New evidence is emerging to show that the right ventricle is subjected to much greater stresses during exertion than the left ventricle. And, prolonged exercise is associated with temporary damage to the right ventricle. Yet current approaches towards the assessment of athletes with heart beat irregularities (arrhythmias) focus on the left ventricle and tend to examine the heart while it is resting. As Prof André La Gerche remarks: "You do not test a racing car while it is sitti...

IAAF allowed to impose DSD regulations on female athletes Ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport According to today's article in the Sydney Morning Herald: Olympic 800-metres champion Caster Semenya has had an appeal dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to halt the introduction of regulations to restrict testosterone levels in female athletes. The court ruled the regulations were needed for athletes with differences in sexual development (DSDs) to ens...

So, you've had an episode of atrial fibrillation that is now resolved. What next? The findings of a UK study published earlier this month in the BMJ that involved nearly 50,000 patients in general practices found that patients with resolved atrial fibrillation remain at higher risk of stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) than patients without atrial fibrillation (1). The researchers concluded that: Guidelines should be updated to advocate continued use of anticoagulants in pat...

We are running out of excuses not to exercise. Build exercise into your lifestyle or suffer the consequences...  Exercise prescription is gaining significant importance in clinical practice, as more and more research provides compelling evidence to support the role of exercise in disease prevention and chronic illness management. Exercise may stimulate the growth of more new heart muscle cells, even after having a heart attack. Researchers from the Harvard Department of Stem Cell...

"Doing aerobic exercise and ignoring strength exercises is like remembering to change the oil in the car but ignoring the transmission fluid." - Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise and Sports Science at Edith Cowan University, Western Australia When is the best time to start weight training? I'm at the time in my life where I can start to appreciate that wanting to get faster and stronger a runner relies on much more than simply more running. And, since I'm still ...