Sports Safety IQ

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?

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.