“Post by Owen Valuch, a firefighter paramedic who worked the Crossfit Games with me.” –Sean Being hydrated is essential for everyone.  Our bodies need the correct amount of fluid in them for all of our cells to work properly.  Breathing, cardiac, cognitive functioning, and digestion are a small example of the major items that need to work correctly for us to survive.  This topic should certainly seem straight forward, drink...

So the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games are behind us and I for one left Carson with a sense of where does CrossFit go from here. Things have changed from the dirt hills of Aromas to the luxury of the StubHub Center with CrossPollination going on all over the Games. Racing cars on exhibit in Vendor Village, Freestyle Motocross in the middle of the soccer stadium jumping and wheelying all around the field, and arm wrestling in the tennis stadium are...

Shoulder surgery does not mean you have to lose everything you have worked so hard for. Some people are rightly concerned about injuring their repaired shoulders after surgery. These people make a surgeon feel better. Some people think the repair is healed right from day one and want to test it; these people frighten me despite my efforts at counseling. I think there is a compromise that can be achieved without losing your all important wind and...

As we prepare for the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games of 2013, first let me wish all the competitors good luck and good health.  The medical team is also getting revved up for the events. Our number one priority is the safety of the competitors. Hopefully our services will not be needed but if they are, the team is well equipped to handle any emergency. The team is under the direction of Dr. Mike Ray and Navy Hospital Corpsman Brian Thurmond and is...

Having done your annual Memorial Day Murph, you might have woken up the next day with sore knees and returned to the daily grind behind a desk. Everything feels fine…until you stand up. Come to think of it, every time you extend your leg it hurts and stairs are no joke. You may be experiencing patellofemoral pain. Your knee joint is made up of the femur (thigh bone) and tibia (shin bone), but a lesser known joint that can become problematic...

Here’s the setting. Masters competition, clean and jerk with a  toe to bar ladder (sound familiar), 50 year old male lifts a barbell for a clean and jerk and feels a searing rip in his arm and has to drop the bar. He cannot lift his arm away from his side and is in agony, maybe had a little “bursitis in past” but nothing bad enough to stop him. Second scenario is 40ish year old 930 class filled with bunch of overachievers and...

“Shin splints” is a catch-all term for exercise induced lower leg pain. You may have noticed shin pain after WODs with a lot of jumping or running. Initially, the pain alleviates when you stop activity, but as time goes on it becomes continuous and your lower leg may become swollen. What’s going on in there? The lower leg has compartments that house muscle, nerves, and blood vessels. The muscles of the lower leg fatigue with high impact...