Vibration Training and Athletic Performance

Vibration plates have been around for a few years. You may have one in your gym. I’ve never used one and I don’t know much about them but I’ve been aware of them for a while. A recent edition of the New York Times Personal Best section discusses these contraptions in the article Jury is Out on Vibrations’ Effect on Athletic Ability.

I was and to some degree still am skeptical of the whole idea of vibration plate training. The machine makes me think of any number of goofy magical exercise machines that one might see on a late-night infomercial. But some research suggests that there may be some positive and “real” effects of vibration plate training. Vibration plate training may improve strength and jump performance (look here, here, and here), bone density (here, here), among other benefits.

One issue we must consider is the fact that many of these positive studies were funded by vibration plate manufacturers, so there may be a conflict of interest inherent to these studies. Further, no one seems sure that vibration plate offers any benefits over and above other types of training such as plyometric work or weight training. The article states:

“There is something to it,” said William J. Kraemer, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut and the editor in chief of The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, calling it “another tool” for athletic conditioning. But he added that other conditioning methods might yield the same or better results.

“If you think of conditioning as a toolbox, there are lots of tools,” he said. “But when companies are selling something, they want to pretend that one tool does everything.”

Interestingly, no one seems to know how or why vibration plate training works. The effects seem to be short-lived. For instance, a high jumper might use the vibration plate just prior to his or her jump and gain a slight advantage for that jump only.

My personal theory is that perhaps the vibration may drive up the sympathetic nervous system, or the part of our nervous system associated with the fight-or-flight response. If you watch various athletes prior to competition, you often see them jumping up and down, shaking their arms, tossing their head about. Boxers and martial artists do this all the time prior to a fight. I’ve seen Olympic swimmers shaking their arms vigorously prior to their heat. Perhaps all this vigorous shaking is creating a similar effect to the vibration plate. More research is needed to figure this out.

All-and-all, vibration plate training may provide some benefits but as yet, these plates don’t appear to be any sort of miracle device. Money spent on one of these machines might better be spent on a barbell and a few weight plates.

Exercise and Relationships, Lift Weights to Lose Weight, Books

Exercise & Relationships

What happens to a relationship when one person exercises a lot and the other doesn’t? The Wall St. Journal offers an analysis of several such situations in A Workout Ate My Marriage. As you might imagine, stress may develop if one partner spends a lot of time training and the other doesn’t.

We see this situation with Caren and Jordan Waxman. Jordan is not only a Merrill Lynch exec with two law degrees and an MBA, he’s also an Ironman triathlete who competes all over the country. His time spent training plus his job requirements means significant time away from his wife and family.

The article quotes a therapist:

“Exercise is getting more and more couples into my office,” says Karen Gail Lewis, a Cincinnati marriage and family therapist.

The article profiles other couples including the strange pairing of an avid marathoner and vegetarian with a sedentary mean-and-potatoes fellow who just recently gave up a two-pack-a-day smoking habit. Lois and Gary Berkowitz occupy opposite ends of the exercise spectrum yet they seem happily married. He accompanies her to races and helps edit a running newsletter. All seems well for them.

(Interestingly, all the athletes profiled are endurance athletes. No weightlifters, powerlifters or bodybuilders appeared in the article. What are their relationships like? Perhaps the much smaller time requirements to get stronger mean happier marriages than the hours and hours required to win marathons and triathlons.)

Lift Weights to Lose Weight

Alwyn Cosgrove and his wife Rachel are both highly successful trainers and owners of Results Gym in California. Alwyn’s blog is full of useful information, and I recommend you have a look at it. One such article is The New Science of Fat Loss. (This first appeared in Men’s Health.) The article discusses the old myth that low-intensity aerobic exercise is the best way to shed fat. New research suggests that weight training burns more calories per unit of time. Researchers put subjects on a reduced-calorie diet and put them in three groups. One group didn’t exercise, another performed aerobic exercise 3 days a week, and a third did both aerobic exercise and weight training 3 days a week. The article states:

“The results: Each group lost nearly the same amount of weight—about 21 pounds per person in 12 weeks. But the lifters shed 5 more pounds of fat than those who didn’t pump iron. The weight they lost was almost pure fat, while the other two groups shed 15 pounds of lard, but also gave up 5-plus pounds of muscle.”

What’s the take-home message? Weight training is a must for physique change! If you’re using plodding, long-duration/low-intensity cardio work as your primary means of weight loss you’re behind the times and you’re wasting time.

