| Overuse plagues young athletes
ST. LOUIS -- Elaine Gill, 16, wanted to run faster. So she started running more. A lot more. Sometimes she'd run 50 miles a week.At first the extra miles paid off, and Elaine cut several minutes off her 5K cross country time. Then, during a race, a bone in her foot broke. Now, she can't run at all.Such is the plight of a growing number of athletes, both male and female, who train their young bodies past the point of diminishing returns and right into injuries. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that more than 30 million children and teens participate in organized sports each year. Of those, about 3.5 million seek treatment for overuse injuries and chronic fatigue from overtraining. Though no data exist, local sports medicine specialists say they've seen a steady increase in the number of injured and over-trained athletes between ages 8 and 18 by as much as 25 percent in recent years.Experts attribute that increase to more and more children specializing in only one sport and playing it year-round for school, select and traveling teams.
Few know physiatrits could help with pain
CHICAGO, Oct. 8 Only 1 percent of U.S. adults know the term "physiatrist," a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, a U.S. survey found.
However, 67 percent of those surveyed by L.C. Williams & Associates Research Group for the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation said they could benefit from medical care provided by a physiatrist -- once the specialty was defined for them.
Physiatrists, or rehabilitation physicians, specialize in non-surgical management of a full range of conditions including low back, shoulder and neck pain, tendonitis, arthritis, osteoporosis, sports injuries, or more complex conditions such as spinal cord injuries, stroke and cardiac rehabilitation and traumatic brain injuries, using advanced diagnostic techniques and treatment options.
Save Our Homes portability back in play for tax cuts
Mike Haridopolos, a Melbourne Republican, is confident something can be done to reduce property taxes more. ''There's nothing new out there and we're just looking for the right tools in the toolbox to get us the necessary 30 votes in the Senate,'' Haridopolos said, adding ``everyone's talking about property taxes.'' The governor first pushed a portability plan on the campaign trail, but lawmakers rejected it in their spring session as impractical, because it gave Florida residents an unequal and potentially unconstitutional advantage over newcomers. Unlike the regular session, when the governor was more cheerleader than negotiator on property taxes, Crist is now working behind closed doors to aggressively push portability and a plan to double the homestead exemption, which could cost local governments statewide about $2 billion a year.
|
