Joint pain common for boomer women

This article talks about how women tend to suffer different injuries from men due to the differences in physical domain, and also in daily activities. It contributes women’s musculoskeletal engineering, hormone, gender differences on a molecular level, and life activities as the causes for the certain injuries in women. The article also deals with the five common injuries in women; the injuries were hand osteoarthritis, Carpal tunnel syndrome, De Quervain’s tenosynovitis, peroneal tendinosis, and Bunions and hammer toes. The causes for many of the injuries were due to the daily activities arranging from doing house chores to wearing high-heels. However, we should not neglect the fact that using certain parts of our body playing or participating in sports may also contribute to the cause of such injuries.

As more females participate in sport and physical activity, certain knowledge and clinical skills are required to meet the needs of female athletes like menstrual cycle, gynecologic irregularities, birth control, pregnancy, eating disorders, and osteoporosis. Physically active women are at risk for a group of symptoms called the Female Athlete Triad, which contains disordered eating, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis. This disorder is common in sports that require an ideal body weight or optimal level of body fat such as gymnastics, figure skating, cross-country, diving, swimming, and ballet.¹

            A friend of mine is a professional diver. A few days ago, I saw her Facebook posts about how she feels sorry for her mother that she is taking nutritional supplements for osteoporosis earlier than her mother. It reminded me of how participating in sport activity may cause certain symptoms to female athletes. As allied health professionals, athletic trainers should educate female athletes about these concerns. This educational process will enable the female athletes to be heads-up for their possible conditions. For example, female athletes can minimize the occurrence of ACL injuries by having optimal strength or correcting knee alignment. As a side note, the reasons for the different rates of injury in men and women are not clear, but some theories show female athletes have 4-10 times more ACL injuries than male athletes due to differences in anatomy, knee alignment, ligament laxity, muscle strength, and conditioning.²

Some factors described above cannot be prevented or be changed, because it is the way human body is built. However, there are surely other factors that can be prevented by care and effort. Such effort can be put together by the cooperation of athletes and athletic trainers. It is important for both athletes and athletic trainers to remember that there is always a way to prevent the injuries in advance, and it can be realized through thoroughly paid attention and care.

Access the article here:

http://www.freep.com/story/life/wellness/joint-health/2014/09/27/joint-health-joint-care-women/16269815/

Reference:

1.     Anderson M. K, Parr G. P, Hall S. J. Foundations of athletic training: prevention, assessment, and management. 4^th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2009:825-838.

2.     Maurer-Starks S. ACL injuries. ATTR 540 Manage Lower Extremity Conditions. Lecture conducted from Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater; 2013

UMass police helped keep student’s addiction secret

Drugs have not been one of my interests, and I have not heard a lot about it until I came to the U.S. In Korea, using or abusing drugs are treated as a severe violation of law. It is totally illegal. By coming to the states, I have heard more about drugs through people I met and through the news that dealt with the accidents or side effects of various drugs. I learned that Marijuana is legal for medicinal purposes in 20 states (see Fig. 1). However, in Korea, anyone who used Marijuana for any reason can be punished by fewer than 50 thousand dollars of fine or under 5 years of imprisonment.

Fig. 1. States where people can use Marijuana for legalized medical purpose. Source: Jolie Lee and Karl Gelles, Marijuana Policy Project, USA TODAY Network

            Many athletes, whether student-athlete or professional athletes, they like to celebrate their victory. There is nothing better than gathering with people to commemorate such an occasion if it is done in proper manner, however, often is not the case. The temptation of drinking alcohol and using drugs can be hard to resist in such situation. According to the recent article by USA Today, “World Anti-Doping Agency recently amended its rules on cannabis, raising the threshold for a positive test from 15 nano-grams per milliliter to 150 ng/ml” (http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2013/07/17/ross-rebagliati-olympics-marijuana-drug-testing/2528283/). However the choice WADA has made, it is important for the varsity players and professional players to remember the consequence of using any kind of drugs may bring to the whole team and each individual’s career and health. It is highly possible that any accident can take place when one is on the drugs, which make a person lose control and an ability to judge correctly. It is matter of responsibility, really. Responsible for your team and more importantly, for your life.

            As an allied health professionals, we, athletic trainers should take time to be well-informed with doping rules and laws. It is important to be informed, however, it is also very important of duty of AT to inform athletes through education. Using drugs without one’s notice is just an excuse, and it is definitely an illegal act.

Access the article here: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/09/27/heroin-takes-life-flagship-campus-umass-did-university-enough/KeUcRPH2VyQWmI0lhii01K/story.html