My Reading List: The Talent Code, Sports Vision, Motivational Interviewing

If you’re a fitness professional and/or a fitness geek like me, there are three books you’ll want to have a look at. The first is The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Made. Here’s How. Daniel Coyle’s book looks at the physiological and psychological components of “talented” and highly successful individuals from athletes to musicians to mathematicians. Three key points discussed in the book are:

• Deep Practice Everyone knows that practice is a key to success. What everyone doesn’t know is that specific kinds of practice can increase skill up to ten times faster than conventional practice.

• Ignition We all need a little motivation to get started. But what separates truly high achievers from the rest of the pack? A higher level of commitment—call it passion—born out of our deepest unconscious desires and triggered by certain primal cues. Understanding how these signals work can help you ignite passion and catalyze skill development.

• Master Coaching What are the secrets of the world’s most effective teachers, trainers, and coaches? Discover the four virtues that enable these “talent whisperers” to fuel passion, inspire deep practice, and bring out the best in their students.

Do you train vision? In the gym? Do you ever think about your eyes when you’re working out. If not, you should. It’s our most vital sense after all. In the Z-Health community, we often discuss vision and the tremendous influence it has on all our bodily processes–including pain, strength and mobility. Sports Vision: Training for Better Performance is required reading for Z-Health trainers. It goes deep into the role our visual system plays in our ability to perform. The book contains many drills designed to improve visual acuity and thus sport performance.

Finally, Motivational Interviewing is considered a must-read by anyone involved in a field such as coaching or personal training. Too often we trainers and coaches focus on the exercise portion of weight loss and athletic performance. We don’t spend enough time figuring out the psychological components of motivation and behavior change. Our role is to motivate clients and athletes to work hard and achieve big goals. Therefore this book is essential to any fitness professional’s library.

“I guess the main thing to note is that, as biomechanists, we really do not know how orthotics work.”
– Dr. Joseph Hamill, University of Massachusetts professor of kinesiology

Orthotics. Some people swear by them. Some people swear at them. (That would be me.) Some of them cost a few bucks at the grocery store. Others cost several hundred dollars and must be fitted at a podiatrist, physical therapist or chiropractor. So what about them? Do we need them or not? (And if they are important for our health, how did the Egyptians, the Romans, Gengis Kahn, the Vikings, etc. ever manage march across the earth and conquer everything in site without them?)

All runners and other fitness enthusiasts–anyone who wears shoes really–must read the latest dispatch from the New York Times Personal Best section titled Close Look at Orthotics Raises a Welter of Doubt. It’s a fascinating discussion on how and why orthotics may or may not work. As the quote above indicates, no one really seems to know what these things actually do for the feet. There are several important points in the article.

Analysis of Orthotics

Dr. Benno Nigg, professor of biomechanics and co-director of the Human Performance Lab at the University of Calgary in Alberta has made a career of researching orthotics. He makes a point that I’ve observed in my own experience with orthotics, namely that they tend to work in the short-term. However he says that idea that they are supposed to correct mechanical-alignment problems does not hold up.

Further Dr. Nigg says, “If you do something to a shoe, different people will react differently.” Different feet react differently: One person might respond by increasing the stress on the outside of the foot, another on the inside. Another might not respond at all, unconsciously correcting the orthotic’s correction.

The article discusses something I’ve heard discussed among those who make orthotics. That is, there are different ways to make orthotics. Depending on where you go, you’ll likely get a different device. Dr. Nigg conducted a study in which a runner went to several different orthotics makers and each one made him a distinctly different orthotic to “correct” his pronation. He liked two of them–yet they each were made differently. More research by Dr. Nigg yielded the following:

“They (orthotics) turn out to have little effect on kinematics — the actual movement of the skeleton during a run. But they can have large effects on muscles and joints, often making muscles work as much as 50 percent harder for the same movement and increasing stress on joints by a similar amount.”

“As for ‘corrective’ orthotics,” Dr. Nigg says, “they do not correct so much as lead to a reduction in muscle strength.”

Support for Orthotics

Several seemingly well-educated people voiced support for the use of orthotics. Jeffrey P. Wensman, director of clinical and technical services at the Orthotics and Prosthetics Center at the University of Michigan makes a sound argument when he says the key measure of success is his patients feel better in orthotics.

(On that note, I think it’s wise that if you’re in an orthotic and feeling good, running fast and all is well, then don’t change anything.)

