With summer sports seasons in full swing and preparation for fall sports participation and training beginning, there's no better time to revisit the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA)'s Inter-Association Task Force Consensus Statement guidelines on sickle cell trait and the athlete.
"Since the release of the statement, new research reconfirms that the athlete with sickle cell trait faces a risk in sport, but also supports the importance of knowing sickle cell trait status and implementing education and specific precautions that allow these athletes safe play in sports," said Task Force Co-chair and University of Oklahoma Head Athletic Trainer Scott Anderson, ATC.
"Medical professionals, coaches, strength coaches, players and parents should be educated and aware of the settings that pose risk along with warning signs and symptoms from complications of exertion with sickle cell trait."
Sickle cell trait is the inheritance of one gene for sickle hemoglobin and one for normal hemoglobin.
During intense or extensive exertion, the sickle hemoglobin can change the shape of red blood cells from round to quarter-moon, or "sickle." This change, exertional sickling, can pose a grave danger for some athletes by blocking blood vessels.
The risk that an athlete with sickle cell trait will suffer exertional sickling is increased by:
In the event of a sickling collapse, treat it as a medical emergency by doing the following:
Echoing the tenets of the NATA-spearheaded Inter-Association Task Force Consensus Statement:
Anderson acknowledges controversial claims that the deaths are rare, the complications are due to exertional heat illness [9], and that "universal precaution" should be applied to sport instead of screening. "The evidence is otherwise as NCAA Division-I football players with sickle cell trait have a risk of death 37 times greater than those without the trait," he said. "Athletes with the trait who experience complications often lack clinical heat illness, and there is no model where "universal precautions" have been routinely successful.
According to Anderson, "Knowledge, education, precaution, and creating an environment that encourages and supports athletes with sickle cell trait are critical."
Source: National Athletic Trainer's Association
Posted May 9, 2012; updated July 24, 2015
Links:
[1] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/871
[2] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/867
[3] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/4420
[4] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/2025
[5] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/2446
[6] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/387
[7] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/300
[8] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/800
[9] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/2791
[10] https://mail.momsteam.com/health-safety/exertional-sickling-life-threatening-condition-for-youth-with-sickle-cell-trait
[11] https://mail.momsteam.com/health-safety/risk-factors-exertional-heat-illness
[12] https://mail.momsteam.com/team-of-experts/pre-participation-evaluations-a-primer-for-parents