Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Sportmedizin最新文献

In addition to the well-known common trauma in the practice of rock climbing, free climbing at top level has given rise to a new specific pathology affecting the flexor apparatus of the fingers. The cases of 23 top level climbers (performance level 6a to 8a) have been reviewed. 1/3 of them had severe pain in their fingers caused by traction movements. 1 climber out of 4 were referred to us for the above symptomatology. The diagnosis was either tendinitis or tenosynovitis, and the treatment was always conservative. Understanding the pathogenesis of the conflict between tendon and pulley movements will permit partly to cure these lesions, but our aim should be to prevent them.

Achillodynia has its cause in disorders in the M. gastrocnemius due to overcharge of this muscle. Painful inflammation of the Achilles tendon and the necrosis of tendon are a secondary phenomena. We describe a new type of manual therapy for these problems. The results of our treatment in 35 patients are discussed.

121 weight-lifters reported their past injuries due to their sport. 32% never had had any sports related medical problem. From the remaining 68%, 202 instances of injuries related to weight lifting were reported. They affected the knees (25%), scapular girdle (22%), back (21%), wrist (12%) and the elbows (6%). In about 10% of the known cases of knee injury, the rest period without any sports activity lasted more than 28 days. More often than not, it was due to degenerative processes of the joint. Sportsmen fear particularly shoulder injuries during the snatch movements. Accidents could be prevented to a large extent by relevant preventive actions such as warm-up exercises, a strict hygiene of the weights and devices and, most importantly, stable footwear.

Physiological, social and motivational characteristics of attendants to a fitness club. Little is known on the epidemiology of exercisers not engaging into competitive sports events, such as those attending fitness clubs. We investigated 85 regular attendants to a fitness club in Zurich, Switzerland: 44 men and 41 women, with a mean age of 35 (+/- 10) years. All subjects carried out the club-based fitness-test and answered additional questions on sports activity, lifestyle, and their motives to exercise. As anticipated, fitness club attendants smoked less and were more active and more educated than the general population. Among fitness club attendants themselves, known and plausible interrelationships between endurance capacity, body fat content, and habitual exercise could be confirmed as highly significant. Body fat content, as estimated from bioimpedance measurement, was more closely related to important dependent variables than the body mass index, for example to female endurance capacity (r = -0.33 vs. -0.03), or to age in men (r = 0.48 vs. 0.22). Unexpectedly, social factors were only poor predictors of differences in fitness and exercise levels within the study sample. Compared with joggers, fitness club attendants seemed to be motivated relatively more by targets of health promotion, e.g. weight control, and less motivated by "intrinsic" joy and fun with sports activity itself. Further studies will have to demonstrate whether fitness clubs are actually able to promote "lifetime exercise".

The sudden death of a sportsman in full action is fortunately rather uncommon. Nevertheless, it is all the more frightening, as it befalls unexpectedly someone who is seemingly in full health. Moreover, this type of accident, essentially a cardiac event, strikes more often competitive athletes than leisure sportsmen, who are submitting themselves to more moderate exertions. The mechanism leading to death is in most cases a heart rhythm problem ending in ventricular fibrillation. Its origins are generally a cardiomyopathy or an inborn structural anomaly of the heart in young subjects. In men over 30 years of age, most deaths can be explained by degenerative coronary disorders. It is important to note that 93% of sudden death victims related to exertion in sports are men, even if women form 45% of practising sports people. A large part of the decreased had already a functional disorder, often angina, before the tragic event took place. 38% of this group even took medical advice from a cardiologist. We may thus consider that a fraction of these deaths could be prevented through diagnosis and subsequent treatment. Therefore, sports people should be better informed on the risks they incur in not taking care of themselves. This information has to be distributed on a large scale. With regard to the other cases, we should examine which detection tests are to be discussed and used. They may involve a financial problem, but should nevertheless be considered carefully.

Paragliding--a relatively new sport to Switzerland--brought 23 patients with 48 injuries (38% lower limb and 29% spinal) within a period of 8 months to the Inselspital University hospital in Berne. The aim of the study in characterizing these injuries is to formulate some guidelines towards prevention. With over 90% of accidents occurring at either take off or landing, emphasis on better training for the beginner is proposed with strict guidelines for the more experienced pilot flying in unfavourable conditions.

We measured the effect of a 4-weeks treatment with arginine aspartate on 21 athletes. By a double blind methodology, we were able to show that the treatment group had an enhanced maximal oxygen consumption as well as a significantly decreased plasma lactate concentration at a work intensity of 200, 300 and 400 W on the treadmill. By the same token, 5 and 20 minutes after completion of the test run, blood lactate levels were significantly lower in the group receiving arginine aspartate. Nevertheless, at the 4 mmol lactate threshold, power and total work output were the same for both controls and treatment groups. These results show a favourable effect of arginine aspartate on blood lactate levels.