Dictated by Bob Chen, Written by Bai Qiang
 
From New Sports – Social Sports Instructors, 2014, February Issue (#1), P48-49
 
Social Sports: My impression is that you have been engaged in competitive sports.  What brings you to concern yourself with social sports now?
 
Bob Chen: Actually, I have been connected to sports all my life by fate, and that includes social sports. 
 
Since I was six, almost everything I have done has been connected with sports - from amateur to professional, from coach to researcher, from medical personnel to teacher.  During which time, I studied and worked nearly thirty years in the United States and Hong Kong, and I have learned and mastered various sports injury treatments and rehabilitation theories, methods and means.  Besides that, I have served over the long term in professional sports teams, participated in preparations for the Summer and Winter Olympics five times in China, gotten to know top athletes such as Yao Ming, Sun  Yang, Zhang Lin, Bao Chunlai, Wang Meng, and Liu Qiuhong, athletes in various sport events, and accumulated a great deal of practical experience.
 
But few people knew that both abroad and at home, half the patients I received in the clinic were amateur sports enthusiasts and regular people.  Therefore my concern for social sports and common sports injuries in ordinary people are not a matter of whim, but a deep and long-term interest. 
 
In comparison, professional athletes pursue a higher, faster, and stronger Olympic spirit, and their training as well as competition are generally beyond the limits of nature, therefore, the prevention of and recovery from their sports injury demands higher requirements than those of ordinary people, and the degree of difficulty is also higher than in ordinary people who are in similar situations.  The fitness goal for the general population is mostly to improve their health and quality of life, to enhance their interest in life and spiritual happiness; hence, the intensity of their exercise is relatively lower.  Nevertheless, to apply prevention and treatment for sports injuries and rehabilitation experience and methods in competitive sports among ordinary people in fitness, and especially to enhance concepts that are safe and healthy, is as important as physical fitness, which I call “exercising wisely.”

Social Sports: How to interpret “Wisdom of Sports?”
 
Bob Chen: When facing objective matters, if a person can quickly identify the problems, and take the appropriate approach to deal with them, then I think this is called “wise;” sports fitness is the same.  Everyone is familiar with this famous saying “Life lies in movement.”  “Movement” is indeed one of the forms of life, and without it, one cannot say we are living life.  But how to reflect this concept correctly--how to move better, or even live better, are matters for which we need scientific theories and knowledge to ground and guide us.
 
Our highly developed society has brought about diverse concepts and methods of fitness to our world.  In China, many traditional forms of fitness are continuing, but many new and faddish ways of fitness are leading the trend.  For example, former U.S. Ambassador Gary Faye Locke (Luo Jiahui), in his story about fitness, introduced plank position training, which attracted a wave of imitators after the media released it.  Some people blindly imitated; others were trying to challenge Locke’s time.  But how many people actually stopped and asked themselves, or an expert, if this exercise was suitable for them?
 
After all, people are very different in many ways, such as age, sex, physical conditioning, environment, facilities, interests and hobbies, and so on, so we need to choose scientifically and personally from among a wide variety of exercise methods.  Many common sports injuries are caused by being unwise, using unsuitable exercise methods that are too much for the body to handle, causing physical discomfort, and in the end this is counterproductive.  We propose “Wisdom of Sports,” and look forward to offering our suggestions and thoughts for your choice and participation in various sports. 
 
Social Sports: Are good sport facilities a must in order to achieve good public health?
 
Bob Chen: The forms and means of sports and fitness are manifold, but in order to achieve good results, there are three basic elements to which one must pay attention: flexibility, stamina (this includes endurance of the cardiopulmonary system and muscular endurance), and strength.  To achieve these elements is not as complicated as people might think; you can employ the simplest and most convenient exercise forms in daily life. 
 
For example: flexibility of each joint in the body, including coordination training, can be achieved by doing exercises, leg stretching, and pulling.  For stamina training, one can use 30-minute aerobic exercises such as jogging, brisk walking, and mountain climbing.  It is important, however, to do it for a long period of time.  For strength training, one can use static or dynamic weight training.  If you want to develop strength in your lower extremities, the easiest way is to avoid elevators and take the stairs.  Or you can get off the bus one stop earlier, and briskly walk home, which can also improve your heart and lung function.
 
We do these things all the time in our daily life, and the key is to allow our bodies to reach a certain level of exercise.  We need to monitor our bodies’ responses, such as fatigue, etc., and then decide whether to increase or decrease the amount of exercise, adjust or maintain the current way of exercising.  In short, exercise should suit one’s measures to local conditions, and this varies from person to person.  It does not necessarily require expensive or highly technical sports equipment to make it work. 
 
