European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 5, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Toy Purt sport injuries on the Rise by Scott Duncan Baltimore evening Sun David Laikin lives to ski. And to skis hard. Lormer College racer in Colorado Laikin return Oslo the Rockies Olton and still likes to Lake ski lumps off Mountain  As a 30-year-old, Laikin s love of skiing is being sorely tested each morning three Days a week Laikin reports to the Union memorial sports Medicine Center in Baltimore where he climbs on a Kin Corn exercise machine to rehabilitate a damaged knee. Last St. Patrick s Day when Laikin was skiing in Canada he Felt something pop while whooshing Down a Stope. I knew immediately what it was he says. I skied Down the rest of the slope on one ski then took an air plane  Laikin had Lorn the Anterior cruciate ligament in his knee. He knew the injury intimately because he had just ended 18 months of therapy and two operations on his other knee Lor the same problem. I could t believe i did it again Laikin says. The first time i did t know what i was getting into. I had this naive feeling that it was not going to Hurt. The second time you realize How really painful it s going to  Laikin had arthroscopic surgery to repair his knee and will spend months working it Back into shape. Does he plan to Cut Back his skiing or switch to another safer sport no  he says i m definitely addicted. I have a lot of friends who Are skiers and they have a saying if you re going to play you re going to pay " americans Are playing More than Ever and harder than Ever and in increasing numbers they Are paying with sports related injuries. The mystique of athletics grips the american culture perhaps stronger than Ever attendance at sporting events has been steadily rising while sales of sporting goods have More than doubled in the 80s. Whether to own a piece of the sports mystique or to merely reflect the decade Long fitness and health Boom More americans Are engaged in the Pursuit of athletic prowess and they Are doing it longer into life. But As the body Ages the Cost of Peak athletic performance can include injury. The Union memorial clinic for example treats 5,000 sports injuries a year from would be softball and basketball players to runners Ruggers weight lifters Iri athletes and even golfers. There Are More sports injuries today and the age of our patients is going up says Bill Howard the director and founding physician of the Union memorial sports Center. Howard was one of three physicians who founded the Sporis Medicine clinic 10 years ago this Spring. We had this hello sign in the emergency room and wherever we Hung it at he moment was where the sports clinic was he says. Today business is booming and the clinic is expanding Yel again. The crowded waiting room on weekdays resembles an athletic club or spa at Peak hours. As patients wait to meet one of the eight physicians on staff others pedal away on machines thai strengthen Muscles in limbs and joints that have have buckled under the Strain of too much activity. If there is a dark Side to the fitness fetish in the United Stales in is Here where the harsh reality of aging meets the dream of personal athletic achievement. Howard a longtime athlete who gave up full Contact Rugby Only six months ago at age 55, is one of the converted he does not believe the risks of injury supersede the benefits of athletics. There Are too Many pluses that far outweigh the disadvantages he says. A Guy could be 41 years old and a slug 40 pounds overweight and be injury free. That does t mean he s  but Howard along with other specialists who work with the Amateur athlete talk of the mental Side of Amateur athletics a will to compete with younger men and women or a kind of fierce commitment and determination to their sport that can sometimes work at Odds with a person s Best health interests. There is talk of negative addiction an intense desire. To train or compete in athletics that can actually be termed unhealthy in the Long View. This malady is often seen in runners Whoso daily workout becomes intertwined with their sense of self Worth. There Are Many runners that if they miss two Days of running they can t look themselves in the Mirror because they re convinced they re getting fat Howard says. Many runners accumulate streaks. But experts like Howard say streaks can be dangerous. The bad thing about a Streak is that you la run some Days when you should to and that can cause you  Howard says. Other Middle aged athletes have a different problem. They have the body of a 40-year-old, but the competitive will of a 20-year-old. At Amateur basketball leagues for example pick up basketball games can pit men in their 40s against opponents 20 years their Junior in full court action that can become extremely competitive. You have a few Guys who played in College or High school teams and they re a Cut above. The dangerous thing is when you mix those Guys with some lesser athletes who want to prove themselves and compensate by playing physical Neil Macdonald a physical therapist and director of operations at the Union memorial sports Center said. The self image of a competitive athlete can be a difficult personal myth to discard As one gels older. Men in their 30s and 40s Are especially prone to falling into the Gap Between the spirit and the flesh. The former athletes the Guys who were on the varsity team in College have powerful memories of How they were Able to play in their late teens and Early 20s," says Michael Sachs a licensed sports and exercise psychologist at the University of Maryland. But unless they be carefully kept their bodies in shape they can get into real problems. You can sit these Guys Down and ask them Are you the same basketball player you were in College and they la say nah but when they get out on the court they re not thinking slow Down they re trying to meet the level of Competition he says. Sachs believes this attitude will not be the sole province of men for much longer either. This is a socialization Issue that will Start to hit women in the next decade he says. Women have not been socialized in the past to participate in sports but that has changed and you re going to see Large groups of women whose self identities will be tied up in their excellence in  train Don t Strain t sports injuries Are on the Rise As More and More americans continue vigorous exercise and participation in sports even As they grow older. Page 16 by Scott Duncan Baltimore evening Sun i he axiom for older athletes is simple train Don t Strain. And accept your limitations. If you re a softball player Don t make a big throw from the Outfield until you re thoroughly warmed  says Bill Howard a surgeon and director of Union memorial s sports clinic in Baltimore. Once you Hurt that shoulder it s never going to come Back the Way it  Howard says if you re playing a competitive sport Don t be afraid of taking a Little coaching. Technique is a lot he says. Guys Don t want to accept coaching. But even a sport like Golf if you take a bad swing it might Only Hurt a Little bit. But if you take bad swings around 18 holes of Golf pretty soon you be got a bad  the knee is the number one injury site for sports related trauma according to Rick Mcguire author of save your Knees Dell books $6.95. When you contemplate working out or competing in an intense physical sport Mcguire offers this advice be honest with the kind of shape you re in. This is much easier said than done Mcguire says. Give yourself plenty of time to get Back into shape. If you do nothing through the Winter and suddenly throw yourself into the same level of activity As last summer you re an injury waiting to  Don t try to do it All overnight. I update the old line to no pain no gain equals no brain,1" Mcguire says. As you Progress Don t add distance or time too quickly. I Call it the 10 percent solution Mcguire says. Never increase your distance or time of exercise by More than 10 percent a week. If you re running for 20 minutes run 22 minutes next week. If you go gently tacking on very slowly it s almost impossible to Hurt your i Cross training. The athletes who suffer the fewest injuries according to or. Howard Are triathletes. I find they have the fewest problems because of the variety of their exercise. Don t pick one exercise and do it forever the stars and stripes tuesday september 5,1989