The
Fitness Fixer™
was my column on Healthline from 2006 to 2010 - almost 800 articles.
Healthline ended my column in 2010 and removed most photos, all movies,
and reader comments. Later, they removed almost all the articles and redirected
my links to their own articles. I found some original articles remain on
the BlogSpot archive which was used to upload my articles to them.
Format is not pretty as it once was, but the words are mostly there. I hope
these still load, let me know:
SCUBA
DIVING SCIENCE and MEDICINE. Click this for at least some of the SCUBA articles
together on one page: http://healthlinefitnessfixer.blogspot.com/search/label/scuba
BREATHHOLD
DIVING:
http://healthlinefitnessfixer.blogspot.com/search/label/breath-hold%20diving
HYPERBARIC
science and medicine - hyperbarics.
SWIMMING
SCIENCE and MEDICINE - swimming.
PULMONARY
EDEMA/OEDEMA science and medicine - pulmonary
edema.
COLD
TEMPERATURE science and medicine - cold.
HEAT
science and medicine - exercise
in the heat.
AEROSPACE:
http://healthlinefitnessfixer.blogspot.com/search/label/aerospace
ALTITUDE
- altitude.
g-FORCE
and ACCELERATION science - g-forces.
MARTIAL
ARTS - Have fun checking around this great resource: martial
arts
FORENSIC
science and medicine - forensics.
I
am Science Officer for the Vidocq Society (I'm "The Spock of Vidocq").
An international cold case think-tank, only allowing 82 full members -
www.Vidocq.org. I was honored
when they told me that when Vidocq has a case involving severe environment
(aviation / cold, etc.) I am called in and they say, "She's the
Man!" For books about us, see The
Murder Room, The Girl With the
Crooked Nose, and other creepy true forensics books on my BOOKS
page.
Photo
below - my favorite lab partner for some of my work studying long exposures
to heat at elevation.
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan with camel friend during study of heat and desert exposure”]](images/JolieCamelo.JPEG)
In
the photo below, I am in a hyperbaric chamber just before they sealed
the hatch. Hair pulled back, for certification testing on intubation and
I.V. skills during one of the first certification courses in Hyperbaric
Chamber Operations. A long time ago with Dick Rutkowski's Hyperbarics
International.
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan during training for hyperbaric chamber medical operations”]](images/JolieChamberCertLR.jpg)
"Dr.
Bookspan, How could we forget the best of the best? Thanks for all your
years of service."
- Randy Shaw, National Association of SCUBA Instructors (NAUI Worldwide)
Training Department
Dr.
Bookspan's
Academy - The Fixa U (TM) School
of Healthy Medicine
![ALT =[“Dr. Bookspan's Academy of FUnctional Exercise Medicine: Dr. Bookspan's School of Healthy Medicine”]](images/DrBAcademy.png)
Not
all exercise is medicine. Not all medicine is healthy. We change that.
Real
life movement habits (function) is retrained to stop causes of pain, restore
mobility, and increase strength, independence, and fun.
We
develop and provide world health programs for people and communities,
green fitness, no-cost preventive medicine, innovations in training, certifications,
Fellow advancement, more.
Instead
of membership "dues" there are "do's"
- to do good. Join the fun. Come be a part of making yourself and
the Earth better through my Academy of Functional
Exercise Medicine.
![ALT =[“Dr. Bookspan's Fixa U School of Healthy Medicine: Dr. Bookspan's School of Healthy Medicine”]](images/LogoFixaULowRes.jpg)
The Fitness Fixer™
My Former Column of nearly 800 Articles,
plus Twitter
When
Medicine and FItness Aren't Healthy, We Fix It, and Boy Do They Need it
For
more than four years, it was my great joy to bring my column "The
Fitness Fixer" (tm) to Healthline.com, providing
close to 800 articles - not repeating what "everyone" says, but
primary source research and information. My original research and innovations
in improving fitness and medicine to be healthy, developed through years
of study with thousands of patients and students. I developed no-cost health
for people and communities to be healthier stronger happier, not through
sets and reps of artificial "moves" or burning electricity for
artificial gym equipment, but healthier movement and everyday actions.