Seamus Kennedy, president and co-owner of Hersco Ortho Labs in New York says there are hundreds of papers and studies showing that orthotics can treat common foot ailments.

So maybe there’s a lot of solid evidence in favor of orthotics right? Well… The article states:

“In one recent review of published papers, Dr. Nigg and his colleagues analyzed studies on orthotics and injury prevention. Nearly all published studies, they report, lacked scientific rigor.”

Maybe the lesson is to be skeptical of orthotics makers who show you evidence of the benefits of orthotics.

What About Flat Feet?

The article goes on to profile someone who has flat feet and his quest to “correct” this issue. Every orthotics provider he went to attributed his injury to his previous poorly made orthotics and goes on to provide him with different orthotics.

(The article mentions this fellow has an “injury” though there’s no mention of what this injury is. I’m not sure if we’re to take his flat feet as an injury.)

Dr. Nigg explains that flat feet shouldn’t be any problem. Our arches are an evolutionary leftover of when we used to grip trees with our feet. This is interesting to me because I recall reading elsewhere a study of third-world populations that never wear any sort of supportive shoes. Their feet tend to be flat yet there are far fewer numbers of the type of musculoskeletal injuries we have in the U.S. So maybe these all important arches aren’t all that important?

My view on all this is that orthotics are of limited use and the science behind them is quite murky. I’ve used several different types of orthotics and I’ve had either no results or I’ve experienced increased discomfort. I think they are far from an essential component for human health and performance. That said, on an individual basis, an orthotic may be very helpful.

Strengthening the Brain, Compliementary Training

I have an interesting article and website to share with you. If you’re a reader then congratulations, there’s lots to read here. If you’re an exercise professional who’s also a reader (Do exercise professionals who don’t read exist?) then even better. If you’re a fitness enthusiast with a hungry brain, then fantastic as well.

Can You Build a Better Brain?

First, an article from Newsweek called Can You Build a Better Brain? speaks to much of what we discuss in Z-Health. Brain and nervous system function are at the “heart” of everything for us. Pain, performance, and obviously cognition are all rooted in brain function. The question is, how best can we improve brain function? Various means have been proposed to improve brain fitness. But from puzzles, vitamins, fish oil, antioxidants, non-steroidal anti-inflamatories (NSAIDs), to the Mediterranean Diet, very few strategies have been shown to provide any benefit when studied rigorously. I won’t go into the whole article but there are important points I’d like to share with you. First, from the article:

“The rule that ‘neurons that fire together, wire together’ suggests that cognitive training should boost mental prowess. Studies are finding just that, but with a crucial caveat. Training your memory, reasoning, or speed of processing improves that skill, found a large government-sponsored study called Active. Unfortunately, there is no transfer: improving processing speed does not improve memory, and improving memory does not improve reasoning. Similarly, doing crossword puzzles will improve your ability to?.?.?.?do crosswords. ‘The research so far suggests that cognitive training benefits only the task used in training and does not generalize to other tasks,”’says neuroscientist Yaakov Stern of Columbia University.

The holy grail of brain training is something that does transfer, and here there are three good candidates…”

And what are these magical activities?

Physical exercise
Meditation
Some video games

The article concludes:

“Few games or training programs have been tested to this extent, and many of those that have been come up short. Those with increasing levels of difficulty and intense demands on attentional capacity—focus as well as switching—probably do the most good … as does taking a brisk walk in between levels.”

Further indication that there is NO difference between the body and the mind. We need a new word that encompasses both concepts. What should that word be…?

Complimentary Training

There’s quite an impressive if also quite technical blog I’ve come across called Complimentary Training. It’s written by Serbain coach Mladen Jovanovich. His sports background is basketball, soccer, volleyball, martial arts and tennis. I’ve just started digging into it. It’s packed with a lot of technical information, much of it on periodization. It looks like a very useful resource. Dig into it if you dare.

http://successfulhealthcoach.com/wp-content/uploads//2010/12/elbow_oa_treatment01.jpg

YEEEOUCH! Don't do that!

Guy Edwards is a British health and fitness professional and fellow Z-Health practitioner. I recently wrote a post on cortisone injections for his blog Successful Health Coach. If you’re thinking of getting a cortisone shot (or another cortisone shot) please read this piece. A boatload of research is out there indicating that while cortisone provides dramatic relief from pain, it actually slows down the healing process. It’s definitely a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Thanks to Guy for letting me post.

