Other mailbags can be found here. Keep in mind a lot of this is email conversations, comment replies, or some random interesting things I’ve found. By their nature they are not as thorough or complete as a post on one topic.
Here’s what’s covered in this installment:
- CrossFit is laying people off
Possibly 40% of their headquarters staff. Doesn’t look like good news for fans of the Games.
- MILLENIALS ARE RUINING EVERYTHING!!!
- MRIs, pain, etc. From an email discussion-
“The MRIs and pain debate is a very hard one. For instance, a disc herniation can actually be a vague term. Which direction is the disc herniated? What kind of herniation? If it’s posterior, does the person engage in much flexion throughout the day, where posterior herniations tend to cause symptoms? Is the person ok now, but will they have pain later? Similar to atherosclerosis. The arteries can have some plaque buildup, but that doesn’t mean the person will have a heart attack today.
Plus, MRIs aren’t completely accurate to begin with. For instance, just with a meniscal tear, it’s something like 20% of tears don’t show up. That’s quite a lot.
Most of the time, they’re just one part of the puzzle. Where many in pain science go wrong with this is they take that to mean MRIs are useless and mean nothing. That’s too far. All you do is take them into consideration, just like every other factor. For instance, I don’t automatically assume someone on depression meds has to address just their depression if they want to feel better, but I also can’t ignore that factor.
Basically, it’s very hard to say, in general, “this is only what matters.” For most, it’s a combination of factors. But, overwhelmingly, how someone moves is part of that discussion. I don’t get why this is so controversial for many. Nobody disputes crappy sleep makes people feel crappy. But at the same time, the idea sleep deprivation is why someone has chronic, localized right knee pain, is pretty out there.”
Because they’re out of shape.
- I have a feeling this will end up mattering with artificial intelligence, if it doesn’t already. From xkcd:
Posted on September 24, 2018