Article summarizing: Prevention of Hamstring strains in elite soccer: an Intervention study

For this blog , I am going to summarize an article titled as Prevention of Hamstring strains in elite soccer.
Before summarizing the article , I would like to talk about the backgrounds of this article.

As Soccer( football) is one of the most popular sport in the world , it has a very high status of sportsmanship and value , and it is one of the most competitive sport that people had ever played. Hence , there are numerous injury risks associated to football , especially in the elite or professional level where the games and players are the most competitive and valuable. Injuries could easily ruin the player's career and affect their club's performance.

Manchester United Player Wayne Rooney suffering Hamstring Injury during a Premiership game

Among all types of football injury , one of the most common and prolonged injury are the Hamstring strains. It is common in sports that has lots of sprinting , sudden acceleration , kicking and sudden deceleration , this match with the sport characteristics of football. The usual consequences for elite players who suffer from Hamstring strains usually cause a significant time loss from games and training. Therefore , it is severe type of injury that professional players would never like to have.

In-step shooting postures could easily sprain the Hamstring 

Methods of study
According to the study article , it was conducted with 17 to 30  Norwegian and Iceland professional football teams in  four consecutive professional football seasons. The first two years are used as control or baseline data. Then two different intervention programmes which consists of warming-up stretching flexibility and or with eccentric strength training.
 The injury and exposure of Hamstring strains were identified  during the competitive seasons by the team's physical therapists and with MRI follow-up verification , the occurrence of the injury during matches and training regarding to causes such as sprinting , accelerating or turning will be recorded, however , injuries that were caused by collisions were not recorded.

The study also includes a statistical method to show the occurrence of football related hamstring strain by calculating the number of hamstring strains per 1000 hours of player exposure ( match + training).

Results of Study
According to the article's findings,  it was found that there was no significant difference in occurrence  of hamstring strain of groups that did not follow the intervention program 1(warmup + flexibility training) when compared with the control / base data groups. Therefore , it shows that the effect of typical warm-up with flexibility training have no effect on reducing the occurrence of Hamstring strain.
On the other hand , the group with intervention program 2 (warmup+flexibility training + eccentric strength training) have a much lower occurrence of the Hamstring strain injury. Therefore , it was found that there was a significant improvement if eccentric strength training was added to player's pre-training or pre-match workouts.

Discussion
These findings suggested that the traditional warmup exercise along with flexibility training alone could not reduce the risk of getting Hamstring strain of football players ,  instead  , eccentric strength training takes a significant part to improve the players resistance for getting Hamstring strain injuries. The study so-far provided some useful guidelines for protecting ourselves from getting Hamstring strain injuries. This study also reinforce our understanding on the risks of doing certain type of sports. This is essential for us to know what are the risks of the sport , and getting informed decision when choosing the appropriate and suitable sport for ourselves to carry out a healthy lifestyle with exercise.

However , there were some limitations in the study. The first limitation was about the accuracy of the statistical data collected. As the study was preformed at elite football teams , the athletes are not separated in random groups , instead , their game and training are monitored by individual coaches. The difference in coaching and play style will definitely affect the prone of the players getting the Hamstring strain injuries.

The second limitation is that about the implementation of intervention schemes, despite the efforts made from the scientists , it was reported that some players or coaches failed to stick on to the programmes , resulting a relatively low compliance of 48%.

Another limitation is about the identification of the injured players. Although the injuries are marked by team physical therapists , but in some cases , the specialists are not present to screen all training sessions and games , moreover , some cases were found without accurate screening with MRI , but diagnosed by the specialist alone.

Reference:
Arnason, A., Andersen, T. E., Holme, I., Engebretsen, L. and Bahr, R. (2008), Prevention of hamstring strains in elite soccer: an intervention study. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 18: 40–48. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0838.2006.00634.x

Controversy of using Anabolic Steroids in Sports performance

Are you a fan of Baseball or olympic athletics ? If yes , you should have some exciting memories about those fascinating baseball players or track runners  who had a very good career with his extraordinary performances on the field. Unfortunately , some of those "Glorious " players were then discovered that they had abused some Anabolic Androgenic  Steroids, then, eventually, all of their championships or titles earned were demolished.

These cases are often heard during olympic or top-level sports seasons , even though EACH professional athlete understands that it is illegal to take those anabolic androgenic steroids as sports enhancements.

This issue brings out another question " Why are they still risking to do this ? "

Well,  before talking about the pros and cons of using Anabolic androgenic  Steroids , I would like to briefly explain and introduce what actually is an anabolic steroid.  Anabolic Steroids are known as a kind of anabolic-androgen steroids (AAS) , which was a synthetic product by chemical synthesis to create a synthetic ketone base product which could give the miracle effects of the Hormone Testosterone. Which gives similar functions of the Testosterone , that will increase production of proteins that act as building blocks for muscle cells, bone, and other tissues within the body. 

