Covid-19 - Guidance for return to training for Elite Sport

[glowlight]

The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has recently published guidance for how elite athletes can return to training. 

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-phased-return-of-sport-and-recreation/elite-sport-return-to-training-guidance-step-one--2

 

I wonder if they might soon publish something similar for vocational dance training.

[Ian Macmillan]

Baroness Deborah Bull, former Principal with the Royal Ballet, asked just such a question in the House of Lords some days ago.  It referred, however, to professional dancers but I'd imagine that any response could apply to those in 'elite' schools:

 

 

 

The relevant Minister has assured her she will get a response and Baroness Bull has said she will share it once received.

[alison]

"2. Each sport should have a named COVID medical officer (physician), familiar with the emerging evidence related to post-COVID-19 pathology, who is expected to:

• Lead on ensuring any suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases are managed in line with the sport’s COVID-19 case management protocols and current government guidance.

• Have medical oversight of the return to training of any athletes with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19.

• Support the COVID Officer with any medical aspects of the risk assessment and mitigation process."

 

Well, I hope that said MO will be fully familiar with all the various and widely varying "sub-conditions" that this virus appears to be causing.  There have been numerous reports of people trying to return to exercise and being felled by a plethora of unexpected and sometimes downright odd symptoms.  Great caution would seem to be advisable.

[Pups_mum]

Good point @alison 

There is so much we simply don't know about the long term effects of this virus.

By coincidence I was reading this article earlier. One would hope that professional dancers receive the same kind of care.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/lotto-soudal-riders-undergo-covid-19-antibody-tests/

[Bex does ballet]

9 hours ago, alison said:

"

Well, I hope that said MO will be fully familiar with all the various and widely varying "sub-conditions" that this virus appears to be causing.  There have been numerous reports of people trying to return to exercise and being felled by a plethora of unexpected and sometimes downright odd symptoms.  Great caution would seem to be advisable.

Alison, would you mind  expanding  a little on what sort of unexpected symptoms are being reported? My search in this didn’t yield anything useful and it sounds very plausible that there’s much we don’t know yet.

[WrapsnBows]

I’m hooding elite athletes will be given a green light sooner than later as football players can train!!  Twins and golf players can now go and play!!, my Dd is a full time BA MT Student but also a GB Junior athlete, British Ladies junior champ  2020 and all her over seas comps have been cancelled as well as U.K. ones she’s only done two lots of training since the start though she’s been able to keep up her fitness through her dance.  Her training is normally two weekends a month away from home with coaches and about 20 other junior athletes which involves travel and non social distancing, shared transport etc etc etc as well as a daily training regime!   Now all of this is gone for her atm,   It be interesting to see the future and how it all pans out 

[alison]

2 hours ago, Bex does ballet said:

Alison, would you mind  expanding  a little on what sort of unexpected symptoms are being reported? My search in this didn’t yield anything useful and it sounds very plausible that there’s much we don’t know yet.

 

Quite honestly, Bex, I'm not sure where to start - there are so many weird things that seem to be associated with it that it almost seems as though each patient has their own little collection of symptoms.  The blood clots are one, increased numbers of strokes, the Kawasaki-like symptoms in children, ...  I'll try and look something out for you.  There are also serious concerns in some quarters that if people try to push recovery too hard there could be an explosion in cases of post-viral fatigue syndromes, full-blown M.E. and the like

[Guest oncnp]

4 minutes ago, alison said:

 

Quite honestly, Bex, I'm not sure where to start - there are so many weird things that seem to be associated with it that it almost seems as though each patient has their own little collection of symptoms.  The blood clots are one, increased numbers of strokes, the Kawasaki-like symptoms in children, ...  I'll try and look something out for you.  There are also serious concerns in some quarters that if people try to push recovery too hard there could be an explosion in cases of post-viral fatigue syndromes, full-blown M.E. and the like

Those symptoms are found in the general population though, not just elite athletes returning to training.   And I'm not sure of the data on sequelae for those who never had it or were asymptomatic. 

[alison]

True.  Whether being an "elite athlete" will make any difference there is something I don't know.

[Peanut68]

12 hours ago, Ian Macmillan said:

Baroness Deborah Bull, former Principal with the Royal Ballet, asked just such a question in the House of Lords some days ago.  It referred, however, to professional dancers but I'd imagine that any response could apply to those in 'elite' schools:

 

 

 

The relevant Minister has assured her she will get a response and Baroness Bull has said she will share it once received.

 Fantastic to see the world of ballet has such an elequont & proactive spokesperson in Baroness Deborah Bull! 

[Bex does ballet]

Thank you for your reply Alison, it doesn’t feel right to ‘like it’ given the nature of the discussion. I had found the info on blood clots and strokes in my search but not Kawasaki symptoms in children, I’ll do search on that now. To be honest I was asking in regard to a small child so that is very pertinent information, thank you 

[Anon2]

37 minutes ago, Bex does ballet said:

Thank you for your reply Alison, it doesn’t feel right to ‘like it’ given the nature of the discussion. I had found the info on blood clots and strokes in my search but not Kawasaki symptoms in children, I’ll do search on that now. To be honest I was asking in regard to a small child so that is very pertinent information, thank you 

It is called ‘multisystem inflammatory disorder’ of children and adolescents, very similar to Kawasaki. Children with it really won’t be dancing or taking part in sports - they will be very ill. 

[Pas de Quatre]

One thing I didn't see mentioned is that many highly trained athletes have compromised immune systems. Is this through overtraining?

[Jan McNulty]

6 minutes ago, Pas de Quatre said:

One thing I didn't see mentioned is that many highly trained athletes have compromised immune systems. Is this through overtraining?

 

I think it may be.  Remember how many of our top flight athletes gave up years ago because of persistent viral infections?  (I don't mean really bad ones - just that they couldn't shake a virus off if they got it)

[Dance.Mum]

Just read this interesting article

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/voices/coronavirus-artists-culture-lockdown-football-tv-a9508451.html

 

Echos what I have been shouting about in my house for days now.