United States Medical Soccer Team

The 19th Global Congress on Medicine and Health in Sport took place at the Ramada Aquaworld Resort in Budapest, Hungary from June 29, 2013 to July 7, 2013. The Congress ran in conjunction with the 19th World Medical Football Championships, with participants from around the world. The speakers chose topics pertaining to medicine and sports, with topics ranging from orthopedics to emergency medicine to nutrition. Highlights included an excellent talk by Dr David Eberhard from Sweden entitled, “Child rearing – what can we learn from a football pitch?” where he examined critical issues in the psychology of child rearing with parallels to soccer. Dr V. Zolnai from Hungary had an excellent presentation on stretching, flexibility and muscle tension that the attendees found incredibly valuable, especially in the closing days of the tournament. Finally, Dr Aleksandr Khaidin discussed first responder medical care for trauma and cardiac arrest on the soccer field which was well-received.

From the US Medical Soccer Team, Dr Gautam Nayak gave a talk entitled “Physical Activity in Heart Failure: Is Exercise Medicine?”. He examined the basics behind exercise physiology, the changes occurring in patients with heart failure, and the data behind the benefits of exercise in this sick patient population. By reviewing the data on patients in heart failure, Dr Nayak showed the benefits of exercise in terms of quality of life, cardiovascular mortality and hospitalization, as well as cost. He hoped to use this talk as a springboard to motivate others to give similar talks pertaining to the benefits of exercise in different patient populations at future Congresses.

Overall, the 19th Global Congress was a success on many levels. By encouraging a strong professional collaboration between participants of the World Medical Football Championships, the competitiveness on the pitch was enhanced by sharing medical knowledge in an interactive and enjoyable setting.