI) and critical care cardiologist at Intermountain Healthcare. Palatinus is the first author of the study, which was led by U of U Health colleague Robin Shaw, M.D., Ph.D., director of the CVRTI.

    An unusual pattern in patients

    People with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy are born with normal hearts but begin to develop an irregular heartbeat in their 20s or 30s. These arrhythmias can raise the heart rate to dangerous levels and explain why some individuals with the condition experience sudden cardiac arrest during exercise.

    Patients diagnosed with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy are advised to restrict exercise. They may also benefit from an implantable defibrillator to control their heartbeat. As the disease progresses, the heart muscle becomes fatty and fibrotic. This prevents the heart from pumping blood efficiently, and eventually patients need a heart transplant.

    Palatinus, Shaw, and their colleagues studied heart tissue from patients with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy who underwent transplant and discovered a problem with a protein called Connexin 43. In healthy hearts, Connexin 43 forms channels between adjacent cells, facilitating communication. The diseased hearts made normal amounts of Connexin 43, but it wasn’t at the edges of cells where it belonged.

    This, the team determined, was likely because there wasn’t enough of a trafficking protein, called GJA1-20ka. The researchers knew from previous experiments that without it, the heart’s cells wouldn’t be able to get Connexin 43 to the right place.

    Fixing an abnormal heartbeat at the source

    To determine if they could restore the heart’s normal rhythm, the scientists turned to mice that have similarities to people with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. They both have low levels of GJA1-20k and develop arrhythmias. Palatinus and colleagues used low doses of gene therapy to bring the trafficking protein GJA1-20k back to normal levels. This, they confirmed, enabled heart muscle cells to transport Connexin 43 to its proper locations.

    Most importantly, it gave the animals a more normal heartbeat. “The ease and low dose needed to fix the arrhythmias of even an inherited heart disease suggests that we have identified a critical pathway to stabilize cardiac electrical activity,” said Shaw.

    Although arrhythmia improved, the animals still had heart scarring, a symptom from a different underlying condition. Palatinus noted that was actually an encouraging result. It suggests arrhythmia and heart scarring can occur independently and that it could be possible to treat abnormal heart rhythms even when the heart is severely scarred. “This is a new paradigm,” he says.

    The treatment success in mice suggests that raising levels of GJA1-20k might restore normal heart rhythms in patients with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, too. For patients, Palatinus says, it might be possible to deliver the therapeutic protein directly to the heart. Further research will be needed to develop the treatment for clinical use.

    Disruptions in protein trafficking are thought to contribute to arrhythmias beyond those caused by arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, and Palatinus is optimistic that a similar treatment strategy might be useful for those conditions, too. If so, that could one day give patients and their doctors an alternative to the ion channel-blocking drugs currently used to treat many arrhythmias, which can slow the heart and even lead to new rhythm problems for some patients.

    # # #

    The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, The Harold Geneen Charitable Trust, and the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation and published as “GJA1-20k Rescues Cx43 Localization and Arrhythmias in Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy.”

    About University of Utah Health

    University of Utah Health  provides leading-edge and compassionate care for a referral area that encompasses Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and much of Nevada. A hub for health sciences research and education in the region, U of U Health has a $458 million research enterprise and trains scientists and the majority of Utah’s physicians and health care providers at its Colleges of Health, Nursing, and Pharmacy and Schools of Dentistry and Medicine. With more than 20,000 employees, the system includes 12 community clinics and five hospitals. U of U Health is recognized nationally as a transformative health care system and provider of world-class care.

    University of Utah Health

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  • NFL players who experienced concussion symptoms during careers show reduced cognitive performance decades after retirement

    NFL players who experienced concussion symptoms during careers show reduced cognitive performance decades after retirement

    Newswise — Former professional football players who reported experiencing concussion symptoms during their playing careers were found to perform worse on a battery of cognitive tests than non-players, according to a study led by Mass General Brigham investigators from McLean Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation Network. Results of the study are published March 2nd in Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology.[JR1] 

    Of the more than 350 former National Football League (NFL) players who were studied an average of 29 years after their playing career ended, those who reported experiencing concussion symptoms during their careers scored worse on assessments of episodic memory, sustained attention, processing speed and vocabulary. However, the number of concussions diagnosed by a medical professional or length of playing career had no observed effect on cognition.

    A follow-up analysis compared the former players to more than 5,000 male volunteers in the general population who did not play professional football, which found that cognitive performance was generally worse for former players than nonplayers. While younger former players outperformed nonplayers on some tests, older retired players more likely to perform worse than controls on cognitive tasks.

    The researchers who led the study said that their results underline the importance of tracking concussion symptoms as opposed to diagnosed concussions in research. This work also adds evidence to the impact a professional football career can have on accelerating cognitive aging. 

    “It is well-established that in the hours and days after a concussion, people experience some cognitive impairment. However, when you look decades out, the data on the long-term impact have been mixed,” said study senior author Laura Germine, PhD, director of the Laboratory for Brain and Cognitive Health Technology at McLean Hospital  and associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “These new findings from the largest study of its kind show that professional football players can still experience cognitive difficulties associated with head injuries decades after they have retired from the sport.”

    Concussion Symptoms Linked to Cognitive Performance

    For the study, 353 retired NFL players completed hour-long neuropsychological tests through an online platform called TestMyBrain, which is supported by McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Players were fully remote and completed tests on a laptop or desktop that included assessments that measured processing speed, visual-spatial and working memory, and aspects of short- and long-term memory and vocabulary. 

    Recollected concussion symptoms were measured by asking the players the number of times they experienced any one of the following symptoms following a blow to the head during play or practice: headaches, nausea, dizziness, loss of consciousness, memory problems, disorientation, confusion, seizure, visual problems or feeling unsteady on their feet. They were also asked whether they lost consciousness during their careers, and whether they were ever diagnosed with a concussion by a medical professional.

