Excerpt — Medical Conditions in the Athlete 3rd Edition With Web Study Guide

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that affects the gastrointestinal tract and is thought to be triggered by dietary gluten in affected individuals. The disease is characterized by chronic inflammation of the small intestinal mucosa, which leads to atrophy of the small intestinal villi and subsequent malabsorption (Pelkowski and Viera 2014).

Everyone has symptoms of some type of mental health issue at some time in life when one or several stressors overwhelm the person’s ability to self-regulate or repair. The symptoms are usually, and arbitrarily, labeled either physical or mental.

The terms EIA and EIB are often used interchangeably, but EIB specifically denotes the reduction in lung function that occurs after a standardized exercise test (Carver 2009). More recently, the term exercise-induced bronchoconstriction has been introduced as actual spasm of the airways does not always occur.

Death by sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a rare event in the young athlete. In the United States, elite athletes are viewed as near invincible because of their incredible physical feats.