Tour de Farce

Here we go again: doping scandals, positive high testosterone levels, lying to the UCI, etc. But I won't falter, I will stay true and stay glued to the versus network for 3 more days of the tour. I pulled for Rasmussen last year when I thought Landis was tapped, but this year he seemed a little too spry in the mountains. The golden boys of the team discovery might have a 1-2 victory or at least a 1-3. Check out the videos from velonews at velonews TV


Ride Strong Ride Clean

July, Juli, Juillet, Luglio, Julio, 7月

Important things to note in July:

1. Wife's Birthday
2. 4th of july
3. Tour de France starts
4. Vacation
5. Painting the interior of my house
6. My sis and family visiting from Texas
7. Hopefully a second stripe on my white belt in GJJ

Pain Management Clinic

Every Wednesday I spend 10+ hours in a Physical Rehabilitation Clinic. Talking to people who you usually wouldn't see in an ordinary day. People who are debilitated in one aspect or another. So, my job is to sort through the barrage of complaints, discuss options, educate and fix them. This is no easy task, my friend. My favorite complaint is "low back pain". We all have it or will. The lumbar spine is the work-horse of the human skeleton. It bears the weight of the trunk and noggin. The L-spine is a loner, relying on no one but its stocky self. The thoracic spine hangs out with the ribs and sternum while the delicate cervical spine only has to balance an eight pound noodle. So, why would the great omnipotent designer create a flaw in it's finest creation (i think the platypus is a close second)? Well, what we have are abdominal muscles to lend a hand to the lower back by adding support. So, during my initial assessment with a patient I always have them perform or attempt a sit up, not a crunch, a full fledged sit up. I have yet had a patient on their preliminary workup complete a full sit up in the past 6 months. Surprising I know.

Treatment for this pathology usually begins with pain management. If the person feels better they will be more active. Examples are narcotics, anti-inflamatories, depression meds with a co-indication for pain (pain and depression share neuro-receptors), steroids and etc. I like the combo of low dose narcotics and physical therapy with a focus on core strengthening. This works for a considerable portion (statistics will be publish once the research is complete) of my patients.

Love your lumbar spine and do some sit ups.

Dad-Rock

Wilco's new album 'Sky Blue Sky' was recently released. Check out the review from Pitchforkmedia.com. This album will be part of my collection soon. I've heard a few songs on the radio in Chattanooga. So far I enjoy all of the them. Though, nothing has compared to 'Kidsmoke'. This brings me to my point. My wife and I used to see Wilco 4+ times a year until we moved from Brooklyn to have a family. Now that I'm a dad, I feel comforted that I now have a genre or stereotype I can relate to: "dad-rock". I guess I was a little jealous about the Nascar-dad thing, but I'm OK now. So, with that being said, I bet the Wilco-Dad-rockers will be the swing voters in 2008.

-m