With the advent of a new year, the rage is to do a polar bear plunge for charity. This is when a group of seemingly normal people decide to to jump into freezing cold water. They do this in the dead of winter and enjoy the experience. One of the participants from this year said:

You have no clue as to what we are about to do. These people are getting ready (to take the plunge), and we don't have a plan.

Love it. 

The hurdler Liu Xiang is probably the second most famous athlete from China outside of Yao Ming. It was crushing to the Chinese when Liu Xiang had to pull out of the hurdles in the Olympics, an even he holds the world record in. At the time it was reported he had a tendon injury, but it's now specified. It turns out he had bone spurs between his Achilles tendon and foot bone. Ouch.

If you're like me you like to know all the details behind what is being done medically to you. It's important to know the ins and outs of your sports injury treatment, because up to 25% of lingering issues are caused by patient inattentiveness to procedures and actions.

Past this, I love learning. I love being able to watch people explain what they do, why they do it and how it all ties together. To this end I've found watching procedures related to sports injuries fascinating. 

The first place to look for procedure or surgery videos is, you guess it, You Tube. 

You're not going to find the best quality videos on You Tube nor will you find the most informative. The benefits of using You Tube are that the videos are embeddable and they tend to be shorter. 

Here is an example of a knee replacement surgery:

Dinara Safina just became the third ranked women's professional tennis player in the world. Pretty good, right? Not if you end up with a lower back injury. It turns out that the lower back injury has forced Safina out of the China Open this week.

Lower back pain is a constant concern for professional athletes, becasue like you and me, it's an issue that has no typical discernable cause or treatment. All hope is not lost, though. Lower back pain can be treated if you follow some simple suggestions. 

Let's look at some of the things you need to know:

What is lower back pain? If you feel a twinge, radiating pain or soreness in the lower back you can be sure you've injured it somehow. Whether it's a ligament, disk or muscle issue, the lower back affects everything from walking to running to sitting.

The Center for Environmental Health released a report yesterday saying that there are high lead levels in artificial turf. You know, the kind you play sports on.

Not knowing who the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) were, I check wikipedia. No entry. Reading their site will lead you to think they hate all industry. This doesn't affect what they report, but you should keep it in mind. The impetus for their testing was a CDC report about artificial turf. It is not apparent whether the CEH undertook their study prior to or after the CDC. 

We've covered how to treat a broken foot before, but I had to mention a few more things about it in light of some news. I am not going to say I watch BMX, but I know of it. This is the sport where people think it's a great idea to jump obstacles and soar high on bikes. One of the stars of the sport is Bubba Harris. He's a pro BMXer who knows a thing or two about injuries.

For instance, he suffered an injury almost a year ago that was so bad that doctors thought they would have to amputate his foot. The injury was one of the worst for a foot and it exposed tendons, ligaments and more. His foot was literally hanging by a tendon and some skin.

Today I was going to write about Chipper Jones' injury, but that can wait. What I wanted to chat about today is the very cool knee injury videos on You Tube. No, I'm not talking about the ones that show the actual injuries. I don't know about you, but it makes me squeamish to watch that happen. I remember injuries to myself and how I felt when they happened. A shiver goes up my back.

What I am talking about are the cool educational knee videos on You Tube. A few are low budget and missing information, but then a few others are right on topic. Let's take a look at a few of them:

The first video is from Dr. Vijay Vad, the PGA Tour doctor. It is a great visual walk through of the main parts of the knee and common injuries.

We're into the injury aspect of sports, but we also discuss topics related to preventing injuries. A newer technology called Cord Technologies is helping more athletes improve their performance and prevent injuries. It's a fascinating technology with targeted products.

This email interview with John Frappier of Athletic Republic is from earlier in the year and sheds light on the specifics of this newer technology. John is one of the visionaries when it comes to sports technology.

1) What is Athletic Republic?

Yep, the link is tenuous at best, but dengue fever can be considered a legitimate sports injury. Not buying it? Try talking to Diego Hypolito. What? Never heard of the only South American medalist to ever medal at the Gymnastic World Championships? Seriously, you need to expand your sports knowledge.

Dengue fever should be pronounced like Ben Gay, but with a D. Hence, Den Gay. The fascinating thing about this is the media reports concerning Hypolito's infection. Check this out:

He's recovering and could be released from the hospital on Tuesday. The three or four days he missed because of dengue will not affect his training for the Olympics. He will be completely recovered and ready to practice on April 23. - Dr. Robson de Bem.

Marion Jones is in the news again. This time she, or should I say her attorney, is pleading to the court to avoid prison time. Her attorney saus she has suffered enough. As if. Marion Jones turned in her medals and has become a ghost in the world of track and field, but she still cheated. More importantly, she lied.

You might be wondering how the clear THG helps athletes and why would they use it. Hopefully, the run through below helps you become more acquainted with the steroid. 

What is the clear THG? Big word alert. It's real name is tetrahydrogestrinone. Yeah, good luck with that one. It's an anabolic steroid.