During the London 2012 Paralympic Games Dr. Krassioukov laboratory with the support from International Paralympics Committee successfully set up and operated a Cardiovascular Health Education Clinic for Paralympic athletes. Project was funded by C. Neilsen Foundation and ICORD. During the games clinic was visited by more than 100 Paralympic athletes, their care givers, team’s physicians, registered nurses, and physical therapists from all around the world. The athletes and members of the team were educated on various aspects of the cardiovascular and autonomic dysfunctions that individuals with spinal cord face during the training and competition including autonomic dysreflexia, orthostatic hypotension, and boosting.

Why Paralympic Athletes Intentionally Mutilate Themselves Before Competing, published by the Business Insider on August 23, 2012.

Some paralympic athletes self-harm for competitive edge, published by CBC News on August 23, 2012.

Boosting, a cheating method used by athletes with spinal injures, is the Paralympics’ dirty little secret, published by the Daily Herard on August 23, 2012.

Fears Paralympians with spinal injuries will self-harm in bid to boost their performance during the Games, published by the MailOnline on August 23, 2012.

Canadian Researcher Works to Make Paralympic Games Safer, published by US Politics Today on August 23, 2012.

Paralympic athletes who harm themselves to perform better, published by the BBC News Magazine, published on August 22, 2012.

Attention London 2012 WHEELCHAIR athletes

RESEARCH STUDY PARTICIPANTS NEEDED

Purpose of the research study:

To investigate the impact that different levels of spinal cord injury have on regulation of the heart and blood vessels (the cardiovascular system).

In brief, what you need to know is:

• This study involves a commitment of one 65 minute visit to the Cardiovascular Health Education Clinic.
• The Clinic will be open daily from August 27 to September 8, 2012, from 09:00 to 18:00.
• During the visit, you will expect the following:
  • You will be asked to fill out a short questionnaire
  • You will undergo a standardized neurological examination in order to confirm your level of injury (ASIA exam, no rectal exam required)
  • You will undergo a simple cardiovascular evaluation where your blood pressure will be measured first while you are lying down, and next while you are sitting up.
  • Finally, you will be examined with an electrophysiological system for the presence of sympathetic skin responses.
  • These are non-invasive and non-painful procedures.
  • You also will receive information on various cardiovascular disorders affecting athletes with spinal cord injury: Autonomic Dysreflexia, Orthostatic Hypotension and Boosting.
• This evaluation does not involve any exertion and will not affect your athletic performance.
• You will receive 100 GBP compensation for your time and participation in the study.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, please contact:

paralympic.clinic@gmail.com

TEL: 00 1 604 760 4177

Principal investigator Dr. Andrei Krassioukov,

Professor of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Shirley Wong, Melissa Pak and Dr. Chris West are part of the team heading to London in August.

ICORD media release:

CIHR-funded spinal cord researcher Dr. Andrei Krassioukov is taking a team to this year’s Paralympic Games in London, but instead of competing in sporting events, the ICORD scientists will be conducting research and providing wheelchair athletes with crucial information about cardiovascular health during training and competition.

With core funding from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, Dr. Krassioukov and his 5-member team will operate a cardiovascular health clinic in London’s Paralympic Village from August 29th to September 9th. One area the research team will investigate is autonomic dysreflexia, in which Dr. Krassioukov is a world expert. Autonomic dysreflexia is a drastic increase in blood pressure striking people with cervical and upper thoracic spinal cord injuries (SCI). If left untreated, it can lead to bleeding in the brain and or death.

This unstable blood pressure control is a concern to the general SCI population, but especially to athletes with SCI. Dr Krassioukov believes there needs to be much greater awareness of this issue. “With Paralympic athletes, we have two problems in this area,” says Krassioukov. “One is those who don’t know this is a risk and need crucial, practical information. The other is athletes who are aware of autonomic blood pressure spikes and will actually attempt to use it as a competitive advantage, which is extremely risky.”

