Sports Safety IQ

Steroids and Girls, Spring Break, Needles, Bioethics, Rappers and, oh yeah, Athletes

Parents and coaches, take heed. The Sports Safety IQ tip for this week is that news on steroid use and abuse is breaking daily and you need to keep up. I have run into no fewer than nine different steroid stories recently that have left my head spinning.

Story #1: I picked up these eye-openers at the US Lacrosse National Convention, where I sat in on the Sports Science & Safety committee meeting where I learned that the fastest growing group of steroid users is teenage girls. The majority of these girls are not using PED's for athletic purposes, but simply as a diet aid to achieve a lean, muscled physique. Read on at Forbes.com, "Many Teen Girls Use Steroids."

Story #2: I then learned that steroid use among teens and college students peaks in the month before spring break. Kids are looking at steroids as just another boost to their daily regimen of Starbucks, Red Bull and those handfuls of health-food store supplements (whose health benefits are dubious at best).

Story #3: A news report from the U.K. stated that steroid users are now surpassing heroin addicts at local needle exchanges. If steroid users increasingly turn to needles, then we can add HIV and hepatitis to the long list of life-threatening health risks.

Story #4: In New York City last week Bob Costas moderated a debate on the ethics of whether or not PED's should be allowed in sports. The results were inconclusive, but I was disappointed to see stronger arguments made in favor of allowing PED's and steroids than there were to support a continued ban. All I have to say is that steroids and PED's are a short term fix that can lead to lifelong health complications and even death for users. If we allow them into professional sports, we are basically giving our stamp of approval and putting our kids at great risk. For more on the debate, read Sarah Schorno's blog in The Sporting News.

Stories #5 - 9: There are so many layers to the steroid story at the moment, even the NY Times is having a hard time staying on top of it all.  In last Sunday's Week in Review, the Times headlined five breaking stories in its report, "Performance Enhancement"  (Jan. 20, 2008). Laid out across the top of the page were the following:

MRSA Infections Threaten Youth Athletes on their own Turf

Sports Safety IQ tip of the day to parents and coaches: If your kids are playing on synthetic turf, you need to be extra vigilant about monitoring, cleaning and covering abrasions, turf-burns and other cuts they may get from being raked across the surface while playing. There is an ongoing debate about whether MRSA bacteria can survive on synthetic turf and be passed from player to player through open wounds common to athletes.

A new article "Texas Football Succumbs to Virulent Staph Infection from Turf" on Bloomberg.com makes a strong case for the link between MRSA found in football players in Texas and the synthetic turf fields on which they play. According to studies done with the help of the University of Texas, football players are more likely to be infected with MRSA than players in any other sport. This study makes a correlation between the high percentage of turf fields in Texas and the high rate of MRSA among its football players -- more than 16 times greater than the national average.

Other studies have been done recently with mixed results. Researchers at Penn State University failed to prove that MRSA can exist on synthetic turf, while an independent testing lab in Midland, MI confirmed the presence of MRSA on synthetic turf at an unnamed university where they performed their research.

The epidemic spread of MRSA, and the alarming fact that it causes more deaths than any disease currently tracked by the Centers for Disease Control, has sports organizations from the NFL to local high schools scurrying for solutions for prevention and treatment. If MRSA does thrive on synthetic turf, can it can be killed with disinfectants and other cleaning solutions? What are the repercussions of those treatments to players, as well as to the surfaces themselves?

Until these questions can be answered and a new protocol established for maintaining turf fields, parents, coaches and players should follow the basic guidelines for MRSA prevention outlined in my earlier post, "Scary News about MRSA Superbugs" -- mainly, wash your hands, keep cuts and wounds covered and don't share personal items. And parents of athletes who play on turf should continue to be extra cautious with any cuts or scrapes that 'just don't look right.'  No one can afford to ignore a potential MRSA infection.

MRSA Superbugs, Part II: Prevention at School and at the Gym

I wrote about protecting yourself from MRSA superbugs in my last post. But what can schools and gyms do to protect you? The administration at my alma mater, Montclair Kimberley Academy (MKA), just put out very strong guidelines on MRSA and the handling of potential cases. Their quick action is not only commendable, but should be a model for all schools.

