Posted in Most Popular
The Heart's Right Ventricle: The true Achilles' heel of the endurance athlete?
Posted by Kara Gilbert
on 22 September 2020
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...
Posted in:Athlete’s heartMost Popular |
Doing aerobic exercise and ignoring strength exercises is like remembering to change the oil in the car but ignoring the transmission fluid.
Posted by Kara Gilbert
on 1 May 2018
"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 ...
Posted in:Strength trainingMost Popular |
Screening athletes for heart problems: More harm than good?
Posted by Kara Gilbert
on 25 February 2017
Advocates of screening athletes for cardiac conditions claim that "screening saves lives". Research is showing that this approach may actually be flawed, and that screening might be doing more harm than good. I tend to agree.
An article in the Guardian by Nicola Davis (April 2016) summarises very nicely the inadequacies with pre-participation screening programs for athletes and the research gaps that sit behind them. Davis draws on the work of a group of Belgian researchers, pub...
Posted in:Heart screeningMost Popular |
Rip Currents, Heart Health and Water Safety
Posted by Kara Gilbert
on 29 February 2016
According to the Royal Life Saving Society of Australia's 'National Drowning Report 2015', 271 people drowned in Australian waterways in the period 2014/15.
Of the total drowning deaths, 216 were men and 55 were women
The 45-54 years age-group suffered the largest number of drowning deaths, with 48 drownings (18% of total drownings)
55 (20%) of drowning deaths occurred at beaches.
Robert Brander is a coastal geomorphologist with expertise in rip currents and is al...
Posted in:SwimmingMost Popular |
ACC/AHA Updated Recommendations for Competitive Athletes with Cardiovascular Abnormalities
Posted by Kara Gilbert
on 11 January 2016
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) recently updated their guidelines on 'Eligibility and Disqualification Recommendations for Competitive Athletes with Cardiovascular Abnormalities'.
With respect to Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), a matter obviously close to my own heart and the single most common cause of sudden death in young competitive athletes in the United States, the new disqualification/eligibility guidelines do not differ that mu...
Posted in:GuidelinesMost Popular |