Shedding light on the dark

January 19, 2016 by 2 Comments

It’s January and winter has at last arrived in North America. It officially started several weeks ago, but it took a while to really get going.  After a balmy December (for most of the country, anyway), the first month of 2016 has given us, as expected, single digit temperatures and snow:  the Minnesota vs. Seattle playoff game earlier this month was the third coldest NFL game in history. This month is also giving us the shortest days of our year north of the equator.

ACSP 2016

ACSP meeting coming up — Come to Surfers’ Paradise if you can!

[sidebar and shout out to our colleagues in the Australasian College of Sports Physicians (ACSP)–I am so looking forward to the warmth and long, sunny days of Surfers’ Paradise, in a mere 4 weeks!!!]

But the days are lengthening, and the sun will get stronger each day, of course. And metaphorically, at least, I can find light in this darkness by sitting down with this month’s edition of CJSM.  You can, too.

Yes, ‘shedding light in the dark,’ that’s the image I hold as I enjoy this privilege of being one of a group of editors managing one of sports medicine’s premier journals.  The on-going process of scientific investigation continues to expose the dark corners of our knowledge base, and journals like ours–disseminating this knowledge via print, internet, and other media vehicles–help practicing sports medicine clinicians bring the latest evidence-based research to the sidelines, training rooms and clinics.

In truth, I recently wrote about being ‘in the dark’ (literally and figuratively) as I watched the movie ‘Concussion’ and reflected on how much we still lack in our understanding of this clinical entity, in almost all aspects:  diagnosis, management, treatment, prognosis.  I am reading now with pleasure three pieces of original research about concussion just in our January issue, bringing their light to bear on the issue:

And as I have begun to prepare my talk for the upcoming ACSP conference (“School sports and youth injury: the promise and the peril”), I find myself leaning heavily on research published in CJSM. To wit: Read more of this post

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Concussion: “The Movie”

January 10, 2016 by 4 Comments

in the dark

In the dark (not for long, I hope): Concussion has hit the theaters.

I was witness to two big events in the world of professional American Football this weekend:  I watched the movie Concussion and I saw the ugly contest which was the Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati NFL playoff game.

Of the two events, the more damning, the more worrisome for the league, was the playoff game.

First, let me start with the movie, as I had intended on focusing on that in this blog post….until the playoff game happened.

The movie was well done overall, I thought.  I am no movie critic (I hope that goes without saying) and I rarely see things on the ‘Big Screen’ any more–I think the great movies came and went in the 60’s and 70’s, when I was growing up (Easy Rider, The Deerhunter, Apocalypse Now….).  Concussion (the movie) is largely a heroic story about one man’s personal struggle and vindication:  Dr. Bennet Omalu vs. the NFL, David vs. Goliath.  There are some typical Hollywood moments (e.g. the romancing of his future wife), but largely the film stays on track regarding the story of pathologist Dr. Omalu and his reintroduction of the term ‘chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)’ into the medical lexicon after his autopsy on the brain of the deceased football player, ‘Iron’ Mike Webster.

And Will Smith does an excellent job, I think, with his portrayal of Omalu.

I approached this movie not so much looking for entertainment, but to see if there were anything new in this story I might learn, and to see how the movie might present the science to the general viewing public.  I don’t think I learned anything new regarding the basic story.  This is not so much a criticism of the movie as an endorsement of the PBS documentary, ‘League of Denial,’ which came out two years ago and went into much more depth than a dramatization ever could.  And as for the science?  Once again, you’re better served viewing the documentary.  You won’t have to hear a clunker of a line like this: “Three cases is the scientific burden of evidence.  We have four.”

Now, on to the playoff game.

I don’t think the NFL will be able to survive if the sorts of hits occurring in this game, regardless of their ‘legality,’ continue. Read more of this post

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CJSM Welcomes in 2016!

January 2, 2016 by

With the arrival of our first issue of CJSM in 2016, we want to highlight again the publication of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Position Statement on viscosupplementation for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Take a chance to read the statement (currently free) and listen to our podcast with lead author Dr. Tom Trojian (see below).

And take the chance to read the entire January issue, which is packed full of new and interesting research and more. Happy 2016!

sportingjim's avatarClinical Journal of Sport Medicine Blog

jsm-podcast-bg-1For our 12th podcast, we have invited Dr. Tom Trojian to talk with us about a new CJSM offering, just published ‘On Line First,” for which he is the lead author: “AMSSM Scientific Statement Concerning Viscosupplementation Injections for Knee Osteoarthritis:  Importance for Individual Patient Outcomes.”

Dr. Trojian is a member of our partner society, the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM), and is a professor in the Department of Family, Community & Preventive Medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine, and the director of the Sports Medicine Fellowship program there.

He is also a wonderful guest to have on  the podcast–I learned a great deal from him about not only viscosupplementation in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis, but also the specific study design of a ‘network meta-analysis’ he and his co-authors used to evaluate the clinical importance of this intervention in our patients.

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is such a…

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Filed under General Interest

The CJSM Blog: 2015 in review

December 30, 2015 by

kit sunset

The sun sets on 2015– photo, Kit Yoon

It’s hard to believe 2015 is wrapping up–as I write, it’s already New Year’s Eve in places like Australia and New Zealand, where members of the Australasian College of Sports Physicians [the ‘ACSP,’ one of our affiliated societies] live.

This time of year is one of reflection and thanks.  As I look back on 2015, it is remarkable, I think, to reflect on the many high points this journal enjoyed in its 25th year. The year began with the highly anticipated position statement on musculoskeletal ultrasound, authored by members of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine [‘AMSSM,’ another one of our affiliated societies].   Mid-year we published a statement that made a huge splash in the research world and the wider, lay media:  the Statement from the proceedings of the 3rd International Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia Consensus Conference.   And we wrapped things up with a controversial study looking at the limitations inherent in screening for sudden-cardiac death in young athletes.

Through it all, we’ve enjoyed our interactions with you, our readers.  Whether on our iPad app, the website, our blog posts and podcasts, or our Twitter feed, we have spent a remarkable year with you.

Thank you.  May you have a wonderful New Year’s, and may 2016 be a professionally fulfilling year for you all.  We look forward to advancing the science of clinical sports medicine with you all.  And before the clock ticks down the final seconds of 2015, we welcome you to see our annual CJSM blog report, below.

Cheers!  See you in 2016!

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 37,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 14 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

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