    The results showed that the former players’ cognitive performance (for example, on memory tasks) was associated with recalled football concussion symptoms. For example, differences observed in visual memory scores between former players with the highest and lowest reported concussion symptoms were equivalent to the differences in cognitive performance between a typical 35-year-old and 60-year-old.

    However, poor cognitive performance was not associated with diagnosed concussions, years of professional play or age of first football exposure. The researchers noted that many head injuries or sub-concussive blows may not have been diagnosed as concussions due to a lack of awareness at the time or underreporting of symptoms by players. 

    When comparing the retired players to a group of 5,086 men who did not play football, cognitive performance was generally worse for former players. On two tests of processing speed, age-related differences in cognitive performance were larger among the former player group than the nonplayer group, with older players performing worse.

    These comparison data suggest that football exposure might accelerate age-related cognitive declines and produce greater disadvantages at older ages, according to the researchers, who added that more studies are needed to track cognitive performance in former players as they age. Another possibility is that improved awareness and management of head injuries may have spared younger retired players more than older ones. The researchers also noted that this comparative finding is limited by a lack of data on cognition prior to head injuries, and that more research is needed that closely matches former players and nonplayers and measures their cognitive performances across their lifetimes.

    “For both former players and researchers, we can glean some important takeaways from this study,” said principal investigator of the Football Players Health Study, Ross Zafonte, DO. “Former players can support their cognitive health as they age by taking proactive steps, and continuing to consult with their providers and educate themselves on symptoms of head injury. For researchers and providers, these findings support efforts to develop ways to enhance diagnosis and define long-term sequalae of concussion.” Zafonte is president of Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, a Mass General Brigham sports medicine physician, and the Earle P. and Ida S. Charlton Professor and Chair of the Harvard Medical School Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

    “The Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach taken in this study is where this field is heading,” said Germine. “We are grateful to the players and how much they have taught us. It would not have been possible to do a study like this without engaging and deeply involving their community.”

    Research Driven by Input from Former NFL Players

    The Football Players Health Study at Harvard University, launched in 2014, is a comprehensive research program dedicated to examining the multifactorial causes that impact the health of former NFL players. The research has been informed by the players themselves, who have provided input on the health concerns and conditions they face after a career in football. An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Harvard University and Harvard Medical School and its affiliated teaching hospitals, including those in the Mass General Brigham system, conduct research from neurology, cardiology, sports medicine, rehabilitation medicine, chronic pain and public health. While concussion and head injury are of paramount concern, the study examines all aspects of player health across the life span. Former players can find important resources to support their health in this section of the study’s website.

    —

    This work was supported by the Football Players Health Study at Harvard University, which is funded by the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors, and does not necessarily represent the official views of Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, and its affiliated academic healthcare centers. The NFLPA had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

    In addition to Drs. Germine and Zafonte, other investigators on the study included Roger W. Strong, PhD, Rachel Grashow, PhD, MS, Andrea L. Roberts, PhD, Eliza Passell, BA, Luke Scheuer, BA, Douglas P. Terry, PhD, Sarah Cohan, PMP, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MD, PhD and Marc G. Weisskopf PhD, ScD.

    Paper cited: Strong RW et al. “Association of retrospectively reported concussion symptoms with objective cognitive performance in former American-style football players” Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology DOI: 10.1093/arclin/acad008.

    About Mass General Brigham

    Mass General Brigham is an integrated academic healthcare system, uniting great minds in medicine to make life-changing impact for patients in our communities and people around the world. Mass General Brigham connects a full continuum of care across a system of academic medical centers, community and specialty hospitals, a health insurance plan, physician networks, community health centers, home care, and long-term care services. Mass General Brigham is a non-profit organization that is committed to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. In addition, Mass General Brigham is one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations and a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information, please visit massgeneralbrigham.org.

    Mass General Brigham

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  • Flu vaccination rate holds steady but misinformation about flu and Covid-19 persists

    Flu vaccination rate holds steady but misinformation about flu and Covid-19 persists

    Newswise — PHILADELPHIA – Although the public had been alerted that this winter could be a potentially bad flu season, barely half of Americans said in January that they had received a flu shot, a vaccination level unchanged in a representative national panel from the comparable period last year, according to a new Annenberg Science Knowledge (ASK) survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

    The panel survey, fielded with over 1,600 U.S. adults, finds that many have a base of knowledge about the flu but there is a reservoir of uncertainty about other consequential information about the flu, Covid-19, and vaccination. Among the findings of the ASK survey, which also inquired more broadly about attitudes toward vaccine mandates and the continuing “return to normal”:

    • Nearly half of Americans (49%) do not know it is safe to get a flu shot during pregnancy.
    • Over half of Americans (53%) say the Army should be able to require Covid-19 vaccination for soldiers who do not have a medical or religious exemption – and a plurality (45%) say public schools should be able to require Covid-19 vaccination of all children who do not have a medical or religious exemption.
    • Only 10% of those who had heard of NFL player Damar Hamlin’s on-field collapse think that vaccination was connected to his cardiac arrest – but many more are not sure whether the rate of heart-related deaths has increased among young athletes over the past three years.
    • More than half of Americans (52%) now say their lives have returned to a pre-pandemic normal, up significantly from 47% in October 2022.

    “Although the CDC indicated that seasonal flu activity is now low nationally, the fact that the level of reported flu vaccination in our panel was roughly the same in January of this year as a year before is concerning,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. “Because this has been a more severe flu season than the one a year ago, we expected an increase in the reported vaccination rate.”

    The nationally representative panel of 1,657 U.S. adults surveyed by SSRS for the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania from January 10-16, 2023, was the tenth wave of an Annenberg Science Knowledge survey whose respondents were first empaneled in April 2021. The margin of sampling error (MOE) is ± 3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. See the Appendix and Methodology for question wording and additional information.

