There are still people around the world, by the millions, without basics.
Blake Mycoskie created TOMS footwear to, "Produce stylish, comfortable, and practical footwear while improving the lives of children around the world."
TOMS press kits states they adhere to "No Sweatshops…ensuring both fair labor practices and minimal impact on the environment."
Mycoskie writes, “Inspired by a traditional Argentine shoe and challenged by continent’s poverty and heath issues, I created TOMS with a singular mission: To make life more comfortable. TOMS accomplishes this through a unique shoe and commitment to match every pair purchased with a pair to a child in need…no complicated formulas, it’s simple…you buy a pair of TOMS and TOMS gives a pair to a child on your behalf.
Privileged Western children may benefit from, even enjoy, practicing this type of gift giving, over spending on junk food and indulgent status items for themselves.
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Today is Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Thanksgiving was last month in Canada. Thank you readers, every day for all your stories and enthusiasm. Thank you for using my work to make yourselves and the world healthier and happier.
Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from selected ones. See if your answers are already here by clicking links and archives. Read success stories of these methods and send your own.
Have The Fitness Fixer e-mailed to you, free. Click "updates via e-mail" - Health Expert Updates (trumpet icon) upper right column.
On the web, Grand Rounds is a collection of the best on-line medical posts from the past week. A different host works hard each week to find and list the articles. This is different from the Grand Rounds in a hospital, which is a lecture for doctors about a patient or topic.
Thank you Canadian Medicine, this week's host, for doing the hard work of collecting and featuring our posts.
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Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from selected ones. See if your answers are already here by clicking links and archives. Read success stories of these methods and send your own.
Have The Fitness Fixer e-mailed to you, free. Click "updates via e-mail" - Health Expert Updates (trumpet icon) upper right column.
14,000 Miles on a Bike - Herniating and Fixing Discs
Monday, November 24, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Kristin S was run over by a hit-and-run driver while biking home from work. The car's trailer hitch crushed her face, nose, jaw, cheekbones, and eye sockets inward to her sinus cavities. After Kristin's reconstructive surgery, her step-mother, a student in my martial arts classes, asked me to make a house call to get Kristin back to physical activity. When I met Kristin, she had just had the wiring removed from her jaw, was moving slowly and painfully, and could barely open her mouth when she greeted me at the door.
We had a good session. I showed Kristin several of my rehab methods. She was a good listener and applied everything well. She rehabbed quickly and went back to biking, her socially conscious work, and her active life.
Kristin soon designed a bike trip called The EarthCycle Campaign to raise public awareness of ways to reduce common practices that waste and destroy world resources. Her trip extended 14,000 miles (22,530 kilometers) from Fairbanks, Alaska USA to Tierra Del Fuego, Antártida e islas del Atlántico Sur, Argentina.
I donated some of my books to Kristin to raffle along with her other fund raising activity for the trip, then off she went.
Along the 14,000 mile ride, Kristin stopped in villages and cities to exchange information about simple ways that we all can lower our impact on Earth's environment.
Months of biking passed. Kristin's back pain began.
Pain worsened as she rode mile after mile, through villages, open roads, and cities. She tried exercises she found on various web sites and doctors visited in cities she passed through. She did yoga. She stretched. The pain worsened. After one medical evaluation, the doctors told her results showed several herniated discs in her lower back. From there, she was told by every doctor that it was permanent and she had to stop biking. The rehab they gave her didn't help.
I received a short e-mail from somewhere on the road - "Help me, how do I fix this, they said I have to live with pain and have to stop the tour."
I chided her good-naturedly, "Kristin you should have read my books before selling them :-)" I e-mailed her back explaining the uncomplicated way that discs can be injured and also healed.
A herniated disc nearly always bulges (herniates/moves/slips/migrates/extrudes) toward the back of the spine, not the front. What pushes it to the back? You do.
Sitting with a rounded back physically angles the spine bones (vertebrae) closer in front and farther apart in back. The "opening" in back is often mistakenly written about as a positive way to make space for the nerves, but what is missed is that the bones pinching closer in front make unequal pressure, like squeezing a tube of toothpaste from one end. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Contents are squeezed outward to the other side. The discs are mashed and degenerated in front and pushed outward (herniated), little bit by bit, in back. At left (hopefully since we're still having graphics problems) is a graphic of the process from the post: Disc Pain - Not a Mystery, Easy to Fix. Two vertebrae are shown from a side view, as if you are sitting facing right. The right-hand drawing shows how sitting bent forward physically pushes discs (herniates them).
