My physical therapist friend, Felicia (she teaches the Feldenkreis method) E mailed me an article by Gretchen Reynolds, who writes on medical stuff for the New York Times. This article was on the bad effects of warm-ups and stretching before exercise.

The article says, in part, that static stretching (holding a stretch for 30 seconds or more) weakens the muscles resulting in a bad performance of whatever sport you are engaged in. She interviewed phys ed people in universities around the country. This is the new lore. They all roll their eyes when they see people warming up with stretches. Maybe they are right to a degree but football players and tennis players do not care how high their legs can kick as long as they do well with the ball. For dancers, there is no ball. The leg is the thing, the torso is the thing. Not stretching is not an option. She didn’t even address the requirements of dance. How can I take her seriously?

Felicia says a professional dancer from Canada was referred to her because of aches and pains. The young woman burst into tears when she “learned” that all her years of stretching were bad for her. Oh, please. Felicia was sent a woman already stretched from years of hard work and Feldenkreis probably eased some of her problems in the same way massage and manipulation can. But Feldenkreis alone cannot make a dancer.

No, ballet work is not the healthiest of physical regimens for the body. Most of us are not designed for these particular stresses. But if ballet excellence is your goal, you can’t not stretch, period.

Other things we can’t do, of course, is drink coffee. No, wait, coffee is good for you. Nothing with butterfat … no, wait, there’s good fat and bad fat. Wine is good for you or wine is bad for you. In an article recently, I read that women over a certain age should not take Vitamin C. I lost the article. I was going to ask the doctor why because no reason was given.

Hormone therapy rejuvenates you and eliminates cancer risk; or hormone therapy increases the risk of cancer. I told my doctor thanks for new info but I am ignoring it. I have observed that the lore changes every 6 months. I have a friend who is so terrified of cancer that she arbitrarily had both her breasts removed after a lump was found. Caution can be a disease too, I think.

Recently there is “evidence” from research that says glucosamine/chondroitin does not ease arthritis symptoms after all. My doctor says to take it. I have mild osteo that keeps going away because I continue to use whatever joint is bothering me. I saw him yesterday. All my systems are “go”. He checked for muscle tone -- running his hands up and down my arms, etc. – he did it again a bit later -- did he forget that he already did it? I think he likes me. My stress test was a joke. They couldn’t make the treadmill go fast enough to put me out of breath. I talked through the whole thing.

My caveat really boils down to this: One size does not fit all, and I am tired of “new” research showing that we should all follow this new idea because someone who was born after I was retired tells me so.

xx, Teal