1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Hi, RJ. Welcome to NASA Johnson Space Center. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:06,000 Thanks, Mrs. Shepard. 3 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Please, call me back. 4 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:12,000 Okay. Beth, Jennifer called to tell me you were having some problems with your rehab. 5 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,000 I sure am. She thought maybe you could help. 6 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:19,000 Jennifer told me that you're the lead astronaut strength, conditioning, rehabilitation specialist. 7 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:20,000 That's right. 8 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:24,000 My job is to physically prepare astronauts for long-duration space missions 9 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,000 through cardiovascular exercise, muscle strength and endurance weight training, 10 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:31,000 as well as balance, coordination and agility drills. 11 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:33,000 Well, it looks like I've come to the right place. 12 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,000 Did you bring your data? 13 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,000 It's all right here in my phone. 14 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,000 What does this graph represent? 15 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:43,000 The scatter plot represents the amount of weight my right leg can lift 16 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,000 when doing a set of ten repetitions on a leg extension machine. 17 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,000 The data was taken over a four-month period. 18 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,000 I need some help figuring out why I leveled off during the past month. 19 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,000 What kind of muscle tear did you have? 20 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,000 I remember my doctor telling me it was some kind of skeletal muscle. 21 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,000 I never heard the term skeletal muscle before. 22 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:03,000 Let me give you a crash course on the basics of muscles. 23 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:04,000 Okay. 24 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:10,000 This would be a great time to pause the program to answer and discuss the following questions. 25 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,000 What are some types of muscles in your body? 26 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,000 Why do astronauts' muscles weaken while working in space? 27 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,000 What are some ways to take care of your muscles? 28 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,000 It is now time to pause the program. 29 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,000 Your body has three different types of muscle tissue, 30 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,000 skeletal muscle, smooth muscle, and cardiac muscle. 31 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,000 Skeletal muscles are attached to the bones of your skeleton. 32 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:35,000 These muscles provide the force that moves your bones. 33 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:40,000 They are also classified as voluntary muscles, meaning you have control over them. 34 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,000 Smooth muscles can be found inside of many internal organs of the body, 35 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,000 such as the walls of the stomach and blood vessels. 36 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:51,000 They are classified as involuntary muscles, meaning they are not under your conscious control. 37 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,000 The last type of muscle, cardiac muscle, is found only in the heart. 38 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,000 It has characteristics of both skeletal and smooth muscles. 39 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,000 I didn't realize there were different types of muscles in my body. 40 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,000 Well, I definitely know now that I tore skeletal muscle in my right leg. 41 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,000 I have control over it. 42 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Okay, let's get back to your problem. 43 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:13,000 Now, you've been doing the same leg extension exercise throughout the entire rehab, right? 44 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:17,000 Yes, I have. It's my favorite leg exercise. 45 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,000 In order to stimulate growth and recovery, you need to change your workout every four to six weeks. 46 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:26,000 If you do the same workout program over a long period of time, your body reaches a plateau. 47 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,000 And in your case, you reached a plateau a few weeks ago. 48 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:32,000 Gee, I better change my workout plan. 49 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:37,000 Practice for the cross-country team starts in a few weeks, and I want to make it to the state finals. 50 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:38,000 What do you suggest? 51 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,000 Well, RJ, I would suggest adding some variety to your exercise program, 52 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:47,000 such as bicycling, swimming, rollerblading, and resistive training with your own body weight. 53 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:48,000 That sounds pretty cool. 54 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,000 So, Beth, what kind of rehab program do astronauts go through? 55 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,000 That's a great question, RJ. 56 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:57,000 When astronauts return from long-duration space flights, their muscles and bones are weaker. 57 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,000 For example, astronauts in space routinely use their arms to move around, 58 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,000 but they don't use their leg muscles to resist gravity. 59 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,000 The lack of muscle force can cause muscles to weaken or reduce in size. 60 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,000 The main focus of my job is to prevent muscle and bone loss, 61 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,000 starting with pre-flight and in-flight exercise programs. 62 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,000 But because we haven't figured out how to completely prevent muscle and bone loss, 63 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:21,000 the focus of the post-flight rehabilitation program is to return the astronauts' muscle and bone 64 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,000 back to their pre-flight baseline. 65 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:27,000 My team develops exercise programs that include cardiovascular conditioning, 66 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:31,000 muscle strength and endurance, flexibility and agility drills. 67 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,000 Each astronaut has an individualized program 68 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,000 because the amount of muscle and bone loss differs for each astronaut. 69 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:41,000 That's really cool. That sounds a lot like what I'm going through right now. 70 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,000 It is very similar to your rehabilitation program. 71 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:48,000 In fact, one of our astronauts, Leland Melvin, is doing a little rehab of his own. 72 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:49,000 Hi, Mr. Melvin. 73 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:50,000 Hey, RJ. How are you doing? 74 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,000 Are you rehabbing your leg as well? 75 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,000 I sure am. I re-aggravated my hamstring muscle while playing pro football. 76 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:58,000 Wow. Pro football player. 77 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,000 How'd you go from being a football player to being an astronaut? 78 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,000 I injured my hamstring muscle while in training camp with the Detroit Lions, 79 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,000 but it never fully recovered. 80 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:10,000 In addition to working hard at sports, I did well academically in school. 81 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:15,000 Too many young athletes today don't realize that sports can only take you so far in life. 82 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,000 Our cross-country coach emphasizes that all the time. 83 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,000 It's good grades in school that make me excel in life. 84 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:23,000 Sounds like you have a great coach. 85 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:26,000 So does your rehab program require mainly stretching? 86 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,000 That's only one component. 87 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:32,000 Exercise, or good stress, is important for maintaining both muscular strength 88 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,000 and flexibility and for recovery. 89 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:38,000 When you stretch and warm up thoroughly, your muscles become more flexible. 90 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:43,000 This helps prepare muscles for the work involved in exercising and playing sports. 91 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,000 Also, warming up the muscles can prevent injuries. 92 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:48,000 Like with your hamstring? 93 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:49,000 Exactly, RJ. 94 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,000 If you overwork or overstress your muscles, you can strain or pull them, 95 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,000 and that's a form of bad stress. 96 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,000 Now, I pulled my hamstring really bad, and that was some serious pain. 97 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,000 Don't let that happen to you. 98 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,000 And if you pull a muscle, you need to let it rest until the muscle heals. 99 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,000 Sure didn't learn a lot about muscles today. 100 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,000 Thank you so much for your help. 101 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:10,000 Oh, and by the way, you mentioned that your job deals with muscle loss and bone loss. 102 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,000 Do you know any good bone specialists I can talk to? 103 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,000 That's right. You said you were immobilized for some time. 104 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:20,000 Why don't you go and see Dr. Sonia here at NASA, and she can tell you all about bones. 105 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,000 Thank you again, and have a great day. 106 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:24,000 Now, Mr. Melvin, you better take care of that hamstring. 107 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:26,000 Hey, thanks, RJ. Take care.