Sitting and standing straight would make space in a healthier way for the nerves.
Disc herniation is a process taking a few years, just like the damage of smoking or eating junk food accumulates until the heart is damaged enough to hurt.
I e-mailed Kristin telling her that a herniated disc is a simple injury, not a condition. It can heal if you understand and stop the bad postures that push the disc outward. In her case, it was sitting bent rounded over her bike, and unhealthful stretching and yoga. Here is what she did to understand and fix it all:
So was her yoga. If you already spend time bent forward and have the usually result of a flexion injury, you don't need more forward bending stretches - Getting the Right Yoga Medicine.
Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from fun ones. See if your answers are already here by clicking links and archives. Read success stories of these methods and send your own.
Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, free. Click "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right. See Dr. Bookspan's Books, take a Class, get certified - DrBookspan.com/Academy.
Photos are still not loading. We didn't expect the problem to persist this long. I have been working extra to write posts not relying on images to explain concepts and techniques. Click the October link to see the photo of the board that loaded before this problem began:
Take the board you made, or make one now.
Hold a pushup position with feet on the floor and both hands on the board.
Balance the board and hold your pushup position. Then try pushups. Then try deliberately tilting the board to each direction while you hold your body stable. If you built the chutes with clay strips (or other creative ideas) use your hands to rock the board to direct the marble while holding your body stable in plank (pushup position). Work up to doing push ups that way.
Hold neutral spine instead of letting your lower back arch and sag:
Want more? Prop feet up on a bench or wall or other height, and both hands on the board. Want lots more? Use one device for your arms, and one for your feet.
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Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from selected ones. See if your answers are already here by clicking links and archives. Read success stories of these methods and send your own.
Have The Fitness Fixer e-mailed to you, free. Click "updates via e-mail" - Health Expert Updates (trumpet icon) upper right column.
How Much Inward Curve Space Should There Be In The Lower Back?
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Reader Carina asked a good question on the post Prevent Back Surgery about how much space there should be in the lower back inward curve. Comments were not accepted by the Blogger software for several weeks, and I could not reply in the comments. Her question is so good, it was chosen for this Fitness Fixer post.
Carina writes:
"Hello Jolie, "Your information is so wonderful. Thanks for this stuff it's priceless.
I have been using the wall trick during the day when my back hurts (How to Feel Change to Neutral Spine). Wow it feels great. Only thing I can't STAY and walk like this. My knees are STUCK bent (or I go back to the big arch). I'd seriously look very odd walking around with bent knees. So here are my questions
"1) How much of my hand should go through when I am standing against the wall??? When I stand at the wall and do it naturally I can stick my whole arm to my elbow behind the arch.
"2) Besides these links you provided from a previous question Fast Fitness - Quick Relaxing Hip and http://windowsxp-privacy.net/?id=198760105 " (Note - the above link didn't come through in Carina's comment; I don't know which it is.)
"is there anything that helps me walk in neutral spine and not looking silly? "Thanks for caring about our backs, Carina"
Carina, great work. You have found that simply changing spinal angle (wall "trick") to reduce overarching works right away to reduce cause of pain. Next, here is how to retrain neutral spine into a normal natural stance:
1) Don't worry about "How much hand fits." It doesn't indicate amount of overarching. Lower spinal angle is what matters. Body proportions change the distance from wall - independent of spinal angle.
If you have too much tilt to the pelvis or you lean the upper body backward, lower spinal angle increases. To reduce an arch that is large, press the lower back closer to the wall.
The post Neutral Spine or Not? shows how to tell if your hip (pelvis) is tilted or straight, and/or if overarching (hyperlordosis/swayback) is coming from the upper body (leaning back). The wall maneuver shows you how to reduce the overarch. Don't press flat against the wall or you'll round like a beetle :-)
While standing at the wall, see if you can do a small "crunch" movement without rounding your upper body forward, to reduce the overly large arch. Movement is just from the hip and mid-torso. Hopefully, you will feel that you easily move the body without bending your knees. That should produce reduced lower back arch. Send some photos if you like and I will take a look.
