Heat Stroke Preventable
In Young Football Players
Moving gradually into summertime practice may help prevent heat-related
illness and deaths among young football players, according to
new recommendations laid out by an expert panel.
The panel, convened by the American College
of Sports Medicine, is advising high school and youth league coaches
to start the preseason slow -- with less-intense practice and
helmets alone, rather than full gear -- in order to prevent heat
exhaustion and potentially deadly cases of heat stroke.
Keeping kids properly hydrated, with water or sports drinks,
is also "integral," said Dr. Michael F. Bergeron, co-chairman
of the panel and an assistant professor of physical therapy at
the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.
However, he stated that the "overriding, driving" factors in
young football players' heat illnesses are the intensity of the
workout, players' attire and the heat and humidity of the day.
Between 1995 and 2001, 21 young football players reportedly died
of heat stroke in the U.S., and many more suffer less-severe consequences
of heat and dehydration -- including episodes of "exertional collapse"
that can land them in the hospital, Bergeron noted.
The panel, he said, drew on recent research to make its recommendations
on preventing such injuries. Some of that research, by Bergeron
and others, has found that young players often come to their first
day of practice dehydrated, and the problem only gets worse over
the following days, increasing their risk of overheating.
Also, young players frequently show up to the preseason out of
shape, and they need time to get acclimated to exercising under
late-summer conditions, according to the panel.
Indeed, most heat-stroke
deaths among high school and college football players happen in
the first four days of the preseason, Bergeron and his colleagues
note in their report, published in the August issue of the journal
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
Among its recommendations for high school teams, the panel advises
coaches to avoid twice-daily workouts for the first week of the
preseason. Total practice time for the first week -- including
warm-ups, breaks and cool-downs -- should not exceed 3 hours a
day.
In addition, the panel suggests that helmets be the only protective
gear players wear for the first couple days of practice, with
other equipment being introduced gradually. Training, Bergeron
noted, would be designed so that unprotected players wouldn't
risk injury.
Players in youth football leagues should have an even more gradual
build-up in their activities, according to the panel, since prepubescent
children need a longer time to adapt to hot and humid conditions.
When heat and humidity are particularly high, the panel advises,
football practice should be moved into an air-conditioned space,
conducted outdoors only as a "walk-through" session or canceled
altogether.
The panel advises coaches to allow frequent breaks during practice
-- at least every 30 to 45 minutes -- for players to rest and
replace their lost fluids with water or sports drinks.
Coaches should also discourage players from using stimulants,
like the high-dose caffeine found in some supplements and "energy"
drinks, since they promote fluid loss.
SOURCE: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, August 2005.
Reference
Source 89
August
22, 2005
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