This week's best of MomsTeam.com, a website devoted to health and safety issues in youth sports:
- Eighty percent of the food products endorsed by professional athletes are energy-dense and nutrient poor, and an astounding 93.4 percent of the beverages they advertised received all their calories from added sugar, finds a disturbing new study in the Journal Pediatrics, which called on athletes to refuse endorsement contracts that involve promotion of such foods and drinks. The promotion of energy-dense, nutrient-poor products by some of the world's most physically fit and well-known athletes is an ironic combination that sends mixed messages about diet and health," writes lead author Dr. Marie Bragg of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, and her colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health, Stanford, and Duke.
- Until recently, impact sensors -- accelerometers measuring the forces which cause sports-related concussions -- only were used by scientists in conducting sports-related concussion research. The last several years, however, have seen a growing number of companies introduce to the consumer market the first generation of impact sensors intended for real time monitoring of impacts to the heads of athletes in actual games and practices. As is often the case with the first generation of a new technology-based product, the sensors in initial use at some colleges and by a handful of high schools around the country are still relatively expensive, and they are only now being tested extensively under real world conditions. Since MomsTeam Founder and Publisher Brooke de Lench began writing about the use of impact sensors as a technological end-around the problem of chronic under-reporting of concussions -- and especially since her new documentary, "The Smartest Team," began being broadcast widely on PBS stations around the country -- she has been getting a lot of questions about impact sensors. To help parents, coaches, athletic directors, booster clubs, and sports program administrators understand what this cutting-edge technology does, MomsTEAM answers some most frequently asked questions about impact sensors.
- In recent years, platelet-rich-plasma (PRP) injections have been used to treat a variety of sports injuries, ranging from severe tendonitis to muscle tears. As with any new treatment, there are a range of issues surrounding its use, particularly with children. Any parent facing tough medical decisions for their children understands this dilemma. Having quality information about treatment options is therefore critical. MomsTEAM's expert physical therapist Keith Cronin talked to two prominent sports medicine doctors to find out about the new therapy, called by some the "hottest topic" in orthopedics today.
- To minimize the risk of delayed recovery from concussion or long-term injury, it is critical that athletes suspected of having sustained a concussion are removed from play as quickly as possible. Removal from play in case of a suspected concussion and no same day return are now required by law, at least at the high school level, in almost all states. Experts believe, however, that the chances that a concussion will be identified early on the sports sideline can be maximized by following a multi-pronged approach that Brooke de Lench dubs the "Five E's."
- In another of MomsTEAM's "teachable moment" concussion videos, concussion expert Dr. William P. Meehan III of Boston Children's Hospital talked about why an athlete's failure to report concussions signs or symptoms can delay recovery, result in long-term problems, and, in rare cases, lead to catastrophic injury.
-- MomsTeam.com and NFLEvolution.com
