What Is A Handicap?

“Everybody is handicapped one way or another. We all have areas in which we are not as strong or secure as others. Some handicaps show and some do not. There are people who are not as smart as others, but perhaps they make up for it by being able to enjoy every hour...

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Be Kind to Your Muscles… Keep Them Flexible

“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.” —Bruce Lee   STRENGTH PLUS flexibility in the proper timing and intensity yield coordination. Muscles are designed and programmed to do two simple...

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Pigeon Toes: A Solution

  ONCE UPON A TIME… a father asked Bonnie, “Can you help with turned in feet?” Bonnie had just fixed his shoulder during a Myotherapy demonstration at a local lecture sponsored by the business community in western Massachusetts. After two months of static...

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Starting Anew: Girls Front and Center

  Sixty Years Ago Almost “COME UP WITH something concrete… And don’t scatter your shots…. Make this physical fitness… Do something about girls.” —Vice President Nixon Bonnie describes this “as a moment of hope.” Vice President Nixon was outlining the tasks for...

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Whatever Happened to Real Physical Education?

In 1929 my mother sent me to Marymount, a convent prep Academy. The first year I was there the gym, big, bright and polished, held every piece of gymnastics equipment ever invented. And there was field hockey, a pool and track and field. At the start of my sophomore...

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Muscles Are Our Biographers

IF YOUR BACKACHE, headache, hip pain or any other muscle-related pain has left you wondering “Where did this come from?,” think first about your muscles and how you have used them. “Muscles are witnesses to our adventures, athletic endeavors, the blows we suffer at...

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Text Neck: All the Rage and All the Problems

THE TERM TEXT NECK is being used to describe the injuries and pain sustained from looking down at wireless devices for too long. It is also described as a “poor posture” problem that can lead to early wear-and-tear on the spine, degeneration and surgery. Physical...

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Abdominals, Monthly Misery, and More

IF YOUR GYM CLASS was boring or you didn’t like sweat, you probably had menstrual cramps once a month, nine months out of the year… even if you didn’t really. Had you had a decent gym class, exciting and relevant, you would have had great abdominals and probably no...

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Hip Replacements and Other Spare Parts

SIR JOHN CHARNLEY, a British orthopedic surgeon with a mechanical bent, is recognized as the pioneer and founder of the modern hip replacement, which is now one of the most common operations in the UK and around the world. Fifty-four years later, the Charnley method...

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Feet: The Story of the Long Second Toe

LIKE YOUR OTHER PARTS, your feet cannot be separated from the rest of you. Hips influence knees and feet, and feet influence knees and hips. If you are a dancer or gymnast you probably have very strong flexible feet. If you are a dancer, especially on point, your feet...

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