Rads

Physiotherapist, Strength & Conditioning Coach. Views are my own.

[Jason Kelce @JasonKelce]

The guy squirting water into Zach Ertz’s mouth is Joe O’Pella. He’s an athletic trainer that’s been with the team for over 15 years at this point.

NFL teams don’t really have water boys, athletic trainers are usually the ones responsible for having water on the practice field and during games, but this post is absolutely hilarious.

A guy who rehabbed my ACL tear in my second year, has a masters degree from Pitt, and has years of experience keeping Eagles players healthy and on the field being called a “Waterboy” is crazy, and I’m already giving him shit for it, but good lord this post is so wildly misleading.

Either way, thought I’d clear the air, that the people with Water Bottles during games actually serve much bigger roles on NFL Teams.

[Howard Luks MD @hjluks]

Lindsey Vonn Raced.
Who am I to say she shouldn’t have???

Whenever a high-profile athlete competes through pain or injury, the commentary starts immediately. Many have said she shouldn’t have been out there, or that someone should have stopped her. A few said it was reckless and would ruin her future.

The certainty was breathtaking.

What always strikes me is how easily people thousands of miles away, watching on a screen, assume they know more about the athlete’s body than the athlete does.

I’m an orthopedic surgeon. I’ve spent my life around injured people, professional athletes, weekend warriors, people who push too hard, and people who are afraid to push at all. I understand risk. I understand tissue. I understand consequences.

And still, I would never presume to own someone else’s decision the way the internet often does. Elite athletes are not naïve… they usually know exactly what they’re trading. They understand pain. They understand rehabilitation. They understand what another surgery might mean. They understand what stopping might mean!!

They live inside those calculations every day. Long before the public debate begins, those conversations have already happened in training rooms, in quiet meetings with physicians, with family, with coaches, and most importantly, in the athlete’s own head.

By the time you see them in the starting gate, the decision has been examined from every angle. And it belongs to them.

The myth of protection
There is a persistent belief that if an athlete competes while injured, someone has failed them. A doctor should have stopped them. A coach should have intervened. A governing body should have pulled them aside. But adults get to choose, and we don’t revoke autonomy simply because we worry.

My job as a physician is to explain risk, uncertainty, probability, alternatives, and consequences. I make sure the person understands the landscape. After that, the decision is theirs. Not mine. Not Twitter’s.

Risk does not disappear at the highest level, and every athlete at that level is already accepting enormous risk simply by participating. They train at speeds and intensities most of us cannot comprehend. They compete in environments where fractions of seconds matter and margins are thin. They understand that the risk of injury is not theoretical… It is part of the profession. To suddenly draw a moral line when someone chooses to compete with pain feels selective, almost performative.

What people are really reacting to…
Often it’s fear. People imagine themselves in that position and feel uncomfortable. They project their own risk tolerance onto someone whose relationship with risk is entirely different… But elite sport is not normal life. It requires decisions most of us would never make, and that’s precisely why we admire the people who live there.

Outcomes do not determine wisdom !!!
If the race goes poorly, critics say, “See? Never should have happened.”
If it goes well, they call it heroic. Neither response actually tells us whether the decision was right. It only tells us how we feel about the outcome. Good decisions can have bad results.

Respect the athlete and their ability to decide for themselves.
You can disagree and say you would choose differently. What you can’t honestly claim is that you understand the calculus better than the person living it. Especially someone with decades of experience, world-class medical input, and an intimate understanding of her own limits.

From where I sit…
I respect @lindseyvonn enormously...
I respect the preparation. I respect the courage. I respect the acceptance of consequences.
Most of all, I respect that it was her decision to make.
Not mine.

[Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran]

“We are told by leaders that we are the future. But when it comes to the ongoing pandemic, our present is being stolen right in front of our eyes.”

Incredible speech by Violet Affleck who warned about COVID & Long Covid, & advocated for masks & clean air at the UN today!

