One of the common themes of the conversations I heard after the Huffines Discussion was how much of the information was new or different than what was previously known.  These conversations were mostly among fitness professionals and academics who make their living researching how exercise interacts with various physiological pathways, but it reinforced to me the fact that there is so much information out there - not just in sports medicine, but in all of life sciences - that keeping up with it all is near impossible. 

Pubmed, the online arm of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that is maintained by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, has over 20 million citations in it and more are added every day.  A quick search of Pubmed reveals that there are over 200,000 citations (okay, 200,5260) that involve exercise, physical activity, or sports.  This is a massive amount of knowledge and represents the growing foundation for sports medicine.    However, even with full-time attention, even the most dedicated professional could not read, digest, and apply all of this knowledge.  That's why it continues to be important to continue to learn and listen to those whose passions are specific areas within sports medicine.  This is and will continue to be our guiding principle here at the Huffines Institute and is the reason why we have such varied guests on the podcasts - (what do you mean you haven't heard any yet - scoot over to the podcasts and try a few out).  It is through the extensive knowledge that these experts possess in specific areas that allow us to add to what we know and recommend as the best sports medicine treatments and practices.

One wag suggested that if you are not growing and learning, you are stagnating and dying, neither of the latter two processes holding much attraction for me or anyone I know.  So, I'd encourage you to check out our audio podcasts, where three of our Huffines Discussion speakers have already appeared (Riechman, Hughes, Wertheim) and learn things like why you can eat more cholesterol, become healthier, and gain strength, while not affecting your blood cholesterol levels (Riechman).  We'll be running the webcasts of the Huffines Discussion speakers soon and we'll put up many notifications regarding this.  But better yet, put March 23, 2012 in your calendar and make a committment to attend the next Huffines Discussion so you can learn with the rest of us.  In the meantime, we'll keep providing access to the experts as long as you keep listening and learning.

Until next week, stay active and healthy!  TL