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.

If You Walked Like a Snowflake

GAIT is the term used to describe
the pattern of movement of the
limbs of animals. Human gait is
bipedal, meaning the pattern is
only on "two feet."

If you walk across the room and
back, what do you notice about
your own gait ? Before you read
on, try it. Walk across the room
and make mental notes about the
way you walk.

Did you land heel first and push
off your toes ? Did your knees
bend very much ? How long was
your right step compared to your
left step ? Now try it again and
see what you notice.

In gait analysis, the subject's gait
can be measured in many different
ways. Even if the right and left step
are the same length, they may not
take an equal amount of time. And
likely, they are not the same length.

In fact, almost everyone has one hip
stiffer than the other, which will make
a significant difference between left and
right steps. If the range of motion were
measured acutely in the foot, ankle, knee,
hip and lower spine, a myriad of asymmetry
emerges.

Not only do ankles and knees flex and extend,
they twist. The feet are vastly complex with
with ranges of motion in three planes, as are
the hips. This illustrates how much asymmetry
is possible in the lower body.

As a snowflake forms, it takes on symmetry.
As its branches extend out from the center,
each new joint is a perfect match of the other
joints. But as the human body grows and
ages, each joint range of motion of the lower
body begins to repeat movements based on
necessity, thereby forming habits. These
habits cause increasing asymmetry of gait,
and break down the misused joints over time.
If the habits are bad enough and last long
enough, they may require artificial knee
and/or hip joints to replace the natural ones.

Like a snowflake, there are endless combinations
of lower body joint mobility, making every
person's gait unique. However, there are
standards of movement originating from
Tai Chi Chuan that mobilize joints more
thoroughly, allowing a person to "fix" his
or her gait and save the natural joints.

You'll get no such love from jogging, weight
lifting or even swimming.

Boost Your Athletic Breathing !

Imagine what sports would be like
if you could take classes on breathing.
Imagine being able to breathe so
efficiently and so well that you would
never get winded. Wow. Wouldn't
that be an incredible skill ?

Two days ago, I skied with my old
buddy, Herb. Herb lives in Telluride,
Colorado, which perches at a paltry
8750 feet above sea-level. Telluride
Mountain Resort peaks-out at 12,225'--
so in essence, Herb came "down"
to ski at Alta, which bases at 8530'
and peaks-out at 10,550'.

Lots of people have been at altitude,
and many others haven't. When I took
my parents to the top of Pike's Peak at
14,000 feet, neither one could even walk
a straight line, and my mom knocked
merchandise off the gift store shelves
several times. Suffice it to say there is
less oxygen the higher you go.

Back to my story--
Herb is a great skier. He competed on
the Big Mountain circuit, and has been
shredding mountains worldwide for
almost 20 years. When we skied at Alta,
we hiked, and skied real hard. He couldn't
keep up with me on the hikes, and he was
huffing and puffing when we got down
to the lifts.

I don't do "cardio." No jogging, no stair
climbers, nothing of the sort. But I did
take lessons on how to breathe; and I dare
say that no one is ever waiting on me when
it's time to hike or do something that requires
a high "aerobic threshold."

This is no fantasy. I've been working on my
breathing for seven years, and can say with
confidence that I can breathe far better than
you can. The old BaGua masters like Wang
Shu Jin would practice martial arts for three
hours without ever opening their mouths. And
if you don't know BaGua, it's more physically
demanding than anything !

Hmmm. Are you starting to think maybe
there's a big hole in your athletic training ?
Well, stop lifting "dumbbells," and start
learning Tai Chi just as soon as breathing
development makes sense to you.

Plea To The Middle-Aged Athlete

I have a forty-something year old

friend in Park City named Harold.

He is a great ski racer, and a total

maniac when it comes to training

and staying active. A couple years

ago, I saw him at a party. He couldn't

stop bouncing his leg around, so

I asked what was up. He said he

had developed tendonitis around

one knee, and that it bugged him

all the time.

My biological father was a track-star,
a champion, a phenom. In his 20s and
30s, he kept running: 10k races and
everyday training. At age 42, he had
surgery on both knees, and never ran
again. I was a 22-year old athlete at
the time, and this scared the hell out
of me.

You know what I'm getting at.
If you're over age 40, but still train
like you're 20, you've got mounting
physical issues that you believe will
get better if you just stay active. You
might see a sports medicine doctor,
or you might just pop your Motrin
from a Pez dispenser & ignore the issues.
But deep down, you know you're doing
the wrong thing because you've watched
your older friends dropping out, one by
one, for years and years.

(The United Health Care commercial
where the lady reluctantly admits she's
"a runner," and continues to run despite
her failing knees DRIVES ME CRAZY!)

The Chinese say that if you practice
the proper methods, you will be healthy
and live a long life; but if you practice
improper methods, sickness will enter.

Why is it that no one sees Lance Armstrong's
testicular cancer as a result of improper
training ? Why don't people equate the
thousands of hours he spent with his nuts
squished between his legs, and the tiny
bike seat up his DMZ as the CAUSE ?
Bicycling is fun in small doses, but it's
absolutely devastating to a man's health
if he does it too much.

Salt Lake Magazine recently ran a story
about a local runner who ran and ran and
ran; opened a running store; then found
out he had cancer ! The article put him
on a pedestal with Lance Armstrong,
instead of saying the truth--
"He ran so much he got cancer."

Why do people worship the physicality
of Bruce Lee ? THE GUY IS DEAD !
Do you have any clue that Bruce Lee's
insane training regimen gave him the brain
aneurysm ? Look at his posture in the
photo above. Does that look healthy
to you ? Dead, dead, DEAD !

Wake up ! Stop beating on yourself !
Start taking care of yourself !
I beg you !
If you train hard, you know lots of
people who used to train hard but
simply can't any more. Do you really
believe it won't happen to you ?

Talk Radio w/ Glenda the Good Nurse

On November 10th, I went on air
with Glenda the Good Nurse on
K-Star Radio 1400 AM. We had
a great conversation about Healing
Exercise, and I believe I introduced
a number of concepts that seem
like common sense all twisted up
in fitness buzzwords.

Please click the links to listen:

How To Pick A Tai Chi Teacher

What Is Tai Chi ?

Tommy's Bio and About His Famous Dog

What Is Healing Exercise ?

What Is QiGong (chee-gong) ?

What Are The Benefits of Tai Chi ?

Fitness Is A Dirty Word...

On Preventive Care

On Breathing

On Sitting Exercise

Closing Segment