FOOTBALLERS AT RISK: Football players are more likely to develop injuries from long-term sport involvement than other athletes. British researchers studied over 400 young athletes, aged 8-16 years, over a 10-year period.
They found that 63 per cent of footballers sustained sports injuries compared with a lower percentage of tennis players and gymnasts. Swimmers had the lowest number of musculoskeletal injuries.
STEROIDS AND INFECTION: Having steroids injected into arthritis hips may put patients who later undergo total hip replacement at risk of infection. The authors of a small research study have questioned the benefit of steroid injections into hip joints after they discovered a link between previous steroid use and the need to revise hip replacements because of the development of deep post-operative infection following the initial surgery.
EARLY INTERVENTION: The importance of early intervention to produce more effective and efficient rehabilitation outcomes will be stressed at a conference, Rehabilitation Pays, in Dublin Castle on Thursday, May 12th. Of interest to health practitioners and rehabilitation specialists, it will include talks by Wolfgang Zimmerman, executive director of the Canadian Institute of Disability Management and Research, and David McDaid of the London School of Economics. Book on www.rehabcare.ie or tel: 01 2057206. Cost €195. See also www.epr.be
WORTHY WALK: Do you have a good heart, energy and a pair of walking shoes? If so, join the Roundwood Leukaemia Challenge on Saturday, May 28th. The 26km walk starts from the national school in Curtlestown, Enniskerry Village and ends in Roundwood, Co Wicklow. All funds go to the Bone Marrow for Leukaemia Trust. Tel: 01 2818241.
lifelines@irish-time.ie