If you?re a boxing fan or a fighter or a trainer or a supervising official or a sports journalist or a promoter or a doctor interested in sharing views about fight-related injuries particularly in the brain, you can?t miss this rare opportunity to participate in a two-day seminar featuring foreign and local experts at the Diamond Hotel on Roxas Boulevard starting tomorrow morning.
The seminar is entitled ?Boxing and the Brain? and will cover topics such as bone fractures ? detection and management, neurocognitive assessment of athletes, caring for retired athletes, sports injuries in the Philippines, boxing regulations in the Philippines, pre-fight examination and laboratory tests, neuro-imaging and other diagnostic studies, the ringside physician ? tips and pitfalls, pathophysiology of a brain injury and understanding the brain structure and function.
The international medical conference is the first of its kind in Asia and organized by the UP-PGH Department of Neurosciences and the American Association of Professional Ringside Physicians (AAPRP).
?Manny Pacquiao has brought boxing into the forefront of sports history in the Philippines,? said organizing committee chairman Dr. Gerardo Legaspi. ?This conference hopes to increase our knowledge of topics that could uplift the well-being of boxing sportsmen in the country. We have invited world-renowned experts to speak on traumatic injuries such as craniofacial fractures and brain contusions. Neurologic sequelae such as dementia will also be discussed. Local guidelines on the medical examination and clearance of athletes will be tackled. The program will certainly be relevant to the athletes themselves, their trainers and managers.?
Makati Medical Center chairman of the neurology department Dr. Regina Macalintal Canlas said about 180 local and foreign delegates are expected to attend the seminar. Living basketball legend and former Sen. Robert Jaworski will deliver the welcome remarks in tomorrow?s opening ceremonies at 8:30 a.m.
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Among the foreign experts lined up to speak at the seminar are AAPRP president Dr. Dominic Colletta, Dr. Ray Monsell of England (his topics are the history of medicine in boxing and the pathophysiology of traumatic brain injury), orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Joseph Estwanik and Pro Football Hall of Famer and president of the Retired Football Players Association Carl Eller.
Among the Filipino speakers are Dr. Legaspi, Dr. Carlos Chua, Dr. Fabian Dayrit, Dr. Patricio Reyes, Dr. Carissa Paz Dioquino, Dr. Carlo Ison and POC medical commission co-chairman Dr. Martin Camara.
Eller, 68, was the Minnesota Vikings? first round pick in the 1964 NFL draft and played as a pro up to 1979. He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004. Eller will take up brain injury concerns of retired football players in the 4 p.m. session on Saturday.
Dr. Estwanik will discuss pre-fight evaluation in boxing and mixed martial arts at 9:15 a.m. on Saturday and will also speak on diet, nutrition and hydration in boxing at 3:15 that afternoon. A ringside physician in amateur boxing for over 20 years, Dr. Estwanik has worked with a professional soccer team and is widely known as the ?source? for safety and fitness in sports.
Dr. Colletta is an emergency medicine physician at Cape Regional Medical in New Jersey. He became a ringside physician in 1988. ?The whole impetus behind the AAPRP is to educate physicians around the world as to proper ringside medical procedures,? he said quoted by writer Michael Woods. ?All US commissions don?t allow the doctor to stop a fight unless the referee calls the doctor into the ring so it?s key that referees understand when to stop a fight. The doctor can?t just walk into the ring in the middle of the round and wave the towel. I think a ringside physician should be able to call a time out and make a recommendation to the referee. The referees are usually pretty good when a fight has to be stopped. I?ve never known a referee to go over a doctor?s head and reject his opinion.?
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Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee, sportsman Hermie Esguerra and former two-time world champion Gerry Pe?alosa were invited by Dr. Canlas as special guests at the seminar.
Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) secretary-general Patrick Gregorio said the national coaching staff will attend the gathering. ?The ABAP and Smart Sports are sponsoring the conference,? said Gregorio. ?This is a welcome development in enriching our knowledge of sports-related injuries. At ABAP, we?re committed to cover all bases.?
The seminar will look into preventive measures and injury cases in both amateur and professional boxing. Games and Amusements Board boxing chief Dr. Nasser Cruz, who often lectures on medical and safety procedures for fights in world conventions, should play a vital role as a key participant in the convention. International professional boxing referees Bruce McTavish, Silvestre Abainza, Ferdie Estrella, Virgilio Garcia and Danrex Tapdasan could surely enhance the discussions with their insights and experience.
One subject that would be extremely interesting to discuss is when a fighter should retire from active competition ? before risking permanent brain injury. Another subject is when a referee should stop a fight, with the recent Pacquiao win over Antonio Margarito a case in point. A third subject is what are the symptoms or danger signs that show susceptibility of a fighter to a brain injury or disease like Parkinson?s.
For details on the seminar, contact Nanette Estolas of the UP-PGH Department of Neurosciences at Tel. 554-8462 or 554-8400 local 2405.
