Free cold laser treatment… is one hot November special! Come in any time this month and receive one treatment for free! Cold laser is very effective for both pain relief and speeding up the healing process.
Overuse Injuries in young athletes… who generally heal quickly, but the immature skeleton of a young athlete has some particular features to be aware of and to protect. Overuse injuries are different from a broken bone or sprained ankle. In the U.S., 2.6 million hospital emergency room visits annually are for children and young adults ages 5-24. Close to 50% of the injuries of middle school and high school students doing sports are overuse injuries, and it is estimated that about half of those are preventable. About two out of every five brain injuries among children are connected to participation in sports and recreational activities. About one fifth of youth athletes say they have felt pressure to play their sport with an injury. For children focusing on one sport starting very young, there is a 70-80% attrition rate where the child quits the sport by age 15. This could be due to programs that overemphasize winning, or simply the result of burnout. Seventy-five percent of American families with school-aged kids have at least one child participating in organized sports.
Sports participation can benefit a child by developing team player skills and discipline, providing peer socialization, and encouraging a positive attitude toward (while maintaining) general fitness. Overemphasis on competitive success can be driven by lofty goals of college scholarships, national recognition, and maybe even Olympic competition or a professional career. An athlete in high school will often play through pain because it is the last season of their high school career and they refuse to let pain tell them it is time to rest. Risk factors can be extrinsic; like overtraining, poor technique, bad equipment, poor coaching, inadequate rest, and/or too frequent of competition. Intrinsic factors deal with the maturity of the skeleton. The growth plate is very vulnerable to injury, much more than ligaments and tendons. Ligaments and tendons can pull on the bone where they attach to the bones. These areas are quite vulnerable to avulsion problems. These other injuries can also involve bursa, neurovascular structures & head injuries. Overuse injuries are caused by repetition that is not maximal but where rest is not adequate to allow structural adaptation to occur. Good training slowly brings the athlete to a stronger level and more able to endure the particular body stresses that the sport requires. The potential for injury greatly increases when too much demand is placed on the body and then repeated over and over. The area weakens from the repetition, while the loading continues and the end result is micro trauma. Continuation of the sport without rest just doesn’t allow the body to heal.
Gymnastics and football are two sports where participants are most likely to get injured. I taught gymnastics over 20 years and began to see the sport get really scary. Not only were the gymnasts doing more risky aerial stunts, but children were being pushed to start the sport at pre-school ages, and then immediately put into concentrated training. Pre-school is a great time to have fun in the gym, but not to start worrying if the child is the next Olympic hopeful. Six year olds are not anatomically the same as sixteen year olds, nor are their minds meant to deal with an overly ambitious coach. Nadia Commenich didn’t even start gymnastics until she was 7, and it was after her success in Canada that the rules were changed to disallow people under sixteen from competing in the Olympics. Perhaps people saw some abuse in the coaching of these very young girls. In my opinion that is a very good rule because the coach has a great influence on young athletes; even to talk them into taking risks they are not ready for and cannot understand how life changing an injury might be.
If you find yourself with the opportunity to talk to a young athlete during the upcoming athletic season, encourage them to let themselves heal completely from any injury that has already or might occur. Very few high school athletes go on to play their sport beyond high school, while an injury that isn’t allowed to heal will most likely haunt them forever. Remind them there are other things in life, sports isn’t everything. And finally, when a person’s existence revolves around doing “their favorite sport”, and an injury takes them out of that sport, they will often struggle with depression. Adults in that athlete’s life need to be aware and helpful, including a willingness to help that person seek professional counselling when necessary.
The “Awe Effect”… so-named by recent studies, is a dramatic feeling that has the power to inspire, heal, change attitudes, and bring people together. What feeling are we talking about? Psychologist, Dr.Dacher Kaltner of UC Berkeley says, “Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast or beyond human scale that transcends our current understanding of things.” Obvious ‘awe’ experiences are seeing the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, or fireworks. Studies show it can be as simple and common as a friend showing overwhelming kindness or seeing a butterfly open and close its huge colorful wings.
For years, emotions were put into 6 categories: happy, sad, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise. Awe was probably included in the surprise category, rather than get its own. Albert Einstein is quoted to describe feelings of awe as “the source of all true art and science.” “Wonderment” is another way to describe the emotion “awe”. For example, the way one feels as a newborn’s hand curls around their finger, seeing the fall color changes, or a memorable live musical performance.
Experiencing ‘awe’ is proving to be healing. Research has shown that exposure to nature improves the immune system and lowers blood pressure. It also seems to heal the psyche, which is something much harder to measure. Group experiences in the “great outdoors” have become a way to tap into this phenomenon. Being outside in nature while in the company of others is known to be a therapeutic combination. Veterans Expeditions was founded by a veteran who had experienced this type of healing. This organization works to help returning soldiers from all eras get outdoors with the Sierra Club. Studies show a compelling pattern of an improved sense of wellbeing.
