Hip Hop Health Heroes (HHHH): KRS-One

 

“Health has a lot to do with controlling the five senses. If you do not control your five senses, it’s almost impossible to stay healthy.” – KRS-ONE (Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone)

Hip Hop has the potential to make people healthier. And when we say that, we are not referencing corny fitness dudes like Shaun T of “Hip Hop abs.” The potential is referring to the healthy ideals of cultural icons in the game. For example, one can easily learn a healthy lifestyle from observing the spiritual focus of a Russell Simmons, the physical dedication of an LL Cool J, or the nutritional practices of a KRS-ONE. In a generation where social media has allowed fans to connect to celebrities like never before, there is a tremendous potential for artists to spread the gospel of healthy living (that is if they choose to be role models). With premature health-related deaths of some of the game’s most respected figures last year (i.e. Heavy D, Nate Dogg), the Hip Hop community has recognized the importance of healthy living more than ever before. In one interview, KRS-ONE offers some scholarly wisdom about the roots of Hip Hop as he says, “Hip Hop is a strategy. If you can just remember this one point. The one point that a lot of people forget is that in the 70’s, Hip Hop started as a strategy. It was a strategy to help you have better health, better wealth, and a better awareness of yourself or your environment. It was a strategy.”           

Let’s resurrect the strategy.


                                        

                                 Follow us @injuryduty on Twitter.                                               


With so much medical scrutiny about concussions in football and ice hockey, what is being done to oversee these injuries in seemingly the most violent sport out there?…Mixed Martial Arts. Although measures are taken to make the sport as safe as possible, concussion science would claim that these fighters ARE undeniably sustaining concussions (especially with the sports’ use of smaller gloves than in boxing). The mysterious nature of these injuries is that they unveil their effects later in life. What may seem trivial in the short term may come back with a vengeance in the long-term. As a relatively young sport in the mainstream, studying the long-term effects of these hits on fighters will be important before true comparisons with “older” sports can be made.  What are your thoughts? 

                  For more MMA injury news, follow us @ID_MMA on Twitter. 

Knee Deep

With Brandon Roy’s retirement announcement last week, the only thing the city of Portland is blazing (besides chronic…ba-dum-tsh) is a trail of disappointment and unfulfilled potential. You would think the team that gave up Michael Jordan for Sam Bowie would catch a big break in the karmic cycle of professional basketball. Think again. Between Roy’s degenerative knees and multiple knee surgeries for their former 1st round draft pick, Greg Oden, the Blazers have new meaning for the term “Contract Killers.”

                 

No stranger to injury, Roy was plagued by knee troubles since his college days at the University of Washington. A meniscus tear in his right knee forced the college star to the bench during his junior year. Although B-Roy contemplated entering the NBA draft after a strong recovery from knee surgery, he decided to finish his education and play UW basketball for one more season (good decision in hindsight). After a historic senior year, the first team All-American and PAC-10 player of the year was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2006 (only to be traded shortly after to the Portland Trailblazers). Even after dealing with a left heel injury that sidelined “The Natural” for 20 games, Roy came back with a vengeance and was awarded the NBA rookie of the Year award.                      

               

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Celebrity Health: “In Vitro Kardashianization”

     

Is the world ready for another Kardashian? Word on the street is that Khloe Kardashian, the youngest of the Kardashian sisters trio is turning to in vitro fertilization (IVF) to help her get her own bun in the oven. While already step-mom to hubby, Lamar Odom’s two kids from a previous marriage, it’s no secret that Khloe’s been dying to have a baby of her own. And now that big sister, Kourtney has baby #2 on the way, we suspect that Khloe’s got a bit of a fire lit under her.

      

The driving force for evolution has long been conception, one of the most natural things that can occur between a man and a woman. Sperm meets egg and you’re off to the races. One cell becomes two, two becomes four, and so on until 9 months later, little Junior pops out. However, this act of nature isn’t as easy as it seems. Infertility, defined as a couple’s inability to conceive after a year of unprotected intercourse, is becoming a more ubiquitous problem these days for roughly 10-15% of American couples. Infertility can occur due to several reasons- structural abnormalities in the female reproductive tract, irregular ovulation, and hormonal imbalances to name a few. Furthermore, in a society that occasionally has the tendency to prioritize professional career development and family planning over actually starting a family, women who wait longer to get pregnant often find themselves having a hard time doing so. At 27, Khloe’s biological clock is beginning to tick, and given her well-documented struggles with conceiving, turning to other options to have a child seems like the next logical step.

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Dead and Shoulders

Why do we love football so much? Maybe it’s the weekly displays of superhuman strength, speed, and athleticism in a sport rooted in strategy, brute force, and combat. Or maybe a lot of us still have some animal left in us from our days in the jungle. Football players are like modern day gladiators in stadiums that reflect the blood-loving and bone-crushing sentiments of Roman Coliseums. Thousands upon thousands fill arenas to the brim while millions more congregate in their homes to watch the hard-hitting, hear the gridiron clamoring, and possibly feel the aftershock of an earth-shattering tackle in this spectacle for the sadistic senses.  How could something that sounds so wrong, feel so incredibly right? I love watching someone getting the chocolate knocked out of them as much the next guy, but as someone who studies science as much as sport, evidence now shows the impact those hits to the helmet that make fans go “oooo” have on players. If it hurts to watch, some of these “lights-out” blows may not be as short lived as our attention spans.

