Hello Dallas!

April 17, 2016 by 1 Comment

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Current president of the South African Sports Medicine Association (SASMA) Phathokuhle Zondi (L) & AMSSM member Alison Brooks enjoying Dallas

I’m in Dallas for the annual American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) scientific conference, and I would typically be sharing a photo of the town in this post.  There is the small problem of a veritable tsunami of rain doing its best to keep me indoors.

I have no complaints.

AMSSM is celebrating its 25th year, and it has every reason to pat itself on the back.  The conference it’s putting on right now (hashtag: #AMSSM16) is so well put together that I am quite happy I do not have a pleasant, sunny day tempting me to head outdoors.  I’d much rather be inside catching all the proceedings.

Among the especially interesting aspects of the conference are the research and case study abstracts being presented both in poster-form and as podium lectures.  Our on-line version of the March 2016 issue has these abstracts available and there is some very interesting sports medicine information to be found there.  I am actually presenting a case on spinal muscular atrophy in a high school runner later this afternoon, and I’ve been listening to some other very interesting talks all through the day.

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The AMSSM “Wall of Honor,” giving a shout out to so many of the members who have contributed to the organization’s success

The keynote talks are emphasizing the all-important value of collegiality in our profession, and I couldn’t agree more. Read more of this post

Filed under General Interest Tagged with ,

5 Questions with Dr. Jon Divine, AMSSM President

March 31, 2016 by

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Dr. Jon Divine, in action as Team Physician for the Univ. of Cincinnati Bearcats

March is wrapping up, and that means that the annual scientific meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) is just around the corner.  That meeting has been an April highlight on our calendar for years — #AMSSM16 is taking place in Dallas, Texas April 15 – 20 .  We’ve had our tickets for months.

On a personal note, there is so much I am looking forward to — reuniting with AMSSM colleagues like Alison Brooks, Irfan Asif, Holly Benjamin and also seeing Phatho Zondi, current president of the South African Sports Medicine Association (SASMA), who is coming all the way from Pretoria, South Africa.  I’m looking forward to catching up, as well, with AMSSM past presidents — Jon Drezner, Chris Madden, Doug McKeag, Cindy Chang — as well the incoming president, Matt Gammons.

And there is AMSSM’s current president, whose tenure is over 95% complete and will be handing on the reins to Dr. Gammons.  That would be Jon Divine, M.D.,  Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and Medical Director of the University of Cincinnati athletics.

Preparatory to the AMSSM meeting, I thought it high time CJSM sat down and interviewed the president of our affiliated society, to get a sense of what this past year has meant to him and the organization.  And so I present to you:  5 Questions, with Dr. Jon Divine.

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  1. CJSM: We have to begin by asking you about your year as President of the AMSSM. What were your major challenges this year?  What were your high points?

JD: Thanks for giving me this opportunity to share my story with your readers. This year has gone by fast. I’m very proud of the work done by our Board. Under Chris Madden we generated our third organizational strategic plan, the road map our leadership utilizes to guide the working priorities of AMSSM, with a goal of completion in 5 yrs. As of now, we’re more than half way completed on the current plan. I half-jokingly mentioned to Kathy Dec and Chad Asplund this week that they will have to seriously consider developing the next strategic plan because the objectives for the organization spelled out in the current plan will be met ahead of schedule! As president, you could not be happier than when your team is skilled and willing to take on these tasks, do them very well, and complete them ahead of schedule.

Two other moments were very special for me. Read more of this post

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Dietary Supplements in Sports

March 22, 2016 by 1 Comment

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Texas — site of upcoming AMSSM annual meeting [Dallas, 4/15 – 4/20]

One of the studies in our March 2016 CJSM which has generated substantial interest is original research from the Department of Military and Emergency Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the USA: “Dietary Supplements: Knowledge and Adverse Event Reporting among American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) Physicians.”

The AMSSM, one of our affiliated societies, is having its annual meeting coming up in Dallas April 15 – 20, and we’re looking forward to joining in those proceedings [the official hashtag of the meeting is #AMSSM16 — keep that in mind you Twitter folks].  The physician membership is not infrequently surveyed about a variety of matters of interest to practicing sports medicine clinicians; the results of these surveys often provide invaluable data to researchers who have published in the CJSM pages.

Examples of this include “Concussion Practice Management Patterns among Sports Medicine Physicians” and “Cardiovascular Preparticipation Screening Practices of College Team Physicians.” 

Regarding the study on dietary supplements (DS), the authors looked at a variety of issues.  Of note, they found that majority of survey respondents (71%) reported that athletes under their care had experienced an adverse event associated DS use.

Not all of us who read this blog or subscribe to the journal are AMSSM members, of course, and so I thought it might be time for a poll, asking this very question: have you ever taken care of an athlete who has experienced an adverse DS event?  Please, take the poll, and if you can, send us a comment on this blog identifying the DS, the adverse outcome, and possibly the sport in which your athlete was participating.

We hope to see you in Dallas!

Filed under CJSM Polls, Doping in Sport, Drugs and Doping in Sport, Elite sport Tagged with ,

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