What to do about concussions?

March 19, 2014 by 1 Comment

clairey

Calling aspiring
blog post writers!

There is a lot of discussion about concussions in the world of primary care sports medicine.

Breaking news?  Not!

But truly the conversation extends and deepens by the month, it seems to me.  It might be my personal, professional myopia–during football season possibly 25% of the patients in my clinic are youth athletes with sport-related concussions (SRCs).  As a consequence of that, I try to stay on top of the literature and have begun doing research in the area myself.

I hope you all have been as interested as I have over the March CJSM offerings in this area.  The journal opens with an editorial, Time to Re-think the Zurich Guidelines?  It continues with an interesting study looking at the use of those same guidelines along with the Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test in determining return to play in adolescents following concussion.

And this blog has profiled the Zurich guidelines as well in a recent post and podcast, our first in what will be an on-going offering here at CJSM.

We are aware that there is much more to clinical sports medicine than concussion, and we make a concerted effort at the Editorial Board level to offer a continuing, rich, and diverse set of research focussed on the panoply of sport conditions we might see as clinicians.  As we move forward, we are always interested hearing from you about areas in the world of clinical sport medicine that are of special interest to you.

You can comment on these pages, tweet us @cjsmonline, or if you are especially eager and want to take the bull by the horns:  consider being a guest blog post writer for an issue that is of special interest to you.  Our blog post guidelines can be found here and include instructions on how to contact us if you are interested.

In the mean time, take the poll here (offered concurrently on the CJSM main website).  As you know, we love to hear from you!

Filed under CJSM Polls, Concussion in Sport, General Interest

Female Athlete Triad: The 2014 Consensus Statement

March 12, 2014 by

Did you know that the most recent issue of CJSM contains the recent, important consensus statement on Female Athlete Triad (F.A.T.):  2014 Female Athlete Triad Coalition Consensus Statement on Treatment and Return to Play of the Female Athlete Triad?

Did you also know that we are always keen on having guest bloggers on this site?  Our guest blog post guidelines will help you get some idea of what we are looking for.  I am especially keen to see readers of CJSM studies write critical appraisals of commentary on those journal offerings; but we will also consider potential posts that look at anything new and exciting in the world of sport and exercise medicine (evidence-based preferred).

stacy fischer

Dr. Fischer: when not caring for patients
or researching Female Athlete Triad.
Eating up the roads in Vail pass.

This month, figuring you all might grow weary of my writing ‘voice,’ I sought out a colleague of mine with experience in the area of F.A.T. to write a post about the consensus statement.  Dr. Anastasia Fischer is a pediatric sports medicine specialist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and is leading that group’s investigations of F.A.T. in adolescent and younger female athletes.  In the brief amount of time she has between seeing patients, doing academic medicine, taking care of three children, and biking, she sat down to share some of her thoughts below.

_______________________________________________________________________

So what’s so cool about the new 2014 Female Athlete Triad Coalition Consensus Statement on Treatment and Return to Play of the Female Athlete Triad (link to article)?  EVERYTHING.  Seriously, everything.  For any professional who takes care of female athletes, this is a must read and will become part of your reference library.  This new consensus statement offers several features – first, it gives a comprehensive overview of the Triad, encompassing where the science started and how it evolved, where it is, and where research is needed or headed.  It gives a comprehensive review of treatment strategies that have been proposed or studied and evaluates their efficacy for athletes, in a straightforward, bulleted manner that has never before been published.  Finally, the icing on the cake is an evidence-based risk stratification point system that takes into account the magnitude of risk to assist the physician in decision-making regarding sport participation, clearance and return to play.  Truly, this document can be used as a guide to managing the female athlete from youth to maturity, across any spectrum of athletic performance, and give physicians a framework for screening and managing athletes across their careers.  It can help providers (physicians, athletic trainers, dieticians, etc.) optimize the performance and ultimately, the health and wellbeing of their athletes for years to come.

A few standout points of the statement: Read more of this post

Filed under Female Athletes, General Interest

#AMSSM in #NOLA

March 6, 2014 by

590px-New_Orleans_PD_1

New Orleands: site of the upcoming
American Medical Society for Sports Medicine
Annual Meeting

Seems like over most of North America Spring is coming slowly.  During Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans earlier this week, it didn’t break 50°F!

But it’s going to be 70° F this weekend in NOLA……and I suspect it will be warm and spring-like in a month, when the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) holds its annual meeting in the Crescent City (April 5 – 9).

I’m looking forward to Cafe du Monde coffee, beignets, po’boys, sazeracs, walks along the Mississippi and everything else New Orleans has to offer.  And I sure am looking forward to the meeting itself, for it looks to be a good one.

Every March here at CJSM we have the pleasant distinction of publishing the Research Presentation Abstracts and the Case Presentation Abstracts for the annual AMSSM meeting.  Those abstracts are now available for your review.  If you’re going to NOLA, you can see what’s in store!  If you’re staying at home, you can read about some of the interesting research that’s being done by our sports medicine colleagues around the world.

Follow @TheAMSSM and @cjsmonline on Twitter April 5 – April 9 to stay up-to-date on the happenings on the ground.  Scan your social media sites for #AMSSM14 tags.  There are likely to be some interesting Instagrams coming out of #NOLA with that tag!

And be ready to receive a blog post from the Crescent City; I’ll be sure to find the time (somewhere) to fit one in!

Filed under General Interest, Medical Conferences Tagged with ,

CJSM Podcast 1

March 1, 2014 by 3 Comments

JSM-Podcast-BG (1)We are delighted to bring you our first Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine podcast:

We begin this month with a look at the provocative editorial in our new issue: Time to Re-Think the Zurich Guidelines: a Critique on the Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport. The article is authored by Drs. Oliver Leslie and Neil Craton, from Legacy Sport Medicine in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  I caught up with the authors last week for an exciting discussion about their argument that it’s “…time for us to reject (the) diagnostic and therapeutic algorithm” proposed by the Zurich guidelines.

Let us know what you think on the comments section of this page, tweet us @cjsmonline, or go to the CJSM main page and take the Zurich guideline poll we have for you there.  Check out our recent blog post on this same subject.  And be sure to check out the many other offerings we have this month in the journal.  We’ll be writing and talking about them in the coming weeks.

Enjoy the podcast!

(music: Jeff Manning)

Filed under CJSM Podcasts, Concussion in Sport, General Interest Tagged with

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