Tag Archives: health

The Pearls – or Perils – of Holiday Living

Posted on December 4, 2012 by ushealthworks| Leave a comment

We are a society committed to excess in all things, which is perhaps never more apparent than the holiday season.

Bring on the holiday feast – more food, more wine, more sweets and eats (sorry, I found myself channeling Dr. Seuss for a moment). So let’s sort out the Christmas elves from the gremlins.

christmas tree in marunouchiphoto © 2006 François Rejeté | more info (via: Wylio)

This, more than anything else, is a season of exhaustion. We struggle through hundreds of self-imposed Christmas chores, struggling to fit more into an already overwhelmed schedule. Something must give, and that something is usually sleep.

Sleep Deprivation
It’s no small medical issue. The symptom list that results from not getting enough sleep is extensive: muscle aches, memory loss, lack of coordination and stomach distress. Diseases such as hypertension and diabetes are worsened by insufficient sleep time. And you can actually die from extreme lack of sleep. This has been proven in lab animals, but scientists have been reluctant to do the experiment on humans. However, some of us are experimenting with this on our own.

Pass the Eggnog
What is eggnog anyway? Traditional eggnog is made from milk, cream, sugar and raw eggs, with a shake of cinnamon or nutmeg. It’s not surprising that it’s quite high in fat and cholesterol, although some modern versions are a bit lighter. Brandy, whisky or rum is usually added. Interestingly enough, adding liquor actually improves the safety profile of eggnog. That’s because alcohol kills germs often found in raw eggs, like salmonella. That jigger of brandy you add may just prevent an unscheduled time out in your festivities.

Alcoholic Beverages
Eggnog isn’t the only holiday beverage consumed in excess. Has there ever been a holiday gathering where liquor consumption isn’t encouraged? We drink wine, spirits and aperitifs in celebration, and gift them as well. No self-respecting host would let a guest’s cup run dry. Because of this over-indulgence, the Thanksgiving to Christmas interval is famous for record amounts of DUIs and highway fatalities. Add a little liquor to the sleep deprived, and you are living dangerously. It may be time for a cab.

Food
The feast wouldn’t even be a feast without a ridiculous abundance of food. Actually the ham or turkey dinner and accompaniments isn’t the big problem with holiday eating, not at least until the third or fourth serving. It’s the fast food that’s a much bigger threat, as well as the steady intake of sweets that seem to surround us. Running around too short on time, we skip eating until it’s practically an emergency. Then we make hasty choices and go for immediate gratification. Fast food is represented in all its appealing variations at the food court at your local mall – how convenient. Does healthy food even stand a chance?

“Christmas Crud”
It’s a medical euphemism for the colds, strep throat, influenza, bronchitis and pneumonia that circulate this time of year. Our exposure to respiratory germs is greatly increased as we spend more time in crowds, at stores, gatherings and assemblies. Seldom are we not in sight of someone coughing, sniffling or sputtering.

Our immune system also isn’t at its best. Your body’s defenses work best when we follow our mother’s advice: get plenty of rest, consume good food and keep a low stress level. That is the makings of top functioning immune systems. On what planet does this exist at Christmas time? The result – a lot of exposure and little energy to defend yourself, a veritable “bug fest.”

Stress
Did we mention stress? Pick your flavor: money stress, shopping stress, party stress, over-commitment stress. Stress to decorate the house, wrap the presents and send out personalized and meaningful handwritten cards. We all suspect that stress can be a problem. Stress affects everyone a little differently, but insomnia, anxiety, chest pain and irritability are common. Stress is magnified when we don’t feel in control of our situation. Anybody’s Christmas list getting the best of them or is it just mine?

christmas tree 2004photo © 2004 scott feldstein | more info (via: Wylio)

Take a deep breath, maybe two. Your true friends and family don’t need to be impressed with your perfect cards – they like you anyway. Maybe your card list has too many people that you are no longer close to – they won’t miss you. What’s the real chance you can buy somebody the perfect gift, something truly special that they haven’t gathered in 40 or 50 years of consumerism? You don’t have a prayer. Make the gifts you give be time and attention – how about you make a lunch date with them and get caught up…in February.

This holiday season can be less of a heath disaster if you simply avoid excess in order to make your Christmas a merry one.

Happy Holidays!

Dr. B

Donald Bucklin, MD (Dr. B) is a Regional Medical Director for U.S. HealthWorks and has been practicing clinical occupational medicine for more than 25 years. Dr. B. works in our Scottsdale, Arizona clinic.

