It's getting a little hot out here, but that doesn't mean the preparation for fall athletics across the Valley has stopped.
With the fall sports season still nearly two months away, this is the time when young athletes are beginning to put in their own time working on conditioning themselves for the upcoming season.
It's also the time when young athletes can be most at risk for severe injuries and illness due to the effects of summer heat.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association recently published its heat stress and athletic participation guidelines, geared toward minimizing the risk of heat related illnesses and injuries for high school athletes training over the summer.
But it's not just the heat that can create problems for young athletes, or even adults, that are outside exercising.
"I think the biggest thing that people don't understand about summer heat is humidity is such a factor," said Marietta College head athletic trainer and assistant professor of sports medicine Kemery Sigmund.
Any time the temperature rises above 70 degrees with a relative humidity level of 70 percent, athletes that are outside exercising, whether it's training for the upcoming fall season or simply trying to keep in shape, are at risk for heat related illnesses.
Among the health risks associated with training in high heat and humidity are heat cramps, heat syncope, heat exhaustion and even heat stroke, according to the OHSAA release.
"Heat cramps is probably the most common and the biggest problem with heat cramps is they come on like muscle cramps," Sigmund said.
Typically heat cramps act like the usual muscle cramp, which often makes athletes think they didn't do a good enough job stretching or that they're not quite in shape yet when the real risk to their health is quite high.
"Most people that suffer from heat illness don't even realize that they suffered from heat illness," Sigmund said.
Heat cramps usually involve abdominal muscles, as well as the extremities, and are caused by intense, prolonged exercise in the heat and depletion of salt and water in the body. Heat syncope symptoms include weakness, fatigue and fainting due to the loss of salt and water and typically predisposes an individual to heat stroke, the OHSAA says.
Both can be caused not only by the loss of water that accompanies sweat while exercising, but it's not just decreased fluids that can create heat related injuries and illnesses.
Salt and sodium levels are equally as important to being healthy while exercising over the summer and eating a small snack like pretzels or drinking a sports drink that contains electrolytes are good methods to replace lost salt and sodium.
"Most people understand they need to replace water, but they also need to replace sodium that they lose," Sigmund said.
The biggest fear associated with loss of fluids while exercising is heat stroke, an acute medical emergency related to thermoregulatory failure that is typically associated with nausea, seizures, disorientation and even possibly unconsciousness or coma, according to the OHSAA release.
Victims of heat stroke usually have a high body temperature and hot, dry skin. The core temperature of a victim's body is usually around 104 degrees, Sigmund said.
Contrary to the popular belief, victims of heat stroke may possibly sweat profusely, the OHSAA says.
Heat stroke can lead to organ failure, and even possibly death.
Football is the sport most commonly associated with heat-related illnesses and injures, due to the addition of several pounds worth of equipment. That doesn't mean that it's the only sport where athletes can suffer from the heat.
And it doesn't have to be a young, high school athlete. It could simply be the average local resident outside for only a light walk.
"It's athletes, it's recreational athletes, it's people who live in the Mid-Ohio Valley and want to get out of their house and go for a walk on these kinds of days," said Marietta cross country coach Dale Leeper.
Signs and symptoms to look for to determine if someone is suffering from a heat related illness vary, but include the inability to continue with activity due to limbs that feel heavier than usual, increased thirst, loss of coordination, increased sweating or lack of sweating and dry, red skin.
The worst sign is the hot, dry, red skin which typically accompanies heat stroke. That is a sign to begin seeking immediate medical attention.
While it certainly sounds problematic and dangerous, training over the summer is a necessity for high school athletes as they prepare for the upcoming season and the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Sports Medicine says heat related illnesses are all preventable using simple methods like drinking plenty of water and maintaining the body's electrolyte balance.
It's the execution that sometimes is lacking.
"We know pretty much how to address them, but as always, talking about it is one thing. Doing it is something else," Leeper said.
