Grayson Enterprises Ltd. First NA Seria! Rights ' Page 1 Approximate!y 1,500 words THE OTHER SPORTS SUPERSTARS: THE SPECIALISTS IN SPORTS MEDICINE Written by June Grayson Photographed by Richard Grayson ADVICE FROM THE EXPERTS Sports superstars perform in public for all the world to see. Chi Chi Rodriguez drives the go!f ba!! straight down the fairway to clinch another win on the pro circuit. Batata is the top scorer for the Chicago Sting in 26 consecutive contests. It's hard to miss Ron Rivera, the Chicago Bears' linebacker, all 75 inches and 240 pounds of him. Ozzie Guil!en, 1985 American League Baseball rookie of the year, p!ays shortstop for the White Sox. The sports pages don't head!ine the names of Barbara Loscosso Bergin-Nader, Hugo Cuadros, Richard Dominguez, and Car!os Prietto. You may never see their faces on your television screen. Yet they are invo!ved in sports, too. They are typica! members of an important specialty: doctors in sports medicine. In fifty orthopedic surgeons founded the American Orthopedic for Sports Medicine. Another nationa! organization, the American Col#ege of Sportsmedicine, unites all hea!th professionals, as well as physicians, who work in this field. Now there are many other nationa! organizations dedicated to the advancement of sports medicine. These health professionals have specia! training in medicine and exercise physio|ogy, they have done research into hea!th and physical rehabilitation, and they are dedicated to the we!fare of those athletes and patients entrusted to their care. They have developed scientific princip!es that app!y not on!y to top ath!etes who seek to attain that "peak conditioning" that wil! !ead to "peak performance" but will also app!y to middleaged adults who want to avoid the onset of heart disease, diabetes, or other degenerative diseases. Drs. Bergin, Dominguez, and Prietto are orthopedic surgeons. Dr. Cuadros is a cardiologist. A!l four are active in sports medicine as doctors for ath!etic teams. All four also have #their own private medica! practice. Al! four are Hispanic doctors who know firsthand the problems that their Hispanic patients face in their dai!y !ives. "Genera!!y speaking," Dr. Bergin says, "Hispanic patients resist medica! treatment. We tend to bear the pain. I think it is #art of our cultural heritage. Hispanics a!so may be uncomfortab!e about leaving the areas where they !ive and going to see peop!e who don't speak Spanish." "It always amazes me that doctors who have Hispanic patients don't !earn to speak Spanish. I speak Spanish to a!! of my Hispanic patients. I think this puts them at ease. In fact, we won't hire anyone to work in our office who does not speak Spanish." "Hispanic children don't want to be taken out of the game," continues Dr. Bergin. "We know they get hurt. We even see them fal! and grab that part of the body which is hurt. Yet they will jump right up and say - 'it's nothing' - because they want to stay in the game. Their fami!ies fee! the same way." Dr. Dominguez knows first hand of the "macho stoicism" that keeps Hispanics from seeking needed medica! care. "My Mexican father survived three heart attacks on sheer grit a!one. Of course, that is not #he way to do it. Some sportsmen I know wi!! .#ot seek medical he!p until they completely col!apse. Hispanics may a!so fear hospita!s, because they view a hospita! as the place you go to die." Dr. Cuadros thinks that Hispanics act just !ike other Americans as soon as the language prob!em is overcome. Unti! then, they find it hard to come right out and say - I have this kind of prob!em. "Hispanics don't have any unique genetic prob!ems," Dr. Cuadros says. #However, I wish that al! doctors who serve Hispanics would check them for parasite infestation. South of Rio Bravo everyone has parasites without knowing it. Parasites make you fee! weak and can cause gastro-intestinal prob!ems. Yet they can be complete!y eradicated with the proper treatment." Un!ess you are an athlete in a team sport, you may not know a sports doctor personally. You may have seen one run out on a p!aying field to examine an injured athlete before he is moved. Page 4, GEL, Sp. Med. But most of a sports physician's work is done behind the scenes. He or she may give emergency care at the scene of an accident and 1ater provide medica1 or surgica! treatment as indicated at a hospita! and decide what rehabi!itation therapy is needed in order to return the patient to fu!! recovery. But now in sports medicine, as we!! as