hockeyhands - 2009-12-17 6:05 PM Just found this directly on Under Armour's site and is their brochure for it. It explains the logic behind it:
http://www.underarmour.tv/video/shop/bitetech/1.5-Consumer.tri-fold%20Brochure.UA2.pdf
Wow. Just wow. So many claims, not a single reference. Not one. I realize that it's not a scientific paper, but they SAY 'science proves...'
(and similar things
) over and over and over, and yet, not a single reference to anything. Nada.
But the one thing that really kills me about this is that the basic premises that are being put forward to support the idea are bogus. So far, I've seen two:
(1
) the thing 'opens up your airways' to get more air in. Who cares? I could breathe more air in easily. Problem is, I'd hyperventilate. My problem
(and, I'd venture, the same goes for every non-asthmatic athlete
) is not getting the air in, but using it.
(2
) it relaxes your jaws, putting less pressure on the TMJ. Newsflash: relaxation does not require plastic.
(Not to mention that the notion that pressure on the TMJ is responsible for massive production of cortisol, etc., thus leading to fatigue, etc., is pretty dubious. Is there one iota of scientific evidence to support this idea? Sure, STRESS may be responsible for cortisol production and other stuff, but does physiologically reducing pressure on the TMJ reduce the effects of the stress? At all? Is there one shred of evidence to support this claim?
)
I'm not sure why I'm so worked up about this.

It's been a long hard day.