2) Next, you need to make it possible and comfortable:
Check how you are standing. Don't try to touch the back of the legs to the wall. Just heels, backside, upper back, back of head.
Thank you for already checking the other links and finding the relaxing-hip-stretch. I couldn't tell which other stretch you wrote, but most stretches that lengthen a tight front hip can help. One that is functional for daily bending that you need to do anyway is Hip Stretch While You Strengthen Legs.
Hope to hear more about your successes. Send photos and I can post your continuing success in Readers Inspiring Stories.
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Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from selected ones. See if your answers are already here by clicking links and archives. Read success stories of these methods and send your own.
Have The Fitness Fixer e-mailed to you, free. Click "updates via e-mail" - Health Expert Updates (trumpet icon) upper right column.
On the web, Grand Rounds is a collection of the best on-line medical posts from the past week. A different host works hard each week to find and list the articles. This is different from the Grand Rounds in a hospital, which is a lecture for doctors about a patient or topic.
Thank you Dr. Deb this week's host for doing the hard work of collecting and featuring our posts, and listing them in a quick, uncluttered format.
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Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from selected ones. See if your answers are already here by clicking links and archives. Read success stories of these methods and send your own.
Have The Fitness Fixer e-mailed to you, free. Click "updates via e-mail" - Health Expert Updates (trumpet icon) upper right column.
Here is Friday Fast Fitness - Strengthen and increase endurance of hands, fingers, and forearms.
Farmers Carry - Hold a heavy briefcase, suitcase, bucket, grocery bags, or other weights with a handle. Hold arms down at your side (or out to the side to add shoulder exercise.) Babies and children love to be swung (safely) forward and back in slings and other inventive carriers held in farmers grip.
Finger Carry - Hold (non-living) items down at your side, to the front, and out to sides with four fingers, three, two, then each one. Don't tighten your hand. Learn to apply strength in relaxed manner. When lifting with one arm, stand straight and get built-in core stabilization exercise, instead of leaning to the other side. You don't need to lean to counter balance the weight - use your muscles instead.
Pinch grip - Increase different grip ability by holding the weight pinched between the pads of your fingers instead of resting the weight inside the curled fist. Hold a book or heavier weight down at your side with 'pinch grip.'
Photo uploads still not loading. Several posts and reader stories have been postponed. Grip techniques on today's Fast Fitness are (hopefully) easy to visualize. Click the photo credits to see them on Flickr.
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Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from selected ones. New questions will make their way to the top of the schedule in about 2 months. Check if your answers are already here by clicking links and archives. Read success stories of these methods and send your own.
Have The Fitness Fixer e-mailed to you, free. Click "updates via e-mail" - Health Expert Updates (trumpet icon) upper right column.
Dr. Rob writes: "Getting fit can prevent the need for drugs... Jolie Bookspan discusses the development of an international academy to certify fitness trainers using her techniques. Congratulations Jolie! People have been telling me that I am certifiable for a long time. I just haven't taken the time to get certified in whatever they are talking about."
Thanks Dr. Rob. More good news is that the Academy and the certifications we will teach are not only for fitness trainers. Physicians, allied health, and all who want to learn healthier ways of moving are welcome to come and learn.
On the web, Grand Rounds is a collection of the best on-line medical posts from the past week. A different host works hard each week to find and list the articles. This is different from the Grand Rounds in a hospital, which is a lecture for doctors about a patient or topic. Thank you to Dr. Rob, this week's host, for doing the hard work of collecting and featuring our posts.
--- Have The Fitness Fixer e-mailed to you, free. Click "updates via e-mail" - Health Expert Updates (trumpet icon) upper right column.
This weekend, we will be at the International Black Belt Hall of Fame. Top martial artists and their students attend from all over the world.
I will teach a seminar on Stretching Smarter. Research is increasingly showing that conventional stretching is often not preventing or helping heal injuries. My seminar covers state of the art changes to stretch methods to restore function rather than doing artificial movements for arbitrary range of motion. Stretching Smarter workshops for the general public and medical personnel are planned for the Spring of 2009. Through cooperation of the International Academy of Functional Fitness, we hope to have certifications in place. See information on workshops on my website CLASS page.