When
Healthline stopped running my column in 2010, the company kept
some of the articles at first, but removed all the movies I had made specifically
for understanding the concepts, the interesting reader questions and my
answers, and almost all my photos and illustrations. They also removed "label"
tags which would have allowed you to click a topic label to group all the
many articles about one topic together on one page. In 2012, for some reason,
they cut each of the nearly 800 articles into two-page articles, but changed
many of them so the end is at the beginning, with reference end-links
in the introduction making many unintelligible. Later, they started removing
more and more of the original articles in favor of their own, which sell
their products. Links to my articles often redirect to them. I am updating
hundreds of the links I made on this site to my Fitness Fixers so that they
point to the originals on Blogspot or here on my site, but it is taking
time. Most of the articles are now gone.
If
you are a major Health Source who would like to run or syndicate this top
column, tell me about your ideas - SyndicateTheFitnessFixer @ DrBookspan.com.
INDEX
of Articles. Here is a page with almost all
the Fitness Fixer™
article topics -
Fitness Fixer Index.
Some
Examples: Below, I used to list many of the
most popular articles. Healthline replaced them with their own which sell
their products. I had hoped my articles would be an enduring free resource,
but it turned out not to be. The BlogSpot
archive is not as pretty, and I can't edit any broken links. I hope they
are still there when you click:
PREVENTING
NEED FOR SURGERY
I found an archive of my Fitness Fixers on Blogspot,
that, for now, allows my Label tag to group many of my Fitness
Fixers about surgery. Let me know if this still works: http://healthlinefitnessfixer.blogspot.com/search/label/surgery
AGING
Don't limit the person to limit the pain -
Here is the Blogspot archive of several aging
articles together: http://healthlinefitnessfixer.blogspot.com/search/label/aging
MILITARY
FITNESS
A collection of several articles helping Military Fitness - http://healthlinefitnessfixer.blogspot.com/search/label/military%20fitness
MARTIAL
ARTS - Is Bad Martial Arts Good Exercise?
Here is the Blogspot archive of several
articles on improving martial arts - http://healthlinefitnessfixer.blogspot.com/search/label/martial%20arts
DISC
INJURY AND RECOVERY
The Blogspot collection of helpful
Fitness
Fixers on understanding and fixing discs - http://healthlinefitnessfixer.blogspot.com/search/label/disc.
SPRAINS
and ANKLE HEALTH - Sprains.
FIXING
HEALTH of MIND and SPIRIT
Here is my page with short articles for mental and emotional health.
SOME
OF THE FIRST MOTION CAPTURE STUDIES - Rocky Movie Computer Fight
Simulation. My small contribution. Look for it on my Karate
page.
PARCOURS
- Dr. Bookspan's Bush-Bash
I taught Parcours/ Free running in the 1980s and
later put the fun stories on my Fitness Fixer column. (sorry, the company
first took off all my photos, then removed the articles). Come to my CLASSES
for learning healthy movement in fun ways.
NUTRITION,
probiotics, foraging, healthier sourcing, easy recipes.
Healthline
took them all away. I am still working on my healthy food book. Until
then, see my free Nutrition
Page.
READER
SUCCESS
See what my patients, students, and readers did
that worked, or didn't, and why - Hall of
Fame 2010, Hall of Fame 2009
and Hall of Fame 2007- 2008. Here is
the blogspot archive of my Reader
Inspiring Stories, and my web page on this site of Patient
Success Stories.
Updates, quick & fun: Twitter.com/TheFitnessFixer.
Equations
With The Great Dr. Ed Lanphier (Edward Howell Lanphier, M.D.)
in
his home in Wisconsin.
Dr. Lanphier was a renowned pioneer in diving physiology and medicine,
initiating many top US Navy diving medicine studies. He had been very
(very) ill. I was told that when he needed someone to finish his work,
he sat up unexpectedly in his hospital bed and said, "Get me
Bookspan." Dr. Lanphier asked me to live at their house with
him and his wife (Mom Lanphier) in Wisconsin to work on several studies.
I
had been in a serious accident. The heavy body braces I had to wear were
evident even under my thick sweaters. (I've never wanted to show much
of the ugly photos of lying paralyzed. Click my Rare
Photos Page for a glimpse). Often I worked lying on the floor - the
bracing did not bend for chairs. It did not bother Lanphier, even when
others were not hiring.
As
we worked over time, the health of Lanphier and his wife kept improving.
Instead of only finishing his life's work, we were able to do new work.
