Lifting & Lowering - How to Move Boxes Without Injury

For most people, moving boxes is not something that is done on anywhere near a regular basis. Other than the whole-house move, the only time most people move boxes is when venturing into or out of storage - be it the attic, garage, or dedicated storage facility - to retrieve some odds or ends. The last thing on most people's mind when digging out winter clothes or old photo albums is whether he or she is using the correct methods to pick up or put down a box. This, of course, leaves most of us prone to some very serious injuries when we do make those occasional jaunts into storage.

Infrequency bears a lot of the blame for the injuries that can arise from improper lifting and lowering. Those who regularly move packages are reminded of what can happen, and have made habits out of good practices to prevent lifting and lowering related injuries. These injures, which frequently target the back, tend to impair three main areas: disc, joints, and muscles. As the areas affected differ, so do the injuries that can be imparted, ranging from muscle strains, to ruptured discs, to the complete destruction of joints. And, as these injuries typically occur on the back, mobility afterwards is limited to say the least.

So, how exactly does one prevent these injuries? What exactly are the correct methods for lifting or lowering? The easiest way to remember how to correctly pick up a package is start with your feet and work up.

Your feet should be about shoulder width apart and both pointed forward. Pointing your feet forward prevents undue strain on your ankles and allows for the knees to move easier. Bend at your knees. This is crucial; bending at the knees allows you to keep the rest of your body in line. Your hips and shoulders should be as close to vertical as possible, and both should be arranged in a line with the package.

Your arms should be at your side, roughly at a right angle, with your elbows tucked as close to your body as possible. This draws the package in and keeps it close to your center of gravity. You should also grasp opposite corners, ideally a lower front corner and an upper rear one, of the package. This provides control over the maximum cross section of what you're lifting or lowering. Rock the package back onto one edge so that you can gain control over two opposite corners and raise in as smooth a motion as possible, standing up by pressing down with your legs rather than straightening your back.

When moving with the package, remember to pivot your entire body rather than twist. This helps to prevent joint injuries. Also bear in mind, that just like the flight attendants warn, the contents of your package may shift, so make movements slowly and surely. Avoid jerking movements, as these lead to strains.

Putting a package back down should be done in much the same method as picking the package back up. Make sure that your feet are a comfortable, shoulder-width apart. Bend at the knees in a fluid motion, and try to keep your shoulders and hips vertical and perpendicular to the ground. Place on edge of the package onto the surface and slowly lower the remaining weight.

These best-practices might seem a little much for a grabbing the holiday decorations from storage, but they are key to helping prevent injury. The holidays are a great deal less fun when coupled with a sore or injured back. Taking the few seconds extra to ensure that you lift or lower packages during you occasional trips to the storage unit will pay dividends.

skin care 2009 news

Which Hair Removal Method is Best For You?

Nowadays, women are not the only ones who look for a hair removal process; men have been looking for better ways to remove unwanted hair for several years now. Hairless skin can be attractive to both genders, although keep in mind that the areas men and women focus on do differ. While women want to be hair-free on almost every part of their bodies, men generally only want to be hair-free on a few areas: face, chest, back, ear region, or pubic region. Both men and women participate in a hair removal process to feel better about themselves as well as to increase their sex appeal. Men do have the additional benefit of increasing their muscle definition by way of removing unwanted hair from their chest and abs so their muscles are more pronounced.

Hair removal options: advantages and disadvantages

To remove unwanted hair, you can shave, tweeze, wax, or apply a hair removal cream. Male body waxing is one of the more popular hair removal methods because it is a fast way to remove unwanted hair-but it is far from painless. Though shaving can be relatively fast, it can also result in unsightly razor burns. If you tweeze your hair off, you will be wasting a lot of time, and the pain can be unbearable. You may also get ugly red bumps when you do tweezing and shaving because the shaft of the hair hasn't been removed below the skin's surface.

The benefits to male body waxing and hair removal creams, besides being quick, is you eliminate razor burn. Male body waxing is usually done in a salon by a licensed aesthetician. Hot wax will be spread with a utensil, on the area where you have unwanted hair growth. Depending on what type of wax the aesthetician is using, strips of cloth will then be pressed on the area and will be ripped off against the direction of your hair growth.

Creams on the other hand, are merely applied on your skin. After the prescribed period (usually after a few minutes), you can gently wipe off the hair.

Weighing the pros and cons of body waxing and hair removal creams

Male body waxing is a popular hair removal option, but many men are discovering the benefits of hair removal creams. Both waxing and using creams are quick steps toward smooth, hair-free skin, but as mentioned, body waxing can be quite painful. You also have to visit a salon every time you see unwanted hair on your body.