in other medical specialties, the emphasis is on preventing injuries and i!!nesses before they start. As Dr. Dominguez says, "It used to be that I wou!d gauge how successful I was by how many patients I had in the hospital. Now when I have someone in the hospita! I wonder what I am doing wrong." Dr. Prietto states that the most frequent sports injury involves the knee. "The knee is asked to perform the most comp!ex movements and is always exposed to injury. Our surgica! techniques are much more effective than on!y a few years ago. Since most sports physicians are first trained as orthopedic surgeons, they will wish to continue their orthopedic practices so as to keep up their surqical skills rather than do sports medicine full time." This exp!ains why most Orthopedic surqeons are also specia!ists in arthroscopic surgery. Ten years ago a joint injury may have !ed t#a surgica| operation, a ten day hospita! stay, and a recovery period of several weeks. Now with the medica! instrument known as the arthroscope, joint surgery can be performed through an incision so sma!! that it won't even need suturing. A !oca! anesthetic can be used, and the patient can go home the same day and return to work in two or three days. The White Sox bal! c!ub has a team physician who is an orthopedist. They also have Dr. Cuadros in charge of medica! prob!ems and physica! examinations. Dr. Cuadros is a specia!ist in interna! medicine with a subspecia!ty in cardio!ogy. Dr. Cuadros says, "In cardio!ogy we are very much aware of the importance of physica! activity. One of the reasons that coronary heart disease is so preva!ent in this country is that we don't get enough exercise. That a!so !eads to obesity. Even our chi!dren don't a!ways eat right or exercise enough." "Parents shou!d be very firm and not a!!ow chi1dren to watch te!evision when they shou!d be p!aying. The television shou!d never become a baby sitter. One or two hours a day of te!evision viewing is enough," says Dr. Cuadros. "Americans are beginning to rea!ize that they shou!d continue regular physical exercise all of their lives. 1 want Hispanics to realize that, too. Especially the older Hispanic women who don't do anything but stay home," Dr. Cuadros says. "You don't need any specia! equipment to get up in the morning and go for a wa!k. And for peop!e past forty, wa!king is the best exercise that there is. If you wi!! wa!k fast for just 15-20 minutes a day at !east three times a week, you wi!! see a difference in your appearance in two months. And I guarantee you wi!! feel better, too." Dr. Bergin says, "I ask a!! of my patients to engage in Page 6, GEL, Sp. Med. regular physical exercise. I urge all of my women patients to take ca!cium supp!ements. I am a runner myse!f, and I am happy to say that I am seeing more Hispanics out running now than there used to be." The United States is in the midst of a sports exp!sion t#at shows no signs of abating. Sports medicine is still an excitinq and expanding fie!d. That is why sports physicians see new oppor- tunities for peop!e in sports careers. "I wou!d !ike to see more Hispanics consider a career in sports medicine," says Dr. Prietto. "Here in southern Ca!ifornia Hispanics are we!! represented in sports in e!ementary and high schools. But we don't have enough Hispanics in co!!ege and professional sports. Perhaps these figures wi!! improve as more Hispanics go to co!!ege. I wou!d encourage anyone interested in sports to consider a career in sports medicine. You don't need to become a doctor to do this. You can become a trainer, a physica! therapist, or an exercise physio!ogist, for examp!e. You wi!! be we!l rewarded." To paraphrase a sentence from TOTAL BODY TRAINING written by Dr. Dominguez:"No matter what your age or sex, sports medicine can he!p you !ive up to your physica! potentia|: he!p for the hea!thy, hope for the injured, and aid to those who want maximum performance." ##### Pa#e 7, GEL, Sp. Med. SIDEBAR 1 WHAT IS THE BEST SPORT FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN? If you think that foot#a!! is a dangerous sport, you are not the on!y one! So does the Nationa! Ath!etic #rainers' Association. According to a study that group conducted in 1986, 37 percent of high schoo! footba!! players suffered at !east one injury. A!though 75% of the in#uries were minor, side!ining the p!ayer for !ess than one week, a!most 10% of them were severe enough to incapacitate a o#ayer for !onger than three weeks. A!most 15# of the injuries