The View from Sports Center

Grateful This Thanksgiving

I would like you to pull up a chair at my table this Thanksgiving.

And be grateful for your self.

For one day, find the place in you that holds self-criticism and defeat; frustration and misery and dump it out on the ground in a heap. If you really want it back, it will always be there. You can pick it up later.

And in its place, fill your self with respect and honor for you.

It's not easy to live in pain or day after day face a physical barrier that feels as high as Mount Everest and every bit as difficult to climb.

It's not easy to show up in your life, make the right choices for your self hour by hour, day by day, when every fiber of your being really wants something else and the friction of frustration leaves you charred.

And it's not easy to hear people say, "You mean you're still not well? After all this time?"

The truth is, a life with an injury is a harder life.

So, at my table, I'm thankful for how amazing you are; what you do everyday without celebration or a fan club to cheer you on.

I'm thankful you ignore the voice that says, "I'll never get well" and in its place quietly say to your self, "I'm getting better everyday," and then you search and find some small bit of truth.

This Thanksgiving, be thankful for how truly amazing you are and maybe for the first time, really know it and own it. Wear your gratitude like a finely tailored suit.

And after Thanksgiving, why not keep wearing that suit?

From all of us at Sports Center, have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Golfing in the Rain and a Gift for You

"You know, Josh, I think I might have to quit. I'm just not having any fun here at all. I can't hit the ball to save my life," I said to my brother.

Josh and I had rendezvoused in Hilton Head, SC for three days of golf last week. Well, really a golf marathon. Thirty-six holes on Monday, thirty-six holes Tuesday and eighteen holes Wednesday. Of course, I knew better than to tackle that much golf given my spine history and that I had only played one round of golf in the last year. 

But, I was going to give it try.

The first thirty-six holes were fun. I had a few good shots, good puts, good saves from the sand followed by mostly wild and errant shots careening off trees or skidding along the fairway an inch or two off the ground. I didn't care too much as long as I had just a few decent shots. My score was high but it was what I expected.

Tuesday though was another story.

My swing looked like Edward Scissorhands on his best day.  A stiff and sore spine had not eased off by the third or fourth hole and my motions were hurried, jerky. Blend a little Sammie Sosa with the Tin Man and I think you have my swing.

I think my best shot was an 80 yard, 2 inches above the ground screamer that left my hands trembling from the vibration up the shaft.

Stellar.

I tried. I pulled all the tricks I knew, all the positive self-talk, re-framing, freeze-framing, deep breathing and every other technique I had learned or taught.  I felt like a fraud. I had taught clients this; urged them to look for the tiniest improvement and focus on that and what I wanted to do was just drop all my clubs in the lake and go home.

Truthfully, the round of golf was just not any fun. At all. Period.

And then I remembered.

It's not just adopting a positive attitude that gets you out of a funk. It's also doing something different than what you're doing.

So, the next day I suggested that Josh tee-off and I would play from wherever his ball landed. He added, "Why don't we just play best ball? I'll tee off, we both play from there and then play the best shot."

And so we did and we had a blast.

In rainy, windy weather. In conditions that few people were willing to endure, we had the best round of golf of the trip. We had fun. A lot of fun.

My shots improved. My swing was less Scissorhands. I had some good shots. A couple of even great shots.

We had fun by making the round easier; making it match what I could really do.

Positivity is a key element in overcoming a lot of things in life but if you simply marry that to the same behavior, you're probably going to be frustrated. Instead, try changing what you're doing and making it a little easier. You'll get better and have more fun too.

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10 Million and 10 Years

Suppose someone gave you $10,000,000 and, at the same time, you learned you had exactly 10 years to live?

Now, a lot of people have posed the question, "What would you do if you had a year to live?" like the basic plot of the Jack Nicholson movie, "Bucket List". But adding another nine years shifts the thought process a little. There's a sense of urgency but not panic; a sharpening of focus and purpose perhaps.

