There was a time when athletes believed that to achieve their goal, pain was the essence. “No pain no gain”, “Feel the burn” or, when you had the odd niggling pain, “Run it off” were the mantras of the time. Since then sport scientists and physiologists have shown that these niggling pains were likely due to microtrauma which, when left unattended, could be catastrophic.

The National Heart Foundation of Australia has released an advocacy document that provides key actions, based on evidence of effectiveness, which can increase physical activity levels in Australia from 2010 to 2013.

The New Balance Foundation announced that they are joining The First Lady, Michelle Obama in her efforts to end childhood obesity.

A massive earthquake hit the Republic of Haiti capital, Port-au-Prince, at 16:53 local time on 12 January 2010, causing widespread damage and loss of life. Without usable infrastructure or effective government coordination, NGOs are struggling to provide essential aid and the situation continues to look bleak a week on.

The 2010 IMMDA meeting will be held in Barcelona on Saturday 20 March 2010, from 08.00 to 16.00. All Medical Directors from around the world are encouraged to attend this important meeting where we plan on developing a worldwide study into the causes and prevention of Sudden Death at endurance events.

Why Kisumu, why Africa for a World AIDS Marathon? Four groups provided FREE AIDS testing on World AIDS Day and the evening before: UN AIDS provided a grant for Kisumu Urban Apostolate Progammes-Pandipieri, Liverpool VCT, Aga Khan Hospital, and Tuungane Project. Two of the four groups reported results: one verbally and one in writing, but neither group has authorized me to release these numbers.

Olympians Aretha Thurmond and Carrie Tollefson will appear on two separate Source4Women fully interactive online seminars where they will discuss methods for choosing healthier lifestyles.

Nana Wiedemann, Director of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support in Copenhagen, Denmark, was a speaker at ICSSPE’s 3rd International Seminar on Sport in Post-Disaster Intervention, which was to be held at Rheinsberg, Germany, 2 - 8 November, 2009.

It is a common theme in many books and films: when people get lost in a desert or a jungle, they end up walking in circles. No matter how hard they try, at some point they will cross their own tracks and despair, because they realize that they will never make it back to civilization. Surprisingly enough, the belief that people walk in circles when lost is mainly based on anecdotal evidence and has never been studied systematically in a real desert or forest. (Current Biology, 2009, doi:10.1016/j.cub.2009.07.053)

On Wednesday, the IAAF announced that Caster Semenya is "still undergoing gender tests," which means that one of the most talked-about stories in all of sport, since it first made headlines at the World Championships in Berlin, is still without an ending.