In the 1940s , Soviet scientists first produced it and injected the anabolic androgen steroids to their athletes , and they discovered that the anabolic steroids worked just like magic , which boost a large amount of lean muscle mass and bone mass in their athletes , resulting a very significant advantage for professional sports athletes.


"So , how does the anabolic steroids make a significant effect ?" 


Actually , the anabolic androgenic steroids gives nearly everything that a perfect athlete wished to have. For example , The effects of increase of body muscle mass with anabolic steroids will boost into a number where normal weight training will never achieve alone. Besides , the anabolic androgenic steroids will increase the bone mass of the person and hence increases his abilities to yield more muscle weight and strength , moreover , the anabolic steroids greatly decrease the time for the recovery and decreases the formation of adipose tissues , last but not the least , it also increase physical endurance to the person who took the anabolic steroids.

Therefore, with the "aid" of anabolic steroids , the athlete could heal quick and build more and achieve better performances much easier. But , on the other hand , are there any threats when utilizing these sorts of anabolic steroids ?


Actually , there are some side effects for using anabolic steroids. According to the Research Report of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, there are lots of health risks when utilizing anabolic androgenic steroids , for example , it will increase blood pressure and greatly increase the proportion and amount of bad cholesterol in the blood , therefore , it greatly increases risks of cerebrovascular diseases and cardiovascular diseases. The high dosage of anabolic steroids will also result a great demand on the liver's detoxification power , hence , it will eventually cause liver damage and lead to sorts of liver related diseases, most likely as developing into Liver Cancer.  In some cases , it has been reported that it may cause reduced sex function and decreased size of testicles in Men , it also shows that there are some consequences for women too , such as male-pattern baldness and development of the clitoris etc. 

" Is this all about physical damage when applying anabolic steroids ? " 


No , apart from the physical or biological damage to the body , it will also cause a change of behaviour of the person after using anabolic steroids. According to the CNS review in 2005 , there would be  some psychiatric symptoms which includes increased level of  aggression and violence, mania, and reduced psychosis, in some extreme cases, suicide may also occur. Generally, for athletes who wish to gain the power from anabolic steroids , it usually require a certain amount and requires some time , therefore , this may lead to dependance on the anabolic steroids , hence , anabolic steroids may become a kind of "Drug" to them.


"Oh wow , there are so many disadvantages on the utilization of anabolic steroids as a sports supplement , are there any regulations prohibiting athletes to do so ? "


According to the 2010 Prohibited List of International Standard in the World Anti-Doping Code published by the World Anti-Doping Agency along with the International Olympic Committee , all types of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are prohibited to use for athletes. Violators may be prosecuted and being disqualified and even taking away all titles or trophies in his past career.  

FIFA joins the World Anti-Doping Code

Despite the serious legal actions upon the athletes who took the anabolic androgenic steroids , some of them still continue to take their risks which affects their physical , psychological and even their career health. This is a quite interesting situation. Actually , for those professional players or athletes , they may just have a few chances to reach world class level matches such as the Olympics or the FIFA world cup finals etc , other factors such as age , fitness will all contribute to affect their performances on those world class games. As an athlete , this may be his only chance to achieve his greatest accomplishments ever in his sports career. Therefore , some athletes may choose to take the anabolic androgenic steroids to ensure they are at the very best physical states to provide optimum performances in order to win that title. Moreover , the fame , power and wealth that will bring to the athlete after winning the title is also a very high , this will definitely encourages the athletes to give a shot with anabolic androgenic steroids. 


" Controversial aspects with Sportsmanship values ? " 


According to the Olympism project , one of the key values in olympic sports is "Fair Play" , which includes respect , sportsmanship and cooperation. The abuse of anabolic androgenic steroids in athletes as a sports supplement violates everything regarding to " Fair Play" , and it is obvious in everyone's mind. The athletes who took the magic steroids should not accepted as a player , and their achievements and performances should also be neglected as they got it with hacks.

Conclusion


Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) shows the ability of people to create artificial hormones that could give similar effects of the testosterone and other androgenic effects , but the point is how to use the steroids in a good way and not abusing it in other ways than medical purposes. In the modern sports society , I believe it is really difficult to resist the miracle steroids to boast the performances in various kinds of sports , but , I think as a professional athlete or as a normal adult , it is our responsibilities to make the correct decision to avoid AAS as a sports supplement. Besides , I believe without the help of AAS and getting a Gold olympic medal or lifting  the World Cup would be more meaningful to the person himself , as he understands that these medals are representing their true power and values all the hard practising in order to receive the congratulations. 

