Badwater Forum

For anyone attempting this race, I recommend the following read:

Exertional Heat Illnesses by Lawrence E. Armstrong

As a nurse and Badwater runner, I found the information invaluable!

Below text is from the internet:

Learn how to identify, treat, and prevent exertional heat illnesses and ensure your sporting events are safe. Exertional Heat Illnesses provides practitioners with all the information they need in one practical reference.

Renowned exercise researcher Lawrence Armstrong, PhD, and a team of eight colleagues examine the heat illnesses most common in athletes, recreation enthusiasts, and laborers.

The only book to focus exclusively on heat-related illnesses, Exertional Heat Illnesses is full of practical advice for professionals in a variety of medical, academic, and commercial settings. Athletic trainers, physicians, nurses, and emergency medical technicians will find effective treatment options for all exertional heat illnesses. Coaches, athletes, industrial supervisors, and military leaders will learn the causes of heat-related illnesses and ways to prevent them. Fitness, conditioning, and training specialists will gain useful information for their clients and students. Instructors and students interested in environmental exercise physiology will also find Exertional Heat Illnesses to be a valuable textbook for courses that require advanced study.

This resource is aligned with the current accepted standards and recommendations of two prominent health and sports medicine organizations—the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA).

The reference contains the following:

A handy breakdown of how the body reacts to different heat illnesses

Case reports detailing how other practitioners respond in real-life situations

Abstracts of four important position stands from the ACSM and NATA and the Web sites at which you can access them

With this reference, you’ll have the tools to help athletes maintain optimal health and performance during and after exercise, and you’ll have the knowledge to treat exertional heat illnesses promptly and properly should they occur.

Lawrence E. Armstrong, PhD, fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, is a professor in the department of kinesiology, Human Performance Laboratory, at the University of Connecticut. He is author of Human Kinetics’ Performing in Extreme Environments (2000).

Dr. Armstrong received the Aerospace Medical Society’s Environmental Science Award (1986), and the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s Presidential Award for contributions to the NSCA Journal of Environmental Physiology (1989 and 1994). Since 1982, he has authored or coauthored 85 research articles for scientific journals and nearly 50 articles for educational and consumer publications. He also has contributed chapters to numerous books and government technical reports.

Dr. Armstrong also has personal experience with extreme environments. In addition to completing 14 marathons and climbing Mt. Washington four times, he has collected research data in the medical tent at the Boston Marathon. He has contributed to ACSM and NATA position stands on fluid replacement during exercise as well as position stands on heat and cold illnesses contracted during distance running. Dr. Armstrong graduated cum laude as a scholar-athlete from the University of Toledo in 1971 with a BEd in biology and comprehensive science, and he earned an MEd from Toledo in 1976 and a PhD from Ball State University in 1983 as a student of David Costill’s. He is a former president of the New England chapter of the ACSM and conducted numerous research studies as a physiologist at the Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Massachusetts, from 1983 to 1990. Armstrong lives in Mansfield Center, Connecticut.