Outside Magazine December 2002

Bodywork
The Pulse (Cont.)
By the Numbers

Performance | Nutrition | Recovery

	(Globe Staff Graphic/Joan McLaughlin)

RECOVERY
A KNIFE ALTERNATIVE
Skier Bode Miller was only one year removed from a torn ACL when he won silver in the Salt Lake Games. The key to his rapid return was a new arthroscopic procedure called the "healing response," pioneered by Dr. Richard Steadman of the Steadman-Hawkins Clinic in Vail, Colorado, in 1999. Instead of total ACL reconstruction, Steadman pokes anywhere from three to 16 small holes in the femur above the torn ligaments (III). When the bleeding bones begin to heal naturally, the resulting blood clot captures and heals the torn ACL as well (IV). Bam! Like Miller, the patient can be completely mobile in three weeks. Miraculous? Yes, but only ripped ACLs with a tear at or near the femur qualify. Still, Dr. William Rodkey, director of Basic Science at Steadman-Hawkins, states optimistically, "This is an alternative to full reconstructive surgery that works."

11: percentage difference in distance traveled by athletes while listening to Metallica during a ten-minute bike ride, over those who sweat in silence, according to a Hampden-Sydney College study in Virginia last spring. Don't like metal? Have no fear. "Picking music you like is a more important factor in boosting performance than just music with a faster tempo," says Robert Herdegen, professor of psychology at Hampden-Sydney. In other words, if Beethoven rocks your world, plug him in and fly.

Performance | Nutrition | Recovery