Recovery Strategies, Heat Acclimation Training for Cyclists, Healthy Lifestyle vs. Genetics

We’ve got three useful articles to point out. One deals with recovery strategies for runners, specifically why damage is a good thing. (I imagine this information will apply to other types of athletes–cyclists, swimmers, weightlifters/bodybuilders for instance). Another article discusses research into how training in the heat can increase cycling performance in both hot and cool conditions. Finally, research suggests a healthy lifestyle can affect cardiovascular health more than genetics.

When Damage Is A Good Thing

Steve Magness is a Washington, D.C. area runner and exercise scientist who writes a blog called the Science of Running. Recently he’s written a piece for Running Times called When Damage is a Good Thing. Magness does a good job of explaining the training adaptation cycle:

“We improve from training by putting our body through stress that it normally does not encounter. When the body encounters these stressors, whether it is a decrease in oxygen, increase in lactate or low glycogen stores, it responds by increasing our ability to deal with the stressors, thereby improving our running performance. The stress, recover and adapt cycle is the foundation of training.”

Most important to the article though is the discussion of how recovery methods such as anti-inflammatories, ice baths, and antioxidants may impede the adaptations we’re looking for. Magness states:

“All of this scientific theory and research sounds good, but what does it mean practically? It doesn’t mean that antioxidants, ice baths, Advil or taking a Gatorade while running is necessarily bad. It means using those items at the wrong time or after the wrong workout could negate some of those hard-earned training adaptations. The key is to understand when it’s beneficial to use those methods and when to avoid them.”

Read the whole article to understand the strategy Magness recommends. It’s certainly an issue worth pondering if you’re a serious athlete–endurance athlete or otherwise.

Heat Conditioning for Cyclists

Science Daily gives us an article titled Exercising in the Heat May Improve Athletic Performance in Cool and Hot Conditions. Researchers at the University of Oregon studied two groups of cyclists: one group underwent heat acclimation while training and the other group worked out in a cool environment. What did the researchers learn?

The study found performance increases of approximately 7 percent after 10 heat acclimation exposures. “In terms of competitive cycling, 7 percent is a really big increase and could mean that cyclists could use this approach to improve their performance in cooler weather conditions,” said researcher Santiago Lorenzo.

Healthy Lifestyle Wins Out Over Genetics

The final article, Healthy Lifestyle Has Bigger Impact on Cardiovascular Health Than Genetics, also comes from Science Daily. There are two big points from this article which discusses two studies.

To stay healthy in older age, five key healthy behaviors should be adopted while young. Those behaviors are: not smoking, low or no alcohol intake, weight control, physical activity and a healthy diet.
One of the studies states, “only a small proportion of cardiovascular health is passed from parent to child; instead, it appears that the majority of cardiovascular health is due to lifestyle and healthy behaviors.” Thus we see that poor genetics is sort of a straw man when it comes to determining our health. It’s our own behavior that’s far more important.

Here are a few of the points on the scale that are used to determine if you have a food addiction. Does any of this sound familiar? If it does, you may be an “industrial food addict.”

Food Addiction

We’ve got several interesting fitness-related things in the news recently. First, from the Huffington Post comes Food Addiction: Could it Explain Why 79 Percent of Americans Are Obese? Here the food industry and its products are compared to the tobacco industry and their products. Turns out our junk food is skillfully crafted and manipulated by the food industry to make it highly palatable possibly to the point of being addictive. Key to the discussion is the following information from the article:

Researchers from Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity validated a “food addiction” scale.(i) Here are a few of the points on the scale that are used to determine if you have a food addiction. Does any of this sound familiar? If it does, you may be an “industrial food addict.”

I find that when I start eating certain foods, I end up eating much more than I had planned. Not eating certain types of food or cutting down on certain types of food is something I worry about.

I spend a lot of time feeling sluggish or lethargic from overeating.
There have been times when I consumed certain foods so often or in such large quantities that I spent time dealing with negative feelings from overeating instead of working, spending time with my family or friends, or engaging in other important activities or recreational activities that I enjoy.
I kept consuming the same types of food or the same amount of food even though I was having emotional and/or physical problems.
Over time, I have found that I need to eat more and more to get the feeling I want, such as reduced negative emotions or increased pleasure.
I have had withdrawal symptoms when I cut down or stopped eating certain foods, including physical symptoms, agitation, or anxiety. (Please do not include withdrawal symptoms caused by cutting down on caffeinated beverages such as soda pop, coffee, tea, energy drinks, etc.)
My behavior with respect to food and eating causes significant distress.
I experience significant problems in my ability to function effectively (daily routine, job/school, social activities, family activities, health difficulties) because of food and eating.

