Heading in Football

December 18, 2022 by

The men’s FIFA World Cup Trophy

Like a lot of folks in the field of sport medicine I am, at heart, a lover of sport.  From participation to fandom, my relationship with sport runs deep and has been lifelong.

And so, if you are similarly inclined, then you are likely still recovering from what already is being described as the greatest final in World Cup history.

I spent the better part of the day enjoying the titanic struggle between La Albiceleste and Les Bleus followed by several more hours watching highlights and reading analyses.  Truly, Argentina v. France was one of the best live sporting events I have ever witnessed.

And for the many, including myself, who have long admired the greatness of Lionel Messi, it was a joy watching him, at long last, kiss the FIFA World Cup trophy.

The entire month of football was exciting — so many good matches, and relatively little in the way of overt controversy in the area of sports medicine (I’m thinking about the 2018 and other past World Cups where there were clear controversies surrounding players’ returning promptly to play after probable concussions).

Heading in football (soccer) — photo courtesy Wikimedia

But there is always, arguably, something puzzling about the ‘beautiful game,’ possibly the most popular sport on the planet:  the intentional use of the head as a sporting instrument.

‘Heading’ in soccer has, with our modern understanding of concussion and the sequelae of repetitive head impacts, become an issue surrounded by controversy.  How much heading is safe?  At what age should an individual begin to learn how to head a football (or soccer ball, for my American colleagues)? Read more of this post

Filed under Concussion in Sport, Elite sport, General Interest, Youth Sport

CJSM Podcast: Screening for cardiovascular disease in athletes — the Australian Way.

September 28, 2021 by

Our podcast series this year has been tremendous.  If you haven’t yet subscribed to the podcast, go to the CJSM iTunes website to check out all our episodes.  You’ll see this year we’ve interviewed Dr. Neeraj Patel about pediatric ACL injuries and the effect race and insurance status have on outcomes; and Dr. Stephanie Kliethermes about youth sport specialization in the United States, to name just two of the special guests and topics we’ve had this year.

We have another special podcast to bring to your attention today.

Dr. Jessica Orchard

Dr. Jessica Orchard of the University of Sydney, Australia, joins us for a deep dive into the hows and whys of cardiovascular screening as practiced by elite sporting organizations in her home country. Dr. Orchard is the lead author of a newly published CJSM manuscript and headed up a ‘dream team’ of experts.

In the podcast Dr. Orchard gives a thoughtful and concise analysis of the challenges posed by such screening, and how different Australian sporting organizations have managed the issues.

Of special note, Dr. Orchard brings to the attention of the listeners a series of educational modules created by the Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians (ACSEP) — one of our affiliated societies.  The ECG modules are free and guide the learner in the ‘International criteria’ and the latest consensus standards for the interpretation of an athlete’s ECG, the core of what the Australian sports organizations use in their screening.

So — head to iTunes, head to the CJSM manuscript, and head to the ACSEP modules to become expert in screening elite athletes for cardiovascular disease.

Thank you so much Dr. Orchard for your time and effort in this area.

Filed under CJSM Podcasts, Elite sport, General Interest Tagged with , , ,

The Global Sports Medicine Community — the CJSM Summer Podcast

June 19, 2021 by 1 Comment

As I write this post, the third round of the US Open Golf tournament is taking place as is Euro2020 (a year after being suspended), and Father’s Day is about to be celebrated in the United States.  That means summer is ‘full on’ in the Northern Hemisphere.

Which also means plenty of folks are taking vacation and it has become hard to track down some authors to join me for a podcast!!!

Lemonade courtesy of Wikimedia

Mixing metaphors:  the old adage has it that you make lemonade out of lemons, and since lemonade is an unofficial drink of summer, you all get a special summer treat with this, the 49th podcast for the journal.

I am using this moment to try out a special podcast format I’ve been toying with in my head.  I’m striking out getting guests for this podcast, and so I’ll serve you up ‘me’ as a guest!

Let me know if you think I’m lemonade….or a lemon!

I’ve been an admirer of the American Journal of Sports Medicine’s ‘5 in 5’ podcast for several years.  The hosts zip through five of the manuscripts in a recent edition of AJSM in approximately five minutes.  It’s a brilliant way to get some snack bite size information and I encourage the readers of CJSM and the listeners of our podcast to check out AJSM’s podcast.

With a tip of a hat to our eminent colleagues at AJSM, I have decided to call today’s podcast “2 in 10”: Read more of this post

Filed under 2 in 10, CJSM Podcasts, Elite sport, General Interest Tagged with , , ,

CJSM Podcast with Dr. William Meehan — long-term quality-of-life benefits for collegiate female athletes

December 13, 2020 by

Dr. William Meehan (R) and yours truly (L) in that oh so 2020 virtual space

CJSM’s November 2020 issue — the last of this unprecedented calendar year — contains many many interesting research studies.

One of the studies was the subject of our most recent blog post journal club.

I enjoyed that submission so much that I thought I would ‘ring’ the authors and see if they could join me on a podcast.

Corresponding author Dr. William (Bill) Meehan kindly set aside time from his busy schedule to share his thoughts on this study: Stracciolini A, et al. Female Sport Participation Effect on Long-Term Health-Related Quality of Life,

Dr. Meehan has been a regular at CJSM — here in the blog, on a previous CJSM podcast, and most especially in the journal itself.  He is a prolific author.

He is also a friend and trusted colleague, whom I met a long time ago when he and I both completed our sports medicine fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. God bless him, he always responds to that hook of friendship when I call him and need some collegial advice!

In this new study, he and the team of authors led by Dr. Andrea Stracciolini looked at a cohort of women in their 40’s to 70’s who have previously participated as athletes in college at NCAA DIII level institutions.

In our conversation Dr. Meehan covers a wide variety of subjects:  what are DIII institutions, what is Title IX, how does college sport participation associate with long-term QOL measures, and more. 

Check out and subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes or go to the media tab on our main CJSM web page. And check out the study itself in our November 2020 issue. Any way you engage with CJSM, we’re happy to have you.

Filed under CJSM Podcasts, Elite sport, Female Athletes, General Interest, Patient Outcome Measures, Women in Sport, Youth Sport Tagged with , ,

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