Friday, May 18, 2012

Why Did I Write My Book to Help Adolescent Female Athletes?

A philosopher once said: "Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you." Khalil Gibran also said: "A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle."

I am still inspired by these statements as both have real meaning for me. I have asked myself: What is the reason I was able to acquire specific knowledge in two disciplines? In both cases - low back pain and teen female athlete challenges at puberty - I have been able to take complex and inter-related medically based issues and provide a path with easy to understand language so people can use the quality information I provide and make informed decisions.
On the back cover of my new book- I say that a little catalyst can go a long way. This catalyst is the knowledge of how to help teen female athletes deal with the unintended consequence of Title IX legislation [June 1972]; i.e., female athlete non-contact ACL (knee) injuries.

This is the second time I have had the opportunity to share knowledge about a subject that may be more misunderstood than low back pain [1993]. This is an opportunity to help young female athletes train their body so they place the odds in their favor of not being challenged by non-contact ACL (knee) injuries. Having trained more than 600 teen female athletes in every sport and cheering since 1995, I can tell you unequivocally that non-contact ACL injury does not have to happen.

In both cases, it is not easy to understand the research and interpret the conclusions to help adults challenged by low back pain and now, help adolescent female athletes and the adults in their lives understand the benefits of neuromuscular (lower body) and core training.

I use spine-safe training principles to help everyone. The common thread between low back pain and female athlete participation was when the medical histories showed young females reporting low back pain that had nothing to do with their monthly cycle. Youngsters popping OTC pills to fend off soreness and pain that could have devastating long term effects on their body. Then, add to that seeing young females affected by too much crying and pressure and not enough youngsters having FUN as I did when I played basketball.

However, in the case of teen female athletes - it is not enough to write about the 'silent epidemic' and think that people will acquire this information because of evidence occurring in the field. This evidence is very real and can be explained if everyone will open their minds to a "sea change" in thinking. Why would a leading researcher and orthopedic surgeon say [female ACL injury] "it's not just a sports medicine problem, it's becoming a public health challenge."

All female athletes must learn to VALUE TRAINING TO PLAY SPORTS. Once training to play sports is a requirement that adults discuss and learn how to implement - there is the hope that ACL (and other upper body) injuries will be minimized. The adults must lead the way as they are the youth volunteer coaches. They must value training the young female's body to prepare her for the demands of her sport by helping each female athlete develop a strong foundation.

I see the opportunity to educate adults and their daughter-athletes about something they see the effects from; i.e., ACL injuries and the female athlete population. Thinking this will only happen to others is not an option as the subject is not discussed and the conclusions and comments from leading health care professionals and researchers have not permeated youth sports.

Looking at a timeline, I understand that the explosion of female athletes is in its adolescence. Why is this so? Title IX is almost 40 years old. But the court and legislative challenges to try to sink Title IX took almost 20 years. Therefore, the real explosion in sports participation by females is just about the 20+ year mark; just going through adolescence.

At the latter stages of adolescence we begin to formulate who we are and what we value to spend a lifetime maturing our thinking and re-assessing our initial foundation of knowledge.

I can tell you from personal experience that one can say that if I had only trained a handful of female athletes with success - maybe what I see happening wouldn't hold up. But, having trained more than 600 teen female athletes in every sport and cheering since 1995 with remarkable success - I have developed a perspective and expertise that allows me to intelligently comment about the lack of training occurring in female athletics. Sports skills training - yes; adequately preparing the body to acquire these skills - no.

I do not always see female athletes competing at the highest levels of athleticism. I do see female athletes who have not cross trained or played other sports playing the sport they enjoy. Is it anyone's fault this has happened? No, I do not blame anyone. Only 20 - 40 years into the female sports participation journey - how can lay persons possibly know that differences that occur at puberty would adversely affect females; especially the evidence of the neuromuscular spurt at puberty that happens for males, but not females.

Today's challenge is to have adults embrace safe and age-appropriate training for all female athletes to make sure they become better athletes who have FUN playing their sports and minimize their risk for injury.

I am quite pleased that my book can help adults understand the challenge is real and with all the money being spent on dues and travel, etc. for youth sports - there are cost effective ways for every female athlete to train their body. A proven way to best prepare each young lady to gain increased self confidence in all aspects of their life from knowing they did the best they could to help themselves; i.e., a healthy mind and a healthy body.

I accept sports injuries as a possible outcome from playing games. I cannot accept female non-contact ACL injuries when I know they can be minimized. Paraphrasing a leading researcher: train your female athlete, the worst that will happen is she will become a better athlete.

I hope in the years ahead I can look back and see better prepared female athletes and that the sports injury statistics show a decline in ACL injuries and surgeries so that less and less females have an osteoarthritis (OA) challenge early in life.

I am hopeful that half of what I have written transmits my knowledge and those of the health care professionals and researchers to help turn today's negatives into positives over time, and that this knowledge does not sit idle any longer. Ultimately, I want to make a positive difference by helping others learn about a subject that is very misunderstood and has devastating consequences.

I started my website, http://www.learn2trainsafely.com so every user can make informed decisions about the adolescent female athlete training to play sports. BNP Training is available online.

As non-contact ACL injuries continue to lead the sport's injury world of female athletes - we have time-tested training to stabilize the lower (and upper) body and volunteer coaches (usually parent(s)/guardian(s)) have to begin to make this part of their female athletes monthly training. My new book: They're Not Boys - Safely Training the Adolescent Female Athlete educates parents and their daughter-athletes.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6961353

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