The magic sponge Some of you (actually probably very few now that I think about it) may remember when on-field injury treatment was a bucket of water and a sponge. It was a bit of a standing joke in sport, probably because it appeared to miraculously work 99% of the time – hence the term […]
Possibly very little, yet it seems that the training mode, philosophy, cult – call it what you will, provokes some extreme responses in exercise or health professionals. Full disclosure, while I haven’t had any direct involvement with, or particular knowledge of Crossfit™ (CF), my morning runs often took me past CF groups some knock-off versions, […]
Evidence-based practice (EBP) is an offshoot from a movement within medicine and health services (Evidence-based Medicine, EBM), that called for clinical decisions to be based on the best available research knowledge and critical scientific evidence. The origins of EBM are vague but are usually attributed to health researcher Archie Cochrane (1972), who complained that medical practice […]
The power of pauses I was doing some prep for a lecture last year – the topic, osteoporosis and exercise – and I came across a curious suggestion in a paper by Srinivasan et al (2002). They tried some low-intensity loading of animal bone, basically by applying a bit of bending load to bones. In […]
Health harshening the exercise buzz? With the emergence of the ‘Exercise is Medicine’ (EIM) movement, biomedical models of health have been applied to exercise and physical activity, with seemingly limited success (Halall et al, 2012). The value and benefits of physical activity, exercise, sport and recreation extend well beyond physical measures of health. The risk […]
My computer screen was commandeered this morning by a video advert featuring a former All Black captain and his elite athlete wife, running together and subliminally planting turmeric in my mind. I replayed the clip a couple of times and I think the message was ‘taking turmeric supplements somehow provides a fitness edge’. Turmeric belongs […]
One of my graduate assistant roles at the University of Alberta was to conduct fitness tests for the Faculty’s Fitness Testing Unit. The Unit targeted the general population and their health and wellbeing and was well subscribed. We followed standardised fitness testing protocols that included skinfolds, a bike test to estimate aerobic fitness, a sit […]
Gimmicks and fads have been ‘part and parcel’ of societies for centuries. We only need to look to some of the medical treatments employed throughout the ages. Bloodletting, supposedly a fad treatment for a range of maladies, has documented use as far back as 3,000 years ago. Yet that fad was still in vogue up […]
Sometimes I wonder about the supposed advances in sciences, particularly the rapid emergence of technologies, and whether they are often more problematic than helpful. We live in a world where we prefer to see things as causes and effects. Mostly we like to believe that when something happens there has to be an identifiable cause […]