Last weekend’s game against Missouri gave us both the lost – and the found – of Texas football. “Lost” was the offensive awakening and resurgence that progressively appeared over the past few weeks. It was now suddenly stranded on a desert island, lost at sea, away without leave, gone without a trace. “Found” in this case was the Longhorns defense. They were dominant again, a quality that has been lacking for some time.
When everything was said and done, the final result was a 17 – 5 Missouri win.
Did I read that correctly? It sounds more like a baseball score than anything else. Five points. One safety and one field goal. That is a pretty anemic offensive showing, when the defense scores almost as many points as the offense.
But I for one knew it was coming – it was just a matter of time.
Jeff Worrell of Advantage Medical has created an intriguing website entitled “PT Talker”. The site focuses on business news and ideas for therapists by presenting podcast interviews with clinicians.
A number of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to participate in an interview with Jeff for his site. The interview, in its entirety, was posted late last week. The title of the podcast is “Mentor, Motivator, Educator, And Healer – The Role Of A Physical Therapist”. The interview can be found here.
As readers of this blog will know, my approach to health and health care is very client- and patient-focused. When speaking of the role of the physical therapist, our profession is at a significant crossroads. The future of health care – and the physical therapy profession specifically – lies in the first three terms: Mentor, Motivator, and Educator. It is the last word - healer – that proves troublesome.
It’s one of the greatest quotes in movie history: “It goes to eleven”.
If you are a guitar player or rock music aficionado, you would attribute this piece of heavy metal existentialism to none other than Nigel Tufnel, lead guitar player for Spinal Tap. Ah yes, the movie/rockumentary (or perhaps mockumentary) “This Is Spinal Tap” is one of my all time favorites. It follows the day-to-day trials and tribulations of the band Spinal Tap and their history as one of the great heavy metal acts of all time.
If you could ever have one movie that displayed all of the “stereotypes” of the heavy metal and rock guitar genres, it would be this movie. The more you know about music history and the musicians, the more inside jokes you will catch, each and every time you watch this movie.
So why has November 11, 2011 been declared “Nigel Tufnel Day”?
Unemployment numbers and slow job growth continue to be an issue for this country. These days, having a job at all is a step in the right direction. People seem to be far less concerned about being over-qualified for a job. Paying the bills takes precedence, doesn’t it?
Of course, you can also be under-qualified (and unprepared) for a certain job. If you don’t meet the job criteria, you will oftentimes have to get more training or experience prior to re-applying for the position.
This seems to be an issue in politics these days. With that said, this episode of the Rhubarb Report takes a look at some seriously ripe political Rhubarb, and ends with a feel-good moment for sports fans everywhere.
Marathon running has become a rather strange social phenomenon over the past decade. It is one that I can’t say that I fully comprehend given the history of running in this country.
There was a time not so long ago – maybe 30 or so years ago – when training for a 5K was the departure point for new and experienced runners alike. This was during the initial “running craze”, when many people turned to running as a way to get up and move and get active. After you ran a few 5Ks, it was a natural progression in thinking to run a 10K. Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn’t. Then, you might decide to progress to a half marathon. You rarely had people going into the sport at the marathon end of the spectrum.
Somewhere along the line, running a marathon entered into the collective psyche of the couch potato.
For many years, it has been hard to believe that the school that gave us Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams has been so deficient on the running back front. Surely there would be some phenomenal high school running back or a dozen in the state of Texas that would be ready to throw on the burnt orange, wouldn’t there?
The last notable Longhorn in the backfield was Jamaal Charles in 2007. Since then, the Longhorn backfield has remained pretty anemic. One hundred yard games were a thing of the past. It has been a long time since I have been able to report that the University Of Texas Longhorns have a running game.
Until now.
No, really. It isn’t an aberration of some sort. It’s not a mirage that happens to exist in the center of DKR Memorial Stadium these days. It is a true, smash-mouth, running game.
There is a lot of finger pointing that goes on in health care.
As a physical therapist, I have to look no further than members of my own profession. Many physical therapists point their fingers at chiropractors, claiming that they see patients more frequently and far longer than they need to be seen. Or that they use passive approaches and dis-empower patients. Or that all they do is manipulate, and that chiropractors think it is a solution for everything.
I have heard the diatribe many times before, and I am sure I will hear it many times again.
Of course, when you point a finger at someone, three point back at you. As for what happens to the thumb, we can discuss that later.
What this amounts to is that there is crap to be found in every profession. It is not just in someone else’s profession, not just on the other side of the fence. It is in your own backyard. The bell curve of clinical excellence has outliers on both sides. It is where we put the focus that is the problem.
Up to 60% of runners will sustain an injury within any given year. Poor running mechanics, in conjunction with poor, ineffective and outdated training methods, can pose a significant injury risk. "RunSmart" was written to address these issues in the running community.
"Running Injuries: Etiology And Recovery- Based Treatment" (co-author Bridget Clark, PT) appears in the third edition and fourth editions of "Clinical Orthopaedic Rehabilitation: A Team Approach" by Charles Giangarra, MD and Robert C. Manske, PT.
Allan Besselink, PT, DPT, Ph.D., Dip.MDT has a unique voice in the world of sports, education, and health care. Read more about Allan here.
Top 5 finalist in three categories: "Best Overall Blog", "Best PT Blog" and "Best Advocacy Blog".
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