    What the public knows: The flu and flu shot

    The latest wave of the ASK survey finds that many people know the basics about the flu:

    • Handwashing: 93% of respondents know that washing your hands helps you avoid getting sick from or spreading the seasonal flu.
    • Getting the flu again: 83% know it’s possible to get the flu more than once in a flu season.
    • Vaccine effectiveness: 77% know that the effectiveness of the seasonal flu shot in the United States can vary from year to year.
      • However, 19% of respondents also think, incorrectly, that the effectiveness of the measles vaccine can vary from year to year and 40% are not sure.
      • Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed (73%) think the seasonal flu shot is effective at reducing the risk of getting the flu this year.
    • Mask-wearing: 77% know that wearing a high-quality, well-fitting mask helps limit the spread of flu.
    • Contagion: 76% know it’s possible to spread the seasonal flu to others even if you have no symptoms.
      • 14% of our respondents say they have had the flu this season. Of this group, 8% had no symptoms; 29% had mild symptoms; 43% had moderate symptoms; and 19% had severe symptoms.

    A majority of the public knows that the following claims are false:

    • Flu vaccine and Covid-19: Three-quarters (77%) know it’s false to say that the seasonal flu shot increases your risk of getting Covid-19 – though 6% incorrectly think this is true and 17% are not sure whether it is true or false. (See APPC’s project FactCheck.org to learn more about the false claim linking the flu shot and Covid-19.)
    • Better late than never: 71% know it’s false to say that if you haven’t gotten your flu shot by November, there’s no value in getting it – though 11% incorrectly think this is true and 18% are not sure. (The CDC recommends vaccination even after November because significant flu activity can continue into May.)
    • Cold weather: Nearly two-thirds (65%) know it’s false to say that cold weather causes the flu – but a third either incorrectly think this is true (22%) or are not sure (13%).
    • The flu can be treated: 64% of respondents know it’s false to say there is no treatment for the flu – but 23% incorrectly think this is true and 13% are not sure if it is true.

    Areas of uncertainty

    But there are important claims about the flu that substantial parts of the public are confused about:

    • Pregnancy: Almost half (49%) do not know that it is safe to get a flu shot during pregnancy, including the 10% who think it is not safe and 39% who are unsure. Just 51% know it is safe.
    • Get flu from the shot? 46% do not know you cannot get the flu from the flu shot, including 29% who think you can get the flu from the shot and 16% who are not sure.
    • Antibiotics and the flu: 45% do not know that the flu cannot be treated with antibiotics, including 25% who think it can be treated with antibiotics and 20% who are unsure.
    • Antibiotics and viruses: 40% do not know that antibiotics do not work on viruses such as those that cause colds, the flu, and Covid-19 – including 20% who think it is false to say antibiotics don’t work on viruses, and 20% who are unsure.

    Attitudes toward flu vaccination

    • Tamiflu: Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed (65%) disagree with the statement that there’s no need for a flu shot because they can always use Tamiflu to treat flu symptoms.
    • Breakthrough infections: 58% disagree with the statement that breakthrough seasonal flu infections are evidence that flu shots don’t work – though 15% agree and 26% neither agree nor disagree.
    • Danger to children: 57% disagree with the statement that children do not need the seasonal flu shot because they are at a low risk of death from the flu – though 18% agree and 25% neither agree nor disagree.
    • Flu shots for all: Just 41% agree that every person older than six months should get a flu shot every year – 33% disagree and 26% neither agree nor disagree. The CDC recommends a flu shot every season for nearly everyone six months and older.

    How many have had a flu shot and why

    The ASK survey in January 2023 finds that 49% of respondents say they have had a seasonal flu shot, statistically unchanged from 47% in our January 2022 survey and 50% in April 2021. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 46% of U.S. adults 18 and older had a flu shot as of December 31, 2022.

    The CDC actively promoted flu vaccination amid concerns that the 2022-23 season would be severe.

    When the 49% of survey respondents who said they got the flu vaccine were asked in January why they got the shot (multiple responses were permitted):

    • 69% said I get it every year (down from 78% in January 2022)
    • 64% said to protect myself against catching the flu (up from 44% in January 2022)
    • 8% said to protect myself against Covid-19 (unchanged from 9% in January 2022)
    • 25% said because it is recommended by the CDC (this response was not previously offered)

    Concerns: The flu, Covid-19, RSV, polio, myocarditis

    Worries about family members contracting flu, Covid, or RSV: About a third of those surveyed say they are somewhat or very worried about family members contracting Covid-19 (36%), the seasonal flu (35%), or RSV, respiratory syncytial virus (33%). Only 11% say they are somewhat/very worried about a family member contracting polio, which reemerged as a public health threat in July 2022 after a case was reported in New York State. (FactCheck.org has more about poliovirus being found in New York City sewage.)

    Myocarditis: Rare cases of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, have been reported among those who have had mRNA Covid-19 vaccines, particularly young males following a second vaccine dose. (FactCheck.org has more on the Covid-19 vaccine and myocarditis.) The connection between myocarditis and the vaccine has drawn attention on social media and in news media.

    The survey found that over a third of respondents (37%) think that Covid-19 poses a higher risk for myocarditis than the vaccine against Covid-19. But 17% think that is false and nearly half of those surveyed (47%) are not sure which poses a higher risk.

    Damar Hamlin and young athletes dying of heart problems

    Much of the public rejects the notion that Damar Hamlin’s collapse during an NFL game had anything to do with the vaccine against Covid-19. But the survey finds that many people are uncertain about the broader unsupported claim that more young athletes are dying of heart problems these days.

