May News from EXERCISE IS MEDICINEā„¢

Louis Holtzhausen Program Director: Sports Medicine University of the Free State geslh@ufs.ac.za Health care systems in the public and private sectors in South Africa find it difficult to keep up with the ever rising cost of health care. In fact, public health services are facing serious challenges to provide adequate services on many levels1. This article will propagate a way …

A Winter Olympic Experience

Hosting an Olympics is like giving birth to 82 countries, where the contractions last for eight years, the dilation has to accommodate hundreds of athletes marching out and insisting on carrying flags. One thing is very clear, the culmination of one Olympics only brings with it the problems from the previous Olympics, for example the urine testing of Olympic athletes, …

Guidelines for fluid replacement during Marathon Running

Prior to 1969, marathon runners were advised against drinking or eating during competition (1) since it was believed that, especially fluid ingestion would impair performance, not least by causing unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms including the “stitch”. At that time, marathon runners and marathon races were quite different from their modern descendants. In particular, there were few competitive marathon runners; most were …

Resistance Training in Children and Adolescents

Background Resistance training in children and adolescents has a high risk of injury. High-level competitive sport forces the young athlete to train harder and for longer periods. Resistance training is the use of a variety of methods, including free weights, weight machines, and/or one’s own body weight to increase muscular strength, endurance and/or power. Usually resistance training involves doing a …

HIV and it's role in sport

Introduction People afflicted with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are becoming increasingly prevalent in society. This naturally includes active sporting individuals. The result of HIV infection, the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has an effect on ones ability to perform exercise, and physical activity may play an important role in the management of HIV as the disease progresses. Risk of …

Concussions in contact sports under discussion

Concussion suffered while playing sport, if not managed properly, could have serious consequences for players – such as memory loss and continuous headaches. Most of the victims are youngsters who take part in contact sports like rugby. South Africa has the highest incidence among the collision sports. Ten to 15% of players suffer concussion every season. The nation is losing …