Netters & lurkers


Taken from the Herald Sun, Australia 17/07/98  © News Limited 1998
Football too dangerous, doctors say

LEADING sports doctors and surgeons have urged radical changes to AFL
football to reduce the alarming rate of injuries.  Suggestions include
players wearing thigh and shoulder pads, Lycra jumpers and boots with
heels, watering dry grounds and banning shirt fronts.  Hundreds of medical
experts will discuss the proposals in Melbourne next week at a Royal
Australasian College of Surgeons conference on football injuries. Research
to be presented at the conference shows nearly one in three injuries
treated at sports-medicine clinics are caused by football.  Deakin
University researchers Belinda Gabbe and Caroline Finch studied 6500
injuries at five  Melbourne clinics in 12 months.
 "Injuries were mainly caused by contact such as tackling, shepherding and
because players were  unfit," Ms Finch said. "Footy has nearly double the
injuries of other sports."  AFL Medical Officers Association president Hugh
Seward agreed changes to the game were needed to reverse the rise in injury
rates over the past five seasons.  Doctors blamed pace and high-intensity
clashes for the rising number of head, knee and ankle injuries.  The
association is about to begin a study into the link between playing
surfaces and injuries.
Dr Seward said readings would be taken on grounds before each game, as with
racetracks. Initial research showed harder surfaces contributed to a higher
rate of knee injuries.  Conference convener orthopedic surgeon Dr Julian
Feller said football in Victoria was a major contributor to sporting
injuries.
 "In AFL the trend is that injuries do seem to be increasing - at least
knee and groin injuries," he said.  Olympic Park Sports Medicine physician
Dr Bruce Mitchell found corked thighs were the second-most common AFL
injury, yet thigh protectors helped prevent them.   His study of two
under-18 teams found players who wore pads suffered no corked thighs,
compared with nine severe ones in the players who did not. "I'd recommend
AFL players should seriously consider incorporating thigh pads as part of
their  uniform," Dr Mitchell said.   Lycra jumpers and shorter socks could
reduce heat stress, he said.  He said the AFL could end up being culpable
over heat deaths or injuries, and games scheduled for hot  weather should
be played at night. "It's just a matter of time before a player is
permanently injured or dies from a heat injury," he said.  Sports physician
and neurologist Dr Paul McCrory said concussion was increasing but a good
mouth guard could prevent it. Local anaesthetic injections to numb pain and
enable players to keep playing appears widespread,according to former Swans
doctor John Orchard.  He said anaesthetic was used 370 times from 1994-1997
at the club. "I think it happens at almost every club and it's known about
in footy circles but not really talked  about," he said.   "I tend to think
they might be used more these days because player incomes are higher,
there's a lot at  stake." South Australian sports scientist Dr Kevin Norton
found the game had doubled in speed since 1961 and players were taller and
heavier.
"Bigger players release more energy on impact. Unless they start to wear
protective padding or other equipment, the injury rate will continue to
climb," he said.  Sports podiatrist Simon Bartold compared running shoes to
footy boots and found poor boot design was leading to shin splints, arch
pain, knee and back problems.


Cheers
CK




 
 





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					Catherine De Medicis
Catherine was a minx, often irreverantly referrered to  as 'Jezebel'. Her
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the city walls, in the hope she would be hit by a cannon ball. No good
would come from her. Catherine eventually married Henri II  (France) and
took with her to Paris, high heeled pumps. History reveals she was a
cunning & conniving  individual who almost certainly was responsible for
rekindling the Religious Wars of Europe.

Cameron Kippen                          e-mail:[log in to unmask]
Department of Podiatry                  Tel: +61-08-9-266-3675
Curtin University of Technology         Fax: +61-08-9-266-3679
Shenton Park, WA 6008
Australia
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