On the other hand, hair removal creams are painless alternatives. They are not as expensive as waxing because you are not paying a professional to remove your hair. You can follow your own hair removal regimen right in your very own home. Hair removal creams not only used to remove hair; some of them also reduce hair growth. If you find an all-natural hair removal cream, their moisturizing plant extracts will also soothe your skin. Try to stay away from brands that contain chemicals that may damage your skin.

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A Few Words on Inflammation

For those of you who have sprained your ankle and witnessed the associated swelling, warmth and pain will refer to the process as inflammation. But does the general public or the fitness instructors actually have a thorough understanding of this disease process? Inflammation is a very common part of our lexicon, we read about it in journals and articles and hear it mentioned on television. To give the reader more than a perfunctory introduction to the topic, this article will focus on the pathophysiology, define acute versus chronic inflammation, and define those end organs that are harmed from chronic inflammation. Finally a mention of prescription medications used in the treatment of inflammation and some natural ways to fight it.

Inflammation simply put is a non-specific response to cell injury. Injury may occur due to trauma, infection or auto-immune responses. This complex process involves white blood cells (WBC), blood vessels and chemical mediators. The body relies on the inflammatory process for its own protection. Inflammation actually destroys organisms such as viruses and bacteria to prevent their reproduction and propagation in our tissues. It also limits the tissue damage to a finite area and slows the spread of invading microbes. Inflammation is also responsible for clearing debris and making way for the repair of injured tissues and organs. There are two components to inflammation, cellular and vascular. The cellular component involves immune cells called neutrophils and monocytes which are responsible for "eating up" the bad guys (viruses, bacteria, etc.) by a process called phagocytosis. These cells are jointly referred to as phagocytes and will in the case of acute injury or insult migrate and adhere to vessel walls at the site of injury (a process called margination). Marginated cells will go through the vessel walls to the exact location of the injury or diseased tissue in a process called emigration. This can take six to 24 hours in the case of neutrophils and 24 - 48 hours in the case of monocytes. This accounts for the delay we see after an acute insult in the inflammation process. The vascular component is responsible for the vasodilatation, increase in blood flow and increased capillary permeability at the site of injury.

Yet another component of inflammation is the complement system or which plasma proteins are produced by our bodies to attract WBCs and degranulate mast cells. They are known as C-3, C-5, kinins (as in bradykinin and prostaglandin E). These chemical mediators are known for causing pain at the site of injury, responsible for=2 0the swelling of the diseased tissue. Plasma proteins in the aracodonic acid category produce leukotrienes which maintain inflammation (PGD2, E2, F2, Thromboxane A2). Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAID) and steroids (cortisone) block the thromboxanes and aracodonic acid pathways to help alleviate inflammation. That is why Aspirin or Motrin is routinely prescribed when an acute insult occurs.

Other chemical mediators are interferon (alfa, beta and gamma) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). These chemical mediators are also partly responsible for causing fever amongst other things. Fever is one of the body's mechanisms for dealing with viral and bacterial invasion. These chemical mediators are known to respond to NSAIDs. For this reason why they are used in combating fevers.

The results of inflammation are leukocytosis (an elevated blood WBC count), loss of appetite, fever, increase in our deep sleep time, weight loss and weakness. With the resolution of inflammation we see a return to normal vascular permeability, lessening of edema or swelling of the tissues as plasma proteins are removed by the lymphatic system and the removal of damaged cellular debris by macrophage phagocytosis.

Chronic inflammation is a bit of a different animal. By definition chronic inflammation lasts for more than 2 weeks, occurs when the invading organism is not totally destroyed, a foreign body or ongoing irritant is still present, auto-immune response continues, and/or there is a very significant amount of tissue destruction. While the mechanisms of acute inflammation are well known, the pathways of chronic inflammation with their molecular pathways, propagating mechanisms and resultant disorders are far less known and understood. It is known however that chronic inflammatory conditions are a result of an overzealous immune system that continues to attack our body once its work is done on diseased tissues from an acute insult.

Chronic inflammation has an impact on almost every organ system in the human body, from our skin to the alimentary (gastrointestinal) tract, from our hearts and lungs to our brains, joints and vascular system. Examples better known to the public are rheumatoid arthritis with our joints, periodontal disease of our gums, asthma of the lungs and Crohn's disease of our intestines. However, we also see evidence of inflammation at work in other organ systems such as psoriasis of the skin, multiple sclerosis of the neurological system and coronary disease with plaque development in our heart to name a few. Cancers are another disorder that inflammation has a part to play, it is theorized that chronic inflammation prompt a malignant change in cells and conversely cancer cells perpetuate an inflammatory microenvironment.