Try this as an exercise. Answer these questions keeping the idea of $10,000,000 and 10 years to live in mind:

• What would you do? Where would you put your energy and time? Who would you spend the most time with? Would you travel? Where would you go and why?
• How would you spend your money? Would you buy your self things? A new house or car?  Would you give it away to charity?
• Would you quit your job and do something else? Maybe chase your childhood dreams?

If you spend some time with this thought of $10,000,000 and 10 years, you'll discover things about your self, your circumstances, and your life that will surprise you, maybe scare you, and put a real sense of urgency in you.

Some people realize that they're living someone else's dreams; not their own. Some find that they have strapped themselves to a financial treadmill and the speed just keeps picking up. Others realize they hate their job and find the courage to go off and do something they really enjoy while some suddenly realize that their life is just racing by them and the question feels like a massive emotional brake.

What would you do with $10,000,00 and 10 years to live?

Why not do it now?

Piglet, Pain, Pooh, and Aging

“Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?” asked Piglet.

“Supposing it didn’t,” said Pooh after careful thought.

Piglet was comforted by this.

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When you hurt, your inner Piglet shows up. You see more bad things. Things that could be bad, things that someday could go wrong. What if I never get better? What if this is all I have the rest of my life? What if I wake up and my back hurts so much I can't get out of bed? What if..... And, if you let Piglet have his way with you, you'll be older sooner. You'll feel, move, talk, and think at the age of 50 as if your 80*.

Pain slows you down. It slices off entire sections of your life and I'm not talking about no longer being able to play linebacker in football. No. I mean you avoid taking the stairs, even just a few, because your knee hurts or your back hurts. Or, you give up yard work or walking your dog. And, your 52; not 92.

Feeling youthful is all about energy. Sure, some people think being youthful is the way you look but I have news for you. No matter how hard you try to look 20, it just ain't gonna' happen at 70. You can do things to improve your appearance but what makes you feel and seem younger is the energy you possess and use. And, pain zaps you of energy and can keep you from doing things to improve your energy.

When you hurt, Piglet will convince you that there's nothing you can do; you might as well accept your poor, miserable lot in life and just do less and less and less; all is lost. Sometimes Piglet is in you and sometimes he's the people you associate with or talk to. Stay away from Piglets. Don't listen to Piglets. They are not helpful. Find some Pooh in you and get around some Pooh people. Pooh helps you see possibilities and possibilities fuel your efforts. A lot of the pain people have at the age of 50 or so is treatable. Back pain, knee pain, shoulder pain - most of it is musculoskeletal and most of it can be either eliminated or significantly reduced. It's not always easy but It's simple - modify your routines, exercise, improve your biomechanics and find your inner Pooh.

Is it worth the effort to do these things? Well, that's up to you. For me, absolutely it is. I had a nasty injury last year and said to Christine when she asked me what it would mean to me to not be able to do certain things anymore, "It's just....it's the start of the end. It's the end."

Piglet talking. Thankfully, Christine is almost all Pooh (just ask her clients - they know what I'm talking about). But actually, the injury was not the start of the end. It was the start of renewal. I feel better now that I did before I was injured. Mentally, emotionally, physically. Hard to do? Yep. Sure was and still is from time to time. Very hard. But worth it. 

Ignore Piglet. He's helpful when you're lost in the woods or on some deserted island struggling for existence but otherwise Piglet borrows trouble from the future. Find Pooh, fix your pain and find your energy again.

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Today's post was inspired by Adam Schwartz who emailed me the link below. Thanks Adam.

*http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/09/chronic-pain-older.html

Healthcare Reform from the Trenches

It took me a while to learn that unless you hold a substantial understanding of a subject, you should express your opinions with an extra dose of humility.

So, what I have to say today, please accept my limited understanding of an extremely complex subject: President Obama's mission to reform our healthcare system.

Whether you agree with him or not you have to admit that the healthcare system is reasonably messed up. Unless you're actually in the healthcare business though, you have no idea how truly messed up it is.

Most of the people talking about this have not actually worked in the system and even though I have for 28 years, I still don't know or understand all of the issues that come together to create the problem we all face. 