Based on these criteria and others, many of us, including most obese children, are “addicted” to industrial food.

Here are some of the scientific findings confirming that food can, indeed, be addictive(ii):

Sugar stimulates the brain’s reward centers through the neurotransmitter dopamine, exactly like other addictive drugs.
Brain imagining (PET scans) shows that high-sugar and high-fat foods work just like heroin, opium, or morphine in the brain.(iii)Brain imaging (PET scans) shows that obese people and drug addicts have lower numbers of dopamine receptors, making them more likely to crave things that boost dopamine.
Foods high in fat and sweets stimulate the release of the body’s own opioids (chemicals like morphine) in the brain.
Drugs we use to block the brain’s receptors for heroin and morphine (naltrexone) also reduce the consumption and preference for sweet, high-fat foods in both normal weight and obese binge eaters.
People (and rats) develop a tolerance to sugar — they need more and more of the substance to satisfy themselves — just like they do for drugs of abuse like alcohol or heroin.
Obese individuals continue to eat large amounts of unhealthy foods despite severe social and personal negative consequences, just like addicts or alcoholics.
Animals and humans experience “withdrawal” when suddenly cut off from sugar, just like addicts detoxifying from drugs.
Just like drugs, after an initial period of “enjoyment” of the food, the user no longer consumes them to get high but to feel normal.

Exercise & the Common Cold

“The most powerful weapon someone has during cold season “is to go out on a near-daily basis, and put in at least a 30-minute brisk walk.”
– Dr. David Nieman, director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Appalachian State University in North Carolina,

It’s always nice to see research that backs up something that we think is true. In this case, researchers at Appalachian St. University have evidence that exercise is possibly the best way to avoid colds. Read more in Regular Workouts Ward Off the Common Cold from MSNBC. The results of this study are in line with other studies discussed in the article.

There are all sorts of products out there such as Airborne, echinacea and zinc losenges that claim to shorten or prevent colds. The evidence on that stuff is spotty. The evidence on exercise and its preventative powers is far more solid. Exercise!

Rocker Shoes

An article from MSNBC, Do those funky shoes really promote fitness? discusses rocker or toning shoes, the increasingly popular shoes with a curved bottom. The claim by these shoe manufactures (Sketchers, Reebok, MBT) is that wearers will burn more calories when they walk around in these things.

A study by the American Council on Exercise suggests that these shoes do nothing of the sort. (Hard to believe? A magic shoe actually doesn’t lead to weight loss??) Participants walked all of five minutes on a treadmill while researchers monitored their heart rate, oxygen consumption and muscle usage (abdominals, butt, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves). (I don’t know that five minutes is an adequate amount of time in these things. Seems like participants should be monitored over the course of days or weeks). The article goes on to discuss the possible injurious effects of wearing these weird shoes as well as a a lawsuit brought by a woman who didn’t lose any weight wearing them. On the topic of the biomechanics and rocker shoes, this article by Denver-area chiropractor and gait specialist Dr. Ivo Waerlop, goes into deep detail as to why these shoes are a bad idea.

I see these shoes as the latest fitness fad pushed on people who are hoping and praying for a fitness magic bullet. (I love the fact that people are looking at their shoes and thinking about their calories! How about looking at your food???) This type of thing comes up frequently and the results of such stuff rarely lives up to the hype. I’ll be interested to see what happens to medium- and long-term wearers of these shoes. I think they’ll a) be disappointed in the weight they don’t lose and, b) possibly beset by chronic pain. If nothing else, they’ll be embarrassed that they ever put on those big clunky Frankenstein clodhoppers.

Trainer? Therapist? What Do We Call Ourselves & What’s Our Role? Part I

A recent article in the Wall St. Journal titled Getting Fit Without the Pain got me thinking about a few things. What, for instance does it mean to be a “personal trainer?” How is that job viewed by the public and medical professionals like surgeons and physical therapists? Should some of us take on a different title? Further, do our experiences in the fitness setting match our job definition?

Physical therapists are charged with rehabilitating injuries and post-surgical patients. By various standards and regulations, personal trainers can’t claim to offer injury rehabilitation. Personal trainers help people exercise and get “in shape.” Personal trainers, by most definitions, are allowed only to work with people who are injury-free and completely healthy.