    Hamlin, a safety on the Buffalo Bills, suffered a cardiac arrest during the Jan. 2, 2023, game against the Cincinnati Bengals, triggering a spate of unfounded, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories on social media about the cause. The overwhelming majority of those in our survey (87%) said they had heard, read, or seen reports of his collapse.

    But those respondents overwhelmingly reject the idea that a Covid-19 vaccine caused Hamlin’s injury. Only 10% of those who had heard of the incident attribute it to factors connected with the vaccine. Nearly half (49%) say that based on what they had heard of it, Hamlin’s cardiac arrest was most likely caused by being hit hard in the chest; 17% say an underlying heart condition; and 21% say they are not sure. (FactCheck.org writes about what was known about Hamlin’s injury.)

    While social media posts with millions of views quickly associated Hamlin’s collapse with vaccination, mainstream media sources noted the lack of evidence for such claims or dismissed them as misinformation. See, for example, stories such as The inevitable, grotesque effort to blame vaccines for Damar Hamlin’s collapse (Washington Post, Jan. 3) and Hamlin’s collapse spurs new wave of vaccine misinformation (Associated Press, Jan. 5).

    However, 26% of those surveyed say they think that the number of young athletes dying of heart problems increased over the past three years, and nearly half (49%) are not sure whether the number has increased or decreased. Only 23% say that the numbers of deaths have remained virtually unchanged. (See FactCheck.org’s article No Surge in Athlete Deaths, Contrary to Widespread Anti-Vaccine Claims on why this claim is unfounded.)

    Covid-19 and MMR vaccine mandates

    Schools and military: The ASK survey finds stronger support for a Covid-19 vaccine mandate in the military than in public schools, with over half supporting a military mandate:

    • 53% of those surveyed strongly or somewhat agree that the U.S. Army should be able to require Covid-19 vaccination of all soldiers who do not have a medical or religious exemption and 30% strongly or somewhat disagree (asked of a survey half-sample).
    • 45% strongly or somewhat agree that public schools should be able to require Covid-19 vaccination of all children who do not have a medical or religious exemption and 38% strongly or somewhat disagree (asked of a half-sample).

    MMR vaccine: Asked their views on the childhood vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), 63% agree that healthy children should be required to get the MMR vaccine in order to attend public schools, while 22% say parents should be able to decide whether to vaccinate their children who attend public schools and 15% are not sure.

    Getting back to ‘normal’

    The return to normal: Asked when they expect to be able to return to “your normal, pre-Covid-19 life,” more than half of Americans (52%) say they already have – up from 47% in October 2022. More than 1 in 5 Americans (22%) continue to say “never,” which is statistically unchanged since July 2022.

    Mask-wearing: Six in 10 people (61%) say they never or rarely wear masks, statistically unchanged from the 60% who said this in October 2022. And 18% say they always or often wear a mask, also statistically unchanged from the 17% who said so in October.

    See the Appendix for question wording and data and the Methodology for additional information. Read about prior Annenberg Science Knowledge surveys.

    The Annenberg Public Policy Center was established in 1993 to educate the public and policy makers about communication’s role in advancing public understanding of political, science, and health issues at the local, state, and federal levels. APPC is the home of FactCheck.org and its SciCheck program, whose Covid-19/Vaccination Project seeks to debunk misinformation about Covid-19 and vaccines, and increase exposure to accurate information.

    Annenberg Public Policy Center

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  • Review strengthens evidence that repetitive head impacts can cause CTE

    Review strengthens evidence that repetitive head impacts can cause CTE

    Newswise — (Boston)—During the past 17 years, there has been a remarkable increase in scientific research concerning chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) with researchers at the BU CTE Center at the forefront. While some sports organizations like the National Hockey League and World Rugby still claim their sports do not cause CTE, a new review of the evidence by the world’s leading CTE expert strengthens the case that repetitive head impact (RHI) exposure is the chief risk factor for the condition.

    CTE became national news in the United States in 2007, but it wasn’t until 2016 that the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke/National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NINDS-NIBIB) criteria for the neuropathological diagnosis of CTE were published, and they were refined in 2021. Rare, isolated case studies reporting aberrant findings or using non-accepted diagnostic criteria have been disproportionately emphasized to cast doubt on the connection between RHI and CTE.

    In a review article in the journal Acta Neuropathologica, Ann McKee, MD, chief of neuropathology at VA Boston Healthcare System and director of the BU CTE Center, stresses that now over 600 CTE cases have been published in the literature from multiple international research groups. And of those over 600 cases, 97 percent have confirmed exposure to RHI, primarily through contact and collision sports. CTE has been diagnosed in amateur and professional athletes, including athletes from American, Canadian, and Australian football, rugby union, rugby league, soccer, ice hockey, bull-riding, wrestling, mixed-martial arts, and boxing.

    What’s more, 82 percent (14 of the 17) of the purported CTE cases that occurred in the absence of RHI, where up-to-date criteria were used, the study authors disclosed that families were never asked what sports the decedent played. 

    According to the researchers, despite global efforts to find CTE in the absence of contact sport participation or RHI exposure, it appears to be extraordinarily rare, if it exists at all. “In studies of community brain banks, CTE has been seen in 0 to 3 percent of cases, and where the information is available, positive cases were exposed to brain injuries or RHI. In contrast, CTE is the most common neurodegenerative disease diagnosis in contact and collision sport athletes in brain banks around the world. A strong dose response relationship is perhaps the strongest evidence that RHI is causing CTE in athletes,” she added.

    “The review presents the timeline for the development of neuropathological criteria for the diagnosis of CTE which was begun nearly 100 years ago by pathologist Harrison Martland who introduced the term “punch-drunk” to describe a neurological condition in prizefighters,” explained McKee, corresponding author of the study. The review chronologically describes the multiple studies conducted by independent, international groups investigating different populations that found CTE pathology in individuals with a history of RHI from various sources.”

