One in 100 footballers have been hospitalised following on-field injuries, which is the highest as compared to any other sport, a new study has revealed.

A three-year study into 16 sports, including Australian rules, soccer and rugby, revealed that of the 6275 suburban footballers admitted for treatment from 2007 to 2010, 331 suffered a serious or life-threatening injury such as a skull fracture, damage to the brain or abdominal organs, or multiple injuries.

A follow-up study of injured footballers found players required an average of more than four weeks off work to recuperate. A year after being hurt, 10 per cent were still unable to perform the same work duties as they had before their injury.

Other community sports included in the 16-sport study were netball, volleyball, badminton and hockey.

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Lifting less weight more times is just as good at building muscle as doing it with heavy weights, says a new finding.

`We found that loads that were quite heavy and comparatively light were equally effective at inducing muscle growth and promoting strength,` says Cam Mitchell, the study`s co-author and a doctoral candidate in kinesiology at McMaster`s University in Ontario, Canada.

The research suggests that the key to muscle gain is working to the point of fatigue and challenges the widely held belief that training with heavy weights is best for muscle growth, the Journal of Applied Physiology reports.

How to go from stick to thick

`Many older adults can have joint problems which would prevent them training with heavy loads,` says Mitchell. `This study shows that they have the option of training with lighter and less intimidating loads and can still receive the benefits.`

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The benefits of a regular workout

Exercise isn’t just about firming up your thighs and toning your triceps … regular workouts can help ward off many of the major diseases that affect women — from breast cancer to high blood pressure, osteoporosis to arthritis.

But perhaps the most valuable benefit of all is the protective effect exercise has on the heart. Did you know that one in every two women in the UK dies of heart or vascular disease? Yet regular aerobic exercise can reduce the risk of heart disease by 30 to 40 per cent.

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Knee guru, Dr. Dilip Nadkarni, is an orthopaedic surgeon specialized in treating sports and fitness related injuries.

Dr. Nadkarni’s forte is Arthroscopic or keyhole surgery of the knee.

A postgraduate teacher for orthopaedic surgery, Dr. Nadkarni is on the faculty to train fitness professionals at the American College of Sports Medicine.

He is affiliated to Lilavati Hospital, Mumbai; has a private practice in SantaCruz and also operates at Saifee hospital in south Mumbai.

Dr. Nadkarni has written 3 books Knee Problem No Problem, REAL Fitness and Calm Sutra and has brought out a DVD on tackling knee problems called ‘Knee Problem No Problem’. He also gives lectures on TV, Radio, at Sports Clubs, Rotary and Lions Clubs, Social Organizations and Corporate Bodies.

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The science of running and fitness

Running has a positive effect on your fitness and general wellbeing. Here’s our guide to the positive effects of running and the science behind why running is good for you.

Running improves the blood supply

When off on a run, your heart rate (measured in beats per minute) and stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped out by your heart per beat) both increase as the muscles are fed with oxygen. Oxygen is transported in the blood. The amount of oxygen-rich blood that flows out of the heart is called your cardiac output (CO). Runners will see an increased CO over time as they train.

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The hectic schedule fitness solution

Almost everyone these days is busy, busy, busy, so finding time for fitness whist juggling work, domestic and family commitments becomes an increasingly difficult task. For a tiny percentage of your available time, even the busiest person can reach a high level of fitness by dedicating just three hours per week to two gym sessions and one CV training session …

Guidelines for recommended levels of weekly physical activity compound the problem, making it seem impossible to fit in all the exercise necessary for optimum all-round fitness. For example:
Recommended exercise levels for a healthy adult
1) Cardiovascular (CV) exercise (training the heart and lungs): three to five, 20 minute sessions per week.
2) Resistance training: two sessions per week, exercising all the main muscle groups of the body.
3) Core training: integral component in any balanced fitness programme.
4) Flexibility exercises: stretching all the main muscle groups is essential to reduce risk of injury, maintain postural alignment and full muscle function.

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A ‘six-pack’ of rippling abdominal muscles is high on the wish-list of many exercisers, and achieving that level of muscle definition is possible with a combination of correct training and a strictly controlled diet. Most of us will settle for just toning our abs up a bit, and this guide should help you get somewhere near to achieving that well defined look.

Our six-minute programme includes:

Correct muscles to train your abs
Nutrition tips to gain a six-pack
Six-pack exercises
How to train your abs
Abdominal training equipment

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Stay healthy while you work

Feeling tired, disorganised, anxious or tense in the workplace? Then try following realbuzz.com’s 10 ways to make your work day healthier!

Declutter your desk

A clean, uncluttered working space is far more conducive to a productive day than a desk piled high with files, dirty mugs and scraps of paper. Depending on how bad the situation is, put aside five minutes to an hour (or even a whole day, if possible!) to clear up your desk, wipe your keyboard clean and organise your files and papers. You’ll feel a lot more clearheaded when you do so, and you won’t constantly be igniting stress levels by having to look for important things that have disappeared under the rubble.

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A short and intense exercise could be more beneficial than a longer, more moderate session that burns the same number of calories, a new study has suggested.

Researchers found that the people who engaged in the most vigorous exercise reduced their risk of developing metabolic syndrome by two-thirds, compared with those who did no vigorous exercise, even when the total amount of calories per pound of body weight the participants burned while exercising was the same.

Vigorous exercise includes activities such as running and jumping rope; moderate exercise might consist of walking or going for a leisurely bike ride.

People with metabolic syndrome may have excess weight around the waist, difficulty controlling blood sugar levels, high blood pressure and low levels of `good` cholesterol.

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Yoga therapy can cure every disease and disorder, even cancer, says a Delhi-based yoga therapist but warns against the mass teaching of yoga – including popular pranayams like kapalbhati and anulom vilom – saying they “can cause complications”.

“Yoga cannot be universalised…like prescribing a paracetamol tablet,” says Subhash Sharma, a yoga therapist who spent 19 years in a gurukul in Rajasthan and is also a post-graduate from the Kasturba Medical College, Manipal.

Sharma said: “People have different physiologies and each person’s response to yoga is individualistic. Therefore, there can’t be standardisation of yoga for any particular disorder.”

Sharma, who describes himself as a pioneering yoga therapist and runs a busy practice in south Delhi, says even a step-by-step book on yoga can be “fatal”.

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