Grandmaster Kanzler and Kim Harper and staff work tirelessly all year to make each year's Hall of Fame event. Photos are still not posting to show Hall of Fame training and the seminars. Hopefully will follow. For now, it's a martial arts visualization exercise. Paul and I were inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame several years ago and have been invited back each year as teachers. I am back in a white do-gi (karate training uniform). I left karate years ago to compete, train, and teach in other styles. This year, Paul reopened our karate dojo (training hall) after many years. I have returned to karate as his student. Check the CLASS page if you want to study karate with Paul at the new center. Scroll down to the karate class description.
I won't have e-mail for a few days to answer questions. Several posts are having technical trouble posting my replies to comments anyway, as part of overall temporary difficulties with the Blogger. Blogger needs a rest too, why not. I am preparing some of the reader questions as posts to come.
The Hall of Fame event is by invitation only. To attend or stop by and say hello this weekend, contact the International Headquarters of the International USA Martial Arts Association, 1-800-456-3872. Tell them I referred you.
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Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from selected ones. See if your answers are already here by clicking links and archives. Read success stories of these methods and send your own.
Have The Fitness Fixer e-mailed to you, free. Click "updates via e-mail" - Health Expert Updates (trumpet icon) upper right column.
Today the United States observes the national and state holiday of Veterans Day, formerly called Armistice Day and Remembrance Day.
November 11 is the anniversary of the 11th hour signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. It is commemorated annually to remember military veterans.
Important to remember, is that by an Act of Congress in 1938, it was intended as, "A day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace."
Click the label Spirit under this post for ideas for more peaceful dealings in the world. Peace must be practiced like any other exercise, to make you fit and strong.
To promote a safer healthier world, I will donate signed books as gifts to Fitness Fixer readers serving in harm's way. I have a small supply of the third edition expanded "Ab Revolution™ No More Crunches No More Back Pain," if you can cover shipping. Contact me through the BOOKS link of my web site and let me know your APO.
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Which Stretch Stops Back Pain by Making Neutral Spine Possible?
Monday, November 10, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
What can you do if you're too tight to stand and move in neutral spine? A common lower back pain occurs after long standing, walking, and upright activity. The most common cause is exaggerated inward curve in the lower spine - a bad posture called hyperlordosis or overarching which pinches the joints called facets and the surrounding soft tissue. An obvious treatment is to simply stop the cause, and restore neutral spine.
Which specific stretches relieve the tight muscles that make neutral spine difficult?
Usually the tight muscles are in the front of the hip (anterior hip muscles) called hip flexors. Several specific easy stretches restore resting length to the front hip. Several of my patients and readers find that posterior hip stretches also help quickly. Liz first wrote in with her success story, How a Reader Stopped Recurring Pain, Got Stronger, and Said Aha!
Liz continues her story:
"Dear Dr Bookspan, "Just a few days ago I checked back to read your blog…since I posted my "Short history" which turned out to not be so short. I was particularly trying to share one thing that had happened to me, for which I couldn't find any specific help until I read your blog, which was back pain after bike riding.
"Even short walks hurt my back before I discovered your work, let alone the way my back felt after a bike ride, a future of pain, getting fat and depressed from lack of activity.
(trouble persists with getting photos to load - Liz' photo should be here and hopefully will soon)
"I thought I'd send at least one photo of me on my bike (I think I have mastered the dorky cyclist look) after a 12 km ride home from work and 12 kms to work that morning. If it hadn't been for you I would not have been able to do this, I would have not experienced the joy it gives me to use my muscles, feel my body doing what it was meant to do.
"I like being able to look after myself and not rely on an external source, like a chiropractor, to keep me well. Whenever I take out your book (Fix Your Own Pain) to refer to, my husband says, 'oh oh, what's wrong?' Mostly now it's just to refresh my memory of an exercise or principle you have written or to check I'm not doing something terrible to my knees. What a marvelous reference book it is.
"After I hurt my back during my first trial cycling to work, I read so many books and articles and web pages on back pain, and many on cycling and back pain. Mostly they were about pain caused by the racing position or impact injuries from bumps in the road. Then I read one of your blog entries where a readers/patient explained he had to give up cycling because of the pain he experienced in his lower back a while after he had been on a ride.