The problem is very complex, multi-threaded and the solutions are equally complex. But, here are a few of my observations:

• Most insurance companies pay providers by the procedure. Physical therapy for example. Therapists get paid way more to do things to you than to figure things out. A consultation or evaluation is one of lowest paid things on the list yet one of the most important. If you don't get the problem well identified at the start, the rest is just junk (Albert Einstein once said that if he had 60 minutes to save the world, he would spend 55 minutes figuring out the problem and 5 minutes implementing the solution). So, some clinics have very short evaluations -  15 or 30 minutes by mandate. Trust me. When you have someone who has torn a ligament in his or her knee and a torn cartilage in the hip and also has some residual back pain, you're just barely getting to know each other in 15 minutes.

• As technology improves, patients want access to it whether they actually need it or not. Some patients want an MRI or a CAT Scan because they just can't believe that from an interview - a story - that their doctor could figure out what was wrong with them. My father spent all of his career as a family physician in a small town in New York and used to tell me how his patients would demand an x-ray for a sprained ankle. They didn't believe him when he said it wasn't broken. But, there wasn't much of a choice of doctors then either. The patients learned to trust him but now, they may or likely would just switch doctors until they found someone who would order the test.

• Physicians are incented to refer for tests and treatments if they have a financial interest in the facility or use of the procedure. I played golf a while ago with a surgeon I've known my entire career. When the subject of medicine and business came up in our discussion, he said he was very discouraged. His group practice had purchased an MRI machine so they could refer to themselves and pocket the testing fees but the images from the machine were often too poor to trust so he had to send his patients out and when he did, his partners chastised him for it. And, instead of referring patients to a physical therapist elsewhere, they hired a physical therapist and pocketed the profits for that too. He said, "I just want to practice medicine; not be a businessman." Agreed, but good luck.

• Patients want an aspirin; not a vitamin. A lot of people want their pain fixed now and are often uninterested or unwilling to learn how to take care of themselves for the long run. This then drives the over utilization of prescription drugs, surgeries, and other therapies.

• There are some conditions when doing less is better and is not only good enough but exactly right. Most lower back pain will respond to non-surgical, conservative care and the solution is more of a lifestyle adjustment than a treatment. The current view of "treating" back pain is outdated and costly. Instead of sending patients for an MRI, prescribing narcotics and surgery, physicians should send their patients to other providers who understand how to help people with back pain and monitor the situation. A small percentage of patients who see a physician ever make it into a spine-focused strengthening and conditioning program - only about 3% (see Dr. Timothy Carey's article on this here). There's a lot of room for improvement and for lowering the overall cost of a back pain episode.

• Providers are paid by procedure and some procedures pay less even though they are much more complex. I know of a urologist who finally decided to stop performing kidney transplants and instead perform more vasectomies. He was paid about 1/3 as much for a transplant as a vasectomy and transplant patients require a lot more risk and work. He's paid more to prevent a life than to save one.

I don't have the answers but I think that unless you remove some of the drivers of cost escalation it doesn't really matter whether people are insured or not. The cost will still go up and maybe even more with more people insured.

In the meantime, somethings you can do to help:

• Take care of your self. Examine your diet and make changes to help keep your body fat in the ideal range for you. Don't smoke.  Exercise and train your body regularly. Learn how to deal with stress. Don't short change your self on sleep.
• Don't go to the hospital for non-emergent issues like colds, viruses, etc. These can be handled very effectively in physician offices or walk-in clinics.
• Ask this question when a provider suggests something to you (like a test, surgery, referral, etc.): "Would you do this for your mother or your son or daughter?" 
• And ask this question too: "Will you make money by referring me there?" If the answer is yes, it doesn't necessarily mean the referral is a bad choice but at least you know going in that there's an incentive in play that may work against you. Sometimes it's best to ask this question first and then the previous question. I've had some clients tell me that when they've done this that the provider changed his mind and sent them someplace else.

