#FIMS2014 c’est tres bon!

June 20, 2014 by 1 Comment

FIMS2014

CASEM Members Gordon Matheson and Margo Mountjoy, and CJSM Exec. Editor Chris Hughes   (Left  to Right)

Can it be Friday already?

My how the time has passed.

There is one more day of the combined CASEM/FIMS conference in Quebec City, and it has already declared itself a resounding success. I’ve been going to session after session that is giving me plenty to think about; connecting with colleagues old and new; and enjoying a bit of the beauty–both physical and culinary–that the city has to offer.  Sleep is most definitely to be put on the back burner.

The journal had its annual editorial board meeting timed to coincide with the CASEM meeting this year, and it was both fun and productive to work out with the board the direction we will take CJSM as we move forward.  There are many new possibilities in the works, and we will be sure to share any of the journal’s emerging features on this and other of our social media channels.

As for the educational sessions, I was greatly taken by a shoulder presentation I heard Bob McCormack give on evidence-based approaches to common clinical scenarios, ranging from Grade III AC joint separations (don’t do surgery) to mid-shaft clavicular fractures (do it) to surgical repair of first time dislocators if highly active (again, do it).  Likewise, there was a wonderful session on trying to put into practice the ‘exercise prescription’ in chronic disease; there was so much energy in a session that included folks like Gordon Matheson and Pierre Fremont, the current president of CASEM.  A keynote speech about the evolution of anti-doping measures, given by Dr. Andrew Pipe, was especially illuminating

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Dr. Hamish Osborne, CJSM Associate Editor, demonstrates his work on hip abduction strength

The poster sessions were also great fun.  While I was discussing some of the work I am doing on simple reaction time in concussion, I noticed my colleague and fellow CJSM Associate Editor Hamish Osborne really getting into his poster work. Hamish wins two awards I think: one for most interactive poster demo, and two for coming the farthest for this conference (he hails from Dunedin, New Zealand).

One more day to go, and it looks like there are a slate of great sessions for Saturday to go with what has come before.  Too soon, I’ll be boarding the plane home.

Au revoir Quebec City, it has been a great, great time.

Filed under General Interest Tagged with

Sochi and Quebec City: Memory and Desire

June 15, 2014 by

The first days of summer are almost here, the longest days of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.  I have been looking forward to this since the dark days of December and January.

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Dr. Connie LeBrun, at opening ceremonies, Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics

Summer carries its intrinsic sweetness with it every year, but this year my anticipation of these days has been wrapped up with dreams of Quebec City, where the 2014 Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine (CASEM) will have its annual meeting concurrently with the XXIII FIMS World Congress of Sports Medicine.

There is much to look forward to, including catching up with old friends.  Connie Lebrun–who will be familiar to several readers of this blog–will be among the folks I see.  Aside from communiques via email, I will typically only get the chance to see Connie at such conferences (I saw her last in Orlando, at the ACSM meeting). Among the many hats she wears, she is on this journal’s editorial board, and I enjoy her frequent contributions to the CJSM journal club feature.

Connie was the head physician for the Canadian Olympic team that traveled to Sochi earlier this year. I asked her to give a quick run down of her experiences in sports medicine at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and she has graciously obliged.

What did T.S. Eliot say about mixing memory and desire?  I’m no poet, but I think it’s a natural combination to combine the two; and so here’s to the memories of Sochi, and the anticipation of what is to come in Quebec.

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Memories of Sochi – Dr. Connie Lebrun

 

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Alexey Pleskov and Connie LeBrun, 2014 ACSM Orlando

Just back last week from the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting in Orlando Florida. The last session that I attended was a Special Event entitled “SOCHI 2014:  Sports Medicine Challenges, Strategies and Solutions. It was submitted by the ACSM Olympic and Paralympic Issues Committee, of which I am a member, and Chaired by Dr. Margo Mountjoy, member of the IOC Medical Commission. She later spoke about the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Injury and Illness Surveillance system that they have been using at Olympic Games since 2008. A highlight for me, though, was hearing Dr. Alexey Pleskov, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for the Sochi 2014 Olympics and Paralympics – discussing Medical Services at the Games. Then Dr. Paul Piccinnini (DDS), also from the IOC Medical Commission, enlightened us about Management of Dental Disease and Oro-Facial Trauma during the 2014 Winter Olympics, which apparently accounts for ~ 40% of all athlete-treatments in the Polyclinic(s) at the Olympics. This was followed by a “tag-team” of Dr. Randy Wilber (PhD, USOC Training Center, Colorado Springs) and Dr. Nanna Meyer (PhD, RD) discussing the preparation of the US Speed Skating team, in terms of physiology and training, as well as outlining some of the sports nutrition challenges and strategies.

The presentations and photos brought back many memories for me, as I was honored to have been the Chief Doctor for the Health and Science Team (HST) for the Canadian Olympic Team. Read more of this post

Filed under Elite sport, General Interest, Travel Medicine Tagged with , , , ,

2014 International/Canadian Sports Medicine Conference

January 16, 2014 by 1 Comment

FIMS 2014

First stop on the 2014 conference
circuit is Vegas, but in the summer
we’ll be enjoying the charms of
Vieux-Québec for FIMS/CASEM 2014

Turning the corner into the start of a new year, some of us can flag a little bit:  the holidays are behind us;  in the Northern Hemisphere the days remain short.

I find myself thinking about some of the travel and conferences I have planned for 2014.  For instance, in a little more than a week I’ll be heading to Vegas for the USA Rugby Sports Medicine conference.  Among the many very interesting speakers, Rob Cantu will be talking about “Short Term and Long Term Results of Repetitive Sub-Concussive and Concussive Head Injury” and Ann McKee will discuss “Emerging Concepts in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy” (CTE).

