The Rambling Runner

In this conversation, Henry Abbott discusses his transition from sports media to writing a book on injury prevention, "Ballistic: The New Science of Injury-Free Athletic Performance." Blending cutting-edge science with gripping storytelling, award-winning data journalist and competitive amateur athlete Henry Abbott reveals that we are on the cusp of a new era in sports medicine, built around the science of ballistic movements―leaping and landing―and the unique fingerprint of your body’s physics. Abbott’s inspiring narrative tells the story of sports scientist Dr. Marcus Elliott and the Peak Performance Project (P3), who use technology to study how athletes move and why they get hurt. Applying machine learning and lessons from biomechanics, medicine, and physiology, doctors at P3 can now detect elevated risk of an ACL tear or a pulled hamstring like an echocardiogram can see warning signs of a heart attack. Their data-driven findings are full of surprises. Your body’s most important defense against knee an