Prevention of Heat Illness in Football Players

Football practice in high schools and colleges in the United States begins at any time from the middle of August to early September and is performed with a full uniform on some of the hottest days of the summer. During the past decade, a significant number of deaths from heat stroke have occurred in athletics.¹,²It is the purpose of this paper to attempt to provide a simple and inexpensive clinical guide to help team physicians and coaches recognize when conditions exist on the field which could predispose persons to problems of excessive heat. The amount of weight loss during a practice session is one excellent index of the amount of work performed in the environmental conditions which exist. Weight loss is primarily a result of work done, but the environmental temperature and humidity play a major role. The problem imposed by rising humidity (which is a function of