His knowledge was vast. No matter what topic I asked him about, he had
been involved in it in some way, even the first liquid breathing studies.
It led me to always say, "All roads lead to Lanphier."
Worked
Over 9 Years with Dr. Chris Lambertsen (Dr. Christian J. Lambertsen)
at
UPenn's Institute for Environmental Medicine (IFEM). I hand-reduced the
data for all his famous Predictive Studies Series. He believed direct
capture of physiologic parameters superior to automating, and I tracked
every data point straight from strip chart recordings, intimately learning
study results for each subject.
Dr.
Lambertsen developed the United States Navy's rebreathers in the 1940s
for underwater warfare, including the first oxygen rebreather, the Lambertsen
Amphibious Respiratory Unit (LARU), and was a pioneer in undersea medicine.
I worked on the data for Dr. Steve Thom's pioneering carbon monoxide studies,
and was on the Advisory and Review Board for the Specialized Center of
Research (SCOR) grant to investigate a number of areas in oxidative stress
and hyperbaric medicine, headed by Dr. Thom.
Living
and Working Underwater
in
Saturation Habitats.
Since I was a small child, I wanted to work underwater. I designed ocean
habitats and underwater laboratories for school projects, and was told
there was no such thing.
In
the first photo that should appear at below, I am entering the dry habitat
from the ocean below through the bottom hatch. I'm wearing a long surface
supply hose plus a small 'pony' tank. I wore blue jeans for diving. Easy
to get work done underwater and on land without changing.
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan at the hatch of the underwater lab”]](images/HabitatHatch.jpg)
In
the 2nd photo, I am also deep underwater inside the habitat lab. A reporter
who came to "get a story" about the lab demanded that, since
I am an underwater research scientist, I use a microscope while in the
habitat underwater. No explanations convinced her that my work as a human
physiologist doesn't use one. I could barely remember from school how
to turn it on. She insisted that I hunch over it to look intensely involved.
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan working inside the underwater lab.”]](images/MicroscopeHabitatLR.jpg)
My
actual work was not mentioned in the news story.
I
did find out about exploding toilets - when marine toilets that had been
under saturation pressures are brought to the surface and not vented.
See what happened on my Diving and Aerospace
page.
Command Performance Teaching Medical Stretches
To
Lama Tenzin, Senior Monk and Principal of the Tibetan Medical School in
the remote region of Lo Monthan.
The
kind Lama allowed physical contact for his learning, teaching me techniques
in exchange. More about medical massage is on my Thai
Massage page.
Kali-shoo!
Martial
Arts With the Fighting Horseback Muay Thai Monks and the Shaolin Monks
I
hold a 4th degree Black Belt in Shotokan karate.
The
pioneers and Masters were my teachers, including Teruyuki OkazakiSan,
who learned from the founders. We were later honored to study in Japan.
Our
dojo (training hall) in Philadelphia is pictured below. I am first
on left, then Paul Sensei (Sensei means teacher in this context),
who makes a fun optical illusion that we are all short. Then our students
in order of rank.
I
did years of painful rehab after my paralyzing accident (not martial arts
related) using my own methods while all around me said I was unreasonable
not to accept I would never stand or walk. I started over as a white belt,
training for years until earning the black belt a second time.
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: 4th degree black belt instructor of Shotokan Karate”]](images/JolieSenseiEvanBruceToryGeo.jpg)
In the photo below, Paul and I are at the Shaolin Temple (Shaolin Monastery)
near Zhengzhou in China. We were glad to attend before it was popular
with foreign tourists and before they had a cushy hotel there.
From
there, we traveled to the Chen Village, birthplace of Tai Chi, to study
from the source. It was a poor backwater with open sewers, requiring a
bone crunching trip by 4 wheel drive vehicle. More photos and stories
of this to come. Check back here, or with me.
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: With husband Paul at the Shaolin Temple, China”]](images/ShaolinPaulandJolie.jpg)
I
trained Muay Thai in The Netherlands and then Thailand, fighting in the
ring there. A little about Muay Thai kickboxing classes I taught at Temple
University is here.
Years
later we traveled on our own to the far northern Thai-Burmese border to
the Muay Thai Monks on Horseback. They fight drug lords with education
and strength. The Monk (Abbot), the Kru Ba, is on horseback. Paul is the
tall one in yellow. I am in purple second from right. We stayed with our
friend Kunyai (Grandmother) Tiem Pon, pictured first on right. The famous
monk is her nephew.
