Our third quarter meeting, held on Saturday, October 4, in Baton Rouge, featured two excellent speakers. Gerald Drefahl, CEO of GoFitt, presented: "Asymmetries and Imbalances: Assessing, Addressing, and Accounting for Them in Clinical Exercise. " He stressed the importance of exercise and health by stating, "When the most you can do is the least you can do, you die!" 70% of individuals who begin an exercise program quit after 90 days due to one of the following reasons: 1) lack of motivation, 2) too little results, 3) injury. As exercise professionals, it is essential that we go beyond our classroom learning and understand the connections between breathing, the nervous system, and the spinal engine in helping our clients achieve success. By design our bodies have asymmetries and imbalances. His program identifies and addresses areas of weakness and imbalance that can impact injury and success.
Kate Austin, Doctoral Student, Dept. of Kinesiology, presented her research: "The Effects of Exercise Training on Vascular Function: A Statistical Approach." She used ultrasonography to evaluate the change in diameter size of the brachial artery, after applying a shear stimulus to it. In response to shear stress, nitric oxide plays a major role in vascular function. The flow mediated dilation (FMD) is a strong predictor for cardiovascular events. Using meta-analysis, she was able to combine the results of many similar studies to show that exercise training increases FMD and that the changes in FMD are similar across all age groups.
Kate Austin, Doctoral Student, Dept. of Kinesiology, presented her research: "The Effects of Exercise Training on Vascular Function: A Statistical Approach." She used ultrasonography to evaluate the change in diameter size of the brachial artery, after applying a shear stimulus to it. In response to shear stress, nitric oxide plays a major role in vascular function. The flow mediated dilation (FMD) is a strong predictor for cardiovascular events. Using meta-analysis, she was able to combine the results of many similar studies to show that exercise training increases FMD and that the changes in FMD are similar across all age groups.