Maintaining balance is the key for heat and hydration

By Joe Frollo Thu, 07/19/2012 - 5:07pm

As football teams return to practice during the next few weeks, coaches will pay attention to many things – effort and execution among them.

Lisa Heaton of Gatorade Sports Science Institute wants coaches to add another item to their watch lists.

Heat indexes.

Heaton spoke Thursday during the NFL/USA Football Youth Summit in Canton, Ohio, urging 150 youth commissioners and high school head football coaches in attendance to become as familiar with hydration and heat preparedness as they are zone blitzes.

Keeping an eye on temperature and humidity will tell coaches the safest way to practice that day.

“Athletes who hydrate properly and maintain a steady balance in their bodies perform the best and feel at their best on the field,” Heaton said. “Players who lose that balance can suffer poor focus and fatigue, and it even can lead to heat illness if they don’t take steps to remedy dehydration.”

Bodies expel heat primarily through sweat. If an athlete doesn’t replenish the water lost through activity, it leads to lower blood volume, makes the heart work harder and can be dangerous for the individual.

“Just a 2 percent loss in body weight due to water loss can affect an athlete’s performance and lead to more dangerous situations,” Heaton said. “Athletes need to consume 16 ounces of water for every pound they lose in practice. That’s a lot of water – more than some kids would ever think to drink on their own. As coaches, you need to make sure they are replenishing what they lose.”

Here are some other tips Heaton offered the Youth Summit participants:

• White streaks or residue on a player’s forehead or other exposed part of the body often is symptomatic of high salt loss during sweat. These players need to replenish sodium at a higher rate than teammates.


• Helmets and pads trap heat close to the body. On extremely hot days – above 90 degrees or above 90 percent humidity – allow players to take their helmets off when not actively practicing.


• Athletes who show any signs of heat illness – cramping, dizziness, nausea, poor focus and extreme fatigue – should be removed to the field and taken to a shaded area to re-hydrate until they feel better. If symptoms persist, call 911 or alert a medical professional on site.


• If temperatures are above 95 degrees or if there is 90 percent-plus humidity, move practices to early in the morning or late at night to provide cooler workout times. Also consider practicing without pads.


• Players with high body weight for their heights – whether from fat or excess muscle – create more heat with exercise. These players need to hydrate more than the average athlete.


• Supplements that increase metabolism cause the body to create heat faster. These should be avoided during two-a-days and in-season.


• Proper hydration should start five days before the first workout to help with acclimation. More than 70 percent of high school football players report for practice dehydrated. “And that’s before they start sweating,” Heaton said.


• The best way for athletes to check their hydration level is by monitoring their urine, which should be the color of lemonade. Players who take multi-vitamins may see discoloration in their urine.


• Following heavy practice days, drinking 16 to 32 ounces of water before bed helps a body regain hydration levels.


• The difference between sports drinks and water is that sports drinks contain about 6 percent carbohydrates, which help muscles recover faster during activity.


• Athletes who have not reached puberty don’t sweat as fast and regularly. This can cause heat illness symptoms to appear more rapidly.

“The bottom line is if you see players who are losing focus or fatiguing quicker than you are used to seeing them, don’t punish them with sprints,” Heaton said. “Get them to the sidelines, get them re-hydrated and see if their situation improves.”

Care, caution remain best approach for concussion

By Kristen Shilton Thu, 07/19/2012 - 3:01pm

Of all the issues facing youth sports today, few have earned as many headlines as head injuries.

Dr. Margot Putukian, director of athletic medicine and head team physician for Princeton University, can see why.

“This is a topic that’s really important and one the medical community can’t ignore,” she said. “We haven’t solved it. Everyone wants answers, but we aren’t quite there yet.”

Putukian spoke about concussion and head injuries in sport Thursday during the NFL/USA Football Youth Summit in Canton, Ohio. About 150 youth and high school coaches gathered at Kent State Stark campus to share best practices, ways to help players reach their potential and health and safeties issues as well as promote cooperation between coaches and youth commissioners from all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

But despite the bulk of concussion blame falling on football, Putukian, a member of the NFL’s Head, Neck and Spine committee, emphasized all sports need to be more aware of head injuries and how to treat them.

“This isn’t just a problem with football. Concussions are an issue in a lot of different places,” she said. “There have been a lot of changes in football over the last couple of years, but concussions are a very subjective diagnosis. We don’t have the ability to put someone in an (MRI) scanner and tell them if they have a concussion or not. Fortunately, there is a lot of research going on. Unfortunately, we don’t have all the answers yet.”

And therein lies the biggest struggle in concussion diagnosis and treatment – how can you tell if a player’s brain has been hurt if there are no physical signs? Putukian advised the coaches in attendance on how to be aware of the signs and symptoms.

“The hallmark of a concussion is confusion,” she said. “There are also headaches, nausea and vomiting as well as difficulty processing information. It’s the ‘deer in headlights’ look. If you have an athlete who got a concussion (some time ago), they’ll complain about not being able to sleep. They feel hung over. As (a coach) you have to know your athletes, and if you are seeing a change in their personality, it can be a sign of concussion.”

A common belief about concussions is that they damage the brain itself, but it’s a functional, not structural, problem that occurs. Putukian explained how the biomedical and cognitive parts of the brain become mismatched.

It’s the software, not the hardware, that’s the issue.

“The key elements to concussion treatment are really recognizing the signs, being wary of kids who get a high hit in the head or body and then listening to your gut,” she said. “Concussions account for 6 percent of all injuries at the college level and more so at the high school level. And the younger the athlete, the more susceptible they are.”

As frustrating as concussions can be for coaches, parents and athletes, Putukian stressed that strides continue to be made.

She warned against quick-fixes or products that promise to reduce concussion, but by implementing practices with less hitting, continuing to educate, improving equipment quality and putting rule changes into action, the risks can be decreased.

 “What we don’t know is how to answer the question ‘how many (concussions) is too many?’ before you end a young athlete’s career,” she said. “Sometimes it’s after two. Sometimes it’s after 12. We need to work with coaches to make sure youngsters are managed appropriately.

“It’s important we don’t encourage kids to play through injuries. You wouldn’t send a kid back in on an ankle injury. You can’t do it with brain injuries either.”

That’s a message that resonates with Ralph Clinton of the North Metro Football League in Atlanta.

“It was a great session. I have my coaches’ meeting next Saturday, and this information will be a part of it,” Clinton said. “We will pass out similar information to the parents at registration, information packets provided by the CDC.

“We’ve adopted the rule that if a player shows signs of concussion, they get taken out until cleared by a medical professional. Because of this, we’ve also purchased insurance to help people pay to see a medical professional. This is not something you can cut corners on.”

See where your state stands on concussion law.