Trending
Nestled among the major sports facilities in the city of Pittsburgh is the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, the official practice and training facility of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
But the center is far more than an ice rink, offering sports medicine services for athletic injuries, and sports performance programs to help athletes of every age and ability level achieve their goals.
Dr. Vonda Wright is the amazing medical director of the Lemieux Sports Complex. An accomplished orthopedic surgeon, she is the team doctor for the University of Pittsburgh Olympic sports teams and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. But her passion is helping everyone, not just elite athletes pursue happiness through health throughout their lives.
During a recent speaking engagement in central Pennsylvania, Dr. Wright shared her expertise, as well as her unbridled enthusiasm for the power of movement, and its role in health and wellness as we age.
“Millions of people every year die from sedentary death syndrome,” she said. “And we want to help people live longer, but also to live well.”
The author of a number of books, including “Fitness After 40: How to Stay Strong at Any Age,” Wright promotes and inspires the value of fitness, and particularly mobility throughout the aging process.
Her research focuses on the benefits of exercise at all ages, including enhanced bone density, lean muscle mass, cognitive function, and disease prevention. She asserts that exercise can be done anytime, anywhere, from her state of the art Lemieux Sports Complex to your living room or office.
“Exercise gives you twelve hours of ‘bliss’ after burn,” Wright said. “Lowering anxiety, depression, stress and even anger – it’s nature’s antidepressant.”
Speaking to an audience of professionals, many of whom spend hours every day behind a desk, the dynamic doctor suggested realistic activities from daily flexibility movements to 20-minute aerobic workouts to functional weight lifting – like carrying groceries in lieu of free weights – and balance tests.
The result, she says, is giving people of all ages, athletic ability and fitness levels the tools they need to live their best and most healthy lives, along with the desire to make it happen.
In her recent book, “Guide to Thrive: Four Steps to Body, Brains and Bliss,” Wright maps out a wellness strategic plan, similar to the kind used by businesses to achieve their goals, illustrated with the help of her husband, two-time Stanley Cup champion Peter Taglianetti.
Beyond the physical exercises, Dr. Wright also values vision, action and attitude, all keys to success in athletics and in life.
A doctor who spends so much of her time around world-class athletes could easily ignore the wellness issues plaguing our nation today. But instead, Wright shares the knowledge gained from working with elite sports teams to inspire everyone, young and old to pursue their best and most healthy selves.
Kellie Goodman Shaffer can be reached at kellie@bedfordcountychamber.org. Her column appears on Tuesdays.