Sports injuries are already a critical concern for U.S. Olympic athletes, even before the Beijing Summer Games begin. Paul Hamm of the U.S. gymnastics team won the gold for the men's all-around competition in the 2004 Athens Games. However, Hamm withdrew from the team last week, after developing a strain injury in his rotator cuff. This injury apparently arose during his ‘accelerated effort’ to rehabilitate from a broken 4th metacarpal bone in his right hand. The injury to his hand, surgically repaired some 11 weeks ago, occurred on the parallel bars at the national championships. He had reportedly taken considerable time off from training after Athens and made a fairly late decision about a Beijing comeback, leaving less than 2 years to prepare.
The necessity for Paul to withdraw is most unfortunate, a major disappointment to him and his coaches, and certainly will affect the U.S. team’s hope for a strong showing in Beijing. How can we best recognize vulnerability for injury under these arduous training conditions with elite athletes? What can the sports medicine professional team, the coaches, and others directly involved do in choosing among the available treatment modalities when such injuries do occur, and how do we establish readiness to resume training and competition?
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