Apunts Sports Medicine, an electronic journal from 1964

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The Relationship between Blood Circulation and Exercise Headache before and after the Publication of De Motu Cordis (1628): Comparison between the Scientific Thought of Girolamo Mercuriale (1530-1606) and Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714).

The relationship between physical activity, sports and headache is a topic of growing interest as testified by a variety of recently published papers. This correlation dates back to the Classical Age. The aim of this study is to understand how the concept of headache of vascular origin has evolved after the publication of the book De motu cordis by William Harvey (1578-1657). We analyzed and compared the books De arte gymnastica written by Girolamo Mercuriale (1601 edition) and De Morbis Artificum Diatriba written by Bernardino Ramazzini (1713 edition) focusing our attention on headache in the sportsman. By studying the De morbis artificum diatriba, it is clear that its description of the etiopathogenesis of exercise headache of cardiovascular origin is much more complete and precise than the one provided in De arte gymnastica. The limits of scientific knowledge of his time put Mercuriale at disadvantage, since cardiovascular physiology was not elucidated until 1628 with the publication of De motu cordis.

"The Duty of Their Elders" - Doctors, Coaches, and the Framing of Youth Football's Health Risks, 1950s-1960s.

After World War II, organized tackle football programs for boys younger than high school age grew enormously in popularity in the United States, prompting concerns from pediatricians and educators about the sport's physical and emotional health effects. At the same time, sports medicine was emerging as a sub-specialty. Examining how American sports medicine doctors and football coaches established their professional authority on youth football safety in the 1950s and 1960s reveals how their justifications for this collision sport were connected to broader cultural trends. Doctors and coaches, who were virtually all men, emphasized their firsthand knowledge of an all-male sport that was widely promoted as a means of teaching boys to become men. They insisted that proper supervision and equipment were sufficient to protect young athletes. Their arguments for youth football's benefits were based on the belief that men best knew how to impart desired values such as loyalty, patriotism and discipline to boys. In framing football's health risks as manageable with adult supervision, coaches and sports medicine doctors played a crucial role in promoting the vision of American manhood associated with tackle football.

Sports, physical activity and headache in the classical age: historical descriptions from the first sports textbook, "De arte gymnastica", by Girolamo Mercuriale.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The relationship between physical activity, sports and headache presents a growing interest, testified by numerous papers recently published. The correlation between headache and sporting activities or physical exercise dates back to the classical age. We aim at promoting the development of more studies focused on the relationship between headache and physical activity. METHODS: We analysed the book "De arte gymnastica", written by Girolamo Mercuriale (Forlì, Italy, 1530-1606), and considered the first "sports medical textbook". We discuss these classical literature findings in the light of the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition. RESULTS: The Author's work derives from the systematic revision of Greek, Roman and Arabic literatures about the matter. Despite some references to inveterate headaches or cold-related pains, Mercuriale does not gather specific clinical characterisations of different types of headache. However, interestingly, he reports detailed descriptions of how the same sport, or the same physical activity, could cause or give relief from head pain, depending on the precise way of practising. Mercuriale summarises 18 sports or physical activities that can give relief from headache; conversely, running or heavy activities, such as boxing, appear among the 12 contraindicated sports for people suffering from headache. CONCLUSIONS: "De arte gymnastica", by Girolamo Mercuriale, is the first textbook on sports medicine. Headache if often cited along the treatise: different sports and physical activities, or various ways of practising the same action could produce opposite effects for people suffering from headache.

[The Contributions of the East-German Sports Medicine Specialist and Neurologist Bernhard Schwarz (1918-1991) in the Field of Boxing]. / Die Beiträge des DDR-Sportmediziners und Nervenarztes Bernhard Schwarz (1918­1991) zum Boxen.

This study is the first to provide research on the East-German (GDR) sports physician and neurologist Bernhard Schwarz. It summarises Schwarz's publications from 1953 to 1966 regarding the impact of boxing on health, particularly craniocerebral injury. Also, the study analyses his work in the context of current discussions. It shows that Schwarz, who was a tenured professor and director of the Department of Psychiatry at the University Hospital of Leipzig and the physician of the GDR national boxing team, conducted systematic clinical surveys and pointed to the health impacts of boxing at an early point in time. He believed that risk exposure for athletes could be minimised through intensive and trained supervision by the coach and the physician as well as through changes to the conditions of boxing matches. Schwarz opposed a ban on boxing. Instead, he picked up suggestions concerning the prevention of adverse health impacts and added his own recommendations, which are remarkably similar to current practices aimed at minimising risk. For instance, he advised that ring-side physicians be trained to recognise dangerous conditions. Today, physicians must obtain a license to be allowed to care for a boxer. In addition, Schwarz pursued the concept of integral medicine. He called for a diversified training of boxers and argued that injured athletes should be treated holistically. Being a neurologist, he emphasised the important role of psychotherapy in this context. He identified the key role of rehabilitation, and suggested that rehabilitation is complete only with the patient's successful social and professional reintegration.