"This is what happened to me, in that blog you explained that a few specific stretches were useful for specific muscles. I checked many pictures of anatomy, which named the muscles that I seemed to be having trouble with, I went back to your book and read more about hips and how tight muscles in the hip area can cause lower back pain. It seems, sitting at a computer all day, then using my leg and hip muscles to propel myself up really steep hills was causing the muscles in my hips to tighten a great deal. That's why I tried your figure 4 stretch.
"It did precisely what I needed it to do, now if I don't do it regularly, I can feel my pelvis is tilting the wrong way, all by itself and my lower back starts to hurt. And when I lie on my back my front hip/pelvic bones (iliac crest) stick way out because of the extreme tilt. Then I do the lying figure 4 stretch and they go back into the right place. Now I know exactly what to do to end the pain and I wanted to make sure, should anyone be searching for help, that they will know there is an answer and your work is the source.
"Thank you for helping me find my joy." Liz.
Neutral spine is pictured at left. Too much inward curve (hyperlordosis) is pictured in the middle and right drawings. Abs are too long, lower spine is pinched in back.
Habitually keeping too much inward curve (hyperlordosis) shortens and tightens lower back muscles. Tight lower back muscles pull the back of the pelvis upward, tilting it outward in back and forward in front. The tight area feels normal when held shortened (hyperlordotic) and resists lengthening enough to stand in neutral spine. Stretching the lower back allows neutral spine to become possible and feel normal.
I wrote back to Liz asking if she was using anterior hip (hip flexor) stretches too and if she felt the posterior hip stretches working to let her restore straight hip instead of tilting forward.
Liz replied:
"Yes, being a mostly sitting worker I do the hip flexor (anterior front hip) stretch too, I'm sure it helps my ability to voluntarily keep my hips tilted correctly all the time, I can feel with my hands when they 'flatten'. I do this stretch everyday, sometimes twice a day and it's very helpful. I have on occasion skipped this stretch and only done the posterior hip stretch and I've found I have had no trouble achieving neutral spine. But I do it anyway, it's got to be good for me!
"This is my description of the reason I do the posterior hip stretch, mostly on my bike ride days (though it's so good for me, now I do it twice a day) - Even though I am tilting my hips voluntarily to the best of my ability, if I have not done the posterior hip stretch I feel a sharp pinching in my lower back, where the 'dimples' are, sometimes only one side sometimes both. I feel my front hip bones with my hands and can tell my pelvis is not correctly angled, I can't tilt it correctly any further without starting to use muscle force. Not the gentle neutral spine you describe.
"When I lie down and try to gently straighten my spine to neutral, I find I can't and my front hip bones stick out quite a bit. It feels like a muscle somewhere is holding on to my pelvic bone so firmly I can't move it without force. So then I do the posterior hip stretch on both sides for 30 seconds or more if it's feeling wonderful. Often I feel one side is far tighter than the other. Then I test again by lying straight, feeling my front hip bones with my hands and gently moving into neutral spine and I find they are nice and flat, and stay that way. Also the pinching pain goes quite rapidly. Occasionally the pain doesn't go away for a few hours, a hot bath helps. If this happens I do the posterior hip stretch a few times over an hour or two and that also helps. I expect this means I may have done a wee bit of damage to the soft tissue, amazing how the body heals.
"I have discovered that even on non-biking days, if I do this stretch regularly, I rarely feel any pain in my back at all. I'm not 100% certain if it's the combination of stretches that I do, including the hip flexor stretch, but I feel this one is critical for the correction of some kind of internal postural muscle, that is not behaving in a natural way, through some unconscious action of mine."
Usually, no special exercises are needed to have neutral spine. Worse, a common scenario is someone doing exercises then walking away with the spine still arched, never applying the exercise to real life. They become stronger people with the same bad posture - the exercise was not used for function. Instead, just stop the bad position and deliberately move your spine to neutral. However, when the area is too tight to move to neutral, here are stretches. The stretches don't change your voluntary posture, you do that. They just can make it possible:
First, Don't Tighten:
First make sure you don't tighten or clench abdominal or posterior hip and leg muscles. Tightening does not change posture, inhibits movement, and makes it hard to move to neutral spine.
