Motor Development

One of the classes I am teaching this semester is Motor Development, and I have such an invaluable resource to use this semester. That would be Cameron, my almost five month old son. I was working on some future lectures and came across his two month ultrasound picture from a year ago (above). I've also attached a recent picture of him (below) to show just how much he has grown and developed in a year. It will be fun and interesting to watch and track his growth and development as I teach about it this semester.

Difference in Response Latency of the Peroneus Longus

This month, I (along with my co-author Dr. Weimar) had an article published in the Journal of Sport Rehabilitation. The study examined the peroneus longus muscle, which is found on the outside of the lower leg and is the main muscle that can help prevent an ankle sprain when a person rolls his or her ankle. We reported that when you invert (roll) your ankle, it takes the muscle of the dominant leg longer to respond than the muscle of the nondominant leg. This increase in response time for the dominant leg could potentially lead to a greater number of ankle sprains of the dominant ankle versus the nondominant ankle. I am currently conducting a research study to investigate this further. The primary goal of my research is to understand the factors leading to ankle sprains and eventually develop protocols to help reduce the number of ankle sprains. If you want to read the whole article, you can check it out at this link. I also had to attach a four month picture of Cameron. He is continuing to grow at a rapid rate and is doing well. And yes, he is wearing an Auburn outfit because I do have two degrees from Auburn.

NATA 2011

This Wednesday, I went down to New Orleans for the 2011 National Athletic Trainers Association Annual Meeting and Symposium. I presented some research on ankle sprains and was able to attend a few other sessions. Overall it was a good experience. I received some positive feedback on my research, was able to catch up with some old friends, and see what other types of research related to athletic training is being conducted. It was, however, the first night I had spent away from Cameron since he was born, and that was tough. I was sure glad to get back to Hattiesburg on Wednesday and see him!!

Mechanical Analysis of Human Movement

This summer, I am teaching a new course called "Mechanical Analysis of Human Movement." It is basically a Clinical Biomechanics course designed for our students that plan on pursing a career in a health related profession or a graduate degree in exercise science. The students will learn how to apply biomechanics to evaluate movement, injury, disorders, etc. The class is taught over a three week period, and we just completed our first week. The students are doing very well and I am confident that they will be able to learn about Inverse Dynamics, which is a graduate level skill, by the end of the semester. I will provide an update on the class as well as inverse dynamics at the end of the semester. Also, I would be remiss if I didn't post an updated picture of Cameron. He is seven and a half weeks old and growing fast!! We just wish that he would sleep a little more.

Cameron Charles Knight

I apologize for the lengthy delay between blog posts, but our lives have changed a lot in the past two weeks. During the early hours of March 22, Amy and I welcomed Cameron Charles Knight into the world!! He weighted 4 lbs, 15 oz. and measured at 18.25 inches. Other than being a little small, he was a perfectly healthy baby. He has been eating like a champ and we have no doubt that our little guy will soon be much bigger. Despite the lack of sleep, we have had so much fun with him these past two weeks. The picture on the bottom is from the day he was born, and the one top is from yesterday. He is already starting to change before our eyes. I am sure I will have many more posts in the future relating to Cameron and his growth and development.

Dangerous Game

Baseball is a game that is played and enjoyed by many people. Unfortunately, it can also be a very dangerous game. Yesterday during a spring training game between the Braves and Cardinals, Brian McCann lined a foul ball into the Braves dugout, and it struck one of the Braves coaches, Luis Salazar, near the left eye. After he has hit in the face by the ball, Salazar fell and hit his head on the ground. Salazar was unresponsive and unconscious for several minutes, and was airlifted to a local hospital. The good news is he is alive. The bad news is he suffered several facial fractures that required multiple surgeries today, more surgery in the future, and it is still unknown if he will regain vision in his left eye. This was an unfortunate accident that likely could not have been prevented. However, most college, minor, and major league dugouts do not have netting/fencing to protect the players and coaches in the dugout. If a ball is lined into the dugout, the people in the dugout literally have a few milliseconds to react. Fortunately, this type of situation does not happen often in baseball, but when it does, the results are scary. In 2007, Juan Encarnacion was struck by a foul ball in his face while in the on deck circle, lost vision in one eye, and never played another baseball game. Hopefully Salazar will make a full recovery, and baseball will take steps to increase the safety of players, coaches, and fans.

Albert Pujols: Is He Worth It?

Some of you may or may not know this, but I am a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan, and have enjoyed watching Albert Pujols play for the Cardinals over the course of the past 10 seasons. How much do I like the Cardinals and Pujols? When my wife and I adopted our dog a little over two years ago, we decided to name him Albert (we call him Albe for short). From a kinesiological and mechanical perspective, Pujols has one of the most efficient and consistent swings in baseball. From a fan's perspective, he has helped the Cardinals win a lot of baseball games over the past 10 seasons. However, his contract expires at the end of this season, and the Cardinals and Pujols failed to reach an agreement on an extension before his self-imposed deadline at the start of spring training. That means he will likely become a free agent after the 2011 season and every team can bid on him. Rumors have surfaced that Pujols is seeking a 10 year contract worth 300 million dollars, which would make him the highest paid player in baseball history. I don't know if he really asked for this type of contract, but there is no doubt it is going to take a lot of money over many years to sign Pujols. The real question that has to be answered is he worth that much money and that many years. On the surface, the answer to the question appears to be yes. When you look at the first 10 years of Pujols's career in terms of most major offensive categories (batting average, home runs, runs batted in, runs scored, etc.), he ranks in the top 3 all time. There is no doubt that he makes the Cardinals a better team and generates millions of dollars in revenue through ticket sales and merchandise sales for the Cardinals. But if you dig a little deeper, you will see that his numbers have declined slightly over the past few seasons. Also, Pujols is currently 31 years old, and most baseball players show a sharp decline in their statistics around 35-36. So, while Pujols may currently be worth $30 million a year, will he still be worth that the last 5 years of his contract? The other factor that has to be considered is his elbow. Pujols has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, that could possibly rupture at any time, which would require Tommy John Surgery to repair and cause him to miss anywhere from 7-12 months of action. The bottom line is this: Albert Pujols is the best player in baseball, and has been for the past several years. He deserves to make a lot of money. Is he worth $300 million for 10 years? I'm not so sure about that, and I'm glad I don't have to make that decision. While I do feel the Cardinals could increase their payroll over $100 million, they are not the Yankees or Red Sox with unlimited financial flexibility. While I am a big Pujols fan, I am an even bigger Cardinals fan. I would love to see Albert finish his career in a Cardinals uniform, but not at the expense of sacrificing the Cardinals competitive chances with an extremely large contract. Hopefully both sides will be able to reach a compromise and he doesn't end up playing for the Cubs next year.