Monday, November 19, 2012

Out with the Old, In with the New...

I'm not sure if there is a polite way to tell someone that in order to prevent the same problem from happening again and again they are going to have to lose 20 pounds or do more than 5 minutes of core work a week. Remember those crazy electric football games where you end up with a scrum of electric player figures that got all jammed up in the middle of the field? That's kind of how some of us go through our preventative injury programs. Doing some antiquated old school nonsense. For some men it's "I can't be caught dead in a yoga class" yet I'll be caught with L4L5 disc herniation running like an old man because that's what we KNOW. It's not easy to change what we do. It requires effort and discipline. You also need to know if your muscle, fascia and tendon tissue are just plain worn out or if there is a tear. Tools like diagnostic ultrasound can delineate The DEGREE of injury. That's why you see the doctor for a sports injury; not because you have no idea what it is. Only YOU can change that paradigm. And guess what? It doesn't happen overnight. It's about a lifestyle not a boot camp with someone yelling at you. Last time I did anything remotely close to that I reinjured my ACL in a sports conditioning class doing a standing broad jump relay race on a gym floor with running shoes. Keep crashing up against those old cast iron players on the electric field and keep getting the same result or do something different and put yourself on the line to improve.