Sagittal plane motion of the lumbar spine during ergometer and single scull rowing

Lumbar spine injury in rowers is common and ergometer rowing has been cited as a risk factor for this injury. The purpose of this study is to compare lumbar kinematics between ergometer and single scull rowing and to examine the effect of fatigue on kinematics. The sagittal lumbar spine motion of 19 elite male rowers (lumbar spine injury free in the previous six months) was measured with an electrogoniometer during a ‘step test’ on an ergometer and in a single sculling boat. Maximum range of lumbar flexion was recorded in standing for reference. Power output and heart rate were recorded during the ergometer tests. Heart rate was used as a surrogate for power output in the sculling test. Maximum lumbar flexion increased during the step test and was significantly greater on the ergometer (4.4° ± 0.9°change), compared with the boat (+1.3° ± 1.1°change), (3.1°difference, p = 0.035). Compared to the voluntary range of motion, there is an increase of 11.3% (ergometer) and 4.1% (boat). Lumbar spine flexion increases significantly during the course of an ergometer trial while changes in a sculling boat were minimal. Such differences may contribute to the recent findings linking ergometer use to lower-back injury.     

Rhythmic nootechnics: Stiegler,Whitehead, and noetic life

Abstract

In Taking Care of Youth and the Generations, Bernard Stiegler develops an account of the pedagogical responsibilities which follow from rhythmic intergenerational flows, involving the creation of milieus which care for and pay attention to the future, toward the creation of nootechnical milieus. Such milieus are defined by their objects of attention: intellectual life, spiritual life, and political life; taken together: noetic life. Such is the claim Alfred North Whitehead makes when arguing that the sole object of education is life and the creation of an art of life which is itself a rhythmic adventure.

The purpose of this paper is three-fold. First, to clarify the importance of Stiegler’s reading of Aristotle’s notion of the noetic soul in our thinking about the role, purpose, and function of educational institutions in relation to intellective, spiritual, and political life. In this paper, I will fuse this discussion with a Whiteheadian approach to rhythm, developing what I call a ‘rhythmic nootechnics’ in the service of ‘nootechnical evolution’ as, I argue, Whitehead’s approach to rhythm allows to clarify and enrich Stiegler’s reading of Aristotle. Second, and as indicated, to explore the relationship between Whitehead and Stiegler, insofar as the former has become an increasing reference point for the latter, but this relationship remains unexplored in the literature. Third, to apply this concept of ‘rhythmic nootechnics’ to think about what transformations at the level of pedagogy and politics are necessary to reinvent the university from this Stieglerian and Whiteheadian perspective.