Åsa’s colleague
So, what are you doing at Lund’s University?
I am a sport physiologist and in the University I teach at the physiotherapy course and I do some lab work which is a combination of research as also work with athletes, so they can improve their performance.
Do the Athletes come to you or you do it outside of the University?
So…that is the smallest part of the work now, it is the biggest work done in the past.
What about now?
We want the highest level Athletes as possible into the lab and test them. We are not a normal gym, we are not for the general public, we are for the high performing people who want to improve a little bit by putting some money and time into that small improvement and get an expert advice using a high technology sophisticated equipment and measuring techniques.
Small level of improvement is probably a lot?
It could make the difference by winning a marathon or not coming forth and winning a medal. It makes the whole difference in their measure of ”success”. It could be the difference in getting into the National team or not.
What is their motivation according to your experience? Is it the winning itself? Is it higher than the winning?
Yeah, this is a good point, it’s all to do with self improvement, isn’t it? And everybody wants that, so you can measure your improvement and your success in lots of different ways and that is a way to measure this one, it is just to be better than what you were the last time.
Is the comparison to our ”past self” that motivates us?
I think that is…yes, absolutely, most people do not win races but still is fun to race, so they do not need to win. When there are 3000 people to race their goal is not to go from the position of 2064 last year to 2063 this year, is to compare with our self.
Is your field exactly physiotherapy?
Yes, physiotherapy had a change recently, it used to be called in Swedish sjukgymnastik, which implies you are treating sick people, but they changed the name to physiotherapy, as a more general health promotion site to it, so people will go to physiotherapist, not to get only their ankle fixed, but also to get some training advise, so they have one course where they do training physiology. I know nothing about injury, I am in physiotherapy department and everybody else thinks that Physiotherapy is about muscle injuries.
We do work now in more general health, more connected to exercise. We have two projects in the University and one of them is about elderly people who have cognitive disfunction and we think that exercise will help their memory. Exercise is medicine, keeps you healthy and keeps your heart strong but it can treat all kinds of other things.
What is your motivation in life?
Am…that is a very difficult question…
Is it?
Yeah, the thing I like doing when I wake up in the morning is using my knowledge and my ideas in some way and I like intellectual challenge of getting something that it is inside my head out. Into a practical way, developing a new idea or help somebody, teach somebody.
Do you get disappointed some how?
Ahh…maybe, that is not an idea that I would spontaneously say, I think is difficult to teach people, it is a challenge to put information in a way that they learn, and I hope that does not sounds like I am criticising the students but it is frustrating when students have an exam and they make a mistake, so that is frustrating but I am not blaming students because is also part of my responsibility that I didn’t teach in a way that they will learn it.
What is the best way to teach?
There is no easy answer to that, people have different motivation for listening and for learning. I found all the time working with Athletes and in particular individual Athletes that I have some data, some numbers that show something to me as a scientist really clearly. Numbers are the only evidence I need to what I do. Then I can show them to the Athletes and it doesn’t really click with them even if the numbers are convincing, the tests the lab work and they agree that ”yes, I need to do this” they do not do it.
Why does this happens?
It would be great if I knew that. You see, the same information delivered by another person can make all the difference and you do not know why…so it might be that when I show it to them it doesn’t mean anything but when my colleague does, it means everything, when their coach does, or a friend does. As a scientist I would like to think that all you need to do is input the numbers and get the response like a Formula car, but we are dealing with people, who are more complicated and more interesting because of that. I would love to have the answer why that happens.
How did you came to Lund University?
I was working 100% with athletes for the Danish Olympic team and I finished that job without anything to go to. I started calling people to see what opportunities I had and I came for ”ficka” one day with the Master in sport science, Anna Maria is her name, we got on, an hourly teaching came up, then word spread and suddenly a job came up.
Is there a ”motto”, a phrase you like to use?
Well, I can say something that I say to my children when they say ”I do not want to go swimming now…” , I like saying ”there is joy in effort”, because there is reward. The most difficult thing is to put the shoes and go out of the door, the running is fun!