Following the Center for Disease Control's guidelines, MKA will consider any potential skin infection to be a potential MRSA infection. No student or adult will be allowed to return to school until the infection has been cultured for MRSA and a doctor has cleared them to return. As long as the infection can be completely covered by a bandage to prevent contact with others, they can come back to school. All cases of confirmed MRSA will be reported to the town's Health Department in order to be traced by the State, and a letter will be sent to all parents to notify them of an outbreak.

MKA has also put out guidelines for prevention, similar to the ones that I listed in my recent blog Part I: Protect Yourself from MRSA. So I would like to say "Bravo" to MKA for taking a quick, tough stand on this issue.

It's comforting to see that the message appears to be getting out to schools. But how do we know if gyms and health clubs are taking the MRSA threat seriously? Below are some tips you can use to measure how well your gym stacks up on the cleanliness scale.

Scary News about MRSA Superbugs, Part I: Protect Yourself

Ten Tips for Protecting Yourself from MRSA

MRSA, the Superbug strain of staph infection, previously found in hospitals and healthcare facilities, has now made the leap to other public places like schools, gyms, locker rooms and indoor pools. MRSA has been sweeping the news in recent weeks with fatal cases in New York, Virginia and elsewhere -- causing logjams at the pediatrician's office as nervous parents drag their kids in to have each bump, pimple and reddened scratch looked at.

Before worrying if you've got MRSA, let's worry about how to protect yourself and family from coming in contact with MRSA in the first place. MRSA, like many contagious diseases lying in wait in locker rooms and schools, is passed on by skin to skin contact or from contact with an object that has been touched by another's infection -- like sharing workout equipment or machines, towels or uniforms. Taking normal precautions is the key to staying healthy. Follow these ten tips to protect yourself:

The Shame of Steroids in Sports

The rampant use of steroids and performance enhancing drugs among pro and amateur athletes is as disgusting as it is tragic. The creation of supermen and superwomen  -- and our passive acceptance of them as athletes to worship -- is damaging sports, ruining lives and eroding the values of the next generation of athletes.

How many more kids will be disappointed by athletes like Marion Jones, Floyd Landis and others who will fall off their pedestal before sports organizations take a hard line with drug users? How many situations like the murder-suicide of pro-wrestler Chris Benoit will occur before we vote with our viewership and our dollars that this is not acceptable?

It's very difficult for sports organizations to walk away from the revenues brought in by the spectacular performances of these athletes (think how much money Barry Bonds has earned for the SF Giants). Organizations like Major League Baseball then place blame on the players' unions for not allowing drug testing in the first place. And the athletes themselves, caught up in the performance-enhanced spiral, aren't going to walk away on their own from the rock star lifestyle these drugs have created for them. That just leaves us -- the fans, the parents of young athletes and the general public -- to help turn the tide. But will it ever happen?

Girl Athletes, Sports Injuries and Quality Coaches

As a follow up to last week's post, I was just reading an article in the Asheville Citizen Times, "Programs aim to help female athletes lower risk of sports injuries," and it reminded me of the additional risk girls and female athletes face with regard to knee injuries.  ACL injuries -- damage to the anterior cruciate ligament that stabilizes the knee -- are 4 to 6 times more common in female athletes than males, according to this article.

The main reason for ACL injuries in females is structural: wider hips means that knees turn in more, which causes problems when pivoting or jumping in sports like soccer, lacrosse or basketball. Hormones are also thought to play a role in the predominance of ACL injuries to girls, as well as lack of development of the supporting muscles, especially hamstrings.

Aside from the physical basis for injuries to female athletes is an underlying problem: the scarcity of coaches. This is an issue across the board in youth sports. However, with the boom in girls' sports over the past 20 years, the lack of quality coaches is putting female athletes at additional risk. Coaches who understand the mechanics of developmental issues for girls can work to prevent unnecessary ACL injuries, female triad issues or second impact (concussion) syndrome.  Coaches who are not properly trained, or who are not sensitive to the particular needs of their players -- whether male or female -- only exacerbate the potential for injury.

Coaches education and parental involvement is needed more than ever to keep pace with the millions of girls and boys involved in sports. The more we know, the more we can help our kids stay injury-free and safe on the playing field. That continues to be my story and I'm sticking to it.

