HEAT DISORDERS IN ATHLETES
During exercise the body produces heat, which causes your body temperature to rise. The body has ways of cooling itself naturally, one of which is by sweating. When sweat evaporates, it cools your skin. When the temperature is too hot or when there is too much humidity, sweating may no longer cool your body enough to keep your temperature from rising to dangerous levels. If your temperature reaches 104º Fahrenheit or higher, your body can lose the ability to cool itself. Dehydration is another factor, which could cause the body to succumb to heat illness.
Athletes exercising or practicing in the heat are at a higher risk than any other group to experience heat illness. Coaches, trainers, athletes, and parents must be aware that an athlete, particularly a young athlete, may develop a potentially fatal heat stroke without noticing any early symptoms of heat illness. Heat illness is usually categorized into three disorders.
HEAT CRAMPS
| SYMPTOMS: |
TREATMENT: |
| * Painful muscle contractions / spasms |
* Cool athlete down and replace fluids |
| * Faintness, dizziness, exhaustion | * Stretch or massage cramping muscles |
HEAT EXHAUSTION
|
SYMPTOMS: |
TREATMENT: |
| * Headache, dizziness | * Get out of sun and into the shade, stop exercising |
| * Extreme fatigue, muscle weakness | * Loosen / remove clothing, douse the skin with water |
| * clammy skin, profuse sweating |
* Sip water steadily |
|
* Nausea, vomiting, no appetite |
* Apply ice / ice towels to head and neck |
| * Pupils dilated, visual disturbances |
HEAT STROKE
|
SYMPTOMS: |
TREATMENT: |
| * Body Temperature at 104º F or higher |
* * Call Ambulance Immediately |
| * Hot, pale, dry skin | * Move out of the sun into shady, cool area |
| * Irritability, aggression, emotional instability | * Remove clothing, cool body with water and fan with air |
| * Breathing and pulse rates strong and rapid | * Apply ice to neck, underarm, groin, wrist, and ankle area |
|
* Pupils constricted |
|
| * Possibly Unconscious, seizures |
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