In my last post, I discussed how the bell curve could put a lot of training myths and fallacies to rest. But if you think that the outliers dominate training and fitness, wait until you look at their effect on health care.

In health care, and most certainly in the sports medicine world, clinicians continue to believe that symmetry and alignment are critical in the discussion of injury rehabilitation and prevention. In the same breath, there are countless clinicians (be they physical therapists, chiropractors, massage therapists or physicians) that go on to describe biomechanical mal-alignments and “imbalances”, and then spend their lives trying to treat patients that present with these “syndromes”. In their minds, it is obvious: that which is not symmetrical must in fact be a cause of your _____ pain (insert any typical musculoskeletal complaint here).

I never cease to be amazed that the human species has survived thousands of years with the scourge of the dreaded biomechanical mal-alignment. Wow. It is hard to believe how we, as a species, could ever survive a quarter inch difference in leg length as we ran through the jungle, or how we didn’t die of neck pain given that one shoulder was higher than the other.

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Sometimes the reality of our world is stunning ... bewildering ... and just plain sad. And then there is the story of Nadya Suleman - all of the above, and then some.

If you've not read the story, let's give you the Reader's Digest abridged version: Unemployed single mother of 6 (all via in-vitro fertilization), living with her parents, has octuplets (again, all via in-vitro fertilization), bringing the total to 14 children. You can read more about her story here, here, and here .

As it stands on it's own, that might be enough to make you wonder. In my eyes, this isn't about whether a person should or should not have children, nor is it an issue of morality (or lack thereof). What it amounts to is a simple reality check.

We are in difficult financial times. Along with that, our health care system is struggling to meet the demands of both the insured and uninsured. We live on a planet with 6 billion people, many living in squallor and without any form of supportive family network of which to speak. The planet's resources are slowly dwindling, and climate change is evident.

And within all of this, there is a woman who wants to have 14 children by in-vtiro fertilization - and a doctor (or doctors) who are prepared to meet her request (ethics be damned) - because, well, "she can".

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For many, the bell curve might be a faded memory from a college statistics class. It might be a painful memory at that! But it can also serve as the foundation for many discussions in the health and fitness world.

For those who may have forgotten, S.E. Smith notes that “a bell curve is a graph which depicts a normal distribution of variables, in which most values cluster around a mean (average), while outliers can be found above and below the mean”. A bell curve indicates that the variables are within normal expectations and behaving in a predictable manner.

Although the context and relevance of a normal distribution are well known, it is amazing how these can be selectively forgotten in the health, fitness, and sport worlds. We could put a lot of training myths and fallacies to rest, once and for all, by rigorously testing our assumptions and using what we know about the bell curve.

First, we need a brief refresher class in statistics. Then, with bell curve in hand, we will dive headlong into myth-squashing and envelope-pushing.

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There is a lot to be said - for not having anything to say.

Maybe my brain is just tapped out today. That is certainly possible. Maybe I'm just not in the "writing zone".  That is also a fair possibility. In all reality, right now I may not even be able to tell you what zip code the "writing zone" is in.That's how bad it can get.

In a perfect world, I like to write every 2 or 3 or 4 days. That is certainly dependent upon "life" and time and schedules and all the stuff we all wrestle on a daily basis. It's not a rigid schedule, and I don't live any die by whether I write anything earth-shattering or not. I remind myself that I can always do like most major media writers and pen something on Sarah Palin - oh wait, I've tried that a few times already - or some other noteworthy (or not-so-noteworthy) personality in the news.

Creativity finds us in strange times and places. It doesn't care to arrive at times that are convenient. It is opportunistic and happens when you least expect it. There goes a writing schedule - out the window, into the stillness of the night.

Much as we all struggle with the push and pull of our worlds, I should probably just acknowledge this struggle unto it's own, like any other - and just "let go". It is "being" - it is the "Zen of writing". It is "as it is". It can't be forced, because when it is, it pushes back at you with even more force. As I always try to remind myself, the universe will provide ... and when we let life happen, good things prevail upon us. 

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