    CTE is characterized by a distinctive molecular structural configuration of p-tau fibrils that is unlike the changes observed with aging, Alzheimer’s disease, or any other diseases caused by tau protein.

    Funding for this research was provided by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (U54NS115266; R01NS119651; U01 NS 086659), National Institute on Aging (P30AG13846; U19AG06875; R01AG062348; RF1AG057902; K01AG070326), Department of Veterans Affairs (101BX002466, 101BX004613, BX004349), the Nick and Lynn Buoniconti Foundation, Andlinger Foundation, National Football League (NFL) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) through unrestricted gifts, the Mac Parkman Foundation, and the National Operating Committee on Safety for Sports Equipment (NOCSEA).

    Boston University School of Medicine

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  • Tears in Tokyo: Muscle–tendon injuries during Olympic competition can spell heartbreak

    Tears in Tokyo: Muscle–tendon injuries during Olympic competition can spell heartbreak

    Newswise — Tokyo, Japan—In a recent study, researchers reviewed magnetic resonance images (MRI) of muscle injuries experienced by athletes during the Tokyo Olympic Games and found that when muscle injuries were characterized by torn fibers extending to the tendon, athletes were often unable to finish their events. Muscle injuries can derail training and preparation, and when they occur during competition they can prevent athletes from showcasing the best of their abilities. A better understanding of different types of muscle injuries and their likely outcomes may help sports physicians to answer the question that is most prominent in the mind of an injured athlete—will I be able to continue?

    In a study published last month in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, a team that included several researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) took a closer look at the circumstances of injuries sustained by athletes during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and examined whether injury characteristics could be linked to whether an athlete was able to finish competing or had to drop out.

    “When a muscle injury is experienced by an elite athlete during training or competition, they (and their medical team) are faced with the ultimate athlete’s dilemma—deciding whether to continue competing and if, in doing so, they risk further harm,” explains senior author Hideyuki Koga. “It is not an easy dilemma given that the chance to compete in the Olympic Games is often a once in a lifetime chance, so the hope is that our findings and those from future studies of sporting competitions will contribute information that can help athletes and their medical teams make informed decisions.”

    With data from a wide range of sports being included in the study the research team was able to uncover useful information towards their research question. Lead author Hiroki Katagiri says, “We found that the proportion of athletes who were unable to finish competing was significantly higher for athletes with muscle tears that extended to the tendon than for athletes with tears in the muscle belly or peripheral part of the injured muscle.”

    Such a wide data pool gives high quality information that helps us understant which types of muscle tears are more likely to prevent athletes from competing and this can be used to improve injury management or even injury prevention.

    So, it seems that there is more one type of photo finish in the Olympic Games. For an athlete who sustains a muscle injury, everything (hopes, dreams, and four years of training) may ride upon a single picture—an MRI.

    ###

    The article, “Epidemiology of MRI-detected muscle injury in athletes participating in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,” was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine at DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2022-105827

    Tokyo Medical and Dental University

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  • Sustained Acoustic Medicine Enables Student-Athletes to Recover in the Classroom While Meeting Their Academic Obligations

    Sustained Acoustic Medicine Enables Student-Athletes to Recover in the Classroom While Meeting Their Academic Obligations

    The device’s ease of use permits players to wear sam® for long periods discreetly, allowing athletes to attend class while maintaining 100% treatment compliance during recovery.

    Press Release
    –

    Jan 9, 2023 11:00 EST


    AUSTIN, Texas, January 9, 2023 (Newswire.com)
    –
    A Texas collegiate football program is taking advantage of sustained acoustic medicine (sam®), a low-intensity, long-duration ultrasound treatment developed by ZetrOZ Systems. Injured athletes are utilizing the device while in class, allowing them to recover from injury and get the full benefit of the recommended one-hour treatment time without sacrificing attendance.

    A representative from the ZetrOZ Systems sports medicine team visited the organization to discuss the sam® device. One account involved a wide receiver at the college who suffered from plantar fasciitis. His trainer put him on a treatment using the sam®x1 wireless unit, allowing him to attend team lunches and class while undergoing the full hour of treatment time.

    An innovation in wearable health technology, sam® is a wearable, mechanobiological device that delivers high-frequency sound waves to the affected area, helping to increase blood flow while reducing inflammation and swelling. The increased oxygenated hemoglobin at the injury site removes cytokine enzymes and cellular waste and can be particularly useful for treating injuries such as strains, sprains, and muscle tears, as well as chronic conditions such as tendonitis and bursitis.

    In addition to its anti-inflammatory effects, long-duration ultrasound therapy has also been found to reduce pain, improve mobility, and accelerate tissue repair. It is generally considered a safe and non-invasive treatment option with few side effects.

    Backed by over 30 clinical studies, the sam® device was developed from research funded by the National Institute of Health and the U.S. Department of Defense to provide effective soft tissue healing and reduce the use of narcotics and invasive treatments. 

    To learn more, visit zetroz.com.

    About ZetrOZ Systems

    ZetrOZ Systems is leading healing innovations in sports medicine and developing wearable bioelectronic devices for the delivery of sustained acoustic medicine (sam®). Researched and funded by the federal government, ZetrOZ is built on proprietary medical technology of +46 patents and is the exclusive manufacturer and developer of sam®, a product line designed for the treatment of acute and chronic musculoskeletal conditions. To learn more, visit zetroz.com.

    Source: ZetrOZ Systems

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  • Sports Medicine Experts Available to Discuss Damar Hamlin’s Injury

    Sports Medicine Experts Available to Discuss Damar Hamlin’s Injury

    Newswise — Loyola Medicine sports medicine and cardiology experts are available to discuss the incident involving Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who suffered a cardiac arrest on the field following a tackle during Monday night’s football game against the Cincinnati Bengals.   

