Category: Sports Medicine

Cardiovascular Function and Health

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Heart disease is a top killer worldwide. Learn about how the cardiovascular system works, what can go wrong with it, and how to keep it healthy.

By Mark D. Harris

Pastors and physicians are never off duty. I have the obligation, and the privilege, to educate family, friends, and acquaintances in spiritual and physical matters. One gentleman at church has an abnormal heart rhythm (dysrhythmia or arrhythmia). Another has cardiac manifestations of sarcoidosis. Still other church members have hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) or heart failure. The article summarizes basic information on cardiovascular disease in a way, I hope, that will best meet their needs.

The Blood

Blood brings oxygen and nutrients to every cell in the body and removes harmful gases and waste products. Blood is composed of oxygen-carrying cells (red blood cells), infection-fighting cells (white blood cells), proteins, water, and an array of elements such as glucose (sugar), sodium (salt), and potassium. Blood is created in the bone marrow within long bones. The spleen filters solid elements (like aged red cells or sickle cells) from the blood. The kidneys filter chemicals from the blood, thus maintaining the proper chemical balance.

Blood is required for life. Leviticus 17:11 states that the life of the flesh is in the blood. In many other verses, the Bible equates life with blood (Genesis 9:4). If the blood is not replenished or does not circulate, the person or animal dies.

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The Shoulder – dynamic management

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Tips from an experienced strength and conditioning coach and personal trainer on shoulder health, rehabilitation, and development. Dynamic management of the shoulder is vital to help athletes reach their goals despite injuries.

By Matthew Morris, BA CSCS

The most mobile large joint in the human body and arguably the most susceptible to dysfunction is the shoulder. The shoulder is comprised of well over a dozen parts working together within a framework of bones, tendons, ligaments, and muscles. These all intersect to make a quasi-ball and socket joint that allows a wonderfully wide range of mobility, though perhaps at the expense of stability.

Nearly any arm movement involves the shoulder, brushing your teeth, combing your hair, holding your phone, and carrying a suitcase. Even sleeping requires a particular shoulder position. Athletic performance requires that shoulder function jumps to another level. The risk of acute injury also jumps just as high. Think about Olympic weightlifters holding hundreds of pounds overhead, football players smashing into one another, the repetitive range of motion (ROM) for baseball players, swimmers, and volleyball athletes.

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Mallet Finger – Diagnosis, Treatment, and Rehabilitation

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How to take care of and recover from a common but sometimes vexing finger injury.[1]

By Mark D, Harris

Mallet finger usually results from forced flexion of the distal (most distant) part of the finger (distal phalanx – DP) during active extension of the DP. The condition is caused by a rupture of the extensor tendon (on the back of the finger) that crosses the distal interphalangeal joint (DIPJ) from the proximal phalanx (PP) to the DP. Part of the bone may also be avulsed (pulled away). Mallet finger is the most common closed tendon injury in athletes.[2] Often, patients explain that a ball hit their partially flexed fingertip. Patients complain of pain, swelling, and an inability to fully extend their DP.

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Exercises for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

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Look better, feel better, function better, be healthier, and improve your sleep with these simple exercises to treat obstructive sleep apnea. Daytime sleepiness and snoring will also diminish. And remember, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.

By Mark D. Harris

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) occurs when a person develops partial or complete obstruction of the upper airway during sleep, when this obstruction results in apnea (no breathing for at least ten seconds) or hypopnea (decreased breathing). The person with OSA will then partially or fully wake up and their blood oxygen will decrease. About 25% of Americans have OSA, with men, older adults, and the obese at greater risk. OSA increases a person’s risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, coronary heart disease, stroke, trauma from falling asleep (while driving, for example), and death. It is a big health problem in the United States, and increasingly, the world. OSA is usually treated with medications, positive airway pressure (like CPAP), and surgery.[1] OSA is worse with supine sleeping (sleeping on your back). Some patients control their symptoms with side sleeping (sometimes with a full-length body pillow). However, there are many exercises that can help decrease symptoms of OSA, improve function, and make you look and feel better.[2]

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Seven Secrets of Health #3 – Maximal Musculoskeletal

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Our minister of music was having a lot of pain in his shoulders, legs and back during a mission trip. I told him that exercise can reduce pain, improve range of motion, and increase musculoskeletal function. Then I told him how. 

A man in his 70s came to the Nirschl Sports Medicine Center in Virginia. His chief complaint was mild weakness in his golf swing for several months, but no pain or other functional limitation. His exam was unremarkable except for asymmetric weakness in the right shoulder. We ordered a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan to evaluate possible surgical options.

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Seven Secrets of Health #2 – Keep Life in Balance

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A life in balance is the healthiest life, but what does balance mean, and how can you attain it?

In the movie Karate Kid, the martial arts master Mr. Miyagi tells his student Daniel “Got to learn balance. Balance is key. Balance good, karate good. Everything good.”  It cannot be denied that in athletics and in all of health and fitness, balance is a fundamental goal. Webster’s New World Dictionary defines balance as “a state of equilibrium or equipoise; equality in amount, weight, value, or importance, as between two things or the parts of a thing: mental, emotional, or bodily stability.”

I have many patients who want to hear directly from their doctor on health and fitness topics, and so I dedicate these articles to you. Thank you for letting me partner in taking care of you. In this article we will focus on balance as it relates to health and fitness.

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