health 55

The study, presented at the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Annual Meeting, analyzed more than 850 athletes who competed in a variety of sports over a five-year period at The Ohio State University. "We expected athletes with ADHD to gravitate toward individual sports, like golf or tennis, where they have more control, there is a little bit more repetitiveness and they don't have to worry about the responsibilities or roles of teammates or opponents," said Dr. James Borchers, director of the Division of Sports Medicine at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. "But what we found was our athletes with ADHD were twice as likely to compete in team sports, and their rate of participation in contact sports, like football, hockey and lacrosse, was 142 percent higher." Researchers charted injuries in these athletes as well, and although there is no direct correlation between ADHD and certain types of injures, there may be an increased risk of injury. ...

Ritalin, the brand name for methylphenidate, a central nervous system stimulant used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is a growing problem among college students who use it without a prescription as a so-called "study enhancer." The drug works by increasing the concentration of certain neurotransmitters in the brain that control reasoning , problem solving and other behaviors. "Although Ritalin's effectiveness in treating ADHD is well-documented, few studies have looked at the drug's effect on non-prescribed illicit use," says Panayotis (Peter) Thanos, PhD, senior research scientist at RIA. "We wanted to explore the effects of this stimulant drug on the brain, behavior and development on non-ADHD subjects." Recent studies put college students' nonprescription use of stimulant drugs (Ritalin and amphetamines such as Adderall and Dexedrine) at rates anywhere between 14 and 38 percent, depending on the type of co...

The study, published in the  Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology , highlights an innovative approach to embracing community resources -- tapping volunteers to act as therapists. "Given the prevalence of ADHD in many countries and the limited access to evidence-based, non-medication treatment, there is a pressing need to expand service delivery systems. Our findings demonstrate that the service model of behavioral parent training we studied can effectively provide training to many families of youth with concerns about ADHD and is likely highly sustainable," said Anil Chacko, associate professor of counseling psychology at NYU Steinhardt and the study's author. Behavioral parent training is a well- established therapeutic approach in which parents are taught how to improve interactions with their child, increase a child's desirable behavior, and reduce misbehavior. Research has looked at behavioral parent training for addressing the problems associated with ADHD ...