2014-11-28 11:45:41 by Dr. Joe Congeni - Director of Sports Medicine, as posted on the inside.akronchildrens.org blog.
Photo by Em Bhoo / CC Flickr
During these frigid winter months, athletes take to the weight rooms. They spend their off-season training hard to get ready for the spring, summer and fall sports.
However, some find these intense workouts can lead to the phenomenon of exertional, or weight lifterís, headaches.
Today, I had the chance to speak with WAKR morning show host Ray Horner about this topic. We discussed the differences between these benign headaches and those that are more significant, and what athletes can do to diminish the onset of exertional headaches.
Below is an audio file and transcript of our discussion.
HORNER: Letís bring in our good friend, Dr. Joe Congeni, from Sports Medicine Center at Akron Childrenís Hospital. Good morning, Joe.
DR. CONGENI:†Hey, Ray.
HORNER: How are ya?
DR. CONGENI: Iím good. How ya doing?
HORNER: Iím doing very well ó nice and warm in here in my studio. A lot of young athletes spend time in the winter indoors, and I know thatís where you want to go.
Dr. Joe Congeni
DR. CONGENI: Yeah, you know, we donít see them out a lot this time of year. In winter sports, there isnít quite the bulk of volume or as many kids playing sports, so you wonder what happened to all these athletes in Ohio and in the colder climates.
What theyíre doing this time of year ó the spring athletes, the summer athletes, even the fall athletes and the footballers ó is theyíre in the weight room getting ready to be bigger, stronger, faster.
Thatís why we have such great athletes in northeast Ohio. They train hard in the off-season; they train hard in the winter in these little nooks and crannies in these schools. I mean, some have beautiful weight rooms, some have just these little corner rooms, but kids are working out real hard.
A real common complaint that I hear when I go out to the schools, even more than in my office, is gosh, every time I work out Iím starting to get headaches associated with the more aggressive workouts that Iím trying to do.
Thereís a phenomenon called exertional headaches, or in some circles itís called weight lifterís headache. Itís very, very common this time of year.
Obviously, the first thing parents always ask of me, ďHow do we know for sure that itís just this, you know, more benign thing called exertional headache a more concerning, significant headache of some structural problem?Ē
In order of causing headaches: protein supplements, then even more so creatine and the most is if thereís NO2 in any of their supplements. There seems to be a big dehydrating effect and a big incidence of exertional headaches. So, cut out the supplements for a few weeks.
(8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.)
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