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Show Advice on Your Health By Morris Fishbein, Editor, Journal American Medical Association Second of four articles en the training of football players. Football players expect to have bruises, but they may also have strains of the ligaments, ' fractures of the bones and dislocations dislo-cations of the joints. If the player Is injured on the football field, he should have immediate attention by someone competent to Judge the extent and character ot the injury. A man whose legs are injured should never be permitted to walk off the field. A stretcher should always be available to carry the Injured players to medical med-ical attention. Use of a stretcher may excite the audience, but it may make the difference between be-tween success in treatment of the injury and a long delay in healing. heal-ing. Football players generally eat at a training table and are provided pro-vided with special diets. Steak and potatoes are not the best diet for a player, because he needs vitamins and mineral salts just as much as anyone else. If the player eats a variety of foods and gets plenty of calories to replace those used up during I exercise, his diet will be satisfactory. satis-factory. Football makes tremendous demands on the muscles of the body. For this reason the weight of the football player should be watched carefully. If he loses weight, his diet should be sup- ', plemented with extra milk, malted milk and other foods that ' are rich In calories. . ' Players lose a great deal of a water from the body both at ) practice and during the game. , Salt is lost from the body by ' perspiration. Football players , should be instructed to take extra aalt in their drinking water. This will prevent cramp- I ing of the legs and other muscles ' caused by lack of salt In the ; body. For football players may suffer from the same kind ot heat exhaustion and heat cramps that affect workers in industry. Most coaches forbid drinking and smoking during the training period. Chief reason for the forbidding of alcohol It that it interferes with the timing that is necessary for good coordination. coordina-tion. Next: Physical examinations. |