COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) -
Fall sports are in full swing, but athletic
trainers say don't let the coming weather season take your eyes off the heat.
Dr. Susan Yeargin, an athletic training professor at the University of South
Carolina, says most children ages eight to 18 are dehydrated before the ever get
to practice, and yet the chance for heat illness remains through the fall
months.
"We know that anytime that temperature is
above 70 degrees and even below, but anytime, we're above 70, a person could be
at risk for heat illness," Yeargin said.
This is Yeargin's first year at USC, but
she's been researching heat illness around the country for several years and
says most recently she determined that 75 percent of young athletes show up to
practice dehydrated.
"We saw from analyzing their urine that they
were dehydrated, some just minimal and some severely dehydrated," Yeargin said.
Yeargin says she used a specific chart for her
research.
"If a child gives us a sample that's clear
or light yellow like lemonade then they are hydrated and they're doing good,
but then if it starts to look bright like yellow or mellow yellow they're
dehydrated," Yeargin said.. "If it starts to look brown, kind of like apple juice,
then they're very dehydrated."
Yeargin says a recent USC grant
has given graduate students the opportunity to provide athletic training
services for youth football leagues. She says the partnership came in handy
less than two weeks ago when a young child became sick at a game.
John Dickinson was the USC
graduate student who was at the Saturday game. He usually attends Irmo Youth
Football practices Monday through Thursday nights, but was at the weekend event
where several leagues were playing when the incident happened.
"A coach brought [a child] over and said
he was throwing up," said Dickinson. "So I evaluated him, asked him a few
questions. He seemed a little out of it."
Dickinson says the child was dizzy,
had a headache, and was nauseous. He adds those are all symptoms of heat
illness.
"I took his pads off, took out my ‘kiddie
pool' that I have with me all the time, opened it up and started cooling him
down by pouring the water that we had and the ice on the sideline," Dickinson said.
Dickinson then called EMS.
"If there wasn't any sort of way to cool
him down he would have just kept heating. He could have either gotten really
injured with the internal injuries, [he] even possibly he could have died," Dickinson said.
The child is said to be doing okay, and
Yeargin says she's thankful an athletic trainer was on site to respond. She's
hoping the incident will now bring awareness to just how dangerous being
dehydrated in the heat can be.
Yeargin says while many leagues do a great job
of giving their athletes water breaks, it's how the young athletes prepare
before practice that will also make a difference.
"The
whole myth of eight glasses a day really needs to kind of go out the window," Yeargin said. "It really needs to be what does that adult need? Or what does
that youth need? There's no particular magic number for anybody."
Yeargin says on average a child can lose
a half of a liter of water per hour in sweat, so it's also important that a
child is replenishing what is lost. She suggests sports drinks and flavored
water as her research shows a child is more likely to drink more when the
liquid is flavored.
She also says it's important for children to bring their
own water bottle to practices and games. She says water fountains are not
efficient when it comes to proper hydration. Yeargin adds a child should also
be getting enough sleep, because if they're not, they are more likely to get
some form of heat illness.
Copyright 2012 WIS. All rights reserved.