The Journal article states, “… fitness trainers shouldn’t attempt to treat, and certainly shouldn’t ignore, sports injuries, says Diane Buchta, spokeswoman for IDEA, a trainer organization. ‘We must refer those clients to a physician,’ she adds.

Injured vs. 100% Healthy

I’ll tell you as a practicing personal trainer/fitness professional/movement specialist–whatever my title is–that there is a significant gap or gray area between physical therapists and personal trainers. I don’t think I’ve met a gym goer over the age of 25 (including myself) who doesn’t have some sort of strange ache or pain. The vast majority of these people don’t quite fall into the “injured” category. They’re still active and their pain isn’t so severe that they’re prevented from coming to the gym and exercising. I think most personal trainers have similar clientele. If we were to turn away these folks we’d have no business whatsoever.

Still other clients I’ve worked with have pain that has proven resistant to physical therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture, drugs… X-Rays, MRIs, neurological exams and blood work may all be normal. These folks assumed they were injured and sought what we might call the appropriate care–but they’re still hurting. Are these people injured? It’s difficult to say. Again I think I’m seeing a gray area, this time between “injured” and “healthy.” Maybe we need to consider the issue of pain vs. injury.

Injury, Re-injury & the Brain

Many of us have experienced recurring injuries. From Achilles tendon pain, low-back pain and whatever else-type of pain, we often feel great only to have the maddening issue return–often for no clear reason. Anyone who’s experienced this pattern knows how crushingly disheartening it can be when after a layoff, you feel good and with great joy you’re able to return to your chosen activity… only to fall back into the same injury pattern as before. It’s more than just physical pain. It’s a highly emotional and psychologically challenging obstacle to overcome.

To this point, the Peak Performance newsletter features an excellent article called Once Injured, Twice Fearful. (Peak Performance is an great resource. You can register for free and access many well-researched and well-written fitness and performance-related articles. For a fee you can access more of Peak Performance.) The main issue is how our brain is affected by an injury. We may reach a point where our tissues are healed yet mentally we aren’t yet prepared to return to our sport.

Most interesting to me is the discussion on the pain neuromatrix. What is the pain neuromatrix? Well, there is no easy answer. This is a theoretical construct that sort of consists of our perception of a threat and whether or not the brain decides that the threat is sufficient to create pain. For instance, we sprain an ankle. The damaged ankle is literally a potential threat to our survival (Not so much in 2010 but for most of human existence a sprained ankle may indeed have led to our starvation or death from the elements or predators.) The nerves in the ankle send a status update to the brain, the brain then interprets this information as damage and thus gives us pain. Why? Pain gets our attention. Pain will cause us to alter our activity so that we don’t further damage that ankle, thus we should survive longer. (In contrast, if we sprain an ankle while we’re running away from an erupting volcano, the brain may say “That volcano is a far bigger threat, so no pain for you–KEEP RUNNING!!!“) This is a fairly complex thing. Here’s a brief explanation. For further information, read Ronald Melzak’s paper on the topic.

Once injured, our brain pays particularly close attention to the damaged area. The neuromatrix keeps close watch so that we don’t re-injure ourselves. If all goes well, the tissue heals, we start moving normally and pain free, the neuromatrix senses no threat and the pain is gone. However, this close scrutiny by the neuromatrix may sort of get stuck in the “on” position. The tissue may heal but the athlete may still feel pain and anxiety at the prospect of re-injury. This often results in poor performance because the brain is focused on monitoring the area of injury and thus can’t devote full attention to sport skills.

So what’s the solution? First, simply explaining this psychological model to the athlete can be quite helpful in calming anxiety. His or her knowing that pain doesn’t necessarily equal injury can be very reassuring.

Next, we must modulate the threat as it’s perceived by the neuromatrix. If for instance a soccer player sustained a major injury on the field, simply returning to the field in soccer cleats may be perceived as a threat and pain and/or anxiety may be the result. Certainly then running, cutting, dribbling, etc.–playing soccer in other words–may be a huge threat.

(A more overt example of this type of situation can be seen in war vets suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Though the person may be safe and the actual threat long gone, any number of minor events may trigger extreme reactions such as panic attacks or violent behavior. The sound of a book dropped on the floor or trash bag in a yard may cause the sufferer to react in a way that’s vastly inappropriate relative to the actual threat posed by the event or object.)

