Responsibility, Tom Brady & Buying a Car
If you have the knowledge and experience that would drastically help someone obtain their goals and more importantly keep them from becoming injured, are you obligated, even though unsolicited, to assist them? I studied under a Russian Strength coach who said that you have to allow people to be as stupid as they want to be unless they ask for your assistance. Then you had the option as to whether to help them or not. If they pay for your services, you have no choice. They are, in fact, paying for your knowledge and experience. It seems pretty clear-cut. Or is it?
Image that you are a highly educated experienced strength coach and you see, from across the gym, someone pulling a heavy dead lift with a round back. To compound the problem, they can’t get to legal lockout and their spine is still in flexion at the top. You know that with proper setup and technique, they would have much greater level of success and more importantly a lower risk for serious injury. You also know from a specialty in low spine that a “blowout” would ruin their lifting career short term and likely long term, there would be a long painful rehabilitation and the injury would negatively affect them for the rest of their life. You know that this serious and yet you don’t know him, he hasn’t asked for your advice and you know there is good chance he will tell you to go away and mind your own business, you jerk. What do you do? Let Darwin have his way? If this guy blows his back, that’s one less meathead competing for space in the gym. Not a bad trade off, his bad back and more space for you. Mmmmm.
But still there is a nagging sense of responsibility. Strength training is counting on you to improve it one person, one exercise and one rep at a time. This person needs your help whether he knows it or not. How are you going to feel when you hear later about the bar crashing, the screaming, the EMT’s carrying him out of the gym? Then you’re told much later that he lost his job because he could no longer work, his wife left him because he wasn’t the man she married and that he gained 50 pounds of ugly fat because he couldn’t get his ass off the couch, you jerk.
Seems to be a theme here, you’re a jerk either way. Ah, a dilemma it is, Skywalker. This is what I face everyday in the gym. Speak up or shut-up, take your pick. This is not a pop quiz. There is no right or wrong. The individual situation will indicate what is likely to be the correct action but even this approach is not an absolute. But this is easy compared with a researcher doing human studies.
I attended a Rehabilitation Summit last September and one presenter was a highly regarded knee specialist and his discussion focused on ACL tears, particularly in the age group of teenage female athletes. Here is some data:
NCAA
- Greater than 100,000 female participants
- 1/10 of female participants suffer a knee injury
High school injury rate: 1/50 participants
-2.9 million participants
– 50,000 + high school female knee injuries/year
Injury Epidemiology
- ACL injuries are the most common source of disability in the U.S.
- 100,000 ACL’s per year in the U.S.
- ACL injuries result in nearly 1 billion dollars on medical costs per year in the U.S.
- Female athletes are 4 to 6 times more likely to have a ACL injury
Through research, certain movement deficits have been linked to the increased likelihood of having an ACL injury. We were shown studies were young females athletes were tested for various deficits and then followed are several years to see who would experience one or more ACL injuries based on those deficits. Keep in mind that an ACL injury is painful, life altering and expensive. Once an injury is experienced, the likelihood of another event to the injured knee or healthy knee is greatly increased as well. Also, the down stream kick in the ass is a greater risk for osteoarthritis and at a much younger age.
Here is the dilemma. Knowing the deficits and movements that are linked to ACL injuries, do you, as a researcher, intervene and direct a test subject to seek correction to prevent the increased risk of an ACL or do you allow the events to take their course to maintain the validity of the study which would help thousands of others from becoming injured in years to come. Keep in mind that these studies are used to convince medical professionals, coaches, trainers, parents and athletes who are resistant to change and do things differently. Numbers build your case for change. There is a greater good in play here and cannot to be dismissed without very serious consideration.
You knew this was coming. What if that test subject was your sister or daughter and she went on to have an ACL injury with all of the baggage that goes with it. Mmmmm… big ass dilemma. My heart says, “Save the one”. My head knows that the knowledge could save thousands for generations to come and evidence based studies are necessary to bring about that change. Which jerk do you want to be? I can’t help you. You’re on your own on this one.
Here is the big finish, dude. Tom Brady’s ACL tear is going to bring more attention to that type of injury. However, Tom Brady is a world class athlete with access to the best training and medical care available. His body was prepared for the rigors for his sport. The key word here is “prepared”. The guy in the gym and young athlete are not thoroughly prepared for what they doing. The lifter needs to understand the importance of proper technique and obtaining assistance in developing those skills. The young athlete needs to develop his or her body to be able to train and compete successfully and with a lower risk of injury. The lifter doesn’t know what he doesn’t know and because of pride and ego is not likely to seek out help. On the other hand, the young athlete is all trusting of the adults that surround them to guide them in the proper direction whether those adults truly know anything about the subject or not (at a certain age, however, all adults become idiots. This must be a survival instinct.). For most people, young or old, access to truly well educated skilled trainers is rare. The vast majority of those participating in serious physical activities do not have the resources of Tom Brady. Quality coaching is very rare and the public doesn’t recognize the value or the need until something goes horribly wrong then lawyers are brought in to try to cash in on their own ignorance. The gym rat blows out his back and later wonders if it was something he might have done. The teenage female soccer player walks on crutches through the high school hallway pissed about her condition because a specialist said she had a noticeable valgus shift in her knees both on landing and on takeoff and that some coach or trainer should have dealt with it when she was younger. Had that happened, she probably would not be on crutches now, still being able to play her sport and also attend her prom without a knee brace.
Regarding, responsibility, here is the take home message. Anyone who is participating vigorous physical activity needs to seek out the very best information, trainers, coaches and medical support they can find. They need to study the appropriate literature and through the combination of self-education and mentoring learn to discern the rare truth from the all too common bullshit and then take personal responsibility for their successes and failures (injuries). Trainers, coaches and specialists, on the other hand, who have the knowledge and experience need to step forward and reach out to those desperately need help, especially when dealing with the young athlete. Researchers get some slack because they have to live with the knowledge that the 12 year female soccer player they tested with valgus knees just tore her ACL. In that situation, I wouldn’t want their job. I have enough problems dealing with the idiot who insist on doing a thumb less grip bench press with his feet on the bench. (FYI, the bench press is the one exercise that can kill you. Here is a good idea, hold the bench press bar with a lot weight over your face, throat and/or rib cage with a thumb less grip. Just hold it there at arm’s length until your arms start shaking. Now decide whether you want to a) to fracture the bones of your face, b) crush your windpipe and fracture your neck or c) snap a rib into your heart or lungs and die before anyone can get to you. You might want to rethink that “suicide” grip. Sorry for the rant).
For hanging in this long, here is how buying a car comes in. I mentioned earlier that ACL repairs were expensive. The money spent to repair an ACL could buy a very nice new car. Would you rather give your daughter a new car for graduation or a pair of crutches? Now multiple that decision by 50,000.
Responsibility in the fitness world takes on a whole new perspective. Take care of yourself and help others when you can. And don’t let me catch round-backing a dead lift!
