Epidemiology And The Cause Of Varicocele And Low Back Pain In Body Builder Athletes

Introduction
Some sport injuries are of less importance and do not hinder daily activities, though they might cause some trouble in
future. Athletes in body building continuously get involved in heavy intensive exercise which contains valsalva
maneuver . Nichols found in 9% to 19% of men, the plexus of veins on the posterior testicle can become engorged,
constituting a varicocele. Also, the occurrence of varicocele in unsuitably selected or badly performed sport, especially
with ones involving high amount of activity (1). Mechanical low back pain (L.B.P) is viewed as any stress that
adversely affects the physiological function of the intervertebral disc, the apophyseal joints, or the surrounding
contractile or noncontractile soft tissues (2). More commonly physical activities or sports that require forceful or
repetitive lumbar extension cause injury (3).

Methods
150 male athletes in bodybuilding working out in randomly selected clubs for 12 to 14 months (5 sessions per week)
voluntarily participated in this study. (Their average age, height, and weight were 21, 177 cm, and 79 kg respectively).
To diagnose varicocele, athletes were examined by physicians and then sonarography was done and to diagnose low
back pain using of laseque , reverse laseque and flexion tests by physician .

Results
The results showed 36 athletes did not use belts while doing squte exercises 67% of whom had intense varicocele and
33% did not. This is statistically significant (p=0.05). Data statistical analysis with using Kendalls tau indicated that is
statistically significant differences between did not use belts with L.B.P tests (p=0.05). No significant relationship was
found between other activities including dead lift and trunk hyperextension with varicocele and L.B.P.

Discussion/Conclusion
The findings suggest that varicocele and L.B.P might be the result of valsalva maneuver and overload in body builder
athletes who do not use belts (in squte mode). Belt not only protect lumbar vertebra, they also stop the transfer of
pressure to abdomen and reproductive organ. Observation of and noticing technical principles of exercise and using
protective devices might prevent the occurrence of varicocele and L.B.P and its side effects such as infertility and
sedentary.

References
[1]. Marcia K. Anderson, Susan J.Hall, Malissa Martin. Sport Injury Management.USA.2000.
[2]. John V . Basmajina and Steven L .Wolf . Therapeutic exercise USA, 1990 .
[3]. Karen S.Rucker, Andrew J.Cole, Stuart M.Weinstein. Low bake pain.USA.2001.

NOTA: O texto com a iconografia está no anexo.

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