Tom Hogan: The AARP tolls for thee

If you happened to read Candace Lee's latest USA Journal entry, you learned that USA coach Tom Hogan "blew out his back." Candace goes on to say that Hogan's taking "happy meds" while waiting for his back to stop spasming. Not having any medical training of any kind, we went online to make a completely unscientific diagnosis for Coach Hogan based on what we could find on the Internet (which is never wrong).

According to sportsinjurybulletin.com, back spasms are "a response to an injury or inflammation of the spinal region." More specific causes can be the "repeated rotational movements of the spine, such as the swinging motions" found in many sports. Thankfully, volleyball involves none of those, especially when you're coaching...

Mentioned on many websites is that age can be a contributing factor in the occurrence of back injuries. Osteoporosis, arthritis, vitamin deficiencies, all come with age. They can all lead to the spasms, too.

Well, that seals it: Tom Hogan is obviously getting too old for coaching, as evidenced by this photo.

The website goes on to recommend a number of different exercises to help combat back injuries, including, interestingly enough, picking up litter. So if you find yourself at the Olympic Training Center sometime soon, and you see Tom Hogan walking around the parking lot picking up pop cans and discarded gum wrappers, you know why.

Godspeed, Tom Hogan.