Story
is on my web site Kickboxing Syllabus - Muay
Thai Monks on Horseback.
The
young monks (novices called nen in Thai) thought it was hilarious
that my hair is the same color as their Abbot's horse mane. For some,
it was the first time they laughed since their families were murdered
in border drug wars.
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: WIth husband Paul meeting the Horseback Muay Thai Monks of Thailand”]](images/MuayThaiMonk.jpg)
Martial
Arts In Japan With The Living Treasures
We
lived in Japan to study Martial Arts.
I
found work at a medical school and arranged for us to stay with a family
we had helped when they were in the US. We did long formal paperwork to
be approved to train Shotokan officially. We packed language books and
our Gis (dojo uniforms), and moved. Eleven days later, the family could
no longer host us, and we were instantly standing in the street in a suburb
of Tokyo, needing to speak more Japanese than medical and Karate words.
Back
then, foreigners were usually not rented to, except in special foreigner
enclaves, but we managed to get a rare apartment in Tokyo. We passed a
small dojo and made brave to go in. We thought we could attend class in
the back unnoticed. It was a style we had never done - Goju-Ryu, The teacher
said "You! You! - HERE!" We had to go up front and
prove ourselves. The kind teacher made room for us in his class. After
a summer of work, invited us to their training camp (gasshuku) at Mt Fuji.
We already had other plans, but changed every ticket to make sure we arrived
when and where they said. We got to live and train with Morio Higaonna
Sensei, who since then is honored as an Intangible Cultural Treasure.
Worked
extra to study Shiatsu there. The Namikoshi Shiatsu school, one of our
training schools, has two statues; one of Tokujiro Namikoshi, the inventor
of Shiatsu and founder of the school holding two thumbs up, and a second
statue of a single thumb. We told the Japanese that in English, "all
thumbs" means clumsy, but I don't think they believed us.
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: WIth husband Paul while studying martial arts in Japan”]](images/P&JinOnsenLR.jpg)
My work is the study of the human body in extremes of environment: cold, heat, altitude, immersion, G-forces, micro-gravity, forensics, military maneuvers, exercise, high and low air pressures (hypobarics and hyperbarics) - how to survive and perform better in these environments and fix injuries from them. As a child, I played in the snow in a bathing suit while my father and grandfather walked barefoot over ice and snow to go ocean swimming every day. Joining them was a treat. My grandfather was the oldest member of "The Icebergs" ice swimming club.
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Research scientist in extreme environments”]](images/DrBookspanPhotoName.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan and eagle friend”]](images/JolieAndEagle.jpg)
![ALT =[“Fix Your Own Pain Without Drugs or Surgery by Dr. Jolie Bookspan. Fix causes using scientific methods you can do yourself. Available from author web site http://drbookspan.com/books”]](images/FixPainFrontCover.jpg)
![ALT =[“Stretching Smarter Stretching Healthier by Dr. Jolie Bookspan. Effective quick methods for healthier range of motion during daily life, sports, exercise, and at home. Available from author web site http://drbookspan.com/books”]](images/StretchBookCoverWEB.jpg)
![ALT =[“Healthy Martial Arts by Dr. Jolie Bookspan. Training for all athletes in all sports, body and mind. More on author web site http://drbookspan.com/books”]](images/CoverHealthyMartialArts.jpg)
![ALT =[“Health and Fitness in Plain English - How To Be Healthy Happy and Fit For The Rest Of Your Life by Dr. Jolie Bookspan THIRD edition. Available from author web site http://drbookspan.com/books”]](images/CoverH&FLowRes.jpg)
![ALT =[“The Ab Revolution 4th Edition by Dr. Jolie Bookspan. Replaces all earlier editions. Available from author web site http://drbookspan.com/books”]](images/CoverAbRev4.jpg)
![ALT =[“Diving Physiology in Plain English - 8th edition Blue Cover Edition: by Dr. Jolie Bookspan”]](images/CoverDivingPhys%20eBookLR.jpg)
![ALT =[“Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Review For Physicians Board Exam Guide by Dr. Jolie Bookspan. Available from author web site http://drbookspan.com/books”]](images/coverdocbook.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan barefoot climbing”]](images/JolieRockSit.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan at work at the UPenn Hyperbaric chambers”]](images/JoliePennChamber.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan free-diving to set an artificial mooring”]](images/JolieFreeDiveLR.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan scuba diving with a funny shark”]](images/SharkJolie.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan studying Doppler decompression bubbles on pilots during actual test flights”]](images/DopplerGdgLR.JPEG)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan and snakey friend”]](images/JolieHeavyFriendLR.