Of course, good fitness equipment and means are very helpful for sports and fitness, especially for those who have higher goals.  But whether or not they should use them depends on each individual’s expectations and requirements of fitness.  No matter what methods people use, best results should be regarded as a measure, and continuous exercise is the most important insurance.  Do not use “having no sports equipment” as an excuse for not participating in exercise, or rely on external devices to make up for your incorrect fitness concepts and habits, for this will only hurt you in the end. 
 
Social Sports: Is there a necessary connection between exercise and sports injuries?
 
Bob Chen: Exercise is an attribute of our lives, but it also consumes, in the form of wear and tear on joints and strains in soft tissue.  With age and the accumulation of physical activity, parts of our bodies also age and deteriorate.  It is like every vehicle-- it has a limited period of time for use.  Only if you constantly keep up with its maintenance, take care of it when you travel with it, can the vehicle attain its normal lifespan, or even exceed it.  On the other hand, if you do not take care of it, drive it beyond its normal endurance, its life will naturally be greatly reduced.
 
It is the same for sports.  In fact, sports injuries are not something to be afraid of; what you really should be afraid of is not understanding the relationship between sports and injuries, and especially of having little or no knowledge about how to maintain good health.  I often tell my patients that there are two types of sports injuries: acute and chronic.  Acute injuries, such as sudden ankle sprains, fractures of bones, ligament ruptures and so on, are caused by accidents such as what happened to Wang Meng before the Winter Olympics.  But most injuries belong to the second type, that is, chronic strains.  The main reason for this is that when people exercise, they do more than their body capability can withstand.  In addition, with long-term accumulation of fatigue and insufficient time for recovery, this change from quantitative to qualitative forms a strain that becomes actual injury.  Thus, this type of injury has a gradual process of development.  Practice shows that 50% of all chronic strains are completely preventable.  The key is to detect early symptoms, and at the same time, find the athletic technique and habitual errors that have formed the injuries as quick as possible.  Then, prescribe correct exercise to treat injuries, adjust exercise patterns and the amount of physical exercise, and reduce the damage to a minimum.
 
In China, there are more and more fitness instructors, rehabilitation specialists and sports medical staff who can, for specific sporting events, provide participants with physical examination, adjustment of sports techniques, rehabilitation treatment, and a whole range of health management to reduce the chance of sports injuries and their development to occur.  For example, our studio (Dr. Chen’s STaR Studio, located in Beijing’s Dongcheng District) can target specific sporting events such as running, golf, basketball and badminton, and provide targeted packages of injury risk assessment, technical diagnosis, correction and improvement of motor functions, and other services. 
 
Social Sports: In public fitness, including prevention and treatment for sports injuries, what do you think our main drawback is?
 
Bob Chen: To measure whether or not a country’s sports undertaking is advanced, we cannot judge it by counting how many Olympic gold medals it wins, but must look at the extent and level of participation of its citizens in sports. 
 
I spent many years in the United States, a country very powerful in sports, and I feel strongly that to compare our people’s level of awareness of participating in sports, the methods and means of exercise, the effects of exercise, and the physical qualities in that country reveals a major gap between us.  I think this has a lot to do with people’s understanding of sports, and how important sport is in people’s daily lives.  There are many foreigners among my patients, and they often become more proactive due to injuries and not being able to participate in certain exercises.  In good faith they seek and cooperate with the treatment and rehabilitation efforts of professionals in order to recover their motor functions as quickly as possible.  But some, after being injured, either do nothing but rest, or buy a handful of supplements, or bear the pain and think it will pass.  They do not want to see a doctor until it is too late.  Among active people who exercise, most are retired and elderly--very few middle-aged people participate in regular exercise.  Some exercise to follow the trend, while others who have never exercised before suddenly take it into their heads to work out, especially on weekends, try to go from couch potato to track star in one quick step.  The regrets come on the following Monday when they have to go to the hospital due to injuries, which is often called the “Monday Syndrome.”  These are all due to a sudden deviation appearing in a person’s concept of fitness and health. 
 
Here, I would like to borrow this platform of Social Sports Instructors, and share advanced ideas and knowledge regarding health and rehabilitation.  At the same time, through my years of practical experience I would like to answer questions and eliminate doubts and confusion, to help everyone to exercise more wisely and reasonably.  I also hope that readers will send over their questions to the editorial department.  I will choose one representative question from among them to answer and explain specifically in each issue. 
 
Finally, I would like to share this line with everyone, “Life lies in movement, and movement lies in science.”