Victor was raised by his mom and two older sisters- oh yeah, his Dad pitched in too.  Dad schooled him in the fine art of spitting, cussing and other related guy stuff.  But by being the only boy and the youngest, he was kind of fussed over.  Well, some might call it “fussed” over, but I think he’d call it being nagged.  He was “instructed” on the importance of many life skills by his mom, sisters and female grade school teachers.  These requisite proper attributes included: to not fight, to be polite, to have manners, to bathe regularly, to cut his finger nails, comb his hair, not to wear stripes with plaids, to not wear wrinkled clothes, to eat his vegetables, to excuse himself, to not burp, to wait in line and not push, to pay attention, to not tease, to wash his hands, to be civil and obey authority.

Well, some of the stuff stuck, but some behaviors are woven too deep into his uncouth male fiber.  But without women, I believe men would still be living in caves, picking their nose and eating raw meat.  The main reason man invented the wheel and fire was to impress women; and we only learned to cook meat because women told us that it tastes better that way.  So there you have it, women have been positively influencing men since prehistoric times.  Thank goodness for our daughters, sisters, girlfriends, wives and mothers.

To Daughters, Sisters, Girlfriends, Wives and Mothers
With Love, from Victor and Boys Everywhere

Daughters make guys better people.  I am not quite sure what it is, but I suspect that we secretly want to give our daughters a better reference point regarding male behavior than the actual base traits we know lie bottled up deep inside us.  We offer them a sanitized and proper yard stick to measure their future boyfriends and husbands by.  So for our daughters, we do our best to demonstrate the behaviors of chivalry and gentlemanliness.  We work hard at concealing our goofy guy side, the rude, the aggressive and the foolhardiness of the male psyche.  These are the parts of the male brain that have dawdled behind on the evolutionary path.

On Saturday February 29th, a room full of dads, moms and some young girls attended a presentation at Dr. Bannar’s office.  The presentation provided insight into why a young female’s anatomy is more susceptible to ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injuries than males when playing sports.  Dr. Bannar spoke first about the anatomical and physiological aspects that cause young female athletes to injure their ACL.  Following this, Rene Hoogendijk (Barton’s Director of Physical Therapy and soccer coach) gave information regarding training methods that have been developed to reduce such injuries.

Dr. Bannar spoke with patience and passion regarding the inner workings of the knee.  The knee is one amazing hinge.  It is called upon to do all sorts of intricate maneuvers while keeping us upright, balanced and in harmony with the oppressive forces of gravity—aging and gravity are the archenemies!  For all that the knee is asked to do it is strangely Zen-like in its design and simplicity.  Dr. Bannar showed photos, MRIs and operated a plastic skeletal knee with a rubbery ACL to explain how all the parts and pieces come together to make this eloquent part of the anatomy function.  There are several factors that cause a female athlete to be more susceptible to ACL injuries than males, but like most things regarding the female anatomy, even after a detailed discussion, I was still left scratching my head. Females are complex!!!

Rene spoke with authority, giving examples of training techniques that will prevent ACL injuries.  His assistant modeled appropriate warm up and training methods.  He also showed photos of inappropriate training methods and how they could lead to ACL injuries.  The handouts and Powerpoint presentation illustrated ways to integrate effective training habits and techniques into a regular workout.

All the fellas in the room listened to the PEP presentation with a serious look of concern worn on their collective faces.   It was just a bunch of goofy guys taking time on a Saturday afternoon to find one more way to look out for their daughters.   It was down right heart warming.

Good job and a big thank you to Dr. Bannar and Rene for their time, expertise and direction- oh yeah, the pinky goes out on the hand holding the tea cup, and always, and I mean always remember to say please and thank you!

For more details regarding the PEP program and to order an instructional DVD please visit this website:
http://www.aclprevent.com/aclprevention.htm

Comments may be emailed to Victor Uriz at vuriz@bartonhealth.org.