Is Sitting the New Smoking?
There has been a lot of media attention the past few years equating sitting to being as bad for your health as smoking. The public concern has resulted in what you might expect: office workers switching to stand-up desks, sales of exercise balls, fitness tracker purchases, and even people utilizing treadmills while they’re working on a computer. But is all this worry over sitting warranted? Let’s take a look.
Treatment Options for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Carpal tunnel is one of the most well-known and commonly treated hand/wrist conditions. Some of the telltale signs of this condition include numbness and/or tingling throughout your thumb, index finger and middle finger, as well as weakened grip strength and decreased hand coordination. Not everyone notices pain, although pain in the palm or wrist is not uncommon.
Common Gamer Injuries & Treatment Options
Hai Lam. Paul “sOAZ” Boyer. Clinton Loomis. While these names do not have the same mass recognition as popular athletes like Lebron James, Drew Brees, or even Mitch Trubisky, they certainly are recognized as the best in their sport. Not just any sport, but “esports,” if you will. Their offensive weapons aren’t balls, bats or sticks, but rather keyboards, headsets and hand-held controllers. Instead of defeating their opponent on an athletic field, their fields of play lie in the digital battlefields of games such as Defense of the Ancients (DOTA), League of Legends and Warcraft 3. These men were once at the height of their game. Veritable legends. Unfortunately their ascent into gaming immortality was cut short by upper extremity (UE) injuries from overuse and improper ergonomics.
Keeping our Nurses Healthy: Preventing Back Sprains and Strains
Nursing is a tough, physically demanding job and the data proves it. There were over 33,000 soft tissue injuries sustained by nursing professionals in 2013. The average number of days lost was 8. For those counting, that’s a total of 264,000 days of lost time, valuable time, spent inactive and unable to perform.
Stepping it up in the Workplace: Increase Your Daily Step Count
As many of you are aware, the recommended steps per day should be 10,000 or above. For the average person’s stride this is about 5 miles. For many of us, we have a hard time hitting our target number of steps because jobs can have us sitting at a desk all day. Sedentary desk jobs make it challenging to somehow fit 5 miles of walking in to one day’s time. So besides heading to the gym before or after work, what can you do to make exercise part of your daily work routine? (more…)
19 Ways to Relieve Muscular and Joint Pain on a 19-Hour Flight
I just got back from an amazing trip to the Philippines! The country, the culture, the people who live there were all fantastic! The airplane ride, however, was not so fantastic. I painfully scrunched myself in economy class, where my knees were especially angry with me on the way there. However, on the way back, I implemented these 19 ways to relieve pain on a 19-hour flight, and my body was very thankful! (more…)
A Variety of Ways to Position Your Pillows to Reduce Pain
Patients often report difficulty sleeping as a result of having pain when they lay down in bed. In response, therapists will commonly ask the patient what position they sleep in, how they position their pillow(s), and how many pillows they like to use. Pillow positioning is a strategy that can be different for each individual. Below are a few of the many examples of ways to position your pillows to reduce and prevent pain and improve your body alignment for a better night’s sleep!
Healthy Super Bowl Watching Experience
Here we are: the NFL Super Bowl is here. This usually means that my couch game is in full swing, with me parked on the couch watching other people being active. However, this year will be different. I’ve developed a five-pronged approach to a healthy Super Bowl watching experience, based on increased activity, healthier snacking options and better football watching mechanics (seriously). As always, consult with your physician before trying any new exercise or eating routine. (more…)