invo!ved the knee and 10# of them were severe enough to require surgery. The most common cause of injruy was "direct contact" during practice sessions. The most severe injuries occurred when a p!ayer returned too soon after a minor injury from which he had not como!etely recovered. Here are the sports that a#e###--experts and their fami#ies pursue. Dr. Bergin is a runner who compete in 10 ki!ometer races. She p!ans to start her daughter, who is a1most two, in swimming !essons this summer. she says, "I think that it is especially important for gir!s to become involved in team soorts. I wi!! _always regret that my high schoo!s did not offer team competition for girls. I am six feet tal! and wou!d have been qood at basketba!!. Even though there is a danger of too much #arenta! pressure, Page 8, GEL, Sp. Med. statistics show that less injuries occur in organzied sports than in street play." Dr. Cuadros p!ays tennis five times a week between 6.00 am and 8.00 am at a court ha!f way between his home and office. His son is "nuts" about spo#ts and pitches for his co!1ege baseba!! team. Dr. Dominguez is a run|and has competed in marathons in the past. He says, "It is never too ear!y for people to take up sports. But parents shouldn't "push" their chi!dren. We want to avoid the "overuse syndrome", which can occur with too much pressure in organized sports. Soccer is the #1 sport for chid!ren, swimming is good- all of my nine chi!dren swim and play soccer, except the youngest chi!d, who is not yet two years o!d. Basketba!! and vo!leyba!l are good team sports. I wou!d not prevent my chi!dren from p!aying any sport they wanted to, but I am not enthusiastic about footba!! because of the injury rate. Ice hock# is #ood until the colle#e and professional level - and then it gets bruta!. Gymnastics, especia!|y for qirls, has the hi#hest injury rate of all high schoo! sports. Dr. Prietto has run in triatha!ons as we!! as marathons. He no !onger trains as much, but sti!! exercises four times a week by swimming, biking, and go!fing. He says, "I don't be!ieve in pushing my chi!dren, but they a!! 1ike sports and have #een in soccer, footbal!, basebal!, basketba!! - whatever thev choose, when they choose it. All except my youngest chi!d who is not yet two." ##### . SIDEBAR 2 MEET OUR EXPERTS BARBARA LOSCOSSO BERGIN-NADER, M.D. is an orthopedic surgeon with West!ake Orthopedics, Sports & Rehabi!itation ##ssociates in Austin, Texas. Her mother is from Monterey, Mexico. She and her husband, a!so a physician, have one daughter. She has participated in the care of manv high schoo! ath!etic teams. HUGO F. CUADROS, M.D. is a specialist in Interna! Medicine with a sub-specia!ty in cardio!ogy. He attended medica! schoo! in Bo!ivia and is the on!y member of his fami1y to move to the United States. He met his wife when he attended Northwestern University Schoo! of Medicine for his post-graduate training. Now he is chief of cardiology at a Chicago area hospita!, an assistant professor at Rush Medica! Schoo!, and a team physician for the Chicago White Sox, all in addition to his private medical practice. RICHARD H. DOMINGUEZ, M.D. is an orthopedic surgeon with a private practice in sports medicine and arthroscopic surgery. His offices are at SPORTSMED in Caro! Stream, a Chicago area suburb. He is also CO-Founder and Co-Medica! Director of SportsMed Center for Fitness, adjo|ning his office. He serves a team Physician for !oca! high schoo!s, he accompanied the U.S. Swim Team to the Goodwill Games in Moscow in 1986, and he is the orthopedic consu!tant to the Chicago STING professiona! soccer team. He has written the popu!ar books, "The Comp!ete Book of Sports Medicine" and Page 10, GEL, Sp. Med. "Total Body Training". CARLOS A. PRIETTO, M.D. is an orthopedic surgeon in Orange, Ca!ifornia. He is an associate Professor in Orthopedic Surgery at the Col!ege of Medicine, University of Ca!ifornia- Irvine. He is the team physician for severa! area high schoo!s as we!l as for the 400 or more ath!etes at the University of California-Irvine. He has written extensive!y for many medical journa!s. He is now invo!ved in research for the Orthooedic Research and Education Foundation - a!! in addition to his private ##actice in orthopedic surgery. ########## #"o# ,#c oes# o# - .'- -.#_--_.......... So#ry, ## - cou!d#not get ev#rything/ the| artio1e#see##d to h#ve a mino of#ts 'own r##ardin# dir# ct#>n af#er I i###rv#.#wed a!!|o#/these|!ovely, ####1.1 peo###. We ##!! have #o write a