The popularity of CrossFit has grown nationwide in the past few years. This past weekend was proof that the movement has reached Philadelphia.

Some 200 athletes and over 500 spectators converged on Northeast Soundstage and Studios in Port Richmond for Saturday’s event, featuring the best of CrossFit on the East Coast. The event was put on by CrossFit Novem, a CrossFit facility in Northern Liberties, and Trap Door Athletics, a company that specializes in organizing and planning fitness-focused events and excursions.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the turnout,” says Cassie Grassia, who co-owns Trap Door Athletics with Emily Record. Grassia and Record are both active CrossFitters who endeavor to popularize the sport by capitalizing on its inclusive nature and by incorporating workouts into events, adventures, and vacations.

Philadelphia Phillies’ Team Physician and Sports Doc panelist Michael G. Ciccotti, MD, has been elected the 2013 President of Major League Baseball’s Team Physician Association (TPA).

Dr. Ciccotti, Chief of Sports Medicine at the Rothman Institute, was elected via vote by members of the TPA. He succeeds Dr. Charles Bush-Joseph, MD, Head Team Physician for the Chicago White Sox.

“It is a tremendous honor to be recognized by my peers,” said Dr. Ciccotti. “I am looking forward to this leadership role and representing the group to the best of my abilities.”

Sports seem to saturate our lives. In fact, it’s hard to go through a day without reading, hearing or seeing something about sports. The enthusiasm for sports certainly has no age limit. Studies show that there are over 45 million young athletes in the United States participating in a broad range of sports activities.

Yet with this increased participation comes increased risk. Statistics from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) indicate that sports or athletics are the leading cause of adolescent injuries in this country. High school athletes in the U.S. account for approximately 2 million sports injuries/year, and 3.5 million children under age 14 receive medical treatment each year for sports injuries. What’s the reason for this alarmingly high rate of injury? Is it too much, too fast, too soon? Recent data suggests a variety of factors including:

• Improper technique
• Inappropriately fitting equipment
• Training errors
• Coach/Parental/Peer pressure
• Failure to recognize developing injuries
• Emergence of “Sports Specialization” at an early age
• Inherent musculoskeletal imbalance in the growing athlete

Having recognized this apparent epidemic of sports-related injury in youth, the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), a world leader in sports medicine research and education, has initiated the STOP Sports Injury Campaign. The purposes of this program are to:

• Raise public awareness concerning youth sports injuries
• Mobilize the sports physician membership of the AOSSM
• Provide educational materials for parents, coaches, and youth athletes
• Promote research on youth sports injury prevention & treatment
• Establish a National Resource Center for youth sports injury prevention
• And most importantly, to reduce the incidence of youth sports injuries

This morning’s news confirming that former NFL linebacker Junior Seau suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) before his suicide in May again begs the question: what can be done by sports medicine professionals and the NFL to prevent or decrease the incidences of this condition?

Last month, Boston University disclosed that some 34 former pro football players had suffered from CTE. Seau, a 10-time All-Pro, now joins that list as perhaps its’ most prominent and accomplished football player. He was only 43 at the time of his death and less than three years removed from his final NFL appearance.

“I’ve been seeing patients with concussions for a long time,” says Todd Lewis, PhD. “and CTE isn’t something we see on a daily basis. That’s because we see a lot of younger athletes, and we don’t see the accumulation of multiple years of concussion and head trauma.”

Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of a series by Peter DeLuca, MD, Head Team Physician for the Philadelphia Eagles.

I was recently covering a high school football game as a Team Physician. Gazing down the sideline, I saw boys of various sizes and body types. There were young adults who have reached full maturity and those who seem to be just entering puberty. I asked myself: should these boys be playing football? Should this sport be banned?

Football connects generations. Many of us remember watching games with parents and grandparents, and going on to introduce the game to our own children. It inspires us to rally around our players, teams and cities. It brings together families, friends and communities.

This weekend, thousands of coaches, players, fans and officials will converge on Philadelphia for the annual U.S. Lacrosse National Convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

The event celebrates one of the fastest-growing sports for men and women in North America—and it all starts Friday morning with the 2013 U.S. Lacrosse Sports Medicine Symposium. The symposium features presentations from top sports medicine professionals on lacrosse-specific issues ranging from head and neck injuries to ACL injury prevention.

“Because of the explosion in popularity the sport has experienced, we need to start looking at the sports medicine-related issues of lacrosse,” said Sports Doc panelist Gene Hong, M.D., team physician for the U.S. National Women’s U19 Lacrosse Team.

With the news of a tentative settlement between the NHL and its Players Association coming in the wee hours of Sunday morning, today it’s back to work for the Flyers’ Athletic Trainer and Strength and Conditioning Coach—and member of our Sports Doc panel—Jim McCrossin, ATC.

But the truth is, McCrossin never really stopped working. He’s stayed in touch with players and other team personnel as much as possible in anticipation of this day.

“Myself, the medical staff—if we aren’t prepared, shame on us,” said McCrossin. “And that’s the same for the players. Even if you’re in a lockout mode, it’s in the back of your mind that we’re going to come back. The season will start at some point, and you need to stay in reasonably good shape.”

As a pediatric sports medicine surgeon, I treat a lot of young athletes with hopes and dreams of eventually making it to the pros. Whether it’s a young pitcher who wants to throw curveballs like Cole Hamels or the running back who wants to break tackles like LeSean McCoy, a lot of youth athletes and their parents are banking on the very slim chance that they may someday become a professional athlete.

But one thing most kids and parents don’t realize is that the numbers and odds are stacked against them. Let’s look at the numbers. When looking solely at active player rosters, there are approximately 1,700 players in the NFL, 450 in the NBA, 750 in MLB, and 700 in the NHL. These numbers make it a bit more apparent as to how unlikely it will be for a youth athlete to go all the way to the pros.

Despite this, it is very common to see families devoting a tremendous of time, energy, and resources towards trying to achieve this goal for a child. This has led to an increase in popularity for year-round play and super-specialization for youth athletes.