Trainers' association issues rules to prevent exercise-induced asthma attacks

• Daniel Walden didn't broadcast the fact that he had exercise-induced asthma.
• But when Walden joined the Indiana Invaders, an elite track and field team, he was upfront with his coach, who now works with him to prevent potentially life-threatening attacks.
• Tuesday, the National Athletic Trainers' Association took steps to change that, issuing its first-ever guidelines on preventing asthma in athletics.
• The NATA guidelines, released at the association's annual meeting in Indianapolis, recommend among other things that athletic trainers and coaches educate themselves about the signs and symptoms of asthma, consider providing alternate practice sites with good ventilation and air conditioning, and schedule practices when pollen counts are lowest.
• "We don't want to have asthma as an excuse not to exercise," said Michael Miller, lead author of the guidelines, which will appear in September's Journal of Athletic Training.
• Miller said he hopes the guidelines will have a "trickle-down effect" from athletic trainers to high school coaches to those involved with youth teams.
• As many as 20 percent of athletes display signs of the disease, the NATA says.
• Those who have asthma, he said, handle it quietly, using their inhaler before practice or a game, just as he did as a youth.
• Timothy Mickleborough has shown that people who eat a diet high in fish oils or low in salt are less likely to experience severe exercise-induced asthma.
• Subjects on high-salt diets had more white blood cells and other chemical substances in their airways that signify inflammation than other participants.
• "Theoretically they will reduce their symptoms, reduce their medication usage and improve their quality of life," said Mickleborough, who published a paper in the June issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
• Freitas, who first noticed symptoms at age 6 while playing soccer, uses his inhaler before every practice or game.