Public Health Announcement

Let's start with hard science.
77 credible clinical studies show
Tai Chi & QiGong:

• Relieve Arthritis Significantly
• Boost Immuno-response Significantly
• Reduce Blood Pressure Significantly
• Improve Cardiopulmonary Function Significantly
• Strengthen Bones
• Lower Cholesterol
• Lower Body Mass Index (BMI)
• Improve Quality of Life
• Improve Quality of Sleep
• Reduce Anxiety & Stress
• Enhance Mood & Self-esteem
• Improve Balance
• Increase Strength, Hand Grip, & Flexibility
• Raise Confidence From Fear of Falling
• Increase Mobility Greatly

http://www.worldhealth.net/news/tai-chi-qigong-boost-physical-psychological-health/

Unecessary $77.00 Dollar Medical Bill

I contracted strep throat.
I went to the doctor.
I hate the throat swab worse
than anything, seriously.
The culture was positive
for STREP; so she wrote
me a prescript for antibiotics.

I got rid of it, but somehow
contracted strep again after
three weeks. I went back to
the doctor, and told the
receptionist I didn't want
the throat swab. She implied
I would probably still get one.

When the tech came to swab
my throat, I politely requested
she go fetch the doctor. The
doctor came in, examined me,
and wrote me a second prescript
for a stronger antibiotic.
Staved it off, ha ha !

The billing line item from the first
swab was $77.00 from a place called
"Afterhours somethin er-other~"

When I went the second time, I had
to fight to keep it off the bill
(and out of my mouth !). I knew
what was wrong, and did not need
a fleeb-flarbin' throat swab.

More than half of all medical procedures
are unnecessary. More than half of all
hospital visits are unnecessary.
I'm not making this crap up, it's true.
Interesting crap link
Boring crap link

Ain't nothin' more expensive than health-
care in America. And that's because,
generally speaking, we are past the tipping
point of knowing how to take care of
ourselves-- and relying on the best medicine
we believe money can buy. Our healthcare
system costs $2.3 Trillion dollars a year.
You might need to read that again.

Active: I take care of myself
Passive: The system takes care of me

The U.S. has no standardized system of
personal heath. We have standards
for dental health, and we have standards
for performance, and we have standards
for society, and we have standards
for attractiveness and beauty.
But we have no standard for autonomous
care of one's own body.

Imagine if we took better care of ourselves
and cut our healthcare bill in half.
$2.3 Trillion X 0.5 = $1.15 Trillion

My teacher and I have devised a set of tools
like no other on the planet. We have created
a five-DVD box set of
Exercise for absolutely everyone
this should be the standard

Learn how to care for your body, then
Fire your Chiropractor ! Fix your own back !
Fight off unnecessary medical expenses !
Like frickin' throat swabs !
Forget Pharmaceuticals ! Take fewer pills !

Keep more money for yourself !

Click the Healing Exercise link !

Race Horse Fitness

This blog is starting to pick up steam
in terms of readership; but unless
you've read my first blog, you might
still misunderstand what I mean by
"Forget Fitness." In a nutshell, the
blog name refers to the fact that the
word FITNESS connotes aesthetics
and sexual appeal over health,
wellness or athletic performance.


To re-emphasize the concept, let's
look at the "physical appropriateness"
of race horses.


The following is from Texas A&M
University Department of Animal
Science, Equine Sciences Program
for the development of race horses:


"The conditioning program for the
different horses varies depending on
the race length. Genetics, training,
age, and skeletal soundness are all
factors that contribute to a horse’s
performance. The muscle structure
and fiber type of horses depends on
the breed, therefore genetics must be
considered when constructing a
conditioning plan. A horse’s fitness
plan must be coordinated properly
in order to prevent injury or
unnecessary lameness. If these were
to occur, they may negatively affect
a horse’s willingness to learn.
Sprinting exercises are appropriate
for training two-year-old racehorses,
but they are mentally incapable of
handling too many of them. A horse’s
skeletal system adapts to the exercise
they are receiving. Because the
skeletal system does not reach full
maturity until the horse is at least four
years of age, young racehorses often
suffer multiple injuries."


The pdf, which is found here also
discusses how race horses with a
"fat score" of 5 generally perform
the best (on a scale of 1 to 9).


A fat score of 9 means the horse
is obese. A fat score of 1 means the
horse is emaciated. At a fat score of 5,
the horse is round and smooth; and
at score 6, it's considered "moderately
fleshy" (also a high-performance score).




(Texas A&M excerpt)
"Results indicate that a body condition
score of 5 appears to be the most
desirable for contributing to maximum
performance. Horses in condition
score 5 are able to store more usable
energy than horses in thinner condition.
The thinner horses are more prone to
early fatigue because they have to rely
almost entirely on that energy that is
derived from the daily diet."


So this is what an ideal horse looks like



This horse is considered "thin"



This horse is dead--

Rethinking Your Athletic Shoes

The ATHLETICS were born of war.
Thousands of years of fighting honed
people into warriors. During most of
the Archaic Period in Greece, every
male citizen of Sparta was required
to train and live as a soldier in the
Spartan Army, no matter if he were
rich or poor. Imagine training with
a big, heavy shield.

When you think of athletic ability,
consider that very few of the athletes
you know were ever motivated by
protecting their own lives. Combat
is the mother of human physicality.

The Olympic Games were born in
776 B.C. The well-conditioned troops
competed against each other
in running races and pugilism. As
competitions became more formal,
technique was developed and taught.
Soldiers became athletes,
and they didn't have no Nikes.



In recent years, the Tarahumara Indians
of Mexico's Copper Canyons have
caused the athletic world to rethink
the concept of shoes. These guys run
120 miles over jagged rocks wearing
nothing but a half-ass huarache sandal.