    Loyola Medicine’s team of sports medicine specialists provides comprehensive, integrated orthopaedic and sports medicine care. Built on a tradition of excellence and innovation, Loyola Medicine’s comprehensive heart and vascular program brings together specialists from all aspects of cardiology and vascular care. Specialists treat a wide variety of cardiac and vascular conditions and diseases while offering nationally acclaimed comprehensive heart and vascular services. 

    Loyola Medicine

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  • Quarter of former Olympians suffer from osteoarthritis, study says

    Quarter of former Olympians suffer from osteoarthritis, study says

    Newswise — One in four retired Olympians reported a diagnosis of osteoarthritis, the form of arthritis that causes changes in the joint and can lead to discomfort, pain and disability, the research found.

    Elite retired sportspeople who had experienced a sports-related injury had a higher chance of knee and hip osteoarthritis when compared with the general population.

    The athletes – who had competed at an Olympic level in 57 sports including athletics, rowing and skiing – also had an increased risk of lower back pain overall, and shoulder osteoarthritis after a shoulder injury.

    Researchers hope the findings will help develop new approaches in injury prevention for the benefit of athletes now and in retirement.

    The study – led by a University of Edinburgh based researcher – is the largest international survey of its kind, and the first to observe the consequences of osteoarthritis and pain in different joints from retired elite athletes across different summer and winter Olympic sports.

    Researchers quizzed 3,357 retired Olympians aged around 45 on injuries and the health of their bones, joints, muscles and spine. They were also asked if they were currently experiencing joint pain, and if they had an osteoarthritis diagnosis.

    For comparison, 1,735 people aged around 41 from the general population completed the same survey.

    Researchers used statistical models to compare the prevalence of spine, upper limb and lower limb osteoarthritis and pain in retired Olympians with the general population.  

    The team considered factors that could influence the risk of pain and osteoarthritis such as injury, recurrent injury, age, sex and obesity.

    They found that the knee, lumbar spine and shoulder were the most injury prone areas for Olympians. These were also among the most common locations for osteoarthritis and pain.

    After a joint injury the Olympians were more likely to develop osteoarthritis than someone sustaining a similar injury in the general population, the research found

    The sportspeople also had an increased risk of shoulder, knee, hip and ankle and upper and lower spine pain after injury, although this did not differ with the general population.

    Dr Debbie Palmer, of the University of Edinburgh’s Moray House School of Education and Sport, said: “High performance sport is associated with an increased risk of sport-related injury and there is emerging evidence suggesting retired elite athletes have high rates of post-traumatic osteoarthritis.

    “This study provides new evidence for specific factors associated with pain and osteoarthritis in retired elite athletes across the knee, hip, ankle, lumbar and cervical spine, and shoulder, and identifies differences in their occurrence that are specific to Olympians.”

    Researchers say the study may help people make decisions about recovery and rehabilitation from injuries in order to prevent recurrences, and to inform prevention strategies to reduce the risk and progression of pain and OA in retirement.

    Two linked studies are published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

    Open access version of the paper are available here: Part 1 –https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/prevalence-of-and-factors-associated-with-osteoarthritis-and-pain

     Part 2 – https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/prevalence-of-and-factors-associated-with-osteoarthritis-and-pain-2

    The World Olympians Association funded the Retired Olympian Musculoskeletal Health Study with a research grant from the International Olympic Committee.

    University of Edinburgh

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  • Jury: NCAA not to blame in ex-USC football player’s death

    Jury: NCAA not to blame in ex-USC football player’s death

    LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles jury on Tuesday rejected a claim by the widow of a former USC player who said the NCAA failed to protect him from repeated head trauma that led to his death.

    Matthew Gee, a linebacker on the 1990 Rose Bowl-winning squad, endured an estimated 6,000 hits that caused permanent brain damage and led to cocaine and alcohol abuse that eventually killed him at age 49, lawyers for his widow alleged.

    The NCAA said it had nothing to do with Gee’s death, which it said was a sudden cardiac arrest brought on by untreated hypertension and acute cocaine toxicity. A lawyer for the governing body of U.S. college sports said Gee suffered from many other health problems not related to , such as liver cirrhosis, that would have eventually killed him.

    The verdict could have broad ramifications for college athletes who blame the NCAA for head injuries.

    Hundreds of wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits have been brought by college players against the NCAA in the past decade, but Gee’s is the first one to reach a jury alleging that hits to the head led to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease known by its acronym, CTE.

    Alana Gee said the college sweethearts had 20 good years of marriage before her husband’s mental health began to deteriorate and he became angry, depressed and impulsive, and began overeating and abusing drugs and alcohol.

    Attorneys for Gee said CTE, which is found in athletes and military veterans who suffered repetitive brain injuries, was an indirect cause of death because head trauma has been shown to promote substance abuse.

    The NCAA said the case hinged on what it knew at the time Gee played, from 1988-92, and not about CTE, which was first discovered in the brain of a deceased NFL player in 2005.

    Gee never reported having a concussion and said in an application to play with the Raiders after graduating that he had never been knocked unconscious, NCAA attorney Will Stute said.

    “You can’t hold the NCAA responsible for something 40 years later that nobody ever reported,” Stute said in his closing argument. “The plaintiffs want you in a time travel machine. We don’t have one … at the NCAA. It’s not fair.”

    Attorneys for Gee’s family said there was no doubt that Matt Gee suffered concussions and countless sub-concussive blows.

    Mike Salmon, a teammate who went on to play in the NFL, testified that Gee, who was team captain his senior year, once was so dazed from a hit that he couldn’t call the next play.

    Gee was one of five linebackers on the 1989 Trojans squad who died before turning 50. All displayed signs of mental deterioration associated with head trauma.

    As with teammate and NFL star Junior Seau, who killed himself in 2012, Gee’s brain was examined posthumously at Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center and found to have CTE.