Girls' Sports are Tough ...

                                               ... And girl athletes are tougher. But do they need to be? My head was still reeling from the article in the NY Times that talked about girls being more vulnerable to concussions than boys (NY Times, Oct 2nd, 2007), when I overheard the following story at my daughter's soccer game.

Turns out one of the team parents took their older daughter to the ER at Morristown Memorial Hospital after she blew out her knee during a soccer game. When they arrived at the hospital, the waiting room was filled with 25 kids in soccer uniforms, about 22 of whom were girls, according to the mom. When it was their turn to see the doctor, the mom told the doctor she couldn't believe how crowded the waiting room was with all the soccer injuries. The doctor's response? "This is just a typical Saturday afternoon -- overflowing with girls with concussions, knee and ankle injuries."

Parents, if you think your daughters need to be playing "this tough," think again. Young athletes, whether boys or girls, do not need to get hurt in youth sports. This is one of those gaps in common sense: parents believe that getting injured is all part of the sports experience, when in reality, 90% of injuries to kids playing sports are preventable.

More Sex Abuse in Sports

It's hard to believe, but the stories of players abused by coaches  in youth sports continue to flood the news lately. Sadly enough, these are very real stories happening to kids who are passionate about sports, living in communities like ours. These sexual predators could be living in our neighborhood, coaching our kids. Yes, the threat is real ~ but no one wants to think about it because it's just too scary.

Here are some of the latest offenders:

• A Gulf Breeze, Florida basketball and softball coach was arrested upon his arrival in Michigan,  where he believed he was going to have sex with a 5 year old girl. The coach, 53 year old Roy Atchison, had been chatting on line for two weeks with a detective posing as the girl's mother. After one failed suicide attempt in prison, the coach succeeded in killing himself two weeks later. More here...

Commotio Cordis: A catastrophic blow to the chest

A little over a year ago, Steven Domalewski, a 13-year old Little League pitcher from Wayne, NJ was hit in the chest by a line drive. The blow to the chest resulted in a condition called commotio cordis that left Steven in a coma for months after the injury. From the news reports, he has had a long, slow year on the path to recovery, but is now able to speak a handful of words. Doctors, who have called his progress miraculous, hope to restore more language ability and brain function over time. His family has faith that he has the determination to walk again.

As hard as it is to believe, Steven is one of the lucky ones.

New Diagnostic Testing for Concussions

Despite the bleak reports on concussions to athletes in the media lately, there is good news on the horizon. A new diagnostic tool has been developed by doctors at the University of Pittsburgh Sports Medicine Concussion Program, called ImPACT, or Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (visit ImPACT here). The program uses computerized tests to measure brain function and appears to be just the thing to overcome subjective (and sometimes uninformed) sideline management of concussions.

Most parents and coaches are probably not aware of this new mechanism for evaluating the effects of concussions -- and that's why I'm writing about it here.

Sports Concussions: Don't Ignore the Dings

Concussions to athletes have been getting a lot of press lately. The news itself has been grim, particularly the stories coming out of the NFL about players like Ted Johnson (NY Times article), whose countless hits to the head have caused permanent impairment and chronic depression; or like Andre Waters, and most recently, Justin Strzelczyk (see USA Today story), whose deaths have been linked to permanent brain damage caused by repeated concussions during their playing careers.

I hope this publicity will increase awareness of the dangers of concussions among all players and coaches -- amateur and pro alike. Dings and bell-ringers are no longer something to be brushed off.

What parents, coaches and players need to know about concussions:

• A concussion is usually defined as a bruising of the brain after a traumatic injury to the head. Basically, the brain is shaken from the impact and is bruised from hitting the inside of the skull.

Coach as Predator

What if these were your children?

• 13 & 14-year old boys on an elite travel team went to Amsterdam for a tournament. The coaches were accused of inappropriately touching the boys and taking them to have sex with prostitutes in the red light district. Not long after allegations surfaced from this incident and charges were filed against the coaches, the head coach was found dead of an apparent suicide.
• A 15-year old girl went to an out-of-state tournament with her soccer team. Her 42-year old coach was convicted of getting her intoxicated and sexually assaulting her in his hotel room. He served 3 and 1/2 years in prison and is now a registered sex offender.