The purpose of the clinic in London is twofold: it will allow Dr. Krassioukov and his team to provide evidence-based clinical knowledge and crucial practical information on unstable arterial blood pressure control among athletes with SCI to Paralympians and their coaches at the 2012 Summer Games, and continue the research in this area that they started at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

The clinic expects to see 60 wheelchair athletes during the games–40 with traumatic SCI, and 20 without. They will be providing information on three cardiovascular conditions common among athletes with SCI: autonomic dysreflexia, boosting (intentionally inducing autonomic dysreflexia to improve athletic performance) and orthostatic hypotension (drops in blood pressure that occur when transiting from lying down to sitting up, which can cause dizziness, or fainting).

The team will also perform various heart rate and blood pressure tests to investigate the presence and severity of autonomic nervous system dysfunction in wheelchair athletes. As autonomic dysfunction is unique to persons with SCI, it is possible that these athletes are at a disadvantage when competing against athletes with similar motor function but no SCI.

Earlier this year, Dr. Krassioukov was awarded a $1.9 million Team Grant by CIHR to study cardiovascular health, including autonomic dysreflexia, in people with SCI.

L to R: Dr Jack Taunton, Shirley Wong, Dr Chris West, Dr Andrei Krassioukov, Aaron Phillips and Dr Darren Warburton.

Dr Krassioukov and his team of young scientists were recently invited to speak at the Rick Hansen Institute’s global spinal cord injury conference, Interdependence 2012. They presented a one-hour plenary session to discuss the unique challenges that are faced by Paralympic athletes with SCI. Dr Krassioukov was joined by Chris and Shirley, both of whom presented original research from their PhDs. They were joined by Dr Jack Taunton (medical director at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games), Dr Darren Warburton, and Mr Aaron Phillips (UBC Human Kinetics).

This session provided a preview of the research the Krassioukov Lab will be performing at the upcoming London 2012 Paralympic Games. They will be investigating the prevalence of autonomic dysfunction among elite wheelchair athletes with SCI, and looking to determine whether inherent differences in autonomic cardiovascular control may result in disadvantages during competition.

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Conference program:

Is There a Relationship between Paralympic Classification, Autonomic Symptoms and Altered Cardiovascular Control among Elite Wheelchair Athletes (Andrei Krassioukov, MD, PhD, FRCPC)

Advancements in the Physiological Evaluation of the High Performance Paralympic Athlete (Darren Warburton, PhD)

Cardiorespiratory Limitations to Exercise Performance in Paralympic Athletes with Cervical Spinal Cord Injury (Christopher West, PhD)

Paralympic Medical Services for the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games (Jack Taunton, M.Sc., MD)

Arterial Stiffness on Physically Active Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury (Aaron A. Phillips, MSc)

Assessing Autonomic Completeness of Spinal Cord Injury: a Missing Piece of Paralympic Athlete Classification (Shirley Wong, MSc)

The Krassioukov Lab has received yet another award! Shirley Wong, a PhD student in the clinical research unit, won best overall presentation at the 2012 GF Strong Rehab Centre Research Day. This annual event highlights resident and graduate student research projects and aims to showcase the importance of interdisciplinary research and its application on clinical rehabilitation practice. Shirley’s presentation was titled “Differences in Autonomic Control Among Wheelchair Rugby Athletes with Cervical Spinal Cord Injury”. Congrats Shirley!!

Dr. Krassioukov, Melissa, Dr. Larry Vogel (Co-investigator, Shriners Hospitals for Children, Chicago)

Congratulations to Melissa Pak, who’s oral presentation at the 38th American Spinal Injury Association scientific meeting was recognized as one of the top 3 best papers of the conference. Her presentation, titled “Management of Autonomic Dysreflexia by Emergency Medical Services: Existing Gaps in Knowledge”, was extremely well received by the over 300 conference attendees. More information on this project, sponsored by the Paralyzed Veterans of America, can be found here.