Moderate endurance training is known to improve cardiovascular risk factors, and prolongs life expectancy. On the other hand, there has been some discussion whether “too much” exercise might have a contrarious effect by accelerating coronary atherosclerosis. The goal of this review was to evaluate the current literature on the effects of long-term vigorous endurance training on the coronary vasculature. In summary, data point to an increased calcium score, and a higher burden of atherosclerotic plaque in male athletes compared to sedentary controls.
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During our Annual meeting of the Society for Pediatric Sports Medicine in Basel 2017 one of the highlight sessions was the PRO-CON discussion about the use of a resting ECG as screening tool to detect youth at risk for sudden cardiac death. We present the two statements of the cardiology experts that were finally not so controversial as the PRO-CON may suggest.
Well as often in medicine, it is the choice of each of you, how to deal with the situation. On one side we are taught to know and listen to the “evidence in medicine”, but on the other side we so often end up in our traditional professional perspective as decision maker that is not always wrong …
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Kinder sind von klein auf hoch motiviert, sich zu bewegen, freuen sich an neu gewonnenen motorischen Fertigkeiten und haben Spass an der Bewegung. Dabei geht es nicht um Sport, sondern einfach nur um die aktuelle Freude an der Aktivität an sich. Sport – also Bewegung um eines Zieles wegen – sollte später kommen. Das Eintrittsalter in den Wettkampfsport ist jedoch in den letzten Jahren gesunken, Leistungssport bei Grundschülern mit Trainingsumfängen von 10–20 Stunden pro Woche in Sportarten wie Schwimmen, Turnen, rhythmische Sportgymnastik oder Ähnliches hat es früher nicht gegeben.
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Mind-body medicine is a holistic approach that aims to increase a healthy life style of people and their resilience. Practically, mind-body medicine encompasses intervention methods such as mindfulness, physical exercise, coping with stress, or cognitive restructuring. Mind-body medicine has proven effective for a variety of chronic illnesses, especially in combination with conventional medicine. The present article introduces basic concepts of mind-body medicine including aspects of mindfulness.
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ACL injuries in children and adolescents have increased substantially in recent years. Nevertheless, treatment algorithms are domiated by predjudice more than by evidence, eventhough the scientific basis, summarized in this paper, is sound. The likelihood of an ACL tear in a traumatic hemarthros, even without contact, is 52%. More than half of the cases show concurrent injuries. Methods and criteria for success of conservative treatment are published in detail, however, surgical treatment produces a better clinical outcome in most cases. Various surgical techniques exist, and age appropriate treatment can elimate the risk of a growth disturbance and restore the normal function of the knee.
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There is incontrovertible evidence of the benefits of regular physical activity in the primary and secondary prevention of several chronic diseases, on contrary a sedentary lifestyle can progress into a Sedentary Death Syndrome (SeDS), which is a major Public Health burden due to its causing multiple chronic diseases and a large amount of premature deaths each year. In Italy, Sports Medicine represents a fundamental reference for those practicing physical activity at competitive or non-competitive level; its purposes include: health care of the athletes practicing all kind of sports, through the pre-participation screening for elegibility (such screening constitutes an established medical programme that has been implemented for more than 30 years), and the promotion of diagnostic and therapeutic protocols to guarantee the state of health of individual at high risk or carrying a specific diagnosed disease.
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As demonstrated for most of solid tumors, recent clinical studies clearly suggested that physical activity could play a key role in the management of patients with hematological malignancies, as a non-drug therapy. Physical activity interventions contribute to improve the quality of life of patients, mainly by reducing cancer-related fatigue (P<0.005), enhancing physical functioning (P<0.001), reducing the prevalence of depression including minor and major depressive episodes (P<0.05). However, if physical activity appears to be beneficial for patients with hematological malignancies, research is required to determine the benefits of different physical activities (i.e. type of exercise, intensity, frequency), and decipher the appropriate timing of intervention initiation.
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As part of a collaboration between the Centre Sport et Santé of The University of Lausanne and the sports psychologist Mattia Piffaretti, a physical activity program has been adapted for 29 patients suffering from multiple sclerosis. The 29 patients were divided into three research groups. The first group EX (n=5, age=50.6±9.8) followed a bi-weekly physical activity intervention program for a total of 12 weeks in addition to their usual medical treatment.
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Non-specific chronic low back pain is a multifactorial pathology with a significant impact on quality of life. Physical activity is a major axis of treatment to improve pain and functional capacity through structured exercises, but also to fight against physical deconditioning. It is therefore advised to perform leisure time physical activity regularly and in an adapted way. There is no contraindication to practice sports activities but they should be performed with special attention not to increase the symptoms. This article aims to evaluate the effects of different types of physical activity in chronic low back pain to help the practitioner to advise at best his patients and prescribe appropriate physical activity, source of pleasure and health benefits.
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Over the last years, cardiac rehabilitation services have expanded their indication to include not just patients after myocardial infarction or surgery, but also a variety of non-acute cardiovascular disease (CVD) states like stable coronary artery disease, peripheral artery disease, neurovascular disease as well as asymptomatic patients with no history of CVD but with a constellation of cardiovascular risk factors, especially metabolic syndrome and diabetes mellitus. In 2015, 110 ambulatory cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation programs existed in Switzerland: 57 for cardiac, 17 for peripheral artery disease and 36 for diabetes rehabilitation.
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