Team Trainers Research Articles

Cardiovascular disease in athletes.

As a physician, coach, or trainer, we see athletes as healthy, physically fit, and able to tolerate extremes of physical endurance. It seems improbable that such athletes may have, on occasion, underlying life-threatening cardiovascular abnormalities. Regular physical activity promulgates cardiovascular fitness and lowers the risk of cardiac disease. However, under intense physical exertion and with a substrate of significant cardiac disease--whether congenital or acquired--athletes may succumb to sudden cardiac death. The deaths of high-profile athletes receive much attention through the national news media, but there are also deaths of other athletes. With repetitive, intense physical exercise, the heart undergoes functional and morphologic changes. Knowledge of those changes may help one identify cardiovascular abnormalities that can cause sudden death from the heart known as an "athlete's heart." This article will review cardiovascular diseases that may limit an athlete's participation in sports and that may put an athlete at risk for sudden cardiac death. It also reviews the extent and limitations of the cardiovascular preparticipation screening examination. Team physicians, coaches, and trainers must understand the process of evaluation of a symptomatic athlete that may indicate significant cardiac abnormalities. Finally, guidelines to determine eligibility of athletes with cardiovascular disease to return to sports will be reviewed.

Drug-Related Emergencies in Athletes

Drug use among athletes, both amateur and professional, is a problem that will remain with us. Athletes will use the drugs that are considered recreational by the general population as well as some that may help them in their individual sport. Team physicians, coaches, and trainers must be aware of the most frequently used and abused drugs, their side effects, interactions, and emergency management. In addition, they must be aware of their athletes who have a drug-related problem in order to advise them and get appropriate medical help. Remember that an athlete may have a significant drug problem yet continue to function well on the team. Early recognition and intervention may save one or many lives. The following are the responsibilities for coach, trainer, and team physician: (1) know what drugs athletes use and their pharmacology; (2) know one's limitations and how to access community resources; (3) know the laws related to drug/ETOH abuse and treatment; (4) understand the management of acute drug ingestion; and (5) know how to be supportive to the athletes.

How I Manage Sports Injuries to the Larynx.

In brief: Laryngeal trauma resulting in structural damage and/or laryngospasm with compromised airway is one of the true emergencies faced by team physicians and trainers. These care givers should be familiar with the anatomy and signs and symptoms of laryngeal injury and be prepared to deal with them. Most laryngeal injuries respond well to straightening the airway and firmly moving the chin forward with pressure behind angles of the jaw to relieve laryngospasm. Reassuring the patient is important. When airway obstruction is persistent, artificial airways may most easily be established by cricothyreotomy or needle jet cricothyreotomy. All laryngeal injuries should have immediate laryngoscopy to fully evaluate the degree of injury.

Women's Pro Basketball: Guts Without Glory.

Big money, glamour, and TV endorsements, that's what pro sports are made of-except in the new Women's Basketball League, where the team physicians, trainers, and players are all in their first year.

Physician Participation in Olympic Game Planning

To the Editor:— The statements made in the editorial Physician Participation in Olympic Game Planning were based on information from reliable sources which included members of the USOC, trainers assigned to the teams which went to Rome and Brazil, and members of the Olympic and Pan-American teams themselves. This information was supplemented by personal observation and by that of other physicians who attended the games. None of these sources was in any way critical of the quality of the personnel accompanying the teams, and all praised the devotion of the team physicians and trainers to their tasks which led them to work many long hours to give the best service possible. Facilities The scope of these games is such that no city in the world can at present provide the facilities for practice and competition for all sports in one area of the city. Every team in each individual sport

Physician Participation in Olympic Game Planning

To the Editor:— I regret that the purpose and the justification of the editorial of July 20 have been misunderstood by Dr. Hanley. There was no intent to criticize the Olympic team trainers or the physicians, who were, in fact, described in the editorial as highly competent. Rather, the issue was that the AMA Committee on the Medical Aspects of Sports has been unable to learn the policy of the US Olympic Committee (USOC) regarding advance medical consultation and what measures are being taken toward its implementation. In Search of Facts The editorial was prepared by the AMA Committee only after considerable but fruitless correspondence with USOC, and after receiving the counsel of the AMA Board of Trustees. The problem apparently is the attitude of some members of the USOC regarding the part that modern medicine could play in environmental health problems, supervision of the athletes' diets, and other training

Athletic injuries.

The authors discuss, in a very comprehensible, concise, and well-illustrated manner, the common injuries incurred in various sports. The descriptions of the sustained trauma, its pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, treatment, and prognosis are masterfully handled. Precise and clear line drawings help the reader enormously. This book is highly recommended to team physicians, trainers, and coaches.