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Plenty of Good Reasons to Get the Flu Shot This Year

Posted on October 26, 2012 by ushealthworks| Leave a comment

'Finally Got A Flu Shot $25.' photo (c) 2010, Jake Metcalf - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
So far, it’s been a pretty uneventful flu year with no scary new strains. We picked the right flu virus to make vaccine out of, so it’s a one-shot year.

When discussing the flu, “same old-same old” means 41,000 people will die in this country of the flu this winter. That’s as many people as get killed on U.S. highways in a year. It would be nice to be able to vaccinate against automobile deaths, wouldn’t it?

Most of the flu deaths will be people 65 or older. Most of them will catch the flu from younger people around them.

We get the flu vaccine or not according to our own private equation, weighing our health, the chance of getting the flu, our memory of last winter, and the hassle factor of both illness and getting the vaccine. All this is almost unconscious, and steers us either toward or away from opportunities for vaccination. Public health folks tear their hair out trying to convince us of the benefits of herd immunity.

I recently came across some data that looked at flu vaccination from a different perspective. The study looked at respiratory illness rather than just flu. Respiratory illness includes anything that makes you congested and cough, presumably 20 dozen different cold viruses and the flu. They vaccinated a bunch of healthy working adults and watched what happened. Those vaccinated adults had 25 percent fewer respiratory illnesses, 43 percent less sick days from respiratory illness, and 44 percent fewer visits to a physician for a respiratory illness. The savings on average for each person vaccinated was almost $47.

At first glance it appears that the flu vaccine helps protect you against a bunch of cold viruses as well as influenza. That would be a heck of a flu shot – sign me up. Sadly, it doesn’t.

What it actually means is there are a bunch more cases of flu going around than anybody realizes. And the flu is a much bigger part of what makes us cough in the winter. One would suppose from this data that a third or even a half of our winter respiratory illness is flu based. Who knew?

So maybe you get vaccinated for some noble reason, like saving an elderly person’s life, or trying to keep the kids healthy this winter, or missing less work, or simply to save a buck (or $47) — it all works.

There is plenty of vaccine, and winter is coming, so what are you waiting for?

Take care,

Dr. B

Donald Bucklin, MD (Dr. B) is a Regional Medical Director for U.S. HealthWorks and has been practicing Clinical Occupational Medicine for more than 25 years. Dr. B works in our Scottsdale, Arizona clinic.

 

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Debunking the West Nile Virus Hysteria

Posted on August 17, 2012 by ushealthworks| Leave a comment

West Nile Virus has shown up in Texas, and to hear it described somewhat breathlessly, you would think we were talking about Ebola, Hantavirus or the End of Days. It is the virus of the week and has caused a lot of commotion and more than a little fear.

Don’t worry.

West Nile Virus is a lesser known relative of Japanese Encephalitis, which sounds like a terrible disease, but really isn’t.

How do you get the West Nile disease? Only one way, get bit by a mosquito that has the virus. The West Nile virus mostly lives in birds. Some mosquitoes bite birds and pick up the virus that way. Who knew mosquitoes bite birds? Seems like a suicidal food choice. If one of these mosquitoes actually manages to catch and bite the infected bird, and survive the experience, he now can bite you. As you would expect there are not exactly swarms of infected mosquitoes.

Now if one such infected mosquito manages to find you, you now have West Nile Virus. But you can’t give it to your family and friends. They have to find their own infected mosquito if they want the virus. In West Nile infected humans, the virus level is low enough that a mosquito biting you won’t likely get infected. So you can‘t pass it on, even with a mosquito’s help.

But what if you do catch it? You have a very big chance of not even knowing it. 80% of people that get West Nile are asymptomatic. That is the kind of disease to get, beats all that suffering stuff.

20% of people actually get the short end of the virus, and feel like they have the flu (influenza). That can be pretty unpleasant: fevers, chills, sweats, headache and body aches, swollen glands and maybe a rash or some vomiting thrown in for good measure. You are going to spend a perfectly miserable 7 to 10 days, then you will be fine, and immune. The only thing that might make you feel better during that 7 to 10 days is knowing you don’t have the really bad kind.

The really bad kind is less that 1% of the infections. It infects your brain and that is never good. In the worst of the worst the encephalitis (brain infection) can cause coma or death. There has even been some Guillain-Barre (remember swine flu 1975 version) from West Nile Encephalitis. Once it gets to that stage you are in the ICU and we (as doctors) do everything we can, but there is no specific treatment. Still most people get over it.

