Welcome to the HPRC Blog. We've got lots of information here, from quick tips to in-depth posts about detailed human performance optimization topics.
HPRC Fitness Arena: Total Force Fitness
Chubby cheeks on little ones are cute, but you want your child to outgrow them. The number of obese and overweight children has almost tripled since 1980, resulting in an increase in cardiovascular disease and other health issues—a trend reflected in the body-fat condition of today’s military trainees. Doing activities as a family not only gets kids moving, but also gets you moving! Children need at least 60 minutes a day of play involving moderate to vigorous exercise. This can be done throughout the day— at recess, during after school activities, playing at home—and doesn’t have to be done all at once. Let’s Move! has a list of simple steps you can do to encourage your child to live a healthy lifestyle. One idea: Have a house rule of doing jumping jacks during television commercials. For even more ideas, check out the CDC’s Strategies and Solutions for parents and communities.
Why has the F-22 Raptor been depriving its pilots of oxygen for the last 12 years? Air Force officials recently told a House subcommittee hearing (a complete video of the two-hour hearing is also available) that they don’t know what’s behind the dizziness, confusion, blackouts, memory loss, fatigue, and eventually chronic cough (“Raptor cough”) that pilots experience while flying the stealth jets. After more than a dozen incidents between 2000 and 2011—and one fatal crash—where pilots were being choked by the plane, the Air Force’s entire F-22 fleet was grounded in May 2011.
Investigations ruled out low blood sugar and dehydration as possible causes of the symptoms and eventually concluded that the problem was an overinflated pressure vest that restricted breathing.
In response, a team of NASA engineers and Navy divers developed a new-and-improved pressure suit and back-up oxygen systems and removed a faulty charcoal air filter. These measures seem to have alleviated the problems—a dozen F-22s recently were deployed to Japan without incident. Now restrictions are being lifted, although the jets and their pilots are being closely monitored. Pilots currently must operate under altitude ceilings so that they don’t need to use the flight vests, and they must also stay close to emergency landing sites. Experts and scientists continue to investigate the primary cause of these incidents as well as improve safety and back-up systems.
Ever have a buddy ask, “What’s going on inside your head?” Now you can look at the inner workings of the mind—“Interactive Brain” helps you understand how specific parts of the brain can impact basic functions and performance. This tool provides facts about the functions of the right and left sides of the brain, as well as the anatomy of vision, including videos of how head injuries affect eye movement. By going through the sections and clicking the links on the diagrams, you’ll also gain insight into how certain brain injuries such as mild to moderate TBIs can impact performance. Be sure to watch the introductory and anatomy videos that accompany the interactive diagrams, especially if you want to understand traumatic brain injury better.
CHAMP and HPRC hosted a conference in conjunction with American College of Sports Medicine and National Academy of Sports Medicine on September 10–11, 2012, on “Preventing Injury through Functional Movement Assessment: What We Know, What We Don’t Know, and Where We Go From Here.” For more information about the conference, check out HPRC’s Summary Report. For a brief explanation of functional movement assessment, read HPRC’s Overview about one form, FMS.
The Army has changed the name of its Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program—its new name is Comprehensive Soldier & Family Fitness – CSF2. The resilience-enhancement program now includes spouses and allows them to be trained and serve as Master Resilience Trainers (MRTs). In CSF2, spouses can attend a 10-day, 80-hour course—the same program as for soldiers—and then can go on to help train other spouses in resilience and psychological health.
Developing technology in order to save the lives of those who serve is vitally important. To that end, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) recently received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Army to develop monitoring sensors that will be able to detect blood loss early, which may help save lives on the battlefield. WPI will partner with the University of Massachusetts Medical School to create wireless sensors that can be worn on the body to detect blood loss, body movement, and posture. They will also be working to combine that information with smartphone technology that medics can use as a handheld diagnostic device in rapid-response situations.
Are you looking for ways to promote your health or the health of your family? Operation Live Well, a DoD initiative, provides a wealth of information each month on a targeted topic. September is National Cholesterol Education Month and National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. High blood cholesterol puts you at risk for heart disease, the number one killer of men and women in the United States. Encouraging family physical fitness can instill a lifetime of healthy habits and decrease risks for problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Check back often to see new topics and explore methods to improve and sustain your well-being!
"Animated growth, like trees, never proceeds in straight lines. Trees are not like the walls of a house, they adjust to the living conditions of wind, sun, soil, and rain." - Ruth Cohn, noted psychotherapist
Whether it is environmental challenges (heat, cold, altitude) or psychological pressure, adjusting your performance strategies to your surroundings is the only way to ensure success. There will be situations that may seem impossible to overcome, but that is when you must dig deep and use whatever resources you have available. Enhance your performance by challenging yourself at every opportunity. Visit HPRC’s Environment and Mind Tactics sections to learn strategies on how to best adapt to different situations.
The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is a tool used to evaluate how people move and identify patterns that could increase the risk of being injured. In a 2011 study conducted by the Consortium for Health and Military Performance (CHAMP), researchers found that FMS scores indicated an individual’s risk for injury. A summary of the most current information published on functional movement assessment demonstrates that the FMS is a reliable tool but that more research is needed. The upcoming CHAMP/HPRC conference will explore the role of functional movement assessment in preventing injury and enabling Warfighters to return to duty quickly, and will highlight areas for future research. Topics focus on the Warrior Athlete and civilian athletic communities, and include the epidemiology of musculoskeletal injuries, functional fitness and movement patterns, and current concepts in, as well as future research considerations for functional assessment tools.
Have you ever wondered what a truly healthy relationship looks like? Did you know some arguments can be healthy? And are you curious as to what the difference is between a healthy argument and an unhealthy one? If you are, you’ll want to check out HPRC’s Performance Strategy on couples communication that highlights strategies you can instantly apply to your relationships.