USF team helps predict athletes at risk of heat stress

Beating the heat has become a science for the University of South Florida Bulls.

While the football team prepares for its Sept. 4 season opener, players also are participating in a study that someday could help identify which athletes - as well as armchair quarterbacks - could be most at risk for heat stroke and exhaustion.

"What we're trying to do is to at least get a better idea how the body responds (to heat) and what are the predictors for people who are going to struggle more," said Eric Coris, head medical physician for USF Athletics.

Researchers from USF and the universities of Ottawa and Connecticut are tracking the internal body temperature, sweat, metabolism, and heart and respiratory rates of about 50 players during traditional outdoor practices in Tampa and Vero Beach, where the team is training for 12 days. It's not unrealistic for players to lose between five and 10 pounds a day during summer workouts.

Ten players also volunteered for more meticulous hour-long lab workouts the week before camp started. To simulate hot conditions, players spent an hour riding a stationary bike in a tiny, unairconditioned room that resembles a walk-in freezer. Senior linebacker Jacquian Williams, who weighed in at 217, was jovial during his session, despite being hooked up to monitors and sharing the confined space with three researchers.

"When it got to 40 minutes, it started getting tough," he said after the session, during which he dropped nearly two pounds.

Florida summers put athletes and the public at risk for dehydration, heat cramps and exhaustion - conditions that can result in abdominal pain, flushed skin, heavy sweating, a throbbing headache or dizziness. Heat stroke, in which a person's body fails to control its own temperature, can lead to permanent disability or death.

Overheating is of serious concern on the playing field. Since 1995, more than 40 football players nationwide have died from heat-related illness, including four in 2009, according to the annual Catastrophic Sports Injury Research report compiled at the University of North Carolina.

As a result, the National Collegiate Athletic Association has revised several policies. Teams are holding twice-a-day preseason conditioning workouts less often, and when they have them, there are frequent water breaks. Still, several USF players struggling in the heat were pulled from practices last week. High school and professional football leagues also encourage more water breaks and safer practice schedules.

"It's a dangerous time of year for all levels of sport," Coris said.

Athletes are far from the only people at risk. Between 1999 and 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributed 3,442 deaths to extreme heat exposure. Those most at risk include the elderly, the very young and those who are overweight or obese.

Weight is one of the key factors being looked at in the USF study, which is paid for through a grant from the National Football League. Larger players, such as offensive linemen, often grow fatigued more quickly in the heat.

Twelve of the 107 men listed on the current Bulls roster weigh more than 300 pounds. Thirteen other players weigh between 250 to 299 pounds, including three who experienced heat illness symptoms last week and left practice.

In those cases, doctors and trainers were already keeping an eye on the players. Coris warns the public to be alert to the symptoms of friends and family during extreme heat. Hydration and common sense can go a long way toward preventing a tragedy in the summer sun.

"It doesn't take a medical degree to tell when somebody is really struggling," he said.