There are links between lipid metabolism and inflammation. Studies show a correlation between chronic inflammation and atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) as a pro-inflammatory state incites low-density cholesterol (LDL-C) to form plaques on artery walls. The link between periodontal disease and coronary artery disease is evident by this relationship. Poor dentition with inflammation is a risk factor for development of plaques on your coronary arteries. It is well documented that a sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor for chronic disease. Lack of exercise is linked to immune system dysfunction where inactivity and obesity results in a low-grade systemic inflammatory state that promotes diseases. Thus those individuals who do not partake in routine exercise are subject to chronic inflammation. Runaway chronic inflammation is a harmful disease process with increased morbidity and mortality.

The treatment options offered by traditional western medicine include anti-inflammatory drugs in a few different classes. Examples are NSAIDs mentioned earlier, used to treat osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis. NSAIDs are proven effective in managing pain and inflammation, but at a cost of some untoward effects on the stomach lining (resulting in ulcerative disease and gastrointestinal bleeding) and impacting the function of the kidneys (nephrotoxicity). Cortisone or corticosteroids are also used and again they have impacts on metabolism, weight gain and other hormonal axis's. They are also implicated in mineral loss in our skeletal system (osteoporosis). The HMG-coA Reductase (statin) class of drugs used to treat elevated cholesterol are reputed to have anti-inflammatory properties and are being promoted as the most important medication in the 21st century to treat cardiovascular disease, not only from the standpoint of lowering lipids, but also reducing inflammation within the coronary arteries that is responsible for plaque formation. There is even a link between inflammation and Alzheimer's disease. Researchers have tried to persuade the medical community that statin drugs have a place in the treatment of dementia. However, in recent years it has become controversial and statins are falling out of favor as a preventive measure for Alzheimer's disease.

It is at this point that I depart from the party line recommendations by American College of Cardiology/ American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and most medical society practice guidelines on the use of statin drugs. The pharmaceutical industry to the average observer is pushing hard to have statin drugs prescribed for nearly everyone in almost any situation. Physicians and medical societies are being swayed by "evidence based studies" that are in fact supported by the manufacturers of these drugs. It is my opinion that these drug companies would welcome the suggestion of placing statins in every municipal water system in the country. First, the science is biased. These studies are selected specifically by the drug companies for publications as they report the results they want. Often "negative" studies are banished from publication or hidden is some obscure journal. Secondly, these drugs are very powerful and laden with serious side effects. Only patients with severe coronary artery disease (CAD) or markedly elevated lipids or other risk factors should be prescribed these drugs and only after it is determined the benefits will outweigh the risks of these medications. In other words they should not be prescribed lightly.

The same arguments can be made for the widespread prescription of NSAIDs. The use of COX-2 inhibitors in recent years has turned up some problems with high incidence of NSAID induced gastroentestinal bleeding, cardiac and renal complications. Cardiac and hepatic involvement with some selective COX-2 inhibitors resulted in the FDA's withdrawing from the market the drugs Vioxx and Bextra. Again the search for drugs to fight chronic inflammation is an important research priority as well as a profitable endeavor for pharmaceutical companies. The industry must proceed cautiously to find safe and effective medications and not be impetuous to turn a quick profit.

Safer and more natural ways to control chronic inflammation with fewer side effects would be the use of specific herbs. Herbs such as Arnica, Boswellia, Bromelain, Devils claw, Echinacea, Chamomile, Ginger, Turmeric, White Willow and Witch Hazel can all be used as a remedy for acute and chronic inflammation. Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine have been using them for thousands of years. Other ways to protect oneself from chronic inflammation are a regular exercise routine, keeping yourself active and fit. Diet plays a major role as well, since research has shown that diets high in saturated fats and carbohydrates are pro-inflammatory. A well balanced low-carb diet helps prevent and reduce inflammation. Not to be forgotten are the host of dietary supplements touted to reduce inflammation, too numerous to mention here, but include Vitamins A, C, D and E, along with Vitamin B-12 and the minerals copper and zinc to name a few.

References:

uspharmacist.com/index.asp?show=article&page=8_1234.htm

natural-holistic-health.com/general/natural-anti-inflammatory-herbs

webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20080116/statins-may-not-curb-alzheimers-risk

Weiss, Ursula, Inflammation, Nature 454, issue 7203, 427 (24 July 2008)

Werbach, M.R., The Effects of Vitamins and Minerals on Inflammation. Townsend Letter, May 2004, #250, p.164+

(c) 2008

Drug Abuse Health News

Healthy Tips and Recipes

It is easy to share healthy tips and solutions for baby boomers and older seniors. It is another thing to actually get people to follow them. People become set in their ways, and often do not make changes until something catastrophic happens. ....And sometimes not even then! Anyway here is a list of some healthy tips:

1. Start the day with fresh fruit

2. Eat beans at least three times a week (lentils, blackbeans, pinto etc.)

3. Spinach three times a week cooked and raw

4. Blue berries and pomegranates in juice or fruit form

5. Avoid as much white sugar and flour as possible

6. When hunger hits go to the veggie bin

7. Grapes and peanuts have resveratrol a great supplement for all over good health.

8. Walk a lot. It is good mentally, physically and spiritually

9. Have fun and laugh a lot

10. Enjoy your friends and family

These are foods that are good for your vision, blood sugar and general health. The exercise and sociability is good for everything.