[Love Music @khnh80044]

Freddie is looking down and giving y'all a standing ovation. That's spectacular!😍💗
The most INSANE Bohemian Rhapsody Flashmob you will ever see!!
With 30 musicians and singers in the STREET of Paris 😍
Cre : Julien Cohen Pianist

[Rads @OsullivanRadley]

@emmet1980 Thanks bro. Appreciate it

[Rads @OsullivanRadley]

@emmet1980 Just to clarify. Alex Codling is at Munster. I'm at Wexford Wanderers

[Dan Cleather | Strength and Conditioning @dr_jump_uk]

🙏Please share 🙏

It's out today! 🚴🏊‍♂️🏃‍♀️

So excited that Force 3 is published today. Grateful to be able to tell the other side of the force story - when and why power output matters.

Another deep dive into the biomechanics of training 😊

Get it here: https://t.co/J9IbzaEGcr

[Rads @OsullivanRadley]

@MashElite It's the hardest text I've read. Font is tiny, the sheer volume of info can be overwhelming. But time and notes and rereading gets you through it. If I had bite-sized chunks (with real world examples) it would have saved me months

[Peter O'Sullivan @PeteOSullivanPT]

Reflections on Andrew Huberman's podcast:
‘PROTOCOLS TO STRENGTHEN & PAIN PROOF YOUR BACK’

[Russ Cook @hardestgeezer]

For everyone coming out to Tunisia this week. This will be the final run on Sunday starting at 10am local time. If you’re up for the full mara meet at the shell garage or join whatever distance you want along the route. See you there troops. Buzzing for it🫡

[Rads @OsullivanRadley]

@Irish_Physio I'm tired of listening to these racist, xenophobic pukes. Good on her

[Eoin Kealy @eoin_kealy]

@c_hebron https://t.co/5JewlXF0zO

[Rads @OsullivanRadley]

@EmilyDudgeon We are looking at possibly arranging a guest speaker to our rugby club in Wexford, Ireland - to offer a lecture on RED-S for our womens and girls teams. If thats something you may be interested in, I'd be keen to discuss.

[Rads @OsullivanRadley]

@benmilligan7 They have limits now? Wtf is that about

[Alan J Taylor @TaylorAlanJ]

1. Always worth checking checking pulses … BUT NOTE:
The internal iliac artery is most likely to be the arterial cause of buttock / hip claudication (exercise induced) … which means distal pulses will be NORMAL via the #aortofemoralpoplitealaxis

[Gemma Skudder Physio @gemskuddphysio]

🚨Calling all rugby union coaches+medics! 🏉

(please like, share, retweet, comment)

✍️Help support and develop concussion prevention+rehab processes by filing out this questionnaire (5-10mins)
⬇️
https://t.co/FoxHaSypup

[Rob Newton @ProfRobNewton]

Forty+ years working in the field of exercise science and I cannot believe that this turf war between allied health professions is still being perpetuated. This is so damaging to Australian health care.

I was very disappointed and frustrated this week when the Australian Physiotherapy Association released a “factsheet” denigrating Accredited Exercise Physiologists (AEPs) with a series of inaccurate and misleading statements.

AEPs are the most qualified and experienced allied health professional for assessment, prescription, and monitoring of clinical exercise. AEPs are especially effective in supporting patients with chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, overweight and obesity, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, COPD, stress, anxiety, and depression. It should be noted that these are the diseases causing most of the health burden in Australia and clinical exercise has been proven through extensive research to be one of and in some cases THE most effective treatment.

AEPs receive far more university education, training, and clinical practice in exercise than ANY other medical or allied health profession. University degrees in exercise physiology are accredited by the professional association, Exercise & Sports Science Australia (ESSA), under stringent requirements. AEPs must be graduates of accredited degrees and meet yearly requirements to retain accreditation.

Medical and allied health professionals should be referring patients to an AEP for clinical exercise because it is a highly complex and specialised field. A cardiologist would never attempt to manage chemotherapy for a patient with cancer. For safety and effectiveness, it is crucial that medical and allied health professionals work within their scope of practice. It is also critical that we don’t denigrate other accredited professions.

The President of Exercise and Sports Science Australia has released a statement https://t.co/aWGswXIWar

Here is a link to the APA factsheet https://t.co/90yq2SUeCC

@ESSA_NEWS @apaphysio

[Rads @OsullivanRadley]

@eo_performance Tiddlywinks... No! Thumb wars.