The endurance athlete faces a paradox--you're going farther and faster, you're feeling stronger, but your bones are getting weaker. New, compelling evidence shows that the very activities that expand our mental and physical abilities may be reducing the durability of our skeletons. In this book, Thomas Whipple, a leading orthopaedic clinical specialist, and Robert Eckhardt, a scientist specializing in the musculoskeletal system, team up to explain how athletes at any level can maintain the delicate balance between endurance exercise and optimum bone health over a lifetime. Translating important scientific advances into accessible language, they explain the muscle-bone connection, and cover training strategies and exercises, nutrition, calcium, stress fractures, rehabilitation, running mechanics, footwear, posture, and pharmaceuticals. An essential guide and ideal text for exercise physiologists, endurance athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and coaches.
About the Author: Tom Whipple has been working with both recreational and competitive athletes as an orthopaedic physical therapist for over 20 years. He holds academic degrees in Physical Therapy (Northwestern University) and Orthopaedics (Georgia State University) as well as a certificate in Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy from the McKenzie Institute, U.S.A. He was recognized as an Orthopaedic Clinical Specialist by the American Physical Therapy Association (2000) and was certified by Nicholas Romanov, PhD as a Pose Running Coach in 2004. His clinical
practice at Penn State Sports Medicine is dedicated to the prevention and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries in athletes with a special interest in stress fractures. He has held university teaching positions and has provided continuing education courses for practicing clinicians across the United States. In collaboration with scientists from The Pennsylvania State University he is pursuing research related to bone physiology in response to different exercise, nutritional, and hormonal states. He is married to Jody where together in central Pennsylvania they are raising their two children, Jacob and Abbey. Robert B Eckhardt, PhD, is Professor of Developmental Genetics and Evolutionary Morphology in the Department of Kinesiology at the Pennsylvania State University, where he is head of the Laboratory for the Comparative Study of Morphology, Mechanics and Molecules. He has been conducting and publishing research for over forty years, specializing in the development and evolution of the human musculoskeletal system. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Australian Research Council, and several private foundations. He has published numerous scientific papers and books, most recently Human Paleobiology (Cambridge University Press, 2000). His laboratory was part of a research team that proved that the origin of bipedal locomotion occurred two million years earlier than previously realized. Dr. Eckhardt was an active recreational runner for several decades before shifting to vigorous daily walking for a more optimum balance between cardiovascular and biomechanical outcomes. Margot Putukian (Foreword author), MD, FACSM, is Director of Athletic Medicine at Princeton University and former president of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine. She also has served on the NCAA's Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports Committee and the Strategic Initiative Task Force for Active Girls and Women. Bernd Heinrich (Foreword author) is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology, University of Vermont. He is a record-setting distance runner, a member of the American Ultrarunning Association Hall of Fame, and author of over fifteen books based on his research into the physiological and behavioral adaptations of animals to their environments. Nicholas Romanov (Foreword author), PhD, is a world renowned authority on running and founder of the Pose Method, which enhances efficiency and performance in running, jumping and throwing, swimming, cycling, gymnastics, speed skating, cross-country skiing and many other athletic events. Dr. Romanov is a two-time Olympic Coach who has worked with many national teams and is author of the internationally bestselling book The Pose Method of Running. Currently he conducts clinics and seminars all over the world in association with sports clubs, national governing bodies, and universities.