I'm sure there are other ideas and maybe someone reading this would like to join the discussion.  Please feel free to share them by hitting "COMMENTS" at the bottom of the article.

The Little Stuff is All that Matters

It's just the little stuff that matters. You gain another few degrees of motion or lose a pound of fat or skip the latte this week.  It's those small, sometimes imperceptible, improvements that add up to significant change.

But most of us get caught up in the big stuff. You want to run when your knee looks like someone stuffed a grapefruit in it or you want to lift your shirt and see the outline of your abdominal muscles like a Greek God after three weeks of exercise. And when you don't see the big stuff, you feel like quitting. It's not fast enough.

It's never fast enough when you're always looking at the big stuff. 

The solution is to get a list of little things together, take a few measurements of little things, set some little goals, and get on your way to making little changes. When you knock down one of those little goals, set a new one but don't forget to celebrate in a big way. All victories, no matter how small they might seem, are worthy of celebration.

It's just the little stuff that matters.

DK

Procrastination is A Good Thing

....when you want to buy a new car or house or big screen television and you know you really don't have the money but the urge feels stronger than you are;

....when you want another glass of wine or beer or that super chilled Mexican Martini and your waist line knows you don't need it;

....when the cigarette siren sings ever so sweetly;

....when the madman of temper wants to release the worst side of you;

....whenever you're in a hurry.

Sometimes putting things off is good for you.

DK

How to Make Big Changes in Your Life?

Make little changes first.

Write down a list of things you want to change or improve. Maybe it's your diet or your spending habits or your exercise routine. Maybe you want to be a better listener, be more compassionate. And sometimes, you may want to change all of those things. Whatever changes you want to make, write them all down.

Go through the list and find the one thing that's the easiest to change. Once you've chosen it, now write down a list of things you need to do to make the change happen and then, again, pick the easiest one.

Work on that one thing. Make it the center of your day. Focus on it. Apply your time and energy and resources to it and then tackle the next thing.

So, let's assume the thing you want to change is your weight (well, to be more accurate, you want to lose some body fat). A typical list of things to work on to lose body fat might be:

• Eat cleaner and eat enough. (Remove processed foods, excessive fatty foods, sugar, and unhealthy snacks. Reduce or eliminate alcohol. Eat a protein rich breakfast. Hydrate.)
• Exercise.
  • Get a physical exam by your doctor to find out if there's any reason you should not exercise.
  • Pump iron.
  • Walk, jog, play, cycle, swim. Get active.
• Manage stress.
• Create a vision board.
• Identify unhealthy triggers. (e.g. smoking and drinking alcohol tend to go hand in hand.)
• Start a food journal.
• Get enough sleep.

There might be more but, from the list, which one would be the easiest to tackle first? Usually, changing your diet and starting an exercise routine at the same time, which a lot of people do, is tough to keep both things going. What if you chose to visit your doctor first? Check that one off the list. Then, maybe create a vision board or look at your stress levels and how you manage them currently. The vision board is something you can come back to from time to time for inspiration and if you study how you manage stress, you might find that you eat more or drink more or smoke to cope with the stress.

As you check things off your list, you're on your way. When you get to changing your diet, use the same principle of little things first. Maybe just stop eating ice cream at night or potato chips with your lunch or have water instead of Coke.  Just do that for a while then add something else.

You will lose weight just from doing something as little as cutting Coke (or other soft drinks) out of your diet. An average sized soft drink is 155 calories. If you have one per day (and most people drink way more than one), in one week that's 1085 calories. In a month, that total is 4340 calories or 1.2 lbs. of fat. Stop the Coke, drink water, lose fat and you haven't even started to exercise yet!

The tough thing about making a change is how hard it is to execute day to day; to repeat the choices over and over. That's why you'll enjoy more success if you start with small changes first.

A little change can become a big change. Just give your self a chance.

DK

For the latest on MY TRAINING ROUTINES, click here .

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Is a Fact the Truth?

