Australasian College of Sports Medicine: Galas, Golf & Geriatrics (and some Surfing)

Those of you who follow this blog likely read the most recent post, which was coming to you from Down Under courtesy of Dr. Hamish Osborne, a member of the CJSM Editorial Board.

Dr. Osborne practices in Dunedin, New Zealand, and is a member of the Australasian College of Sports Physicians (ACSP), one of this journal’s partner societies.   The College is having its annual conference in Coffs Harbour, NSW, and Dr. Osborne is reporting on the proceedings.

Without further ado:  Dr. Osborne!

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The  morning after the night before–big celebrations last night here at the ACSP Conference at Coffs Harbour.  At the annual gala dinner fellowship certificates were presented to 5 recently completed trainees. The dinner was preceded by our annual general meeting at which major constitutional overhaul has set the college up to spend a lot more of our time and effort in further developing our training, education and research programs. Celebrations for both of these occasions went deep into the evening (and perhaps for some into the small hours).

Dr Stu Watson, one of our founding members and second president of the College, gave us a very interesting presentation on the literature and science being used in one of his favourite passions – surfing. These athletes are using FIFA 11plus protocols and Olympic lifting in preparation for surfing and prevention of injuries; it’s not just about slipping on your wetsuit and hitting the lip.

My favourite talk so far was by Prof. Marie Antoinette Fiatarone Singh from University of Sydney. She is a geriatrician and researcher focusing on integration of geriatric medicine, exercise and nutrition. She practices in Sydney but also has board certification in internal medicine and geriatric medicine in the USA. While we know that exercise is good for arthritic knees, pain can effectively limit the amount of walking a patient may get.  Dr. Singh emphasized that we clinicians try not to get these patients to walk; rather, they should lift relatively heavy weights through a somewhat limited range of motion initially,  and then they may progressively add range of motion and aerobic fitness as the increasing strength allows. It’s likely that this method is a disease modifying treatment!

This afternoon we will be off to practice what we preach:  a round of golf, which will have most of us exceeding our weekly required dose of walking for health. It might be the only preparation I get for the conference fun run tomorrow morning.  Hopefully, my swimming fitness will translate nicely to a short run.

Looking forward to the Management of Sporting Trauma (MOST) course later in the week. Watch out for my next post from there and a wrap up of the conference.

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Thanks Hamish!  Your reporting gave me a sense of deja vu regarding another college of sport medicine:  the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).  As a Team Physician for the University of California, Santa Cruz, I once gave a talk at an annual ACSM meeting on surfing medicine; I would love to have sat in on Dr. Watson’s talk.  And I am happy to say I got a chance to catch Dr. Fiatarone Singh at last year’s ACSM meeting, and I concur:  she does a fabulous job discussing her years of research on the application of resistance training to the health and wellness of the elderly (and that work is frequently referenced in manuscripts in our own publication).

Enjoy the proceedings (and we hope you break par)!