TheAthletesLawyer

“The biggest loser” is not a television reality show, but the American health care system.USA today is reporting that costs have doubled in a decade, as a direct result of weight gain in Americans.

“As Congress searches for ways to control health care costs, a new report provides a sizable target: obesity. Americans who are 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight cost the country an estimated $147 billion in weight-related medical bills in 2008, double the amount a decade ago, according to a study by government scientists and the non-profit research group RTI International.

Obesity now accounts for 9.1% of all medical spending, up from 6.5% in 1998. Overall, an obese patient has $4,871 in medical bills a year compared with $3,442 for a patient at a healthy weight.”

Can you believe it? Unfortunately these facts are not surprising. Americans are the most obese people in the world, and each year the increase in obesity is horrific… see USA TODAY

But now we know that not only are we hurting our health and shortening our lives, we are also forcing health care costs to skyrocket.

Everyone has his or her own opinion on how to solve the health care crisis. But could it be as simple as choosing an apple over the curly fries? Lets try and find out. Picture courtesy of www.topnews.in/health/

When someone says an outfielder in last nights baseball game had to be “cooled-down” we all assume his or her temper got out of hand. But Will Orndorff had no temper flare up the night his body had to be iced down.

Here’s the story:

“A violent collision in the outfield… and Will Orndorff’s heart stopped beating. Without hesitating, his coach started CPR and the EMT arrived with a defibrillator. Heartbeat restored! But at Winchester Medical Center the Strasburg teen wasn’t responding well, so doctors took a dramatic step. They iced Will’s body, lowering his temperature to 90°, slowing his system and giving it time to stabilize and rebound. 24 hours later, the medical team re-warmed Will and he woke — to the joy of family and friends — alert and healthy. Touched by teamwork, Will was back on the field soon, his heart pumping like a 17 year-old’s should.”

In this month’s Virginia Business Magazine, Valley Health spotlighted this incredible story in an advertisement for their Winchester Medical Center. The science behind the interesting technique can be easily explained. In the simplest terminology, as humans, when we speed-up, we heat-up and when we slow down, we cool down.

We have all seen the medical dramas on television. Some one needs a heart transplant and a doctor flies across the country with a cooler filled with the organ on ice just in time to save the deserving patient’s life. But this dramatic portrayal of an organ transplant directly relates to the chilling encounter Orndorff experienced. Lowering his body temperature to 90 degrees allowed Orndorff’s heart, and entire system the time to recover, by literally icing and slowing his body. Although on a much larger scale, doctors chose to cool his body for the same reason we ice a single muscle, or even get into painfully cold ice-baths. A colder temperature slows the blood flow and swelling and allows the body to re-assess the situation before rushing blood and heat to an injured site.

The medical center should be thrilled with the outcome, so it is no surprise they are using the story in advertisements. But most importantly Orndorff is healthy and thriving, a great ending to this ironically heart-warming tale!

Picture courtesy of Valley Health 

Not all of us have a safety net of security guards who run with us when we take an afternoon jog. The three protective running buddies are just one perk of being the president of France. But recently the guards were called into action due to health scare stemming from the Presidents’ afternoon run.

NBC reported on the story:

“A few weeks ago French President Nicolas Sarkozy collapsed suddenly while jogging on the lush grounds of the Chateau of Versailles, then was rushed by helicopter to a military hospital where he remained overnight, his office said.

Military doctors quickly performed a battery of tests on the 54-year-old president who is known for his hyperactivity. The Elysee Palace said Sarkozy’s test results were normal but that doctors would keep him under cardiological observation.

His office denied that Sarkozy had lost consciousness in the episode. The Elysee Palace statement followed reports from members of Sarkozy’s government and his chief of staff who had indicated that Sarkozy had lost consciousness.”

Luckily, the surrounding guards assisted in getting the President to safety. But those of us who do not have a security team should remember to be safe about our exercise adventures. We need to have a form of identification, and if a cell phone is too bulky, at least a dollar in change on us when we run, bike, rollerblade, and push our bodies to the limit.  If you see someone take a fall or collapse during the “dog days of summer,” call for help immediately. Precious seconds can make all the difference.

Picture courtesy of bauergriffinonline.com 

No matter how fit you may think you are, some things are beyond an athlete’s control.  You may be predisposed to head injury and concussion from a bike crash or other sports injury, even if you are wearing a helmet, if you have certain genetic predispositions.  

One of the genetic factors that may predispose an athlete toward concussion and loss of consciousness is APOE. This gene provides instructions for making Apolipoprotein E, a protein that binds to fats. But it could be the deciding factor when discussing an athlete’s likelihood to suffer a concussion.

There are three main versions of the APOE gene. These types, called alleles, are e2, e3, and e4. More than half of the human population has the most common allele, e3. But nearly one-fourth of the population has e4, which has been pinpointed to cause late-onset Alzheimers disease and cardiovascular disease.

Having the e4 allele of the APOE gene also makes one 40 percent more likely to suffer a moderate or severe concussion. That is not a statistic athletes can afford to overlook. All the protection in the world cannot stop you from falling down and hitting your head when you least expect to lose your balance. And the e4 allele makes you more likely to suffer brain damage and take longer to recover from what may have originally seemed like a harmless fall.

Here’s what you can do: either have a gene test, which can take valuable time, or be prepared as if you knew you had e4. Spend time finding protection that fits your head well and will not come off while you compete.

Athletes constantly have to push past obstacles and strain their bodies in order to succeed, but do not let your genes stop you. Continue to educate yourself and of course remember the number one rule in athletics: safety first.

“I was thinking of truck drivers as the Tour de France got under way this week: the European truck driver, who sees bike racers out training and invites them to grab hold of his rig for a tow; and his American counterpart, who takes pleasure in running cyclists off the road.” 

In this quote, Alexander Wolff, a writer for Sports Illustrated, makes a comparison so interesting it opens a door that would make even the fastest cyclists stop and look more closely.

If one wanted to know the main differences between Europeans and Americans, ‘how they treat cyclists’ would probably not make the list. But perhaps it should.

Sure the lifestyle and interests of Americans and Europeans differ greatly, two things that are hard to look past, but is Mr. Wolff the first writer to suggest that the treatment of cyclists is entirely different, “across the pond”?

Wolff explains that like boxing in the United States, bike racing is a sport for members of the working class trying to make something of themselves. There is a lot of respect for cyclists in Europe. Unlike in the U.S., Europeans see cycling not just as a hobby, but instead as a lifestyle. And the riders are not afraid to do whatever it takes to be the best.

Drugs in the form of pills, shots, and drinks, which keep cyclists going harder for longer periods of time, are the norm in Europe. In 1967, French five-time Tour winner Jacques Anquetil commented that anyone who thought drugs were not essential for cyclists was, “an imbecile or a hypocrite.”

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