Textual Rhetorical Analysis

English 250

Matt Beth

            For as long as we all can remember, there has been a constant juxtaposition between the proper rehabilitation techniques of heat vs. ice. Lenny Bernstein, a journalist for the Washington Post, attempted to tackle this issue in his article “Ice, heat or a little of both? How do you recover from a hard workout?” Within his piece he interviewed two local professionals to compare and contrast their views on recovery practices, letting the reader formulate their own opinion on what practices are best based on the juxtaposed views.

            Bernstein begins his piece as any writer does, with a brief intro covering the background of the topic and the methods through which he will address the issue. He explains how the classical form of rehabilitation has always been icing the post workout areas, though the science backing this method may be flawed. He then introduces the two individuals that he interviewed: Robert Gillanders, a physical therapist and spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association, as well as Steve Hays, an impressive marathoner and a high school track and cross country coach.

            Bernstein then moves to the actual body of his article, comparing and contrasting the two view points trough a series of 3 questions. The first is “Your athlete or client has just completed his hardest workout of the week. What is your advice about recovering quickly and effectively?” Gillanders ultimately responds saying that if he had to choose, heat would be the best option, claiming that it allows for hydrostatic pressure and certain stretching needed for recovery, whereas the cold just postpones the healing.

Hays however suggest a combination of heat and ice, alternating on 10-minute cycles. He explains that he uses this method in an attempt to gain the benefits from both methods. The following two questions just divulge deeper into how the men interviewed came to use their respective methods and if they have any exceptions for methods.  

            Ultimately, I think Bernstein successfully and objectively gave the reader a good idea of the variation in methods and the reasons, athletic professionals have for their methods. One of the major ways that he accomplished this was by the format and organization in which he represented the information. In his article, he wrote each main question that he asked in bold and then had each person’s respective responses directly following it. Prior to writing out each of the interviewee’s responses, he listed their name in bold. This made the article very reader friendly and made a clear separation in the different points of view. In articles with medical content, it is very easy to quickly lose the reader and bore them. I mean lets face it, anatomy and therapy isn’t the most exciting thing ever (unless you are a complete nerd like yours truly). Bernstein does a fantastic job at keeping his piece simplistic and easy to follow through the structure that he used.

            While I did think that Bernstein did a great job of giving a general and objective view of the issue of heat versus ice, I did draw an issue with his article, which was the credentials of the people he interviewed. As I stated earlier, Gillanders is a certified physical therapist and a spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association, whereas Hays is simply a High school coach and a marathon runner. I think this discrepancy in credentials discredits Hays’ information a lot and ultimately diminishes the argument that he makes. Were Bernstein to interview someone with a higher level of credibility, I think his piece on the variance of therapy methods would have been stronger and would have given the reader more information to consider.

            I really enjoyed reading Lenny Bernstein’s article “Ice, heat or a little of both? How do you recover from a hard workout?” and thought it was a very important and well-written piece. It was perfect; in it’s simplistic nature, for the average reader and those who may not have a lot of background information on the controversy. With his intended audience in mind, I think Bernstein did an excellent job but for anyone digging deeper into the information, I think his sources could have been stronger. Either way, Bernstein successfully completed his goal of delivering a general outlook on the ongoing debate of heat versus ice for the readers of his articles.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/ice-heat-or-a-little-of-both-how-do-you-recover-from-a-hard-workout/2013/04/16/59ea8116-a388-11e2-9c03-6952ff305f35_story.html