Fact: You have $5000 in the bank.
Fact: You spend $6000 each month.
Truth: You're broke.

Fact: You have $5000 in the bank.
Fact: You spend $2000 each month.
Truth: You're not broke (and you might even be rich).

Facts are not the truth but they can be true statements. Truth is determined in the context of facts. Just because you have $5000 in the bank doesn't mean you're rich (and if you want to add a few zeros to the example, it comes out the same). The amount of money you have is just a number; a fact. 

The truth of injuries is a lot like the truth of your bank account. When you take more out of your body than you put back in, you can end up broke (and broken).

Fact: Your knee is swollen.
Fact: Your knee hurts when you walk.
Truth: You're knee is broke.

How much simpler life would be if all we had to do was handle facts.

"I need to make more money. Put more money in the bank then I'll be fine."
"I'll ice my knee and my knee will be fine."

But, life is not a bunch of facts. Life is truth. Life is how you deal with the facts and figure out what the facts mean and what to do about them.

Jesus never said, "And the facts shall set you free." He said, "And, the truth shall set you free."

Look at the facts, know the facts, and but find and accept the truth.

DK

For the latest on MY TRAINING ROUTINES, click here .

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New to the View? Consider subscribing to my RSS feed: Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or sign up to get email updates in the box at the top left hand corner of my blog and then share this blog with your friends.

**

Did you know I have another blog? If you enjoy the science and art of getting and staying fit, you might enjoy Exercise:ology.

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Do you have a copy of my new book, "The Little Book of Sparks"? You can read a sample and order it here.

What's Success?

"Hey, I wanna' play this for you," said Ross.

He walked over to his iPhone, picked it up and retrieved a voice mail.

"This is from my cousin. He's had a tough few years. A couple of back surgeries, chronic pain. Has had a tough go of it with his biz. So, I gave him a copy of your book," said Ross.

Sometimes I feel like I'm made of straw. I just stood there, I'm sure, with a Scooby-Doo wrinkled face. I didn't say anything.

Ross played the voice mail. "Hey, Ross...I just wanted to call and thank you again for the book. Ya' know, it's...uhhh...it's a lotta' kinda' silly little stories but I think it's the best thing I've ever read. So, man, thank you for that."

Scooby-Doo again. All I could say was,"Cool. Very cool." Which I was ON THE OUTSIDE. I was soooooooo cooooooool. Mr. Cool rules.  Inside, my heart was flying on the wings of wishes and dreams. It soared and swooped and twirled. This was what I had hoped for. This was it. In this moment, I was rich. Richer than I ever though possible and all of that richness would walk with me forever. This was a dance I could have over and over. This was success.

My whole goal in writing and self-publishing, "The Little Book of Sparks" was embodied in that voice mail. I wanted to inspire people, teach them, and help them find even the smallest bit of light when life feels like a dark, cold, slippery cavern.

People have asked me, "Why did you self-publish it? What's your distribution plan? How will you make any money without a publisher? Can you get it on Amazon? " I wrote it for people like Ross' cousin and for people who are trying to help people like Ross' cousin. I wrote it to breathe life into people who feel as if they're barely breathing from weight of their injury, pain, and suffering. I wrote it and published it and could care less about a plan. My attitude is Ready, Fire, Aim. The world does not wait on you.

Success is very personal. For some, it's money or power or prestige or fame. You have to figure it out for your self but whatever it is for you, you'll know when you've hit it. Your soul will sing in a language you've never heard but have always known.

I probably won't make much money on my book sales and or show up on Oprah or the NY Times Best Seller list. Well, I won't deny that if I did make some money or if Oprah's people called, that would be just fine (although she might get more out of Scooby-Doo!). But if not, that's ok. I'm rich already.

DK

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For the latest on MY TRAINING ROUTINES, click here .

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New to the View? Consider subscribing to my RSS feed: Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or sign up to get email updates in the box at the top left hand corner of my blog and then share this blog with your friends.

**

Do you have a copy of my new book, "The Little Book of Sparks"?  You can read a sample and order it here.