History of sports medicine - 1950
1950
In the 1950s, Bruno Balke (1908-1999), Professor at the University of Wisconsin, described a treadmill protocol that he used for exercise tests for the Air Force personnel. In this protocol, the workload was increased by increasing the inclination of the treadmill while the speed remained unchanged. Originally Balke used a speed of 5.3 km/h on a horizontal treadmill, with an increase of 1% every minute. Based on the endurance time and the end angle of the treadmill, an estimate could be made with the following formula:
VO2max = running speed (m/min) × body weight (kg) × (0.73 × angle/100) × 1.8
1950
On the initiative of German Professor of Internal Medicine and Sports Medicine Werner Ruhemann (1895-1953) the Deutsche Sportärztebund (DSÄB) was founded on October 14, 1950, which counted 500 members and later grew to 5,500 members. Their magazine was initially called 'Leibesübungen, Sportarzt, Erziehung' (Physical exercises, sports physician, education), it was renamed 'Sportmedizin' (sports medicine) in 1953, from 1959 to 1963 it appeared under the title 'Der Sportarzt' (the sport physician), from 1964 to 1977 as 'Sportarzt und Sportmedizin' and since 1978 'Deutsche Zeitschrift für Sportmedizin', to which the subtitle 'German Journal of Sports Medicine' was added in 2010. The magazine later had a circulation of 15,000 copies. The members were only allowed to wear the title 'Sports Physician' if they had received special training and were awarded a diploma from the Deutsche Sportärztebund. Professor Frohwald Heiß (1901-1988) from Stuttgart was the first chairman of DSÄB and in 1951 the first congress was organized in Cologne.
1950
During the General Assembly of the Association of Sports Medicine (Generalversammlung der Interessensgemeinschaft für Sportmedizin) the first board was elected in Austria with Anton Hittmair (1892-1986) (photo), professor of Internal Diseases at the Innsbruck University as first chairman and Professor Neurology Walter Birkmayr (1910-1996), Professor Emergency Medicine Walter Ehalt (1888-1976), Professor of Sports Physiology Ludwig Prokop (1920-2016) and the sports physicians Hermine Kopsa and Emanuel Michael Schwarz (1878-1968) as board members.
1950
In the study in the photo above, the Douglas Bag was used to collect exhaled gases from a labourer.
1950
The fundamental physiological research of Professor Erich Albert Müller (1898-1977) at the Max Planck Institute led in Germany to the development of a cycle ergometer, the maintenance of constant power and evolution being guaranteed.
1950
The photo of a cycling ergometer as it appeared on page 58 of the book 'Studien uber die Pathophysiologie der Atmung bei der Silikose Die Lungenfunktion im Arbeitsversuch'.
The book was published by Swiss internist Paul H. Rossier (1899-1976) and Swiss Professor of Physiology Albert A. Buhlmann (1923-1994) (photo).
1950
The design of a ergospirometer by German Professor of Medicine Hugo Wilhelm Knipping (1895-1984).
1950
British cardiologist Paul Wood (1907-1962) had his patients take 84 steps as a stress test because he claimed that it was necessary to push them to their maximum capacity. He noted several points that are still valid:
- The amount of work to be performed must not be recorded, but must be adjusted to the capacity of the patient.
- More strenuous work (a heart rate above 90 bpm) produces a higher percentage of positive tests in patients with a known coronary disease
- The reliability of the maximum stress test is 88% overall, compared to 39% in the master test.
Wood recommended the use of the stress test to detect latent myocardial ischemia, to determine the severity of the disease and to evaluate the therapy.
