A New Blog Series On Common Sports Injuries

With football season upon us, the inevitable truth is that injury season is upon us as well. With that in mind, The RASC newsletter will discuss common sports injuries, and for the first few installments, football specific injuries in particular. The first one we will discuss the the "season-ender," the rupture of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL).

The ACL is a ligament (a piece of connective tissue that connects two bones together) that spans the distance of the posterior femur to the anterior tibia. In football, this ligament is often damaged (ruptured) when a player attempts to cut, or when the knee is locked and it is hit by another player. When ruptured the tibia is able to move forward with respect to the femur beyond the normal range-of-motion because the ligament prevent this motion from typically occurring. It is almost always a surgical case as the ligament needs to be replaced to ensure future stability of the knee complex. Following surgery, months of physical therapy are required to stabilize the knee and prevent future recurrences.

Myalgia & Statins

Myalgia is muscular pain. It is a common symptom in many diseases, disorders and muscle-damaging injuries. Statin drugs are those that help to lower cholesterol levels by binding a specific enzyme involved with the body's cholesterol production process. By binding to this enzyme, cholesterol production is markedly slowed and thus blood levels are reduced.

As a result of this diminished cholesterol process, the production of Ubiquinone (CoQ10) is also reduced. Ubiquinone is an essential component of many of the body's processes. Decreased production of this can lead to the aforementioned myalgia, or even possibly rhabdomyolysis, the pathologic breakdown of skeletal muscle. This can ultimately result in acute kidney failure if untreated. CoQ10 supplementation is essential for any patient on statin drugs to prevent this scenario from occuring.

Statin drugs bind to HMG-CoA and do not allow for cholesterol synthesis.
Ubiquinone (CoQ10) synthesis is also inhibited.

Back Pain Exercises

Back Pain - Who Needs It? Who Wants It? Who Has It?

Low back pain is prevalent in society, and not just American society.  One might even say that it's rampant across many different places.  The core muscles are essential in keeping your hips and back in shape and preventing and treating back pain.  Simple exercises can help you deal with some of the more minor back pain occurrences. Swiss Ball required. 

• Pelvic Tilts:
• Sitting tall on a gym ball, hands relaxed at your sides.  Perform a posterior pelvic tilt by sucking stomach in and rocking pelvis forward to flatten the low back. Rock your pelvis backwards to arch the low back. The ball will roll slightly back and forth.

• Supine Bridge:
• Lying on your back with your heels on the ball and knees straight. Keep your arms at 45 degrees at your sides with your palms up for stability. Press your heels into the ball and squeeze your buttocks to raise the pelvis and low back up off the floor (keep your shoulder blades on the floor).  Keep the ball stable and then lower the pelvis to the floor and repeat.

• Crunches:
• Lying on a Swiss Ball with the ball under the small of your back (or slightly higher). Gently cradle your head in your hands (don't pull with arms) and suck in abdominals and sit up towards a seated position, leading with the chest and keeping your head in neutral. Lower with control and repeat. Maintain the abdominal hollow throughout the movement.

Perform these 3-5x/week; 2 sets of 10 repetitions each.