This is the True joy of Sports!!

Kiss from the Heart

Resources cited:

NIH Pub. No. 00-3721. Bethesda, MD. NIDA, NIH, DHHS. Printed 1991. Reprinted 1994, 1996. Revised September 2006. Retrieved May 2009.

The Real Deal ?

In this blog post , I am going to introduce a website that includes false or misleading products that claim to have a significant weight loss. The misleading website that I am going to introduce is http://reduslim.com/
It is a website that intended to sell a weight loss drug called Reduslim.

(I am not feeling well already when I saw BUY NOW in my first glance of the site)

In the website it stated that the drug is a miracle for people who wanted to lose weight. without paying much amount of effort to remove their unwanted mass. When I browsed that website , I found at least three things that makes this website lack of credibility and misleading to public.

The first thing that makes the website of the product lacks credibility is there are no further provided information about what kind of pills that really work.

When I browsed the information , I thought I could
 find more information on the hyperlink: "Diet pills that work"

it just forwarded to the product selling page of Reduslim weight drug.

This is an example of lack of credibility because it never provided what kind of pills that work , in this situation , for other people who wish to find some really working pills, this hyperlink will mis-lead them that Reduslim is the only pill that works. However , in fact it doesn't .

The Second thing that makes the website of the product lack of creditability is there are some false statements included in the text of the website. For example , it quoted

 "EVEN IF YOU INCREASE EXERCISE AND EAT  LESS , you will actually see a decrease in metabolic rate and energy levels. This is because your brain starts to work against you and decreases your fat burning process as it forces your body into survival mode that will not last and you will never lose all that belly fat and spare tire around your waist. What you need is a proven weight loss pill."


In fact this is a wrong concept, actually , during doing exercise , the brain will produce more endorphins that elevates the mood of the person and hence gives a more positive mood upon the exercising period. Moreover, the metabolic rate of the person must be increased during exercising , since the muscles require more energy and the body will increase a significant rate of cellular respiration to increase metabolite rate to yield more ATP energy to the muscles cells. Therefore , the statement that quoted in the website is false. The website intended to mislead the people who never wanted to do any sort of physical activity but to reduce weight by using their pills. This is mis-leading and it is not a good sales practise.


The third thing that reduces the credibility of the website of the product is there are no proof upon their claims in their advertisements. For example , there was a photograph that shows the outlook of the body before using the product and a photograph showing the figure now after using the product. It sounds reasonable , but in fact is , it is not convincing to me as both photographs didn't show their faces to identify if the photos are the same person that took the medication throughout the period .

The fourth thing that I found that the website is lack of credibility is that it didn't show approval from FDA of correct information of the contents contained in the drug. Therefore , it is not sure that this drug is containing any unexpected or other contents that are not approved by the FDA. This is a great hazard to health when consuming these kinds of weight losing drugs.

it's unbelievable and ridiculous!!

Sources that counters the information about the website :http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/factsheet_adults/en/index.html 


The Real Deal


For reducing weight , it is the balance between energy intake and output. When the energy out put is greater than intake calorific values , there will be a net loss of energy, and the fats in the adipose tissues will be mobilized for aspects of fuel when there is a net loss of energy.
Doing more physical activities could increase the energy output values but , it should also work with a controlled diet to limit the intake of calorific values. The pills that shown in the website never discussed the real deal of it , instead , it just listed some active ingredients that claim to reduce the size of lipocytes , besides , it didn't pass the Approval of the FDA , there may be numerous adverse effects that may occur after using the pill. 


Hence , as a small conclusion , if u want to reduce weight , stick strict to the fundamental rules of Energy values and be patient, no sort of miracle pill could reduce your weight for 30pounds in one single month.

First Blog

Hi , I am Steve and I am 20 and I come from Hong Kong.
I am writing this blog in order to share some issues and knowledge about health that we come across every day.

Throughout this Health Blog activity , I hope I could practise the skills of searching relevant and accurate materials and topics on the web or from other references , besides , I hope that this blog could be useful  to share some useful health information to other people , especially teenagers or young adults.

The term "Health" refers to the level of functional metabolic efficiency of a living being , which is according to Wikipedia's explanation.  It seems hard to understand what is "Health" , but actually , it is not that difficult to obtain a Healthy lifestyle and enjoy the fruits of health.

I will discuss physical activities in this blog and explains what are physical activities and the correct attitudes upon exercising and physical activities.

Running is a type of common  physical activity.

However , other things or activities could also be regarded as "physical activities"