Among Dr. Cantu’s many, many contributions to the concussion literature, he is one of the authors on the Zurich 2012 Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport.  Dr. McKee has done extensive work in the area of CTE, and we discussed some of that work in a blog post last fall.

I’ll be posting from Vegas on the highlights of the rugby conference.  Today, I wanted to share with you my enthusiasm for a conference coming up later in the year.  Early this summer, the XXXIII International Federation of Sports Medicine (FIMS) World Congress will take place in Quebec City, QC, Canada June 18-21, 2014.  This will be a joint venture with the Canadian Academy of Sports and Exercise Medicine (CASEM), which will be holding its annual conference at the same time.

The conference agenda is still being developed, and if you’re interested in submitting an abstract for consideration you still have a little time:  the deadline for abstract submission is January 31.  Get cracking on that!  I’ve got an abstract in myself, and hoping to hear a thumbs up from the education committee.

The CASEM conference is always a great one, and to have FIMS joining in on the education and fun makes the event doubly alluring.  Although the details are still in the works, the publisher and some of the editors for CJSM plan on giving a talk at the joint conference.  Our Executive Editor Christopher Hughes and myself will offer advice to potential submitting authors on how best to get their work published in CJSM.  We’ll also be discussing how authors can use resources such as our video abstracts to enhance and promote their work on all this journal’s media channels.

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While they celebrate the solstice in Stonhenge,
we’ll be enjoying CASEM/FIMS2014 in Quebec!

So, we’re hoping to see you in Quebec City in June.  Until then, we’ll be dreaming of crepes and strolls on the bluffs overlooking the St. Lawrence, and the long, long days that will be all of ours to enjoy in Quebec come the conference, which coincides with the summer solstice.

Don’t put away those ice scrapers just yet, but there’s a whiff of summer in the air……

Filed under General Interest Tagged with ,

The November CJSM: A Discussion on the Mandatory Use of Bicycle Helmets

November 12, 2013 by 20 Comments

The November issue of CJSM has been out for a week, and I hope you’ve had a chance to look at our latest offering.  It is also our last offering for 2013 (CJSM is a bimonthly, publishing 6 times a year).  The next time the journal will hit your mailboxes and inboxes will be January 2014.

FIMS 2014

Quebec City, site of the XXXIII FIMS
World Congress of Sports Medicine
CJSM will be there: will you?

2014 promises to be a big year in sports and sports medicine.  The Winter Olympics take place in Sochi, Russia; the FIFA World Cup is in Brazil; and the Commonwealth Games are in Glasgow, Scotland.   On the sports medicine front, the Canadian Academy of Sports and Exercise Medicine (CASEM) hosts the FIMS 2014 World Congress of Sports Medicine in Quebec City, and earlier in the spring the AMSSM annual meeting takes place in the Big Easy.  And this brief listing, of course, merely scratches the surface of what is to come.

But before I get ahead of myself, best to hold on to the mantra, “Be Here Now,” and share with you a little of what’s in store when you delve into this month’s CJSM.

Headlining the November issue is CASEM’s position statement on the mandatory use of bicycle helmets.  This document is a revision of a previous statement made in 2002, and incorporates the medical evidence in support of such use that has accumulated over the last 10+ years.  There is an associated lead editorial by Murray Maitland, PhD that is definitely worth a read as well.

I was particularly interested in the CASEM offering at least in part because I am a regular bicycle commuter here in Columbus, Ohio who recently had his interest in such matters piqued after reading a provocative article in the NY Times:  “Is it OK to Kill Cyclists?”

That’s a rhetorical question mind you!

First having ensured the life insurance policy had been paid up, I then read through the CASEM statement, which packs a lot in two pages.  The statement surveys the field of what is known about the use of bicycle helmets and injury prevention, and then makes recommendations.  Some of the salient points I walked away with: 1) wearing a properly fitted helmet decreases head injuries by 63% to 88% in all ages of bicyclists; 2) introduction of legislation (i.e. not merely relying on education campaigns) is associated with a decreased injury rate and has not been shown to decrease ridership (importantly, as we seek to increase physical activity in our sedentary population); 3) youth populations are more likely to wear helmets where there is legislation that applies to riders of all ages as opposed to only 18 years and younger; 4) youth are more likely to wear helmets when cycling with an adult wearing a helmet (95%) than when cycling with an adult not wearing a helmet (41%).

The CASEM statement draws several conclusions from these data, but most importantly recommends “That all Provincial and Territorial governments should enact comprehensive legislation mandating that bicyclists of all ages wear helmets.”

I would concur with those recommendations, and I would love to hear your thoughts after reading the CASEM statement, either here in the comments section or on twitter @cjsmonline.  The CJSM executive editor, Chris Hughes, has written about this subject in a 2011 blog post, and notes that the associated poll of the readership taken at that time got more traffic than any other.  I’m hoping this month’s articles on the subject, and this blog post, encourages that same sort of commentary.

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My trusty steed has been known to fail me;
I’m happy to have a helmet on when riding it

My position on the matter (pro) is uncomplicated.  I think the data are clear and in favor of mandatory use of bicycle helmets:  mandatory legislation reduces serious injury; it encourages the most vulnerable (children) in the use of an injury prevention device; and it has not been shown to decrease ridership. Read more of this post

Filed under Epidemiology, General Interest, Injury Prevention, Public Health in Sports and Exercise Medicine, Safeguarding in Sport Tagged with , ,

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