    Jurors were not allowed to hear testimony about Gee’s deceased teammates.

    Gee’s lawyers said the NCAA, which was founded in 1906 for athlete safety, had known about impacts from head injuries since the 1930s but failed to educate players, ban headfirst contact, or implement baseline testing for concussion symptoms.

    Attorneys had asked jurors to award Alana Gee $55 million to compensate for her loss.

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  • Association of NFL fan attendance with county-level COVID-19 incidence in 2020-2021 season

    Association of NFL fan attendance with county-level COVID-19 incidence in 2020-2021 season

    Newswise — About The Study: In this cross-sectional study of the presence of fans at National Football League (NFL) home games during the 2020-2021 season, results indicated that fan attendance was associated with increased levels of COVID-19 in the counties in which the venues are nested within, as well as in surrounding counties. The spikes in COVID-19 for crowds of over 20,000 people suggest that large events should be handled with extreme caution during public health event(s) where vaccines, on-site testing, and various countermeasures are not readily available to the public. 

    Authors: Wanda E. Leal, Ph.D., of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, is the corresponding author. 

     

    Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

    #  #  #

    About JAMA Network Open: JAMA Network Open is the new online-only open access general medical journal from the JAMA Network. On weekdays, the journal publishes peer-reviewed clinical research and commentary in more than 40 medical and health subject areas. Every article is free online from the day of publication.

    JAMA – Journal of the American Medical Association

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  • Opinion: Why pre-sports evaluation forms for girls worry me — and should concern you, too | CNN

    Opinion: Why pre-sports evaluation forms for girls worry me — and should concern you, too | CNN

    Editor’s Note: Megan Ranney, MD, MPH, is the deputy dean at the School of Public Health at Brown University and a professor of emergency medicine at the University’s Warren Alpert Medical School. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. Read more opinion on CNN.



    CNN
     — 

    As a physician, a public health professional and a parent of a teenage girl, I’ve been following news about a Florida school district’s decision to digitize kids’ school athletic records with interest – and with concern.

    What should be a simple decision about medical best practice has been turned into a Gordian knot of not just health, but also policy, politics, technology and bodily autonomy.

    Being active is obviously important for kids, in general. We should do everything we can to encourage all youth to engage in physical activity, whether through organized sports or informal activity. Although, traditionally, women were less likely to be competitive athletes, the number of US high school athletes who identify as female has increased more than 10-fold over the last five decades. This growth deserves to be supported.

    For kids of all genders to safely participate in competitive sports, a consortium of medical organizations have agreed on a standardized pre-sports physical screening and exam. The exact rules and regulations differ between states, but the overarching goal of a pre-sports physical is to allow physicians (or other appropriate clinicians) to identify and then mitigate potential harms from youth sports participation.

    The pre-sports evaluation form used by the Florida High School Athletic Association, and by extension the Palm Beach County School District, includes screening for everything from family history of cardiac disorders to concussions, depression and eating disorders. These questions are included for good reason. Competitive athletes of all genders are prone to energy deficiency, whether due to disordered eating or due to excessive energy use during practices. This energy deficiency can cause long-lasting harm, especially for adolescents.

    When the energy deficiency is accompanied by amenorrhea (lack of a period), it is particularly worrisome, as the metabolic and endocrine side-effects can weaken athletes’ bones, increase the risk of stress fractures and increase the risk of long-term osteoporosis. It is, therefore, medically appropriate to ask athletes about signs of disordered eating, amenorrhea, and other signs of physical danger when deciding whether an athlete is safe to practice and compete. This is also the reason the screening form also includes four questions for “females only” about menstruation.

    However, there is a big difference between a physician or other trained healthcare professional asking these questions in private, as part of a clinical assessment, and the physician sharing all the details with third parties.

    That some states may share the full physical and screening exam – including information about youth athletes’ menstrual cycles – with school districts, state officials and third-party digital record-keeping companies is, to me, deeply worrisome. The strictures of the post-Dobbs world, the reality of today’s tech world and the suggestive examples of other instances where these intersections have left women and girls vulnerable could put parents and doctors in an untenable position.

    From a purely medical perspective, the pre-participation exam forms approved by the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Sports Medicine, American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, and American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine, specify that only the final decision (e.g., whether or not a patient is cleared for sports, and whether there are restrictions) should be shared with a school district. They specifically comment that the medical exam and screening questions should remain with the evaluating clinician or physician.

    This guidance reflects the tremendous importance of protecting the privacy of the patient-physician relationship. The confidentiality of clinical discussions is important in general, but all the more so for adolescents. And reproductive and gynecologic care, including discussions about menstruation, are appropriately considered to be even more private than, say, a lung or heart or knee exam.

    But my concern about the reported sharing of data goes beyond fears of impairing the patient-physician relationship. The current social, political and technological environment creates a perfect storm for this information-sharing to endanger youth in a myriad of ways.

    First, laws regarding reproductive health, gender and abortion are quickly being rewritten nationwide. In Texas and Oklahoma, those states effectively offer a bounty to anyone who reports a suspected abortion. In other states, being transgender can result in exclusion from organized sports. One could easily imagine a world in which – if school officials or coaches are expected to follow an athlete’s menstrual cycle – some youth would be reported up the chain (accurately or inaccurately) for missed periods. For some youth, this reporting could result in inappropriate and invasive gynecologic exams. For other youth, this could result in them and their parents being charged with a crime. And knowing about a kid’s periods potentially puts schools in a position of liability.

    Second, the security of a third-party software system (such as that being used by districts in Florida) is often dubious. While I can’t judge the level of security particular software program being used in Florida, many of us have previously discussed our concerns about poorly designed, poorly protected “period tracking apps.” Cyber-hacking of electronic health records is on the rise. Even the largest, most security-conscious health care organizations are at risk, and data from reproductive health organizations has been specifically targeted and shared. As soon as we share menstrual data with a digital application, we must also worry about its being accessed by those with nefarious intentions.