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan's teaching dog, SPOT The Anomaly!: Copyright. Come meet him as he helps you SPOT causes of pain and how to fix them - http://drbookspan.com/research.html"]](images/SPOTtheAnomaly.gif)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan swimming with the elephants to help keep them cool”]](images/JolieElephantSwim.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan checks Christopher Reeve heart and vital signs after his scuba dives. This was before his horse riding accident”]](images/Reeve4.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan was Christopher Reeve's medical advisor for his TV show on diving”]](images/ReeveTV1.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan checks actor Christopher Reeve's heart and vital signs after his scuba dives. This was before his horse riding accident”]](images/ReeveDoppler.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan and Dr. Edward Teller: Dr. Bookspan was invited to dinner by Dr. Edward Teller”]](images/teller.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Dr. Bookspan was co-investogator with Dr. Ed Lanphier on hyperbaric and studies”]](images/Lanphier&Jolie.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Showing Thai massage techniques to Senior Monk Lama Tenzing of the Tibetan Medical School”]](images/MonkMassage.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Showing Thai massage techniques to Senior Monk Lama Tenzing of the Tibetan Medical School”]](images/MonkMassage2.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Pioneered putting fitness on cruise ships. Pictured here stretching on deck”]](images/shipstretch.JPEG)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Worked as able bodies crew on tall ships”]](images/TallShipDeck.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Professor at a teacher's college in Mexico”]](images/MexStudents.jpg)
![ALT =[“Dr. Jolie Bookspan: Diving with the Ama San diving women of Japan Japan”]](images/JolieAma.jpg)
My
information is not copied from someone else who said it, or something
I heard in a gym or in medical school. I am the scientist who researches
what really happens. These are my results from years of work and years
of schooling in physiology and research design. I started lab research
studies in the 1970s to find why standard neck pain, back pain, and other
pain exercises and treatments didn't work. I saw that rehab info was not
being applied to how people move, sit, and live in their ordinary daily
activities. I applied it. People got better. I saw that common treatments
and in fact the assumptions about why pain occurs, were not done by real
researchers but repeated from myths people liked and bad studies with
flawed design and stats. I did painstaking studies and kept careful records
(hundreds and hundreds of patients and students) so I would know which
things actually worked in real life, and which were due to other things,
including just time passing. I worked years on studies answering questions
and questioning answers. When I was working on studies of the human body
during immersion for combat swimmers, the experimental subjects, the lab
physicians, and others in the lab kept saying they had all these aches
and pains. Exercises their own physical therapists and docs gave them
did not work or made them worse. I fixed them up. Their doctors started
calling me (calling the lab actually, as I don't have a phone) asking
how I fixed them so well. They (and their physicians) started taking classes
with me. In the 1980s, class participants asked me to write everything
down for them. I was surprised. I thought they should have taken notes.
I typed information sheets for them. More doctors came to me after taking
my classes, saying they knew their standard Patient Handouts
were ineffective exercises. They asked me to make handouts for their patients.
I was surprised. Again. I thought they could do that themselves. I typed
Patient Handout sheets for them. I kept collecting data like
a good scientist, doing studies to test and retest methods, and develop
better ones. When the Internet came out, I sent handouts electronically,
instead of photocopies. In the 1990s I typed everything in several training
manuals that became books. One is Health & Fitness In Plain English
- How To Be Happy, Healthy and Fit for the Rest of Your Life. After
two different publishers, the new THIRD edition of How To Be Happy, Healthy
and Fit... eliminates wrong things previous publishers added over my objections.
Another book is Fix Your Own Pain, with patient stories in every
chapter showing why patients get better, or don't, and why. Over the years,
for each, I rechecked new data to make sure the work proved tests of time.
Several
more books of my life's work tell how to make life pain free, stronger,
and more fun. Each book is different. I have seen fitness and rehab
myths and fads come and go, but these methods remain effective over time.
Info,
Drawings of the figure Backman!™ and photos in this article
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