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 May 2021 Journal Club — Blood Biomarkers in Pediatric Concussions

May 3, 2021 by

The May 2021 CJSM issue has just published, and as always it is full of articles you will want to read.

As I gaze at the table of contents, a non-random sampling of eye catching articles includes

CJSM Junior Associate Editor Jason Zaremski, MD breaks it all down for us.

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Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine

Online Journal Club May 2021

CJSM Junior Associate Editor Jason Zaremski, MD

Jason L Zaremski, MD, CAQSM, FACSM, FAAPMR

Anzalone AJ, et al. Blood Biomarkers of Sports-Related Concussion in Pediatric Athletes.

Introduction:  There has been a substantial amount of interest in the diagnosis, evaluation, and management sports related concussions (SRC) in the past decade. An emerging area of interest has been the study of biomarkers as a more objective measure of head trauma. Two blood biomarkers — Neurofilament light polypeptide (Nf-L), primarily found in axons, and Tau, a microtubule-associated protein necessary for axonal transport — have been studied at advanced level of sport (collegiate, professional, and Olympic athletes).

The authors of this new study evaluated these blood biomarkers in pediatric athletes.  The main outcome measures they looked at were correlations between self-reported symptom measures biomarker concentration levels.

Purpose/Specific Aims: The authors examined patterns of blood biomarker concentrations (tau and Nf-L) in pediatric athletes seen in clinic in the days following a SRC and at a six-month follow up.  A comparator group of non-injured controls were assessed as well.  Correlations between biomarker concentrations and self-reported symptom scores were assessed. Read more of this post

Filed under Concussion in Sport, General Interest, Journal Club, Youth Sport

Youth Sports Specialization in the United States — a Podcast with Dr. Stephanie Kliethermes

April 29, 2021 by

The most recent annual meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM2021) was a smashing (and virtual) success.

The March 2021 Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine highlights plenty of the work presented at AMSSM2021, with the publication of many of the research and case abstracts presented at the meeting.

The same issue also sees published one of the AMSSM’s most recent publications:  Defining a Research Agenda For Youth Sport Specialization in the United States:  the AMSSM Youth Early Sport Specialization Summit

The lead author of this publication, Stephanie Kliethermes, PhD, is the Director of AMSSM’s Collaborative Research Network, which has become a body which produces a considerable amount of sports medicine research.

Dr. Stephanie Kliethermes — researcher, glacier explorer

CJSM values its partnership with AMSSM. As the official journal of that society — and of Australasia’s ACSEP and Canada’s CASEM–we take a special interest in the research that emerges from these pre-eminent organizations.

And so it was a natural to reach out to Dr. Kliethermes to pick her brain on what we know — and perhaps, more importantly, what we don’t know — about the phenomenon of early youth sport specialization, rather recently identified as a significant public health problem in western societies.

Between her demanding academic schedule, her running, and her other outdoor escapades (glacier exploring it seems), she can be a difficult person to track down.  But also one who is unfailingly generous, humorous, and so very thoughtful and insightful in her interview style.

We know you will enjoy this podcast and will find the associated publication very informative.  So, take a listen and a read. You’re bound to learn a lot from Dr. Kliethermes and the AMSSM.

 

Filed under Five Questions, General Interest, Youth Sport Tagged with

Disparities in sports medicine care — the pediatric ACL

December 18, 2020 by

MRI Sagittal view of left knee in a pediatric patient with an ACL tear

As 2020 winds down I want to bring to the attention of the blog readers a particularly important study published in our last edition of the year.  In our November 2020 issue you will find:  How do race and insurance status affect the care of pediatric anterior cruciate ligament injuries?

The group of authors hails from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), which routinely vies for the top spot as best pediatric hospital in the U.S. 

Physicians from my home institution of Nationwide Children’s Hospital take a knee to protest racism June 2020

In a year like no other, 2020 saw the news dominated not just by the novel COVID pandemic but a pandemic much much older and more persistent: structural racism.  Around the world, sparked by incidents in the US in late May 2020, there was a passionate outcry from all segments of society, including the medical community, about this insidious problem.

The issues that are being discussed with renewed vigor are old, but the energy and insight surrounding this current moment feel anything but. Read more of this post

Filed under General Interest, Orthopaedics, Public Health in Sports and Exercise Medicine, Youth Sport Tagged with

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