IU sports medicine research presented at Denver Conference

Last weekend approximately 50 IU faculty and students from both the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses traveled to Denver to participate in the annual American College of Sports Medicine conference. IU researchers showcased their work during the meeting and viewed poster presentations, heard lectures and participated in a symposia throughout the weekend. \n"This conference is a chance for a lot of people interested in various areas of sports medicine to get together and share cutting edge research in the field," said Sandra Tecklenberg, an IU student who presented at the conference. "It is also a good chance to network with people who are doing research in the same area to get feedback on current research and new ideas for future research." \nAs a leader in the world of sports medicine, the ACSM's conference brings the world's top sports and exercise scientists together. This year, approximately 6,000 people attended. There were over 4,000 poster or individual presentations and hundreds of major presentations, including large-scale lectures and a symposia. The ACSM is made up of physicians, doctoral students, physical therapists, athletes and coaches. The conference draws upon a very wide range of people in the field, from world class athletes to everyday people. \n"This is the most important sports medicine conference," said John Raglin of the department of kinesiology. "There were thousands of presentations dealing with any conceivable part of sports medicine. You can find something for everybody here."\nRaglin was one of four IU researchers to present at the conference. His research in sports and exercise science has shown the importance of considering psychology in a range of people, from those who just want to start exercising to elite athletes. He conducted research on athletes in the area of over-training and also explored the psychology of why people quit exercise programs. Raglin found that approximately 10 to 15 percent of competitive athletes in intensive training programs will develop overtraining or "staleness" syndrome during their lifetime. The risk of developing this syndrome is possibly twice as high in elite athletes and can occur in children as young as 12. \nIn his presentation, Raglin discussed mood-state monitoring of athletes. He proposed that psychological assessments could give athletes and their coaches a way to detect over-training syndrome before it becomes full-blown and damaging to an athlete's career. This method, which is not frequently used throughout the United States, is used in other countries to help ameliorate staleness in athletes. \nTimothy Mickleborough, also of the department of kinesiology, presented his research during the conference as well. His novel research focused on alleviating asthma and exercise-induced asthma through dietary modification, including low salt diets and taking supplements like fish oil and antioxidants. \n"Doing this could potentially reduce a patient's reliance on pharmaceutical medications, reduce cost and thereby increase their quality of life," Mickleborough said. \nTecklenburg's research also focused on diet and exercise-induced asthma. Specifically, the project she presented dealt with Vitamin C supplementation in correlation with the condition. She found that Vitamin C reduces the symptoms and severity of exercise-induced asthma. "I think [this research] helps researchers to understand about the mechanisms and prevention of symptoms related to the disease." \nGeorgia Frey, an associate professor at IU's department of kinesiology and one of IU's lead researchers at the conference, participated in a symposium titled "Physical Activity Behavior and People with Disabilities: Emerging Issues in Research and Practice." During the symposium she talked with other researchers about the dangers of inactivity for people with disabilities. There has not been nearly as much research done about physical activity in disabled people as non-disabled people, and Frey believes that physical activity researchers need to understand the social, cultural and psychological aspects of living with a disability instead of focusing on the medical status of their handicap. \nGraduate students within the fields of exercise physiology, motor control and biomechanics are selected to attend the conference. This year, somewhere between 15 and 20 IU students went, many of whom were authors of papers that were presented in the conference. The department of kinesiology supported the students and paid their travel expenses for the trip. IU has frequently produced a large turnout at the conference in the past. A few years ago, IU presented the second largest number of research papers in the entire conference. \n"This conference is important for the sports medicine world because the premier sports and exercise scientists around the world get to share ideas and showcase their research," Mickleborough said. "It's a great stimulant for one's own research"