Health officials in the U.S. have launched a war on obesity, encouraging people to develop better eating habits and exercise regularly, and hardly anyone gets more exercise than teenagers and young adults who participate in sports and play on teams. But some health officials warn that there might be underlying dangers to jumping into intense physical activity.
Researchers in Italy conducted a recent study in which they observed 1 million young people between the ages of 12 and 35, 10 percent of whom were athletes. According to a February 27 article published on CNN.com, the researchers concluded that teenagers and young adults who play sports are twice as likely to die suddenly, due to unrecognized underlying health conditions.
While varsity athletes at UB are required to get regular physicals, some students believe recent findings as well as past sudden death cases among young athletes, should prompt health officials at UB to implement screening programs for other sports areas at UB as well.
Heanyi Bob-Nwachukwu, a senior electrical engineering major and president of UB's Boxing Club, said while boxers get basic check-ups before and after each fight, initial health screening is not mandatory for those club members and should be.
"If you're going to play chess, you obviously don't need screenings, but really intensive contact sports should have health screenings," said Bob-Nwachukwu.
Bob-Nwachukwu recalled an instance where a student revealed the fact that he had a medical condition after an intense workout that could have led to serious repercussions.
"No one wants to fall behind and they exert themselves," said Bob-Nwachukwu. "A lot of the time they don't tell us until after the fact. Like this kid who told me he had asthma after the fact - why would you do that to yourself? What if you'd gone into a seizure?"
Bob-Nwachukwu said he believes health screenings are in the best interest of the student, whereas forms that serve as waivers serve only to absolve the school of responsibility if a student were to get hurt.
Health officials at UB said that while plans are still tentative, screening services for club sports and intramural teams might be on their way.
"We've been talking about trying to get them involved in some kind of service," said Dr. Jody Snyder, a physician at University Health Services. "Give them support in terms of having a trainer available to them and also doing some sort of pre-participation physical."
Aside from making sure that students who wish to participate in sports are properly screened, officials said measures will be taken to ensure continual safety for students who participate in sports.
Joseph Muscarella, coordinator of Club Sports for UB, said the Sport Club Advisory Board is interested in getting coverage from both Health Services and the University's Sports Medicine Institute.
"It's our number one priority," he said. According to Muscarella, over 1,200 students participate in student-run club sports, and there is a concern for their health and safety.
"That's why it has come to the forefront," he noted. "Club sports include such high contact activities as boxing, roller hockey and rugby, which lead to a greater risk of injury."
"These people are pretty competitive," he said.
Dr. Snyder agreed that club sports are an area they are looking at closely.
"There is an injury rate that is higher," she said. "These are the high-contact sports. The population we're trying to gear this to is the population of kids who are involved in club sports."
What screening would mainly look for, she said, are any pre-existing injuries that have not fully healed.
"If they have had an injury which we pick up and we can say to them 'look, your ankle is not healed, you're going to go out and sprain it or you're going to end up with another injury because this hasn't been rehabilitated,'" said Dr. Snyder.
Intramural sports participants said they were not overly concerned because theirs is a less competitive atmosphere.
"It's all about fun," said Ed Wright, intramurals coordinator for the Student Athletic department. "We try to have a playground concept."
At least 5,000 students participate in eight major intramural sports per semester, according to Wright. The only mandate is that students have valid health insurance, which is required of all UB students.
UB's varsity athletes are the only ones required to take a physical before playing sports, according to Heidi Roth, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications.
"All incoming athletes are checked out by our team physicians," she said. "In addition, they get a check up every year in which they participate."
Dr. Snyder said that if physicals are instituted for club sports or even intramurals, the Sports Medicine Institute has experience in doing large-scale screenings for the Buffalo City Schools.
"It's kind of like an assembly line," she said. "They can go pretty quickly."
Not every student will necessarily be happy about it, she admitted.
"It might seem like a hassle if you feel healthy," she said. "Most of the time we don't find anything, we don't pick up anything new."
However, there's always the chance of finding a problem, maybe even a serious one, she said. There are also rare conditions such as Marfan's Syndrome, a heart problem, which the doctors might discover through an exam or heath questions, she added.
"It might be that nobody's asked them before if they get light-headed or pass out during exercise," she said. "You pick up something like that and you might save their life."
