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Lead Stories: Saturday, November 22, 2008

Low Bone Density: A Serious Risk Factor for Athletes

Posted October 29th, 2007 at 5:20 PM by Megan Hueter

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

A University of Missouri study suggests that athletic men may be at risk for low bone density. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, “osteoporosis affects more than 2 million men in the United States and nearly 12 million more have osteopenia– clinically significant low bone density that is less severe than osteoporosis.” The study now suggests that men who engage in low-impact forms of exercise have a higher incidence of osteopenia.

Pamela Hinton, an associate professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Missouri’s College of Human Environmental Sciences claims that “Regular, non-weight-bearing activities, such as swimming and cycling are effective measures for preventing the leading risk factors for death and disability in our society, but the results of this study suggest that regular weight-bearing activities, such as running, jogging, or rope jumping, are important for the maintenance of healthy bones.”

Read the rest of this article by new, staff writer Denise Musumeci via our partner site: HesFit.com

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World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) Lands “Significant Investment”

Posted October 2nd, 2007 at 8:20 AM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

World Championship Sports Network (WCSN), a cable TV network and website that covers over 60 Olympic and lifestyle sports, announced on Monday that it has received a significant investment from private equity firm InterMedia Partners.

Los Angeles-based WCSN covers over 200 live events annually, and has exclusive programming agreements to cover major championship events in sports like track and field, skiing, swimming, gymnastics, cycling, volleyball and karate.

The company has also recently signed deals to distribute its content with ESPN.com, FoxSports.com, AOL Video and Yahoo Sports.

“WCSN controls a powerful set of rights and some of the best-produced sports content featuring the greatest athletes from around the world,” said Peter Kern, managing partner at InterMedia Partners.

“Millions of sports enthusiasts have waited long enough for these events to be consistently available on all platforms.”
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Partial Knee Replacement: Less Pain, but Not for Everyone

Posted September 4th, 2007 at 9:35 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

The ends of bones are soft, so they must be covered with a thick white gristle called cartilage. Many people suffer from knee pain because the cartilage is damaged. They may have osteoarthritis in which the cartilage wears away, or they may have damaged cartilage in an accident or by playing sports. Once damaged, cartilage can never heal; the person spends the rest of his life losing cartilage until the cartilage is completely gone and the knee hurts 24 hours a day.

Until recently, the only effective treatment has been to cut out the ends of the bones of the knee and replace the entire knee joint. Now for some people, a simpler procedure may be effective: partial knee replacement, called unicompartmental knee arthroplasty. The surgeon removes just part of the cartilages and bones on the upper and lower legs on one side of the knee.
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ASK LARA:Plantar Fasciitis and 3 Ways to Cross Train

Posted September 3rd, 2007 at 6:00 PM by Lara Johnson

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Columns, Cross Training, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise, Ask Lara

Need advice? Injured? Confused? Overwhelmed? Bored? ASK LARA!
ASK LARA is a free advice column to help you with all of your running, fitness and nutrition inquiries. To ASK LARA — simply fill out the form at the conclusion of the column.

Q. I think I have plantar fasciitis and have a marathon coming up in 2 weeks. I’m not sure how much running I can do between now and then. Any advice on how I can keep my fitness level up? I already bike indoors once a week but I’m not sure if biking can take the place of running. Anything you can suggest is much appreciated.
~Darlene from Boise, Idaho

A. Plantar fasciitis is a pesky problem that affects numerous runners. With a marathon so close, you certainly don’t want to make matters worse, but you do want to maintain your fitness level. The good news is that you are only 2 weeks out from the marathon, and thus the work is done. As you have already accomplished your training over the past weeks, now is the time to begin a taper and thus decrease your training anyway. The severity of the problem should dictate how much you are able to run. If it’s painful to run, it’s not a good sign and you should focus mostly on other activities. Adding some good cross training to the mix can help you heal the problem while maintaining your fitness. First, let’s take a look at the injury.

Plantar fasci-what?
Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the band of tissue, the plantar fascia, that connects the heel bone (calcaneus) to the forefoot, supporting your arch. When this area is strained through overuse or weaknesses, it causes irritation and inflammation, often causing pain in the heel first thing in the morning and …
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Do triathletes get injured more often than one-sport athletes?

Posted March 12th, 2007 at 12:29 PM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Cross Training, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

Triathletes are injured only about one third as often as marathon runners even though they do far more work in their program of swimming, cycling and running. Training intelligently for three sports is less likely to injure you than training very hard for one. Training is limited by damage to skeletal muscles.