Then, check if you just need a guide to help feel how to reduce the lower spine arch without pushing the hip forward, leaning back, or moving everything else:
If you find you are still too tight, stretch the front of the hip (anterior) and back (posterior):
Anterior Hip Stretches:
Until I make a post for this one, a relaxing start to stretch the front of the hip is to lie face up with knees bent and ankles crossed. Let knees separate to each side as far as comfortable. Keep lower legs next to each other, not one on top of the other. Do this without shoes, to fit your feet side by side without resting the lower leg on the foot. Experiment with pressing your lower back toward the floor. This stretches front and back at the same time, as needed for straighter standing. If this stretch is too much at first, start lying on your back with only one knee bent to the side, the other leg straight. Rest bottom of the foot of the bent leg at the knee of the straight leg.
A nice stretch over a bed or bench - Quick Relaxing Hip Stretch. If this one is too much, try it lying flat with a pillow under your hips. Gradually use a bigger pillow. Finally, lie with legs stretching down from the edge of the bed and no pillow.
A big stretch - Relaxing Hip, Leg, and Groin Stretch. If the Relaxing Hip, Leg, and Groin Stretch is too much to start with, do it face up instead of face down (see the first stretch above).
Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from selected ones. See if your answers are already here by clicking links and archives. Read success stories of these methods and send your own.
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Here is Fast Friday Fitness - practice patience and peel pomegranates for hand dexterity, and the antioxidants and fiber you can't get from juice.
It's pomegranate season. For the next few months, look for red, round fruit with edible seeds, called arils, prized for health benefits:
Cut each end off thinly, enough to reach white pulp without cutting into the arils
Score the peel into quarter cuts with a knife, enough to reach white pulp without cutting into the arils. The idea is to make it easy to break open into four quarters.
Finger the arils from the cut sections into a bowl. Discard the whitish sectional pulp into a bowl or compost heap.
Photos still not loading. Please use imagination exercise.
It may take as much as 5 minutes to patiently tease out the arils. Good for practicing breathing, and good posture while standing over a counter.
Eat the sweet, slightly tart arils with a spoon. They are crunchy and juicy.
Questions come in by the hundreds. I make posts from selected ones.See if your answers are already here - click Fitness Fixer labels, links, archives, andIndex. Read success stories and send your own.
Subscribe free - updates via e-mail or RSS, upper right. For personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Limited Class space for personal feedback. Top students may earn certification throughDrBookspan.com/Academy. Learn more in Dr. Bookspan's Books.
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Photos of Paul Peeling Pomegranates scheduled, but not loaded by the blogger
On the web, Grand Rounds is a collection of the best on-line medical posts from the past week. This is different from the Grand Rounds in a hospital, which is a lecture for doctors about a patient or topic.
Thank you to this week's host for doing the hard work of collecting and featuring our posts.
--- Have The Fitness Fixer e-mailed to you, free. Click "updates via e-mail" - Health Expert Updates (trumpet icon) upper right column.
New International Academy Using Jolie Bookspan's Methods
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Physical therapist George Nakhlé from Lebanon runs sports medicine and physical therapy training seminars using my research and methods. He will be joining the efforts of the new International Academy of Functional Sports Medicine where students can earn certification in several methods.
Mr. Nakhlé wrote me:
"I live in Lebanon and I have ordered many of your books. I am sure that your ideas are the true ones.
"I told the Order of Physiotherapists in Lebanon about you and I gave them your biography. They were VEDDY VEDDY happy to have you teaching us your lovely methods.
"The (first) seminar was titled "Muscular Functions and Training" for 15 hrs and focused on the training of the major muscles... Before one week of the seminar, I studied and even memorized "Health and Fitness 3rd edition" and I was able to explain and answer almost all of the questions even though the participants were well educated.
"There was a 4th-year physical therapy student between the participants and he was amazed about the information given. All others were also amazed from the information especially those about metabolism .. "Health and Fitness 3rd edition" was my strongest weapon in this seminar which took place in Beirut on 13-14 Sep 2008."
Photos are still not loading. Please check back soon to see Mr. Nakhlé and classes.
