Why? The Science of Athletics

HUMAN MECHANISM Dr. R. Salisbury Woods, Hon. Treasurer C.U.A.C., and himself a noted athlete of not so many years ago, who has exceptional opportunities for observing public schoolboys coming up to the Varsity, and of studying their immediate post-school careers, has stated interesting views upon this important subject, as follows : "It is commonly maintaine.d by on,e school of thought, of which I was until recently a humble disciple, that it is impossible to strain the heart of a perfectly sound individual by hard exercise. When cardiac lesion fol– lowed excessive exertion it was held to be toxic, and the blame was laid at the door of some latent focus of sepsis, such as diseased tonsils, a chronic appendix, intestinal stasis, sinusitis, or some similar cause. Further experience now leads me to believe that a primary strain may occur in the hearts of hitherto perfectly 'aseptic' individuals, and I have known apical bruits develop in at least two such undergraduates who were ex-public school cham– pion athletes, and whose athletic careers were thus finished. The cause in these cases was identical, namely, over-competition. A boy of r8 or rg cannot, in my submission, run two or three middle-distance races an afternoon and play other games once or twice a week for two terms, without going absolutely stale or possibly straining his heart." Now when an athlete "strains his heart", such primary cardiac over-strain, according to F. W. Price (A Text Bo~k of the Practice of Medicine), is "a cardiac disorder Which is the immediate result of excessive physical exer– tion in an individual whose heart has been sound". To this he adds, "It is questioned by some whether the affection can occur in persons with previously sound h~arts who have been properly trained." (The italics are mme.) May I emphasize the nature of the most likely cause of what is known as "athlete's heart" by again quoting Dr. Woods? "During growth, ,each organ develops in greater or . \