It is the beauty and privilege of living in a country like the United States of America – the freedom of the people to speak freely and maintain their own religious faith and convictions. I fully support an individual’s choice of faith and belief systems, even as they differ from my own or anyone else’ beliefs. I think that as intelligent human beings we can have our faith, and agree to disagree on what it means to the individual in the meantime. Frankly, I enjoy discussions of religion because it gives me a greater insight into the world (and it’s people) and provides me with varying and unique perspective of life on the planet.

The issue of religion and religious freedom once again came to the forefront recently in the media. There was a seemingly inexplicable hue and cry from many people in this country regarding President Obama’s religious convictions. Is he a Muslim? Isn’t he? Better yet, do we really care? Last I looked, the Constitution gives people the freedom to participate in their own religious beliefs, and that freedom would also extend to the President. So if the President of the United States is Catholic – or Hindu – or a Scientologist, for that matter – does he not have the right to do so? Worse yet, why would anyone use that as some form of “reasoning” that he shouldn’t be in the office?  And even beyond that, somehow the debate over his religious beliefs provoked fear in many.

This could have all simply been a blip on the media airwaves. But in my humble opinion, the level of religious intolerance appears to have magnified since that time. Perhaps I am getting more sensitive to it, and perhaps I am more offended by it. Or both.

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This is the third in a series of four articles on Recovery-Centered Training (RCT). This new model of human performance is based on the mechanisms of tissue recovery, adaptation, and development. Not only does it focus on optimizing the sport performance capacity of the athlete, but it also serves as a functional basis for injury prevention-based training. A schematic overview can be found below.

The second primary functional element of Recovery-Centered Training is the cognitive network. This includes the central nervous system, endocrine system, and immune system. The unified goal of these three systems is to maintain the body’s homeostatic mechanisms: the level of blood glucose, core temperature, and fluid balance. They work together to either facilitate or inhibit these metabolic processes.These systems have a direct impact on the body’s ability to adapt to the imposed demands of the environment.

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The pundits use all sorts of platitudes when they describe a game like the 2009 Big 12 Championship. In the past 12 hours, I’ve heard a number of them - “it all counts as a win in the win column” or “winning ugly is still winning”.

All true.

And when everything was said and done last night in the Longhorn’s 13 – 12 victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers, it only took one second on the clock to seal the deal.

But it was the previous 59 minutes and 59 seconds that were so disturbing, and gave the nation of voters (Heisman and BCS alike) plenty of reasons to wonder if the Longhorns should be heading to the national championship game – or not.

There are two things I know from last night’s game. One is that Texas has a spectacular defense - a national caliber defense without doubt. And the other thing I have had re-affirmed is the utterly anemic offensive play-calling that continues to hound the Horns.

First, the defense. Spectacular. Phenomenal. Stifling. What other words are needed to describe it? They gave up just 106 yards to the Huskers – a total of 39 rushing yards and 67 passing yards. The season-low for Nebraska prior to this game was 180 yards. They limited Nebraska to only 5 first downs during the game. Three interceptions. And only four field goals scored against them. I would say that this was a statement game to tell the nation that this defense is truly Pasadena-ready.

But then we have to look at the other side of the ball. And what I am seeing isn’t good.

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Patients put a lot of trust in their health care provider to prescribe treatments and interventions that are in their best interests. But most patients have no idea that many health care providers prescribe treatments that have been shown to have little to no effect, and are no better or worse than Mother Nature herself. Worse yet, these treatments are over-utilized, costing the health care consumer a lot of money in co-pays and premiums.

Health care consumerism is critical. Blind faith in one’s provider is no longer safe nor acceptable in the world of health care today.

A patient needs to be educated in order to establish their own series of checks and balances in the health care world. There are many common medical conditions that exemplify the growing need for health care consumerism. In this post, I will start with an orthopedic condition known as frozen shoulder.

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