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Global Dehydration Test by Kelly Starrett (MobilityWOD)


Carlos Chinchilla
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Carlos Chinchilla

Hi guys,

i recently came across a "global dehydration test" from Kelly Starrett (Mobility WOD). Basically you press your thumb against the flat part of your shin bone for about 10 seconds, if it leaves a dent it means you are (globally) dehydrated and should get some electrolytes back into your system. Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkw3A6_WTXM

Any opinions about this? Needless to say, according to this test i'm massively dehydrated/electrolyte depleted at the moment, even though i've been drinking about 2 Liters (66 oz) of fluid everyday, mostly water but including some soup made with homemade gelatinous bone broth and some green shakes. Concerning salt consumption, i'd say it's normal. I use sea salt and use it to taste, but don't supplement my water with it or anything like that.

Also, because of a small toe injury i haven't been training (or really sweating at all, for that matter).

I'm a bit skeptic about this test and couldn't find any other source to back it up.

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Seriously, don't worry about whether or not you can leave a small indentation any where in your skin.

 

There are other indicators of hydration levels that are better than pressing your finger against a bone.

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Josh Schmitter

I'm just rolling off the cuff here, but perhaps soaking your shin in an electrolyte solution for four hours a day might do the trick.

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Marios Roussos

I was only able to watch the first minute of that video as I have a constitutional inability to listen to anything Kelly Starrett has to say; there' s something about someone speaking out of their ass with 100% authority that turns me off more than anything else in this world. 

 

The test he's performing is one that is commonly performed to look for "pitting" edema, which is a sign of interstitial fluid retention rather than dehydration. There are many conditions that can cause pitting edema, including heart, liver, or kidney failure, venous insufficiency, severe malnutrition, infections, etc... In general, dehydration or lack of salt is never one of the causes. In fact, one of the mainstays of therapy for people with significant pitting edema due to heart or liver failure is to restrict their salt intake and administer diuretics to help them excrete salt and water via the kidneys.

 

I can provide references if you want, but a quick google search should be enough to confirm that Kelly's got this backwards. 

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Marios Roussos

Also, I forgot to mention that it's normal to have a little transient indentation when you press over your tibia for a prolonged period of time. The conditions I mentioned above cause this pitting effect to be abnormally pronounced. There's therefore no need to worry if you test "positive".

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Carlos Chinchilla

Thanks for your answers. I take everything KS says with a grain of salt, that's why i asked the question here after i didn't find anything to back it up. When i do the test, the dent disappears after 4-5 seconds, so i guess this means nothing at all.

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i seriously dont get all the hate he receives

I don't hate him, but he talks like he is trying to sell me something, so I find it very hard to pay attention to :S

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Marios Roussos

I don't hate him, but he talks like he is trying to sell me something, so I find it very hard to pay attention to :S

What Jon said. I'm sure a lot of his stretching advice is sound. What I don't like is the way he gives made up explanations about how his methods work, and speaks about them as though they were established facts. He furthermore always seems to be "on" in the sense that he cannot have a conversation without selling his product. Finally, he seemingly is unable to speak without using incomprehensible jargon, though I'm not sure if this comes from only hanging around other crossfitters and therefore losing touch with reality and society at large.

 

If you really want to get a sense of what I am saying, listen to his interview on the Joe Rogan podcast. He ruins any attempt at interesting conversation by persistently hijacking other people's train of thoughts in order to aggressively promote his own ideas, regardless of whether he has any intimate knowledge on the subject at hand. He genuinely seems incapable of saying "I don't know", and appears to get uncomfortable when he's not doing most of the talking. It's horrible; you can tell that Joe Rogan is getting annoyed after a while, and the comments from listeners indicate that most of them felt the same way.

 

If you contrast his interview with that of someone who seems truly at peace with themselves like Alex Honnold (fantastic interview by the way), you get the sense that Kelly's behaviour stems from a deep level of insecurity, which now that I mention it makes me feel bad about writing this rant as he probably deserves more sympathy than contempt. 

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Josh Schmitter

@-MR

 

Sometimes sympathy is worse than contempt. In this case however, I don't think what you wrote denotes contempt. It is an informed, well written, descriptive opinion that (to me anyway) would be welcomed over sympathy always.

 

I feel like you're much closer to empathy anyway...as close as you can get without actually interacting with someone. Empathy is usually misrepresented by "walking in another's shoes" and while that's part of it, by itself it is lacking. You can never fully understand someone's emotions and feelings just for the simple fact everyone has had a different life experience, but you can reiterate their feelings in your own words, showing them you are listening and understand what they are feeling without personally feeling it/having to have had that experience in the past.

 

Descriptive criticism is definitely a big part of it.

 

http://www.readbag.com/xnet-kp-permanentejournal-fall03-cpc

 

http://bioethicsdiscussion.blogspot.com/2005/03/should-doctors-cry-2-empathy-vs.html

 

...just wanted to keep the rant going :ph34r: .

 

(this was kinda stream of consciousness so please disregard the disconnected thoughts if it suites)

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Carlos Chinchilla

I listen regularly to the Joe Rogan Experience and had the same reaction after the Kelly Starrett podcast. It was cringeworthy. Joe normally is capable of having interesting or at least entertaining conversations with vastly different kinds of people, even people he disagrees with, provided that they're willing to have an actual conversation, which Kelly clearly is not capable of. It's the only time i've seen JR lose interest in a guest, even though the common interest in sports performance and biomechanics should have made for a great conversation. Would love to see Coach Sommer on that podcast:)

 

 

If you really want to get a sense of what I am saying, listen to his interview on the Joe Rogan podcast. He ruins any attempt at interesting conversation by persistently hijacking other people's train of thoughts in order to aggressively promote his own ideas, regardless of whether he has any intimate knowledge on the subject at hand. He genuinely seems incapable of saying "I don't know", and appears to get uncomfortable when he's not doing most of the talking. It's horrible; you can tell that Joe Rogan is getting annoyed after a while, and the comments from listeners indicate that most of them felt the same way.

 

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Marios Roussos

I listen regularly to the Joe Rogan Experience and had the same reaction after the Kelly Starrett podcast. It was cringeworthy. Joe normally is capable of having interesting or at least entertaining conversations with vastly different kinds of people, even people he disagrees with, provided that they're willing to have an actual conversation, which Kelly clearly is not capable of. It's the only time i've seen JR lose interest in a guest, even though the common interest in sports performance and biomechanics should have made for a great conversation. Would love to see Coach Sommer on that podcast:)

It's nice to see that I'm not the only one taking crazy pills :) 

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