Football has come a long way in terms of the health of players. In the 60’s, it was common for football players to die after a head injury. Improved helmet designs that better absorbed the impact of hits greatly lowered the risk of serious brain injuries and facial fractures. However, the injury rates began to increase a decade later as players started feeling bulletproof in their new helmets and started tackling players by charging at them with the top of their helmets (spear tackling). It is actually a rule that players are supposed to tackle with their heads up. Spear tackling can increase already Goliath energy and mass (increases your mass by 67%!) by enabling the guy tackling to use his whole body in the impact by aligning his head, neck and torso into an explosion of force toward the head of another player. BOOM! 
Typically, concussions are not seen in striking players, however this style of tackling greatly increases forces on the neck, which can increase the risk of concussions as well as compression fractures in the spinal column. Take a look at what happened last Sunday to Steelers’ safety defending Defense Player of the Year, Troy Polamalu. 

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Jimmy V Week

So November 30th-December 6th is Jimmy V Week. Who is Jimmy V? Jimmy Valvano, affectionately known as Jimmy V, was one of the most passionate figures in college basketball. Jimmy V was the coach of the North Carolina State Wolfpack when the team won the 1983 National Championship in Cinderella-like fashion. He was probably best known for rushing the court in disbelief for someone to hug after possibly the biggest play in the history of college basketball. Watch this clip from CBS Sports if you don’t know what I’m talking about:

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Thriller Killer

Dr. Conrad Murray’s legal team might have had a better defense if they tried to convince the jury that the defendant took the Hypocritical oath instead of the Hippocratic oath. After six weeks of trial and hours of deliberation, the jury unanimously found Michael Jackson’s doctor GUILTY of involuntary manslaughter. The maximum sentence he would face is four years in prison (sentencing is set for Nov. 29). Due to the overcrowding of California prisons, Murray may be able to serve his sentence on house arrest (after getting $150,000 a month from Jackson for his medical services, his house could probably be on [Convict] Cribs). Even if he gets off that easy, Murray still faces a wrongful death suit from the Jackson family and has an uphill battle to keep his medical license. 

Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 of a cardiac arrest (his heart stopped pumping blood). Jackson’s death was likely related to toxic doses of an anesthetic (stuff that puts you to sleep before surgery), called Propofol, that Dr. Murray gave him to treat his insomnia. Propofol is a widely used anesthetic for many surgeries because it takes effect quickly (as fast as 30 sec) and patient’s recover quickly. It is usually injected intravenously (in a vein, IV) and because of its milky appearance, medical nerds refer it to as “milk of amnesia.” In a setting with proper monitoring (i.e. operating rooms in hospitals) and trained personnel (i.e. anesthesiologists), Propofol is a pretty safe drug. However, using it to treat insomnia and doing so at a patient’s home (especially without appropriate monitoring of heart and lung function) like in Michael Jackson’s case is unanimously unacceptable in the medical community. 

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“No Knee[d] For It” - Should Front/Side Kicks To The Knee Be Banned From MMA?

Jon “Bones” Jones has been under constant criticism from the MMA community since dismantling Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 125, where he captured the Light-Heavyweight (LHW) Championship. Why? I’m not entirely sure, actually. Maybe it has to do with how quickly Jones blasted on to the scene. Since starting his MMA career in April of 2008, Jones compiled a 7-0 record in a matter of four short months. Since then, he has put together an impressive record of 15-1. Entangled in those fifteen wins are whoopins he put on Stephan Bonnar, Brandon Vera, Vladimir Matyushenko, and most recently, the former PrideFC Middleweight Champ and UFC LHW Champ, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

 Along the way, Jones has been tagged by both fans and some opponents alike as “cocky” and “very arrogant” for what he claims is “being very confident in my own abilities.” But here is how I see it; Jones is easy to hate. Why? Think about it. The guy destroys some of the sports’ most beloved fighters in one jagged swoop and makes it look effortless. Fans barely had time to watch him fight, much less get to know him. It’s like the new kid at school; he can’t just jump on the court during lunchtime recess and call next. He’s gotta wait till he’s picked. Instead, not only did Jones call next, but he still hasn’t left the court. And, as if that weren’t all enough, Jone’s isn’t the coolest of dudes. He’s not particularly funny. In fact, he can be a bit corny at times. Oh and lets not leave out the fact that he’s not afraid to share his religious devotion at all times (people don’t seem to dig that, for whatever reason). So it’s pretty clear to the MMA community; Jones ain’t your homie, and he plays by a different set of rules. Which brings me to crux of this Injury-Duty Report: Should kicks like Jones’ front/side kick to the knee be banned from the octagon?

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