Coubertin y los concursos artísticos en los juegos olímpicos modernos / Coubertin and the artistic competitions in the modern olympic games

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la importancia que tenía para Coubertin la inclusión de concursos artísticos en el programa oficial de los Juegos Olímpicos modernos. Se estudiará cómo, cuándo y por qué surgió la idea en Coubertin de unir de manera armoniosa las artes y las letras a los Juegos Olímpicos, como ya ocurriera en la antigua Olimpia. En los Juegos Olímpicos de Estocolmo de 1912, se celebraron por primera vez competiciones deportivas y concursos artísticos, cumpliéndose el anhelo de Coubertin. Sin embargo, después de siete citas olímpicas en las que se habían celebrado concursos artísticos, el COI decidió suprimirlos en 1949, sustituyéndolos por «Olimpíadas Culturales», «exhibiciones» o «exposiciones». La metodología de este estudio es histórica y se fundamenta en fuentes primarias y secundarias. Como conclusión, para Coubertin fueron tan importantes los concursos artísticos en los Juegos Olímpicos modernos que tuvieron el mismo rango que las competiciones deportivas (AU)

The aim of this essay is to analyse the importance that Coubertin gave to including the artistic competitions in the official programme of the modern Olympic Games. It will be studied how, when and why Coubertin's idea of harmoniously joining arts and letters to the Olympic Games appeared, as it had already happened in ancient Olympia. In the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912, sport and artistic competitions were celebrated for the first time, fulfilling thus Coubertin's longing. However, after seven Olympic events where artistic competitions had been held, the IOC decided to eliminate them in 1949 and to replace them for «Cultural Olympics», «exhibitions» or «expositions». The methodology of this study is historical and based on primary and secondary sources. In conclusion, to Coubertin the artistic competitions in the modern Olympic Games were so important as to have the same status as the sport competitions (AU)

Sistemas Complejos y Deporte / Complex Systems and Sport

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Tribute to Dr Jacques Rogge: muscle activity and fatigue during hiking in Olympic dinghy sailing.

'A tribute to Dr J. Rogge' aims to systematically review muscle activity and muscle fatigue during sustained submaximal quasi-isometric knee extension exercise (hiking) related to Olympic dinghy sailing as a tribute to Dr Rogge's merits in the world of sports. Dr Jacques Rogge is not only the former President of the International Olympic Committee, he was also an orthopaedic surgeon and a keen sailor, competing at three Olympic Games. In 1972, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Sports Medicine, he was the first who studied a sailors' muscle activity by means of invasive needle electromyography (EMG) during a specific sailing technique (hiking) on a self-constructed sailing ergometer. Hiking is a bilateral and multi-joint submaximal quasi-isometric movement which dinghy sailors use to optimize boat speed and to prevent the boat from capsizing. Large stresses are generated in the anterior muscles that cross the knee and hip joint, mainly employing the quadriceps at an intensity of 30-40% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), sometimes exceeding 100% MVC. Better sailing level is partially determined by a lower rate of neuromuscular fatigue during hiking and for ≈60% predicted by a higher maximal isometric quadriceps strength. Although useful in exercise testing, prediction of hiking endurance capacity based on the changes in surface EMG in thigh and trunk muscles during a hiking maintenance task is not reliable. This could probably be explained by the varying exercise intensity and joint angles, and the great number of muscles and joints involved in hiking. Highlights Dr Jacques Rogge, former president of the International Olympic Committee and Olympic Finn sailor, was the first to study muscle activity during sailing using invasive needle EMG to obtain his Master degree in Sports Medicine at the Ghent University. Hiking is a critical bilateral and multi-joint movement during dinghy racing, accounting for >60% of the total upwind leg time. Hiking generates large stresses in the anterior muscles that cross the knee and hip joint. Hiking is considered as a quasi-isometric bilateral knee extension exercise. Muscle activity measurements during sailing, recorded by means of EMG, show a mean contraction intensity of 30-40% maximal voluntary contraction with peaks exceeding 100%. Hiking performance is strongly related to the development of neuromuscular fatigue in the quadriceps muscle. Since maximal strength is an important determinant of neuromuscular fatigue during hiking, combined strength and endurance training should be incorporated in the training program of dinghy sailors.