Gerhard Hartmann, Ph.D., is an exercise
physiologist who says most running-
related injuries are a result of too much
foam injected pampering. He says running
shoes have become so super-cushioned
and motion-controlling, they allow our
foot muscles to atrophy and our tendons
to shorten and stiffen.

Alan Webb started barefoot exercises and
watched his shoes size drop from size 12 to 9.
Says Webb, "My foot muscles became
so strong, they pulled my arches up."

This article on running in basketball is also
very good.

While I can find websites that say running
in wrestling shoes will lead to injuries, there
are others who say running in them is
wonderful once you get through the first
week or two of strain.

I practice martial arts in my moccasins,
and hate to even put on a shoe for concern
it will have some kind of heel lift. At the
top of the page, look again at Perseus, the
slayer of Medusa. He is fine in musculature
and form, and his heel is flat on the ground.

Important Statistics on Sports Injuries

The National Athletic Trainers Association
reports that more than half of all sports
injuries occur during practice.



According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research Twentieth Annual Report:From 1982-2002, the total numbers of direct and indirect fatalities among high school athletes were:



Baseball — 17
Basketball — 88
Cheerleading — 21
Cross Country — 14
Football — 22
Soccer — 31
Track & Field — 47
Wrestling — 16






According to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System All Injury Program:
In 2001, the number of sport-related injuries for each sport are as follows:





Gymnastics — 99,72
Basketball — 680,307
Baseball — 170,902
Softball — 118,354
Football — 413,620


According to SAFE KIDS USA:
More than 3.5 million children ages 14 and under receive medical treatment for sports injuries each year.
Injuries associated with participation in sports and recreational activities account for 21 percent of all traumatic brain injuries among children in the United States.
Overuse injury, which occurs over time from repeated motion, is responsible for nearly half of all sports injuries to middle-and high-school students. Immature bones, insufficient rest after an injury and poor training or conditioning contribute to overuse injuries among children.
Most organized sports related injuries (62 percent) occur during practices rather than games. Despite this fact, a third of parents often do not take the same safety precautions during their child's practices as they would for a game.
A recent survey found that among athletes ages 5 to 14, 15 percent of basketball players, 28 percent of football players, 22 percent of soccer players, 25 percent of baseball players and 12 percent of softball players have been injured while playing their respective sports.
Children ages 5 to 14 account for nearly 40 percent of all sports-related injuries treated in hospital emergency departments. The rate and severity of sports-related injury increases with a child's age.





In my research, I found that the
most injurious sport, regardless
of age, was BICYCLING.

Let's Talk Teeth (and bones) (and brains)

In Traditional Chinese Medicine,
the teeth are the extremity of the bone.
That means the teeth represent the
health and condition of the bones.

We all know how to take care of
our teeth, RIGHT ? Well...
We can all do better.

In order to care of the bones, the
human must place stress on them.

Unstressed bones weaken and
deteriorate. That's why astronauts
come back to earth with weaker
bones.

The amount and manner of stress
is of vital importance to optimizing
the bones, and to overall health.
Too much stress and the wrong kinds
of stress can wear out the joints
or even break the bones.

The back, a.k.a The Spine, is the most
concentrated, complicated archipelago
of bones, joints-- and this is important--
spinal cord, grey matter or "brain matter."
Your brain goes all the way down
to your ass. Yup, all the way down there.
(It's called the filum terminale)

In Chinese Medicine, the position of
the lower vertebrae and the coccyx
("the tailbone") are the key to optimizing
bone strength and overall health.
(Remember where your brain is...)

T'ai Chi Magazine published an article
by Liu Chang Jiang called, "On Skeletal
Posture and Muscle Function." In it,
Liu expounds,

"In untrained people, the angle between
the lower vertebrae and the coccyx is
typically quite big; about 30 degrees.
This causes the lower vertebrae to incline
forward with the result that that body
naturally leans forward and is perpetually
slightly off balance.
If the angle between the lower vertebrae
and the coccyx is any greater than this,
as it can be in those with back problems,
the pressure on the vertebrae becomes
excessive and can easily lead to chronic
back pain."

Let me put in easy terms.
You have to curl your genitals forward
and up; this is also known as "horizontal
pelvic tilt." Maybe you've heard this before ?

Don't you think it's time to learn how
to support your bones and your brain
with proper posture ?

Too Much Power, Not Enough Clutch

The title of this blog can mean
different things to different people;
but if you know anything about
cars, you know what I'm talking about.

I used to have a really fast Audi S6.
300 horsepower, outrageous torque--
but the clutch was seriously lacking.
Instead of transmitting the engine power
to the wheels, the clutch would sometimes
slip and burn.

Our bodies work much like the mechanisms
in a car. Food = fuel. Muscle = engine.
Bones = chassis. But what in the human
body is like the transmission on a car ?
What transmits energy so that you can
move a part of your body ?
It's your joints, tendons and ligaments.
We know we contract muscles... that
leverage our joints... in order to transmit
energy, or "move a part of the body."

But strength of muscle does not equal
"best transmission of power." You see,
resistance training like weight lifting
(and even running) shortens the tendons,
limiting the joints' range of motion.

Former NFL player Cory Walker told
me that when he really got into weight
lifting and getting stronger, he got slower.
His 40-yard sprint times got worse.

Why ?
Inefficient transmission of power.
He got stronger ! But he could not
convert his new power into speed.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:
I cringe every time I hear a doctor tell
an elderly patient to lift weights. Dumbells !

You have plenty-enough muscle.
You need to work on your joints.
After all, when you lose a joint,
you lose mobility.
Tai Chi and Qigong improve the joints.