Every time you exercise, your muscles develop small tears with bleeding. It takes at least 48 hours for muscles to heal from exercise. Each sport stresses a particular group of muscles most. Marathon runners who train every day stress the same muscles and often do not allow adequate time to recover from the previous day’s workout, so they are at increased risk for injury.

Top triathletes train in different sports on consecutive days. Running stresses the lower leg muscles most, cycling stresses the upper leg muscles most and swimming stresses the arms and shoulders most. Triathletes usually set up a workout schedule that includes two sports on one day and one on the next.
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Does cycling cause impotence?

Posted March 2nd, 2007 at 10:18 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: Running & Training, Cross Training, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

The greatest source of discomfort for cyclists is the nose of their bike seat pressing on nerves and soft tissues. For men, this pain brings the additional worry of impotence. Impotence is caused by nerve and artery damage. Exercising regularly helps to keep arteries healthy, so bicycling helps prevent impotence, as long as it does not damage the local arteries and nerves.

Recent studies show that three percent of regular male bicycle riders become impotent, and virtually all of them felt pain or numbness before the problem occurred. When a nerve is pinched or the blood supply is shut off to the penis, a man feels numb.

Men who ride with conventional bicycle seats and do not feel numb are not likely to be at risk. If you feel no discomfort when you ride, keep on riding and stop worrying. If you feel numbness, get a new seat.
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TFS Book Review:
U.S. Multi-Sport Directory

Posted March 1st, 2007 at 10:30 AM by Jamal Walker

Section: Motivation, Books, Special Features, TFS Reviews

The U.S. Multi-Sport Directory, now in it’s fourth edition, is an excellent resource for passionate athletes looking to stay fit and have some extra fun on their next road trip or vacation.

The popular publication, co-authored by triathletes Warren Knoll and Hubie Krawczyk, offers 260 pages of event listings and other helpful information for endurance athletes. It is color-coded and organized by region (ex. - Pacific, Northeast, International, etc.); listing the pertinent information for a majority of the year’s triathlons, duathlons, marathons, ultra marathons, adventure races and cycling events.

The authors have also compiled listings of running camps, coaches, clinics, new products and even some tips for race directors. Future editions would benefit from the inclusion of additional race information (course descriptions, amenities, etc.), such as the the details offered about running routes in Fun on Foot in America’s Cities.
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Podcast 20: Interview with Kristin Armstrong, Olympic cyclist & former pro triathlete

Posted February 26th, 2007 at 1:30 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts

Today’s podcast features my interview with U.S. Olympic and TEAm LIPTON cyclist Kristin Armstrong.

Although osteoarthritis ended her competitive triathlon career, Kristin made the transition to professional cycling and never looked back. In just five short years she has become one of the world’s elite; winning the 2004 American Olympic Trials, 2004 U.S. Elite National Road Race and the 2005 National Time Trials Championship.

Download the podcast to hear Kristin talk about how she overcame osteoarthritis and her own self-doubt to achieve tremendous success. She also discusses the journey from multi-sport training to a singular focus on cycling, injury prevention, TEAm LIPTON, how fans often confuse her with Lance’s ex-wife, her advice for runners looking to attempt a triathlon and much more!

Listen In
[MP3] Direct Download (Right click, select “save as”).
[RSS] Add The Final Sprint Podcast RSS feed to your RSS reader to have the show delivered to you

Host: Adam Jacobs
Guest: Kristin Armstrong
Producer: Greg Cherniet
Music: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File size: 16.2MB
Length: 00:23:44

Interested in featuring The Final Sprint Podcast on your site, blog or My Space page? Click here to learn how!

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Are spinning classes a good way to exercise?

Posted December 31st, 2006 at 7:00 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

Whether you’re out of shape or very fit, spinning classes can help you improve. You ride a stationary bicycle in a group, with a leader who tells you what to do and plays lively music to set the tempo.

Many health clubs and gyms offer these classes, and I recommend them to all of my patients. Spinning is relatively safe because it is done with a smooth rotary motion that does not involve the muscle damaging road shock of running.
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Will cross-training
make me more fit?

Posted December 30th, 2006 at 12:00 PM by Martin Kennedy

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

Fitness refers to your heart, and the harder you exercise, the more fit you become. But every time you exercise vigorously your muscles are injured, and the harder you exercise, the longer it takes for your muscles to heal. Muscle biopsies done the day after a person exercises vigorously show bleeding into the muscles and disruption of the Z-bands that hold muscle filaments together. You are not supposed to exercise vigorously again until the muscle soreness disappears.
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