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Background: Numerous studies with male amateur runners have determined negative changes in their cardiac function/of their myocard following long endurance loads. This study aims to examine such potential changes in women, specifically, after running a marathon., Methods: A total of 18 female amateur runners (39.5 ± 10.5 years) were examined before (T1), immediately after (T2) and 24 h post-marathon (T3). An echocardiography was performed using Tissue Doppler (TD) imaging. In addition, the concentration of cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and the activity of the myocardial muscle creatine kinase (CK-MB) were determined at T1 and T2., Results: The echocardiographic parameters revealed impairment of the diastolic function, without, however, documenting a diastolic dysfunction (in accordance with the classification of Nagueh (J Am Soc Echocardiogr, 22:107-33, 2009)). The ratio of blood flow velocity through the mitral valve during early versus late diastole (MV E/A ratio), for example, decreased. The values measured at T3 were similar to those measured at T1. The ratio of early transmitral diastolic filling velocity and of the transmitral diastolic filling velocity by TD imaging (MV E/E') did not indicate any change from T1 to T2, but a significant increase at T3 (in comparison with T1). The systolic function (measured by the left ventricular ejection fraction) did not change significantly. The cTnT concentration and CK-MB activity were significantly higher in T2 than in T1., Conclusion: The data collected does not provide any solid evidence of pathological changes in the cardiac function of female amateur runners post-marathon, although the lab values indicate a strongly increased myocardial stimulation.

Background: This paper is testing the hypothesis whether headers can cause micro-traumata which can be verified in lab test., Method: The study examined micro-traumatic effects of headers for a sample of 22 soccer players by the means of blood tests. In the test arrangement, two probands intensively exchanged headers with a standard football (according to official regulations of the German Football Association) fora period of eight minutes.The average number of ball exchanges per series amounted to around 401 headers for each pair. The effects were measured by selected coagulation parameters., Results: The results showed significant differences in the concentration of leucocytes and thrombocytes. The variance analysis of coagulation parameters revealed no significant change for fibrinogen concentration, INR and Quick. By contrast, the reduction of aPTT after the headers was significant., Conclusion: As for an interpretation of these results, the observed increase of the parameters may be characterised as a reaction to stress. The increase of thrombocytes could be seen as response of the corpuscular coagulation system to traumatisation. As aPTT is significantly reduced post intervention, this furthermore reflects an activation of the plasmic coagulation system induced by trauma.

Our aim was to investigate the immediate effects of bilateral, 830 nm, low-level laser therapy (LLLT) on high-intensity exercise and biochemical markers of skeletal muscle recovery, in a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial set in a sports physiotherapy clinic. Twenty male athletes (nine professional volleyball players and eleven adolescent soccer players) participated. Active LLLT (830 nm wavelength, 100 mW, spot size 0.0028 cm(2), 3-4 J per point) or an identical placebo LLLT was delivered to five points in the rectus femoris muscle (bilaterally). The main outcome measures were the work performed in the Wingate test: 30 s of maximum cycling with a load of 7.5% of body weight, and the measurement of blood lactate (BL) and creatine kinase (CK) levels before and after exercise. There was no significant difference in the work performed during the Wingate test (P > 0.05) between subjects given active LLLT and those given placebo LLLT. For volleyball athletes, the change in CK levels from before to after the exercise test was significantly lower (P = 0.0133) for those given active LLLT (2.52 U l(-1) +/- 7.04 U l(-1)) than for those given placebo LLLT (28.49 U l(-1) +/- 22.62 U l(-1)). For the soccer athletes, the change in blood lactate levels from before exercise to 15 min after exercise was significantly lower (P < 0.01) in the group subjected to active LLLT (8.55 mmol l(-1) +/- 2.14 mmol l(-1)) than in the group subjected to placebo LLLT (10.52 mmol l(-1) +/- 1.82 mmol l(-1)). LLLT irradiation before the Wingate test seemed to inhibit an expected post-exercise increase in CK level and to accelerate post-exercise lactate removal without affecting test performance. These findings suggest that LLLT may be of benefit in accelerating post-exercise recovery.

We undertook this study to demonstrate the pattern of onset and the course of arthritis on the traumatised joint in spondyloarthropathy (SpA) initiated by physical trauma. Among 288 patients with SpA, 12 (4.2%) whose arthropathies were associated with trauma were reviewed retrospectively. There were seven patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), three with juvenile onset AS and two undifferentiated SpA. The type of trauma was direct injury to the joint and injuries at other sites, except in spinal surgery, for example. In eight cases the initial evidence of disease was peripheral arthritis. The disease first occurred in traumatised joints in five cases. Only three cases showed recurrent inflammatory episodes in the traumatised joints throughout the disease course. SpA initiated by trauma initially manifested as peripheral arthritis at the traumatised joints in about half of the cases. Inflammatory episodes preferentially involved other joints apart from the traumatised joints throughout the whole course of the disease.