    I doubt that most school systems are ready for these legal and security risks.

    Finally, as a mother of a teenager (and a former high school athlete, myself) I cringe at the thought of a coach – even with the best of intentions! – following a child’s menstrual cycle for signs of missed periods. Even in my state (which protects abortion as healthcare, albeit with parental consent), this kind of tracking would be embarrassing at best and invasive at worst. And my worries would be far greater if I were in a state that limited my own and my children’s reproductive rights.

    I am glad that Palm Beach County has reconsidered this dangerous policy and asked that questions about menstrual history be removed from Florida’s pre-sports evaluation form. Here’s hoping the Florida High School Athletic Association listens and does what’s right for the sake of kids, parents, coaches and schools.

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  • Concussion lawsuit against NCAA could be first to reach jury

    Concussion lawsuit against NCAA could be first to reach jury

    LOS ANGELES — A lawsuit alleging the NCAA failed to protect a former University of South California player from repeated concussions is nearing trial in a Los Angeles court, with a jury seated Thursday in what could become a landmark case.

    The suit filed by Matthew Gee’s widow says the former USC linebacker died in 2018 from permanent brain damage caused by countless blows to the head he took while playing for the 1990 Rose Bowl winning team, whose roster also included future NFL star Junior Seau.

    Of the hundreds of wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits brought by college players against the NCAA in the past decade, Gee’s is only the second to head toward trial and could be the first to reach a jury.

    The issue of concussions in sports, and in particular, has been front and center in recent years as research has discovered more about long-term effects of repeated head trauma in problems ranging from headaches to depression and, sometimes, early onset Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease.

    “For years (the NCAA) has kept players like Matthew Gee and the public in the dark about an epidemic that was slowly killing college athletes,” Alana Gee’s lawsuit said. “Long after they played their last game, they are left with a series of neurological conditions that could slowly strangle their brains.”

    The NCAA, the governing body of college athletics, said it wasn’t responsible for Gee’s tragic death, which it blamed on heavy drinking, drugs and other ailments.

    “Mr. Gee used alcohol and drugs to cope with a traumatic childhood, to fill in the loss of identity he felt after his playing days ended, and to numb the chronic and increasing pain caused by numerous health issues,” NCAA lawyers wrote in a court filing.

    A 2018 trial in Texas led to a swift settlement after several days of testimony by witnesses for the plaintiff, the widow of Greg Ploetz, who played defense for Texas in the late 1960s.

    In 2016, the NCAA agreed to settle a class-action concussion lawsuit, paying $70 million to monitor the medical conditions of former college athletes, another $5 million toward medical research and payments up to $5,000 toward individual players claiming injuries.

    The NFL has been hit with similar suits and eventually agreed to a settlement covering 20,000 retired players providing up to $4 million for a death involving chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as CTE, a degenerative brain disease found in athletes and military veterans who suffered repetitive brain injuries.

    Lawyers said they expected NFL payouts to top $1.4 billion over 65 years for six qualifying conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and dementia.

    Gee, 49, was one of five linebackers on the 1989 Trojans squad who died before turning 50. As with Seau, who killed himself in 2012, Gee’s brain was examined posthumously and found to have CTE.

    The defense has sought to exclude any testimony about Gee’s teammates, and the NCAA said there was no medical evidence Gee suffered from concussions at USC.

    Two ex-teammates, however, testified at depositions about blows they routinely took in an era when they were told to hit with their heads.

    Mike Salmon, who played defense at USC and went on to the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers and Buffalo Bills, said he distinctly recalled Gee and other linebackers being “out of it” during hard-hitting practices.

    “Matt hit like a truck,” Salmon said. “I saw him quite a bit coming back to the huddle. You could tell … he wasn’t all there.”

    “It was our job to make helmet-to-helmet contact in the ’80s,” Gene Fruge, a former nose-tackle testified. “There was no question about it. That was your job, to explode the man in front of you.”

    The NCAA, which required schools in 2010 to have a concussion protocol, said it gave them “state-of-the-art” information about head injury risks known at the time Gee played. It said long-term effects of head injuries weren’t well understood then.

    Gee’s lawsuit said the debilitating effects of concussions and other traumatic brain impacts have been known for about a century, first from studies of “punch drunk” boxers and later from findings in football and other contact sports.

    “The NCAA knew of the harmful effects … on athletes for decades, they ignored these facts and failed to institute any meaningful methods of warning and/or protecting the athletes,” the lawsuit said. “For the NCAA, the continued expansion and operation of college football was simply too profitable to put at risk.”

    After graduating in 1992, Gee was cut by the Los Angeles Raiders in training camp. He married Alana, his college sweetheart, and they had three children as he ran his own insurance company in Southern California. For 20 years, he lived a “relatively normal” life, the suit said.

    But that began to change around 2013 when he began to lose control of his emotions, the lawsuit said. He became angry, confused and depressed. He drank heavily. He told a doctor days would go by without him being able to recall what happened.

    When he died on New Year’s Eve 2018, the preliminary cause of death was listed as the combined toxic effects of alcohol and cocaine with other significant conditions of cardiovascular disease, cirrhosis and obesity.

    Joseph Low, a Los Angeles lawyer for clients with traumatic brain injury who is not involved in the case, said drug and alcohol abuse can become a symptom of brain injuries as those suffering try to self-medicate, particularly as they deteriorate.

    Blaming Gee’s death on substance abuse will not shield the NCAA from evidence showing he had CTE, which is not caused by drugs and alcohol, Low said.

    “The whole discussion about drugs and alcohol isn’t going to get it done for them. That’s a distraction,” Low said. “It’s really a disgusting way to do character assassination. It’s what you call defense strategy 101.”

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