"Health Beat"

Elephant working her proprioceptors.

Proprio–what?

Say it with me now.  Pro Pree Oh Sep Shun.

Proprioception is a concept that will help you prevent sprained ankles, twisted knees, and strained backs.  Whether you’re an athlete, working on your New Year’s Resolution to lose weight, or just walking the dog, proprioception is important to all of us trying to balance our way through the day.

Proprioceptors are the sensors in muscles that assist in balance, and inform your brain about body position and movement.  When your proprioceptors are working right, you can maneuver through a grassy field without loss of balance.  You can transfer from your sofa to your wheelchair.  You can sit up in bed and turn on the light.  Trouble is, balance is one of those things that if you don’t use it, you lose it.  But can you get it back?

Proprioception training is an important part of sports injury rehabilitation, but it’s not just for athletes.  It’s not even just for gym warriors.  If you lift weights, do farm work, or simply wish to challenge your body, you can train your proprioceptors to function at a higher level.  When you train your proprioceptors, you increase their ability to detect movement changes and so prevent spills, falls, or other accidents.

How to train your proprioceptors?   Yoga is a good starting

Rectangular Yoga Bolster from Bean Products

point.  Beginning yoga helps to build general

awareness of your body, its location, its alignment.  Simple weightlifting, whether in a standing or seated position is valuable as well–even if it’s only a 5-pound weight.  You can work with a partner as well, who can help with lifting and lowering–or even catching–a medicine ball.

If you’re looking for something slightly more high tech and more challenging, you might try a balance board.  It’s true that balance boards are used by skateboarders, surfers, snowboarders, and other athletes–but physical therapists use them in treatment of sports injuries, for stimulation of neural networks, and for child development.  People also use ‘em because they’re fun.

The Chango R4 Model Balance Board

So while cardiovascular fitness and bone density are very important factors in one’s health, please don’t ignore good old balance.  It’s something so many of us take for granted, yet use in so many different ways–until the day it leaves us.

For these and other fitness products, please visit Painreliever.com.

Hi, I’m Marguerite.

The Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale, used in pediatric pain management.

I’m the new blogger for HealthBeat–so I think I’d better introduce myself and explain to you why I believe I’m qualified to talk to you about pain and things that go creak in the night.

As it says in my profile, I have two young children.  Very active, very curious, inclined to scrapes, bumps, knocks, spills, falls–all the normal stuff of youth.

At the other end of the relative spectrum, both my parents are in their mid-70s.  My mother has Type 2 Diabetes, as well as a heck of a time with sciatica and a relationship with her chiropractor for over 25 years.  She’s a tough old lady–beating cancer in her spare time–and would really rather take a DIY approach to her health than go to the doctor.

When I was in my early teens, her passion was yardwork, and she constantly got herself into tissue damage predicaments.  She was always cutting herself or crushing various things with sharp implements.  I still remember the time she almost sliced off all the skin over one knuckle with a long-handled tree-branch pruner.  Anyone else would’ve gotten stitches, but she cleaned herself up in the bathroom sink, painted everything with Merthiolate (does anyone reading this remember Merthiolate?) applied A&D ointment, and wrapped it up with gauze and surgical tape.  That’s pretty much been her approach to everything involving injuries that break the skin.

IMAK Hand Exerciser Stress Ball, For Hand Strength & Physical Therapy

In 1991, when I was in college, my dad had a small stroke.   He recovered  well enough to return to his career as a piano instructor at one of the local universities, and even overcame the lingering disabilities to give recitals.  But this certainly introduced us to the world of physical therapy, exercises, and rehab equipment.

My husband played football before I met him, and has all kinds of lingering issues.  His knees are, shall we say, not optimal.  This past year he had to have multiple physical therapy sessions due to old rotator cuff insult.  This, believe it or not, was not from football, but from his stint as an armored truck guard: He once caught an 800-lb bag of coin in his left hand (rather than have it hit the bank’s marble floor, bust open, and spill lord knows how much money).  And that tore Lord knows what.

Both my husband and I are involved in an organization known as the Society for Creative Anachronism.  It’s a not-for-profit organization that researches the Middle Ages and then tries to recreate them.  We’re both invested in heavy weapons combat.  A kind of martial arts, if you like.  Except this martial art involves putting on armor and trying to beat the bewhillikers out of each other.  We have rules, and safety experts, and medical people involved–our injury record is better, certainly than that of high school football.

But we who are involved in this sport do sustain a lot of injuries–Sprains.  Strains.  Bruises.  Dislocations.  Rotator cuff overuse.  The odd broken bone here and there.  We love our cold therapy and our heat therapy, and we really, really love our chiropractors.

So what I’m going to be doing is posting about adventures in injury, I guess you could call it.  From where I’m sitting, I have a viewpoint of several segments of the population.  You experienced folks who are determined not to let your golden years sit on you like lead.  You parents who have kids bouncing all over the neighborhood, in addition to well-meaning spouses who try to overdo with painful consequences.  Athletes and friends of athletes who get hurt and play hurt.

My hope is to inform you, amuse you, ask you questions, give you answers, and shed some light on helpful products that’ll help you wake up the next day with a little less pain.  Goodness knows a little less pain is something we could all use.

Best wishes,

Marguerite

Steady Steps Toe Hold

With the weather starting to cool off, nothing beats sitting around with a group of friends on a lazy Sunday watching football. Even though the players are wearing full pads, watching them getting hit and trampled on, you wonder how they get up.

Unfortunately, sometimes the players don’t get up on their own. Sometimes a player doesn’t realize they are sore until after the game. One injury I had never heard of until an announcer mentioned it is Turf Toe.

The official name is metatarsophalangeal joint sprain (yeah, I can barely pronounce it either). Even though Turf Toe is what it is called when it happens to the big toe, this can happen to any of the toes. Turf toe is named such because it mostly happens when playing sports on tough surfaces such as artificial turf. While it is common to football players, turf toe can happen to anybody.

Turf toe occurs when the toe is hyper-extended, or the toe is bent further than it is supposed to bend. This can happen in a number of different ways. One of the more common ways is when a player steps down on the toes, and another player hits their calf from behind.

While Turf Toe does not sound serious and it has a funny name. Turf toe can be a debilitating injury to anybody. Most football players have taken a month or more off to heal. There are a few things that can be done to help prevent Turf Toe. However, if you do get Turf Toe try this Toe Hold Toe Alignment Splint to help the recovery process.

If you should happen to get Turf Toe, don’t despair. While wearing the toe alignment splint people all over will be asking you what you did to yourself. Just think of the smiles you’ll get when you tell people that you have an injury with a name like Turf Toe.