In many of our podcasts, articles, and some of my past blogs, the Huffines Institute continues to advocate getting people active. Many times we will use the phrase ‘moderately active’ which is generally interpreted to mean getting at least 30 cumulative mins of activity on a daily basis at a moderate intensity level. Indeed, many studies that have shown positive health effects from daily activity will often use the “30 mins of moderate activity” as a guideline/recommendation. What we forget ...

An individual diagnosed with a neurocognitive disease like Parkinson’s often face a difficult future, with their quality of life marked by difficult physical symptoms, including uncontrollable tremors. Often these tremors make walking, writing, and other movements that many of us take for granted, difficult, if not impossible. Pharmacological treatments for these tremors and other Parkinson’s symptoms work well, at least in the short term, but eventually, the brain adapts to these drugs and th...

Most exercise 'fads' come and go repeatedly, so I was interested in a recent session on Barefoot Running at the recent national American College of Sports Medicine meeting. Is barefoot running a fad or is there something more to it?

Even Scientists have to pay attention to what is new in their field. While we all read articles in the Sports Medicine journals, those articles are not the newest information available. For the newest discoveries, findings, and applications, we all attend 'meetings'. Sometimes these meetings are held on the state-level, sometimes the regional level, and sometimes the national / international level. This week sees the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), o...

Why cheat? Good question. It is often thought that athletes cheat, especially those taking some form of Performance Enhancing Drug (PED), because they can not be the best any other way. However, as we all read about doping and PED scandals in many different sports, many times it is the elite athlete that is doping - the one that is already at the top of their game. So, why do they cheat?

Have you ever heard of Seminole Firewater?  We recently put up a podcast with Dr. Jeff Zachwieja who was with the Gatorade Sport Science Institute, and of course, the importance of hydration during exercise with certain sports drinks was talked about.  That podcast led to an interesting email exchange with one of my colleagues (Dr. Maury Dennis) who happens to be a Florida State University alumn.  He wanted to know when we were going to do a podcast on "Seminole Firewater"...  I don...

In the last several years, the men and women of our military services are never far from any of our minds. While most of us are more likely to think of sports medicine as relating to athletic performance or normal exericse, many don't realize that our field has been linked to military service for many, many years. Ask many veterans what the initials "PT" mean to them and in most cases they will tell you 'physical training' (and maybe with a sneer in place).

Since we put up our podcast conversation with Dr. Carol Garber this past Friday, I've had couple of interesting email conversations, and one in particular with my friend Kevin, has struck a chord that needs to be amplified a bit.  I think if you listen to Dr. Garber, you may get the sense that Exercise Scientists are only interested in state licensure and are a bit elitist to boot.  I think it is critical that we drop back a couple of steps to look at some context for this conversation that ...

How do you know the Sports Medicine professional you are seeing knows what they are doing? When we go to a physician, or an accountatnt, or even hair stylists, we all know to look for some type of licensure or professional certification to ensure that the individual we are seeing has knowledge and experience that pertains to what we're there for. But how do you do this when you see Sports Medicine professionals?

Our newest podcast is a great conversation with Kevin Hughes and I'd encourage everyone to download it and listen. Kevin is a long-time comedian with many honors and probably one of the deepest thinkers I've ever known. Plus, as most comedians are, he may be one of the most astute observers of human behavior out there. Kevin has had a long and burning interest in health - both physical and mental health - and often this interest and his observations come up in his comedy. So while we...