Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D A Chu.
Synchronized swimming is an aesthetic sport comparable to, in terms of its physical demands, those sports that require high metabolic conditioning. This article discusses injuries related to the demanding combination of strength, speed, and flexibility, including shoulder instability, lower back injuries, medial stress syndromes of the knee, and injury management treatment regimens.
Rehabilitation of the lower extremities has fallen into two basic categories known as open and closed kinetic chain activities. Closed kinetic chain exercises are functional exercises specific to sport movement patterns. Exercises performed with a variety of equipment may be classified as closed kinetic chain. Program development should include a variety of functional exercises using variable volumes and intensities of resistance for maximum results.
The heart rate (HR) variation of 25 normotensive and asymptomatic men, mean age 58 +/- 7 years, with diabetes mellitus (group I) was studied during deep respiration. Thirteen subjects (52%) had a variation of 10 beats/min or less, consistent with an autonomic neuropathy (AN) (group IA); 12 had variation in HR of more than 10 beats/min and were considered to have no neuropathy (group IB). The 24-hour ambulatory HR and systolic blood pressure (BP) values of group I were compared with those of 13 healthy men, mean age 48 +/- 8 years (group II). The mean of 5 maximal HR measurements during the 24-hour period was higher for group IA (106 +/- 11 beats/min) than for group IB (100 +/- 13 beats/min) or for group II (92 +/- 9 beats/min) (p less than 0.01). The mean of 5 maximal BP measurements was greater for group I (149 +/- 28 mm Hg) than for group II (128 +/- 13 mm Hg) (p less than 0.01), but no difference was observed between groups IA and IB. Maximal treadmill exercise was performed with 22 of the patients (11 with and 11 without AN), and no difference in HR was observed between the 2 groups during all stages of exercise or at maximal exertion. The increase in systolic BP and duration of exercise in these 2 groups were also similar. Seventeen of 25 diabetic men had peripheral neuropathy (PN). Of 13 patients with AN, 10 had PN; of 12 without AN, 7 had PN and 5 did not.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Because the acute spinal cord injured patient is at high risk for the development of deep venous thrombosis (DVT), accurate diagnosis is critical. Clinical evaluation is unreliable 50% of the time, however, and the two highly accurate diagnostic procedures--venography and 125I-labelled fibrinogen scanning--are invasive and present serious drawbacks. The literature concerning the effectiveness of the two most widely used noninvasive diagnostic alternatives (Doppler ultrasound and venous occlusion plethysmography [VOP]) is equivocal. In our systematic evaluation of a series of 21 patients, using clinical examination, Doppler ultrasound and VOP, all patients who developed DVT were identified by all three methods. Overall accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were 100%.
We reviewed National Basketball Trainers Association data over a 6-year period to determine the incidence of lateral meniscus injury among professional basketball players. Our results indicated that 58% of all injuries involved the lateral meniscus, while 42% involved the medial meniscus. This differs from what other authors have reported for basketball players. The lateral meniscus may be vulnerable to chronic injury and subject to microtrauma from repetitive submaximal stresses associated with cutting or changing direction while running, or from pivoting. A professional player is at more risk of injury during a game than practice, and thus is exposed to injury more than a collegian because the professional season has three to four times as many games. Also, magnetic resonance imaging may aid the physician in accurately diagnosing some tears that would otherwise have gone undetected or required arthroscopy for diagnosis. In addition, injury to the lateral meniscus could produce secondary symptoms such as instability or patellofemoral pain to structures other than the lateral meniscus.