What’s in a word?

December 15, 2018 by 2 Comments

The year is coming to a close, and we’re continuing the end-of-year reflections we began with our most recent blog post.

2018 began with ‘mansplaining’ and ended with ‘he-ja-vu’.

What is that you say?

At the risk of mansplaining myself, let me explain.

In January 2018, the English language grew, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED)– among the words added to the OED was the verb ‘mansplaining’: seen when a man explains something to someone, typically a woman, in a manner that is condescending or patronizing.

We’ve all seen examples of this in various venues of our lives, including that of academic or clinical sports medicine.  I know I’ve been guilty of it.

Later in the year, I joined a group of esteemed colleagues in writing an editorial that appeared in BJSM that looked at gender bias in our profession while looking at the phenomenon of ‘manels.’ Now, I don’t believe the OED has given its official blessing to this term, but a quick search on Twitter using the hashtag #manel will alert you to its widespread use in the working lexicon of social media.

[‘manel’ — an all- or predominantly-male panel of experts seen at conferences]

And now, as 2018 ends, we have a new offering of words looking at related phenomena of gender inequities in academic medicine.  This is commentary just published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) for Christmas:  A Lexicon for Gender Bias in Academia and Medicine. It is authored by three social media physicians (one woman, two men) who do great work on Twitter (definitely worth a follow): @choo_ek @DGlaucomfleken @rfdemayo

The commentary (subtitled “Mansplaining is the tip of the iceberg”) is a wickedly funny satire on so many different aspects of the problem of gender inequities in academic medicine.  It is laugh out loud funny  while also delivering a punch to the gut, as the authors propose various new terms for different regressive phenomena. To wit: Read more of this post

Filed under General Interest Tagged with

Concussions: The “Injury of 2018”

December 11, 2018 by 1 Comment

Concussions remain a dominant subject in the sport medicine literature and media at large — Photo: PET Scan Brain, Wikimedia

As 2018 winds down, the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, like so many of its sister media, finds itself in a reflective mood.

Time magazine, for instance, has just named its “Person of the Year”: a group of journalists the magazine notes has been ‘targeted’ for the work they do pursuing the truth.  Time calls them The Guardians. It is an interesting selection:  a media outlet honoring other professionals in its own line of work.

I thought it time that CJSM do its own version of “Person of the Year,” but with a sport medicine twist — Injury of the Year.

I’m naming “Concussion” the Injury of the Year.  In 2019, I’ll have my ‘act together’ and put out a Twitter poll in late November for reader contributions; but in 2018, I’ll have to play judge and jury, given that it’s nearly mid-December. Thanks for indulging me!

Like LeBron James of the NBA, who could probably be named MVP in any year he has played in the league, concussion is a sports injury which could probably earn this distinction in any year over the last decade or more.

In truth, 2018 was a red banner year for the injury, so to speak.  As an example, nearly our entire March 2018 issue was devoted to original research on various aspects of the subject, including a systematic review on the long-term consequences of traumatic brain injury in professional football players.  Continuing this line of reasoning, I would draw your attention to another noteworthy systematic review just published in our last issue of 2018 (November).   This one looks at the utility of blood biomarkers in the assessment of sports-related concussions (spoiler alert:  we have a long way to go in developing these for ‘prime time’).

The dominant theme of our 2018 podcasts was, again, concussion.  Read more of this post

Filed under CJSM Podcasts, Concussion in Sport, Elite sport, General Interest

Pain Management in Athletes: A Conversation with South Africa’s Wayne Derman

November 26, 2018 by Leave a comment

Wayne E. Derman MBChB BSc (Med)(Hon) PhD, of Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Our guest for our newest podcast is Wayne E. Derman MBChB BSc (Med)(Hon) PhD.

Dr. Derman was the Guest Editor of our September 2018 CJSM, which was a thematic issue focusing on pain management in athletes.  He hails from South Africa, where he is Director and Chair of the Institute of Sport and Exercise Medicine, at the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, Stellenbosch University. Dr. Derman does research in Sports Medicine, Rehabilitation Medicine and Cardiology and lectures widely around the world.

If you have not heard him speak, now is your chance. We had an exciting discussion about the challenges of pain management (and the challenges of guest editorship) which we have entitled:

No pain no gain? NO WAY!

Take a listen to this episode, and all of our podcasts, at the CJSM link on iTunes or on the journal’s home page on the web.  Then consider reading Dr. Derman’s lead editorial, or any number of the published studies in the thematic issue, and share your thoughts which him or us on Twitter: @wderman @cjsmonline.

Filed under CJSM Podcasts, Drugs and Doping in Sport, Elite sport, Ethics and probity in SEM, General Interest

CJSM Blog Journal Club — Can Cold IV Saline Mitigate the Effects of Exertional Heat Illness?

November 21, 2018 by 1 Comment

Can cooling this down prevent the sequelae of EHI? Photo courtesy of Wikimedia, NIAID

It’s November, and our sixth and final edition of 2018 has just published.  One of the original research articles in this edition is: Effects of Intravenous Cold Saline on Hyperthermic Athletes Representative of Large Football Players and Small Endurance Runners. 

Our Jr. Assoc. Editor Jason L Zaremski, MD  is today reprising his role as guest author for the CJSM blog journal club  and will take us through his read of the study.  Join in the conversation over this important new, original research by reading the article and the blog post below.  As ever, we love your comments:  you may give them here on the blog or Tweet them to us at @cjsmonline.

We’re nearing the end of 2018.  As the Journal publishing crew gets ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, we want to thank you for visiting us on this blog and reading and contributing to CJSM.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jason Zaremski, MD

Introduction:  The winter Journal Club commentary for the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine (CJSM) will be a review of an original research manuscript highlighting an alternative method for treating exertional heat illness (EHI). As many of us in the sports medicine community are fully aware, EHI is a potentially devastating pathophysiological process that is treatable if timely and efficient action is taken.  Speed is of the essence. Heat stroke, a type of EHI where core body temperature is greater than 40°C/104°F, can result in significant central nervous system morbidity, and even death, if not treated immediately.

Morrison and colleagues performed a novel study assessing the effects of intravenous cold saline (IVCS) on hyperthermic collegiate football players and cross country runners. As the authors note, the use of cold saline infusion has not been studied for its effects on hyperthermic athletes, though it has been studied for rapid cooling for patients who have had cardiovascular and/or neurological insults in order to induce “therapeutic hypothermia.”

Purpose/Specific Aim(s):  To evaluate the cooling effects of IVCS (4°C/39°F) on hyperthermic athletes and compare to the effects of room temperature normal saline (RTNS) (22°C). A secondary aim was to assess if body composition had an effect on IVCS cooling rates.

Methods/Design: Read more of this post

Filed under General Interest, Journal Club Tagged with ,

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