The player must be gradually re-introduced to the movements and environment of soccer. Brief, easy jogging on the field; simple ball handling drills, and slow- to moderate-speed agility drills may be introduced as a way to ease the player back into the sport. Variables may be added as the player feels more confident. Speed, duration and predictability of drills may be adjusted. Opponents may be introduced. Playing surfaces may be changed.

A key part of this process is movement reeducation. An injury doesn’t only include tissue damage. The connection between the brain and the injured region (let’s say it’s the ankle) is also disrupted. Such a disruption means the ankle tissue may heal but control of the ankle may remain deficient. This sort of thing may cause pain–but it may not be ankle pain! A poorly moving ankle may cause pain at the knee, hip, back, anywhere along the spine, shoulder, even the jaw. Such is the nature of this highly interconnected system we live in called the body.

The Z-Health system has by far helped me more than anything in addressing my own pain as well as my clients’ pain. R-Phase is the introduction to Z-Health. With R-Phase we start to relearn the ABCs of movement. We reestablish control over every joint in the body: feet, ankles, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, fingers, jaws and even the eyes. Through methodical, mindful movements we can very effectively reduce pain and increase performance very quickly. Here we recreate and reinforce the foundation for all our more complex movements such as running, stair climbing, shooting baskets, swinging a golf club, etc. We can then safely reintroduce our favorite sporting movements and activities. It’s a very powerful and exciting system.

The Bad News on Fruits & Vegetables

It may not be a huge surprise that most of us in this country don’t eat a healthy diet. Now the data is in and according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2009, 67.5 percent of adults ate fruit less than two times daily and 73.7 percent ate vegetables less than three times per day. This information comes from an article in Business Week.

These numbers are in contrast to the goals of Healthy People 2010, a comprehensive set of health objectives set by the government. The goals of Healthy People 2010 were for 75 percent of people to eat at least two servings of fruit and 50 percent to eat at least three servings of vegetables every day. Despite these noble efforts, over the past decade there has been a two percent decrease in fruit consumption and no change in the vegetable consumption, researchers found. This program is failing. Why?

It’s hard to imagine that ignorance is driving our avoidance of produce. Who among us doesn’t know that fruits and vegetables are good for us? One issue is that low-income Americans are less likely to have access to fresh fruits and vegetables at affordable prices compared to affluent Americans. (For more on this issue, read about food deserts.)

Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St Louis discusses the affordability of fresh produce:

“Another factor that seems to impact purchasing fresh produce that is not clear in this report is the cost of fresh produce,” Diekman said. “With economic changes the last several years, the slight differences in consumption based on household income might be an important factor for health-care providers to address.”

(I find it tragically laughable that fresh produce–food that’s plucked right off a tree or a vine; or pulled right out of the ground–can cost more per calorie than a highly complex, laboratory engineered food such as a Twinkie, frozen pizza, or a sugary soda. This is what our farm subsidies are doing to us.)

Most interesting to me are the neurological factors behind what we eat, and why even though we know what’s healthy and unhealthy we still make unhealthy choices. Samantha Heller, a dietitian, nutritionist, exercise physiologist and clinical nutrition coordinator at the Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut says the following:

“It is easy to fill up on fast food, junk foods, sweets and sugar-sweetened beverages. In addition, by eating these highly palatable foods — those high in fat, sugar and sodium — we alter our taste and mental expectations about how a food is ‘supposed’ to taste.”

“We end up craving these foods and the healthier fare is ignored. Thus, a sweet ripe peach does not taste very sweet to someone who just chugged a 20-ounce soda or ate a bowl of ice cream. The same with vegetables. The delicious taste of many vegetable pales in comparison with high-fat, high-sodium cheese burgers and french fries.”

This is a tremendous uphill battle we face as a nation. It’s this very issue that’s at the heart and core of our health care system. We’ve had heated debate on what form of health care we’ll have and how to fund the system. Yet we avoid the most significant factor in our health care, that is what we chose to eat or not eat. It’s too tough an issue for politicians to discuss as pointing out our failings at personal responsibility tend to anger voters. (In contrast, Michelle Obama has done a very admirable job of bringing attention to the issue of nutrition and obesity.) No number of doctors, drugs, or high-tech medical devices can offset our personal habits. I’m not sure that there’s a light at the end of this tunnel.

Denver Fitness Journal

All Things Health and Fitness by Kyle Norman, MS, CSCS, FMS, RRCA Running Coach

Health & Fitness News