Welcome back to Chris' Corner. This weeks' trick of the trade will center on an issue very important in athletics, especially athletics here in sunny Florida. That issue is dehydration and exertional heat illness. It seems every year we hear about deaths involving athletes suffering dehydration and exertional heat illness. This year in particular criminal charges were brought against a high school football coach following an athletes' death (the coach was later acquitted). Dehydration is very preventable with proper preparation. Not only is proper hydration important from a medical standpoint, dehydration of only 1%-2% can result in decreased athletic performance. The most important thing to remember in the fight against dehydration is that for the most part the battle is already won or lost before an athlete even hits the field or court. Because an athlete will be losing fluids continuously during athletic activity the best you can hope for is to maintain the hydration level they started with. If they walked into competition in a dehydrated status you are fighting an uphill battle. The easiest way to ensure proper hydration is to continuously sip on quality fluids throughout the day. Quality fluids include juices, sports drinks and of course good old fashioned water. Easy ways to monitor hydration status is revolve around bathroom activity. If you are properly hydrated you should be using the restroom about every two hours. Furthermore, the color of your urine should be clear to light yellow. Anything darker and you need to push more fluids. Dehydration can lead to heat illness ranging from heat cramps to heat stroke. Early signs and symptoms of heat illness include: thirst, irritability, fatigue, headache, muscle cramps, dizziness and nausea/vomiting. An athlete with heat illness should be moved to a cool environment, remove all possible equipment and clothing, push oral fluids and be fanned and monitored. The heat illness that makes the news is heat stroke. The most significant issues with heat stroke are a core body temperature of 104 degrees or greater (measured rectally) and loss of the body's' thermoregulatory capacity. This is a life threatening condition! The athlete should be cooled rapidly, preferably in an ice bath if conscious, given IV fluids and transported to a hospital for advanced life support care. Keep in mind that an athlete will not necessarily display the signs and symptoms of heat cramps or heat exhaustion before progressing to heat stroke. Also, sweat production is not an accurate indicator of heat stroke. In the majority of cases of heat stroke the athlete will still be sweating significantly.
On the court this week the juggernaut keeps on rolling! Two big regional wins solidified our spot as the #1 ranked team in the region. Isn't winning fun? The injury report remains at zero although Emily's acrobatics on the court consistently cause me to hold my breath. A little rest today before heading into the second round of conference play this week. We had a little alumni support at Winter Park on Saturday in the form of Amanda Cook. Always nice to see former players doing well in their lives.
Hydrate early and often and we'll see you safe and sound next week at Chris' Corner.
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