Summary

Original source:
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/wire/sns-ap-fit-asthma-exercise,0,1481387.story?coll=sns-ap-health-headlines

Details

• In the prime of her career, WNBA star Tamika Catchings found herself growing inexplicably sluggish and struggling to keep up during games.
• Doctors surprised the 6-foot-1 Indiana Fever player with their diagnosis: She had asthma, a condition worsened by her strenuous job as a professional athlete.
• It worked, and months later Catchings helped rally the U.S. women's basketball team to win Olympic gold in Athens.
• So many people -- both recreational athletes and professionals like Catchings -- are being diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma that the nation's largest group of athletic trainers has drawn up its first guidelines for dealing with the condition.
• The National Athletic Trainers' Association's asthma guidelines, released Tuesday during its annual meeting in Indianapolis, are aimed at familiarizing trainers, health professionals, parents and coaches with asthma's symptoms and treatments.
• Asthma sufferers face shortness of breath during and after their workout routines, which can trigger an acute narrowing of the airways, making breathing difficult and causing chest tightness and pain.
• The Dallas-based trainers association's asthma guidelines include more than 20 points spelling out how to recognize its symptoms and how to help athletes manage their asthma, such as avoiding allergens by practicing indoors.
• "Athletic trainers are in a unique position to spot athletes' breathing difficulties," said Michael Miller, director of graduate athletic training at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Mich.
• About 20 million Americans have been diagnosed with asthma, with about 5,000 deaths annually, according to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology.
• Asthma attacks can be sparked by exercise, cold air, stress and viruses, but about 60 percent are triggered by allergens ranging from pollen to pet dander.
• Not only do elite athletes inhale up to 200 liters of air a minute in the heat of competition -- compared with 3 liters a minute for the average person at rest -- they're also breathing big gulps of air through the mouth, Randolph said.

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