Since it’s so good for us, here are some ways you might add some “awe” experiences to your holiday season this year. In general, think about things that make you happy, and then go do them. ☺
Overuse Injuries in young athletes… who generally heal quickly, but the immature skeleton of a young athlete has some particular features to be aware of and to protect. Overuse injuries are different from a broken bone or sprained ankle. In the U.S., 2.6 million hospital emergency room visits annually are for children and young adults ages 5-24. Close to 50% of the injuries of middle school and high school students doing sports are overuse injuries, and it is estimated that about half of those are preventable. About two out of every five brain injuries among children are connected to participation in sports and recreational activities. About one fifth of youth athletes say they have felt pressure to play their sport with an injury. For children focusing on one sport starting very young, there is a 70-80% attrition rate where the child quits the sport by age 15. This could be due to programs that overemphasize winning, or simply the result of burnout. Seventy-five percent of American families with school-aged kids have at least one child participating in organized sports.
Sports participation can benefit a child by developing team player skills and discipline, providing peer socialization, and encouraging a positive attitude toward (while maintaining) general fitness. Overemphasis on competitive success can be driven by lofty goals of college scholarships, national recognition, and maybe even Olympic competition or a professional career. An athlete in high school will often play through pain because it is the last season of their high school career and they refuse to let pain tell them it is time to rest. Risk factors can be extrinsic; like overtraining, poor technique, bad equipment, poor coaching, inadequate rest, and/or too frequent of competition. Intrinsic factors deal with the maturity of the skeleton. The growth plate is very vulnerable to injury, much more than ligaments and tendons. Ligaments and tendons can pull on the bone where they attach to the bones. These areas are quite vulnerable to avulsion problems. These other injuries can also involve bursa, neurovascular structures & head injuries. Overuse injuries are caused by repetition that is not maximal but where rest is not adequate to allow structural adaptation to occur. Good training slowly brings the athlete to a stronger level and more able to endure the particular body stresses that the sport requires. The potential for injury greatly increases when too much demand is placed on the body and then repeated over and over. The area weakens from the repetition, while the loading continues and the end result is micro trauma. Continuation of the sport without rest just doesn’t allow the body to heal.
Gymnastics and football are two sports where participants are most likely to get injured. I taught gymnastics over 20 years and began to see the sport get really scary. Not only were the gymnasts doing more risky aerial stunts, but children were being pushed to start the sport at pre-school ages, and then immediately put into concentrated training. Pre-school is a great time to have fun in the gym, but not to start worrying if the child is the next Olympic hopeful. Six year olds are not anatomically the same as sixteen year olds, nor are their minds meant to deal with an overly ambitious coach. Nadia Commenich didn’t even start gymnastics until she was 7, and it was after her success in Canada that the rules were changed to disallow people under sixteen from competing in the Olympics. Perhaps people saw some abuse in the coaching of these very young girls. In my opinion that is a very good rule because the coach has a great influence on young athletes; even to talk them into taking risks they are not ready for and cannot understand how life changing an injury might be.
If you find yourself with the opportunity to talk to a young athlete during the upcoming athletic season, encourage them to let themselves heal completely from any injury that has already or might occur. Very few high school athletes go on to play their sport beyond high school, while an injury that isn’t allowed to heal will most likely haunt them forever. Remind them there are other things in life, sports isn’t everything. And finally, when a person’s existence revolves around doing “their favorite sport”, and an injury takes them out of that sport, they will often struggle with depression. Adults in that athlete’s life need to be aware and helpful, including a willingness to help that person seek professional counselling when necessary.
The “Awe Effect”… so-named by recent studies, is a dramatic feeling that has the power to inspire, heal, change attitudes, and bring people together. What feeling are we talking about? Psychologist, Dr.Dacher Kaltner of UC Berkeley says, “Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast or beyond human scale that transcends our current understanding of things.” Obvious ‘awe’ experiences are seeing the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, or fireworks. Studies show it can be as simple and common as a friend showing overwhelming kindness or seeing a butterfly open and close its huge colorful wings.
For years, emotions were put into 6 categories: happy, sad, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise. Awe was probably included in the surprise category, rather than get its own. Albert Einstein is quoted to describe feelings of awe as “the source of all true art and science.” “Wonderment” is another way to describe the emotion “awe”. For example, the way one feels as a newborn’s hand curls around their finger, seeing the fall color changes, or a memorable live musical performance.
Experiencing ‘awe’ is proving to be healing. Research has shown that exposure to nature improves the immune system and lowers blood pressure. It also seems to heal the psyche, which is something much harder to measure. Group experiences in the “great outdoors” have become a way to tap into this phenomenon. Being outside in nature while in the company of others is known to be a therapeutic combination. Veterans Expeditions was founded by a veteran who had experienced this type of healing. This organization works to help returning soldiers from all eras get outdoors with the Sierra Club. Studies show a compelling pattern of an improved sense of wellbeing.
Since it’s so good for us, here are some ways you might add some “awe” experiences to your holiday season this year. In general, think about things that make you happy, and then go do them. ☺
- Put down the electronic devices and gaze at the sky. Clouds by day, stars at night.
- Visit a state or national park.
- Describe to a friend or write about a time you felt awe.
- Watch a sunset or a sunrise.
- Play amazing music, whatever fills your spirit. I like Beethoven’s 5th, Europa, Finlandia. Let it envelope you.
- Allow yourself to have awe over simple creations of nature like a pine cone, a quartz rock, the rainbow from a prism.
- For those of us in Colorado, gaze at the scenery and be awed.
