Resources and Reflections

The information herein has been gleaned from a number of sources around the Net with links provided at the end f the article. The author is NOT a physician and is not attempting to prescribe or recommend medical treatment, but merely to inform fellow endurance athletes of a significant risk to their health resulting from the otherwise beneficial consequences of regular vigorous physical activity, and to summarize the literature on treatment and prevention.

DVT or Deep Vein Thrombosis, also referred to as “Economy class syndrome” results from the pooling and coagulation (thrombosis) of blood in the deep veins of the calf, thigh and occasionally the abdomen due to lack of motion and/or constriction of the blood flow to these areas. The immediate symptoms include some or all of the following; pain, swelling, discoloration of the painful area and, when in the leg, distended veins in the foot or leg. The longer term pathologies include possible permanent damage to the smaller veins from lack of circulation resulting in phlebitis and/or cellulitis. Worst of all is the possibility that the thrombosis or clot can become mobile and lodge in the lungs causing pulmonary embolism (PE), chest pain, coughing up blood and potentially, death. If a clot gets lodged in the brain, this can cause stroke or cerebral embolism and a clot in the heart can cause heart failure.

Various studies show that endurance athletes, with their low resting heart rates, large leg muscles and tenancy to dehydration are especially vulnerable to DVT, up to 85% more likely to suffer DVT than non-athletes under certain circumstances. Since endurance athletes tend to become dehydrated more often and more severely than the sedentary population, and dehydration causes the blood to thicken and coagulate more readily, attention to hydration is even more important than just for the obvious and better known reasons of managing electrolyte imbalance and exhaustion. More »

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June 24th, 2009
(PhysOrg.com) — UQ neuroscientists have, for the first time, been able to demonstrate that moderate exercise significantly increases the number of neural stem cells in the ageing brain.
In research published in Stem Cells, Dr Daniel Blackmore and his colleagues at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) have shown that moderate exercise directly increases the number of stem cells in the ageing brain.
Despite the conventional wisdom that we only have a set number of neurons or brain cells, neuroscientists have known for some time that, in healthy brains, the creation of new neurons is an ongoing and lifelong mechanism.
However, it has also been known for more than a decade that the number of new neurons we produce slowly declines with age.
According to QBI neuroscientist Dr Blackmore, researchers are interested in finding ways to stimulate the production of neurons to negate any decline brought about by age or disease.
“Our findings suggest that moderate exercise, from early to late in life, can have a very positive effect,” Dr Blackmore said.
In controlled models of ageing, the number of neural stem cells produced by animals participating in voluntary exercise (running wheel) were significantly higher than in animals of the same age which did not exercise (no running wheel).
“Investigating the mechanism by which neural stem cell numbers are altered will undoubtedly increase our understanding of how the brain responds to its environment,” Dr Blackmore said.
“Ultimately, this should allow us to discover how to harness the brain’s regenerative capacity, and to bring about new and effective treatments for conditions caused by trauma, disease, or even normal ageing.”
“The brain’s ability, even at an advanced age, to respond in a positive manner is very exciting as it extends the time-frame in which manipulation is possible.”
QBI Director Professor Perry Bartlett FAA said the research represented another significant understanding of the why neural stem cells were so important to brain function.
“It is the first experimental data that shows how we can change the propensity of the brain to make new neurons through increasing the number of stem cells – even in the aged animal,” Professor Bartlett said.
“We can now show that exercise directly causes an increase in the number of stem cells in the brain.
“Stem cells develop into neurons and a good supply of neurons is essential for good mental health,” he said.
The research paper “Exercise increases neural stem cell number in a GH-dependent manner, augmenting the regenerative response in aged mice” by Dr Daniel Blackmore, Dr Mohammad Golmohammadi, Beatrice Large, Dr Michael Waters and Dr Rodney Rietze appeared in the 14 May online edition of Stem Cells.
Provided by University of Queensland (news : web)

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