Legs

Like many young men who labored through youth football leagues, high school competition and eventually the college gridiron, Gino Gradkowski had visions of reaching the pinnacle of his profession and playing in the NFL. But Gradkowski — whose...

Second of two parts Each day, each hour, Willie and Andrea DuBose think things can't get any worse. And then they do. Their daughter, Rayna, a graceful athlete, a college basketball player with a radiant smile, an 18-year-old who a week ago had so...

Along the fence of the North Avenue Beach skating rink, eyes widened. Mouths hung open. What the ... A clacking hum rose from the track. Ten pairs of roller skates vibrated past, 40 wheels of rhythmic clacking, pumping down the straightaways, holding...

Claim: Compression socks, or tight knee-high socks designed to promote circulation and fluid movement, can help athletes perform better and recover quickly. Reality: Some studies show they can improve performance, but other trials show no effect. And...

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA roads are full of them -- cyclists shrink-wrapped in colorful Lycra, pedaling custom bicycles that cost more than their first cars. And their numbers are increasing by the day. People who've only ridden an old Schwinn cruiser on a...

SWEAT glistens on 24-year-old triathlete Lauren Robertson's forehead as she pedals a bicycle hooked up to a computer measuring her power output. As Ashton Johnson, co-owner of Sundance Cycles in Agoura Hills, adjusts the seat and handlebar height on...

Tameka Stokes was 19 when a pelvic disease diagnosis brought her to the exam table of Bruce Sylvester Smith, a gynecologist at Chicago's Kennedy Medical Service Corp., in May 2000. According to Stokes' allegations in state records, Smith raped her...

The nation's largest organization of pediatricians is telling its members and parents that children riding in cars should remain in rear-facing child safety seats until at least their second birthday and preferably even longer. This reverses advice...

Sitting in front of a computer all day can take a toll on the back. This flowing sequence, demonstrated by fitness expert Jennifer Kries, who uses it on her "Hot Body Cool Mind" DVD series, helps to restore the mobility and ease to your spine using some...

You want your legs to look great from all angles? Why aren't you doing a lunge that works your thighs all the way around? The skater lunge, demonstrated here by celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak and featured on his "Harley Pasternak's Hollywood Workout"...

You might not think of the crab as nature's most graceful creature, but if you mimic its stance when you stretch, you'll open up the tight muscles of your front body and give your backside a workout at the same time. Demonstrated here by fitness...

After the season, the Bears plan to begin expanding Halas Hall, but they might need to build out the training room now. In what resembled a last-man-standing battle, they beat the rival Vikings 28-10 on Sunday at Soldier Field, but the badly needed...