LOUISIANA ASSOCIATION OF EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGISTS
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Third Quarter Meeting

10/4/2014

 
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.
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Second Quarter Meeting

6/7/2014

 
The  LAEP meeting was held Saturday, June 7, at Louisiana College in Alexandria, LA.  Dr. Mike Brunet spoke on his 4-year project studying the activity level of third grade students in rural areas of Louisiana. His goal was to create a healthier school environment and to make a positive change in children's health. Donna Newton presented information on the Growing Up Fit Together project.  Since 1990, childhood obesity has increased from 12.3% to 32.7%.  Her program was directed at the children in low-income, medically underserved areas of Louisiana. 

Second Quarter Meeting 2014

6/7/2014

 
Dr. Mike Brunet spoke on his 4-year project studying the activity level of third grade students in rural areas of Louisiana. His goal was to create a healthier school environment and to make a positive change in children's health. He noted that our nation has adopted an "accommodation attitude" instead of a sense of accountability for obesity.  Seats, doorways, furniture, equipment, and portions have all been increased in size to accommodate larger body frames. His 8-year old subjects wore a Body Pod for 2 weeks to track activity, sleep efficiency, energy expenditure and environmental impacts. Parents were surprised to discover that their children were only sleeping an average of 6 hours/night, instead of the 8-10 hours they thought they were sleeping. During the school day, activity levels and MET levels were very low with about 700 calories being burned.  Dr. Brunet made note of the inverse relationship between sleep and obesity.  Decreased sleep time correlated with increased BMI and increased appetite.

Donna Newton presented information on the Growing Up Fit Together project.  Since 1990, childhood obesity has increased from 12.3% to 32.7%.  Her program was directed at the children in low-income, medically underserved areas of Louisiana. It involved three components: Classroom, Movement Instruction, Take It Home. Grades 1-3 were screened for BMI and body girth. In the classroom, the food pyramid was studied and incorporated with the core curriculum (i.e. using math and fractions with serving sizes). Movement instruction included "Five and Jive", which were 5 minute movement activities to be incorporated during the day (i.e. doing arm circles or marching in place while doing a French lesson, performing warm ups during roll call).  Take It Home included a newsletter with healthy recipes and tips, as well as BINGO cards for family activities and healthy foods to try. Inservices and one-on-one training were made available to the teachers.  Over 8000 students have been educated this past year.

All attendees received shoe laces, pedometers, and toothbrushes, courtesy of Donna. Jim Buxton won the Fit Bit Flex.

First Quarter Continuing Education Wrap Up

3/11/2014

 
Debbie Bermudez, Sr. Clinical Dietician at Ochsner, emphasized going back to basics and following a modified Mediterranean diet.  Each snack and meal should contain protein, fat, and carbohydrate.  She stressed eating more natural foods as opposed to processed foods or man-made foods with additives.  Eating fat and sugar (just less of it) is preferable to eating fat or sugar substitutes. Some other suggestions included: eating 2 meatless meals a week, replacing butter or margarine with healthy fats like canola or olive oil, and eating flaky fish 2-3 times a week.  Gluten-free and organic foods are not necessarily healthier options. Some free apps for your phone are Fooducate, Nutrition Menu, and Restaurant Nutrition.

Dan Doucet, an athletic trainer and sports medicine professional at Ochsner, showed us several techniques for evaluating flexibility and strength. He went through upper body, core, and lower body evaluations and demonstrated some different modalities to use for improving strength and flexibility.

First Quarter Meeting

2/27/2014

 
On Saturday, March 8, LAEP's first quarter meeting will be held in the Mandeville Room at St. Tammany Parish Hospital, 1201 South Tyler Street, Covington, LA.  The schedule is as follows:
8:00am  Welcome and Introductions
8:15am  "Healthy Eating Guidelines"  -  Debbie Bermudez
9:30am  "Muscular-skeletal Evaluation of the Cardiopulmonary Patient"  -  Dan Doucet  
10:45 am  LAEP Members Meeting

4th Quarter Meeting Wrap Up

11/16/2013

 
On Saturday, November 16, we held our fourth quarter meeting in conjunction with a continuing education presentation.  There was a great mix of members and LSU students present.

Dr. Lisa Johnson, Assistant Professor at LSU, told us about a grant that LSU was awarded by Edwards Lifesciences.  The goal of the grant-supported program - Geaux Heart Baton Rouge - was to do health screening for the under-served, lower socioeconomic areas of Baton Rouge.  The health screenings would then help to identify individuals who were at high risk for cardiovascular problems that may need further testing or treatment. The grant allowed enough money to refer 50 individuals for stress testing and consultation with a cardiologist.  An initial history and interview was done with each participation.  Blood pressure, cholesterol lab work, ABI (ankle-brachial index), and waist circumference were performed and were followed by an in-depth, consultation about the results. All participants were given a list of resources (i.e. health clinics, community centers) and information to assist in improving heart health. With the help of a multitude of her students, about 500 individuals were screened with almost 50 receiving additional testing. 

Third Quarter Meeting 2013

10/5/2013

 
On October 5th, LAEP had their quarterly meeting at St. James Place in Baton Rouge.  Members and non-members were invited to attend education sessions that included presentations from Dr. Neil Johannsen and Neil Nett.

Symposium 2012

11/10/2012

 
The 2012 symposium was held at East Jefferson General Hospital and the EJGH Wellness Center.  The first half of the day was spent in lectures and the second half was spent doing hands on demonstrations.
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LAEP | P.O. Box   81325 | Lafayette, LA  70598