If you are a sports fan, and more specifically a fan of pro basketball, football, or baseball, you are probably acutely aware of draft day. If you have a favorite team, you’ve probably got your fingers crossed that your team is going to draft a player that fills a few holes, or becomes a franchise player, or at least puts more fans in the seats and brings some much-needed excitement to game day.

In the midst of all of this draft day hoopla, we have the hopes and dreams of countless collegiate athletes. They have toiled at their sport for years, and now they find out if they are going to be pursuing a career in pro sports. I guess that makes perfect sense for a college senior. It is a natural progression – go to school, play your sport while doing so, get a degree, go on to play your sport professionally, and fall back on the aforementioned degree if anything happens to the dream in the process.

Now we have a new phenomenon to deal with – the underclassman declaring for the draft. And with that, the bastion of higher education has become nothing more than a farm team for pro sports.

Is it appropriate for a college freshman to enter the draft? And perhaps the bigger question is – should the professional sports leagues allow it in the first place?

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It’s not easy being green these days. Kermit the frog had it right all the way back in 1969. “Being green” takes on some new meaning over the past couple of weeks. So for this episode of Rhubarb Ruminations, we’ll explore how “being green” is more than just an environmental call-to-arms.

#1: First, let’s start with the environmental side of the coin, especially with the growing BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It would seem to me that if I am going to drill a well that is one mile below the ocean’s surface, that I should also have the technology and plans in place to remedy a problem should bad things happen. Because we know that somewhere along the line, somehow, bad things happen. It’s inevitable. But even if we can get beyond the amazing lack of planning, we are still left with the anger inherent to people losing their livelihood. And in the bigger picture, it’s just another wake-up call to realize that we’re doing a fine job of systematically killing the planet (why is it that REM is playing in my mind right now?).

But hold on a second. I understand the anger involved. And I, for one, sit flabbergasted at the levels of stupidity we’ve witnessed as this problem unfolds (or comes bubbling to the surface, if you prefer). However, I don’t see how Rep. Joseph Cao can suggest that BP America president Lamar McKay should commit hara-kiri because of the spill. 

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This is the sixth in a series of RunSmart videos. The series is on-going, with a new video released on a biweekly basis. These videos complement the material presented in the book “RunSmart: A Comprehensive Approach To Injury-Free Running”. The full series of videos can be found here. A transcription of the video will also be available with each post.

For those of you that are interested in a more interactive learning environment, consider attending a RunSmart Level One, Level Two, or Level Three program. Level One focuses on Principles, Level Two on Performance and Training Program Development, and Level Three on Physiotherapy and Running Injury Recovery. CCU credit for physical therapists is available for Level One (3.5 CCU), and is pending for the complete program (13.1 CCU). Further CCU details will follow as they are available.

In this video, I will discuss what I call the “no fly zone”. There is a tendency for runners to emphasize the aspects of their running gait that are in front of their body, though the propulsive phase of gait is that which is primarily responsible for moving the body forward. The “no fly zone” is the area on the front side of the body which has typically been the focus for arm and leg swing.

I hope you enjoy the video series. If you would like me to address any specific aspect of the RunSmart approach, drop me an email or add a comment to this article.

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It is a topic that makes the rounds on a regular basis: changing an athlete’s running mechanics. Now, it has a more formal clinical term - “gait retraining for runners”. Gait labs around the country, most notably the Spaulding National Running Center at Harvard University, are analyzing running gait and using various feedback mechanisms to enhance or refine the athlete’s movement patterns. The premise is that you can change the gait mechanics of a runner in order to either address a current injury, prevent injury, or optimize their running performance.

This kind of thinking shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to those in the sports sciences community. Why this is such a big deal in the running community circa 2011, I have no idea.

Clinicians and coaches alike wouldn’t think twice about changing a golfer’s swing, or the throwing mechanics of a pitcher, shot putter or a javelin thrower. So why is this suddenly a hot news item in 2011? Look no further than the Journal of Orthopedic And Sports Physical Therapy and an editorial entitled “Gait Retraining For Runners: In Search Of The Ideal” in the December 2011 issue.

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