The blogosphere is like your local Walmart – you can pretty much find anything you’re looking for. With that said, this is a blog about a blog. It may sound strange, but we recently read about the most dangerous high school sports and found it fascinating.

According to a 28-year study from the National Center of Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina, fall high school sports resulted in 771 direct catastrophic injuries between 1982 and 2010. The study also reveals that 34 of these injuries were football related and two resulted in fatalities.

With the fall sports season right around the corner, it is important to remember to keep safety first. Coaches should teach players the proper techniques and insist student-athletes wear the right equipment at all times. Here is a list of sports prevention tips from Safe Kids USA. Our physicians and staff are proud members of some of Zanesville’s local sports teams, from high school to college, and want to ensure our community stays safe, on and off the field.

By Christopher Bernett, PA-C

Ohio is a great place for outdoor pursuits, from hunting to camping to backpacking. But the terrain can be rugged, with rocky – and sometimes slippery – trails.

Unfortunately, accidents do happen. What if, despite your best intentions, you step off the trail or into a hole and fold your ankle over like a slice of New York pizza? Ankle strains and sprains are some of the most common back country injuries, and here are a few tips for dealing with one on the trail:

1.     Take your boot off. If your ankle swells with your boot on, you may have trouble getting it off. Plus, you can’t examine the ankle properly with a shoe on your foot.

2.     Check to make sure it’s not broken. A broken ankle will usually appear disfigured or discolored, and bones may even push through the skin. If you can’t bear weight, or if you heard a loud pop when you twisted your ankle, it’s either broken or you have severed ligaments.

In this instance, splint the ankle, either with a commercial splint carried in your pack, or with a rolled sleeping pad, pack stays or anything else that will keep the ankle immobile. Make sure to place some cushioning between the splint and the injury. Then, send for help. How to improvise a splint.

3.     If the pain is manageable, it’s probably a bad sprain. Apply cold to the injury – a plastic bag filled with snow, a water bladder or cold water from a stream – as soon as possible. Don’t apply cold to an injury for more than 30 minutes at a time.

4.     After a half hour, wrap an elastic bandage or tape snugly around the foot in a figure eight, going around your ankle and under your arch. If you can get your boot on, that will provide some additional support. How to wrap an ankle.

5.     Test the ankle. You may need to unload some of the heavier items from your pack, or ask a companion to take some of the gear so you can walk. If possible, lean on a partner as you hike out, or use a walking stick or improvised crutch made from a tree branch. Be sure to stop every hour to cool your ankle and elevate it.

6.     When safely back home, visit the doctor as soon as possible for advice about any further treatment that may be necessary.

Sports Medicine of Zanesville is OAZ’s devoted department to sports medicine. Whether you are a star athlete, or a recreational participant, injuries are a part of life. One of the most debilitating knee injuries is a torn ACL – which has affected many professional athletes. In October, Ohio State’s up-and-coming wide receiver, Verlon Reed, tore his anterior cruciate ligament, sidelining him for the remainder of the 2011 season.

Twenty years ago, a torn ACL could mean the end of an athlete’s career, but with advances in modern medicine, players can rehabilitate in time for the following season.

Click here for a fascinating look at how a torn ACL is repaired (courtesy of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine). Once there, click on “knee” and “torn ACL” to play the tutorial.

Backup tutorial link: ACL repair

Let’s get serious about weight loss. Most people assume if someone is overweight, cardio is the best option for shedding the pounds. While walking and running can help you stay in shape, lifting weights actually maintains that progress, making it essential for a healthy life.

Here’s why pumping iron isn’t just for Arnold:

• Muscle keeps metabolism high helping to burn calories, fat and glucose.
• When you lose weight up to 25 percent could come from muscle, but lifting weights will help prevent this. Plus – the stronger you are, the longer you can exercise.
• Lifting weights helps widen the gap in muscle-to-fat ratio, which improves your overall health.
• Gaining muscle will help with your appearance giving you more confidence and motivation to continue your training.

For more tips on a healthy lifestyle, we recommend visiting the American Council on Exercise.

ACL injuries are a common injury we treat at Orthopaedic Associates of Zanesville. ACL stands for anterior cruciate ligament and an ACL injury is a tear in one of the knee ligaments that joins the upper leg bone with the lower leg bone. ACLs keep the knee stable.

A common question from patients with a common injury is when can they safely get back to playing sports or participating in the activities they like.

We have included a clip from ABC News about returning to sports or athletic activities after an ACL injury. Sherwin Ho, M.D., at the University Chicago Medical Center explains.

Returning to Sports after an ACL injury