Cucumbers and green onion salad

Two large cucumbers

Four green onions

1/4 cup of Parsley

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tsp. oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Peel cucumbers, score outside with fork,, slice very thinly

Chop green onions and mix with cucumbers

Add 1/4 cup of parsley

Add red wine vinegar

Mix all ingredients and add salt and pepper. Chill in the refrigerator overnite. This is a great dish for company as it can be made up to two days in advance.

This recipe has almost no calories and is great with meat and fish dishes.

skin care 2009 news

iPods, Pacemakers, and Interference

A recent news report suggested that pacemaker patients who used portable music players sometimes encountered a problem with their pacemakers called interference. The problem wasn't with the music player itself, but rather with the earbuds. Earbuds stored close to the implanted pacemaker can interfere with the pacemaker.

The surprising aspect to this report was that the music player did not have to be playing or even turned on for interference to occur and that the interference did not come from the device but rather from the harmless-looking earbuds. Up till now, it was thought that devices turned off or to some kind of passive setting did not pose an interference risk.

What the study looks like is that if a person has a portable music player, such as an iPod (iPod is just one of the best known types but there are many grands) and if the earbuds used with the device are placed in close proximity to the the upper chest area where the pacemaker is implanted, the earbuds might interfere with the device.

This is not a far-fetched scenario. When a person with this kind of portable music player is not listening to it, it's not unusual to drape the earbuds over the neck (sort of like the way doctors "wear" a stethoscope). That can put the earbuds right over the implant site.

Apparently, interference does not occur when the earbuds are in the ears or when the earbuds are kept away from the implant site--such as in a purse or backpack or even hip pocket.

Interference occurs when signals in the air get picked up by the pacemaker. Pacemakers have very "big ears." They listen for electrical signals. In fact, that is how pacemakers monitor the heart--they track its electrical activity and respond to it. While this normally works pretty well, an occasional stray electrical signal can cause the pacemaker to "think" it is hearing something the heart is doing when, in reality, it is sensing electrical interference, something doctors have nicknamed "noise."

Most pacemaker patients are told to avoid the most common sources of interference--things like arc welding equipment, bumper cars, industrial magnets, and being very close to high-tension lines. However, stray signals can sometimes interfere with pacemaker performance. Stray signals can come from small electronic devices (like earbuds), metal detectors, dentists' drills and so on. While such interference is not common, it can occur.

In most situations, the interference does not last very long. The pacemaker may start pacing or acting inappropriately because it doesn't interpret the stray signals correctly, but if the source of interference is removed, the pacemaker typically resumes normal operation. If a pacemaker person starts to feel lightheaded, woozy, or just peculiar in situations where they may be potential interference (around heavy machinery, certain power tools, security checkpoints), just stepping out of range can stop the interference.

Pacemakers are sensitive, but not all that sensitive. A source of interference far from a pacemaker patient does not pose a risk. For instance, most pacemaker manufacturers advise pacemaker people not to "linger" under a metal detector, but pacemaker patients do not have to avoid going near them.

If interference persists over a long time, the pacemaker may do something called "reset" or "backup" or "safety pacing." (This function is more or less the same in all brands of pacemakers except that different manufacturers call it by different names.) When the pacemaker thinks that there is interference is going on and it lasts for a certain amount of time, the pacemaker will automatically revert to a special type of pacemaker behavior that doctors call "asynchronous pacing." Asynchronous pacing is not the most sophisticated pacing prescription, but it gets the job done--it assures regular consistent pacing support.

If a pacemaker patient is exposed to interference long enough to "reset" the pacemaker, he or she will need to go to the pacemaker doctor to get the pacemaker reprogrammed. This is a very short and painless step that involves the doctor turning off the reset function and pushing a button on a remote device called a programmer to resume the old settings.

Pacemaker patients who love their portable music players need to take a few simple precautions. Now if having and using a portable music player is part of your lifestyle that you really cannot live without, you should make an appointment to discuss with your pacemaker doctor how to do this as safely as possible. On the other hand, just keeping the earbuds from your music player away from the pacemaker ... even if the device is not playing or turned off ... you should not experience any "noise" or interference.

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