In the photo (coming soon, we hope), Mr. Nakhlé demonstrates a "forward head" (and so does the model) so you can recognize it. The forward head is an often-missed cause of upper back, shoulder, and neck pain, sometimes called upper crossed syndrome. It is not a medical problem, but a bad posture that is easy to fix without drugs, surgery, or treatments. Start by clicking this link and click the links in that post for more. His seminar students will be pictured below (soon).
Mr. Nakhlé continues:
"I always read the Fitness Fixer index. I have managed a seminar for fitness trainers from 3 weeks, I relied mainly on your books. I gave the trainers a certificate of attendance signed from me but their are many others who prefer a foreign certificate. Can we do something like that in the future?"
Since then, Mr. Nakhle has joined the International Academy of Functional Sports Medicine since then, renames the Academy of Functional Exercise Medicine (AFEM). Planning has begin to run World Congresses with internationally attended exercise medicine seminars, and certifications in several training and rehabilitation methods for medical personnel, allied health, physical therapists, fitness instructors, and the public. I have taught these classes for many years. Now there are opportunities for certification. A Fellow advancement program is available to physicians and researchers.
The organization is not for profit or personal gain. It is non-sectarian and dedicated to peace and health of all. I will be donating time and resources for classes and help to elderly and children of the world.
If you are interested to help through your good ideas and talents, or be part of this organization, let us know. I hope to post more about the Academy and certifications as we develop it.
--- Read success stories of these methods and send your own. See if your answers are already here by clicking labels under posts, links in posts, archives at right, and The Fitness Fixer Index. Subscribe to The Fitness Fixer, click "updates via e-mail"(under trumpet) upper right. For personal medical questions - Replies to Medical Questions. Limited Class spaces for personal feedback. Top students may apply for certification throughDrBookspan.com/Academy. Learn more in Dr. Bookspan's Books.
Hello Fitness Fixer Readers. Thank you for the great comments you have been leaving on posts of your successes and some great questions. I have prepared replies to several readers, however these replies are not posting. I have sent them on to Healthline to see what they can do.
The software for blog posts has been having troubles recently. I am not the comment moderator. It usually takes a few days for comments to be reviewed by Healthline, then posted, but for posts, readers cannot comment, and I am not able to reply to questions already there
Stand by and all will be answered. Soon. Eventually.
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See if your answers are already here by clicking links and archives. Read success stories of these methods and send your own.
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They are recruiting experimental subjects who have experienced immersion pulmonary edema to participate in studies to investigate causes of this condition. The studies concentrate on effects of cold-water facial and body immersion on pulmonary arterial pressure and pulmonary arterial wedge pressure. It will also analyze subjects' DNA to see if people who have experienced immersion pulmonary edema (IPE) may have a genetic predisposition.
DNA Analysis Study Subjects over 18 years old who have experienced immersion pulmonary edema are needed to donate a small amount of blood for this DNA analysis. This will involve one blood draw and a review of past medical records. Subjects will be paid $50 for participation in this part of the study.
Immersion and Exercise Study A small group of subjects will be studied more extensively to investigate the effect of cold water immersion on pulmonary arterial and pulmonary arterial wedge pressures. Subjects will exercise underwater on a cycle ergometer (bicycle) modified for use in a pool inside a hyperbaric chamber. Subjects will be monitored with arterial and pulmonary artery catheters.
Subjects must come to the laboratory about 3 hours before the immersion and exercise study for a physical exam, an exercise test, orientation, and scheduling for the experimental day. The experimental day (about 8 hours) takes place at least three days later.
Subjects involved in the immersion and exercise part of the study will be paid up to $350 for participation.
Subjects undergoing immersion and exercise must be 18-40 years of age, physically fit (regularly exercise at least twice a week), and have no physical impairment that would prevent them from participation.
Immersion Pulmonary Edema Immersion pulmonary edema is a sudden accumulation of excessive fluid in the lung air spaces during swimming or diving. It is characterized by cough, shortness of breath, decreased blood oxygen levels, and coughing up blood. This condition has caused death. Its cause is unknown, but it can occur in swimmers and divers who are usually young and healthy, including military recruits. It may occur in swimmers or divers who have experienced similar conditions before without any problems.
To Participate Contact: For more information, please contact Dionne Peacher at IPEdivestudy@notes.duke.edu or 919-668-0001.
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