Keeping athletes safe in the tropics
Dr. Joslin's article published by Prehospital and Disaster Medicine is showcased by What's Up At Upstate
Mandatory rest stops for athletes competing in distance-running events in hot climates – such as the Jungle Marathon in Para, Brazil – can improve the safety of the athletes and help them acclimate to the tropical environment.
For a study published in January in the journal Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, Jeremy Joslin, MD, and colleagues from Upstate’s department of emergency medicine reviewed six years of records for the Jungle Marathon.
Before mandatory rest stops were instituted, more than half of the runners who dropped out of the race did so because of a heat illness.
With mandatory rest stops in place during the first two days of the seven-day staged ultramarathon, just 15 percent of those who did not finish blamed heat-related factors.