Although there are a lot of West Nile Alarmist stories hitting the airwaves, the disease is pretty simple to avoid. Mosquitoes bite most actively around sundown. Stay away from the wood at that time. If you live in an area that has West Nile, consider some mosquito repellant (DEET) spray or clothing. It’s as easy as that.

Did you know it was the carbon dioxide in your breath that attracts the mosquitoes to you? Just thought you’d like to know.

Take Care

Dr. B

 

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

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Hepatitis C – The new “AIDS” in America

Posted on April 9, 2012 by ushealthworks| Leave a comment

It was recently announced that Hepatitis C kills more people in America than AIDS. Who knew?

Hepatitis C is a liver infection caused by a virus that is a cousin of the better known and much more glamorous Hepatitis B virus.

Hepatitis C is a sneaky bugger; we didn’t even have a name or a test for it when I was in medical school (which was not that long ago). We just called in Non A/Non B, we knew what it wasn’t, but not what it was. This virus can live for a while on surfaces that appear to be clean. And even worse, when you get it, most of the time, you don’t even know you are sick, but sick you are, or will be.

Hepatitis C is a sleek, lean, killing machine. This virus is elegant in design, just enough RNA to reproduce itself wrapped up in a bullet proof jacket. It can live through a lot of mistreatment; both on the outside (before you get it) and the inside (after you get it). Hepatitis C can live on a clean, dry-appearing surface for up to a week and remain infectious. It is killed by alcohol and bleach disinfectants, but the virus is tiny and can hide in the nooks and crevices of equipment that is blood contaminated.

You get infected with Hepatitis C when live viral particles get inside you. This used to be a disease of the heroin enthusiast. High doses of narcotics make people sloppy about sterile technique – imagine that. Needles and syringes are shared as are the blood-borne viruses like hepatitis C. These days the innocent tattoo is the leading cause of Hepatitis C. A tattoo is a million tiny injections. There is bleeding involved and it can get messy. If there is the tiniest trace of blood on equipment from the last tattoo, you have a new “blood brother” (or sister).

The problem with Hepatitis C is that it smolders along for years, totally unknown to you, and one day, out of nowhere, you have big trouble. Big trouble here means liver cirrhosis, liver failure or liver cancer.

When you first get Hepatitis C, it is a pretty mild disease; a little fatigue, muscle pain, poor appetite, that sort of non-specific thing. Most people don’t even know they are sick. The few that feel sick will feel better on their own. The virus, however, persists in your liver 80% of the time.

This low grade infection of your liver is death (to the liver) by a thousand cuts. The liver slowly, silently, and steadily scars until up to a third of people get cirrhosis over 20 or 30 years. Cancer of the liver is also 20 times more common in Hepatitis C infected patients.

Cirrhosis is no fun because the blood that can‘t get through the liver, goes around it. Sometimes these veins break from the pressure, and you bleed, vigorously. Liver failure is also problematic as your liver detoxifies and filters everything you take in. You need a functional liver.

What about treatment? Treatment is successful in clearing the virus from your liver a little more than half the time, but the treatment isn’t easy. Interferon is used with other anti-viral drugs for up to a year. This is not for the faint of heart. If the Hepatitis C virus doesn’t clear, it can result in liver failure and liver transplant. Over 100 million people have undiagnosed Hepatitis C in the world.

But there is some good news, you can have sex and not get hepatitis C, you just can’t be sexy and get a tattoo. And, if you ever need a blood transfusion, the blood you get will be Hepatitis C-free and safer than it has ever been before.

Given this terrible disease burden, medicine is working full time on new and more effective treatments for Hepatitis C and trying to develop a vaccine. Try to stay out of trouble until the choices are better.

Take care

Dr B

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Plenty of Good Reasons to Get Flu Shot This Year

Posted on October 10, 2011 by ushealthworks| Leave a comment

'Finally Got A Flu Shot $25.' photo (c) 2010, Jake Metcalf - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
So far, it’s been a pretty uneventful flu year with no scary new strains. We picked the right flu virus to make vaccine out of, so it’s a one-shot year.

When discussing the flu, “same old-same old” means 41,000 people will die in this country of the flu this winter. That’s as many people as get killed on U.S. highways in a year. It would be nice to be able to vaccinate against automobile deaths, wouldn’t it?

Most of the flu deaths will be people 65 or older. Most of them will catch the flu from younger people around them.

We get the flu vaccine or not according to our own private equation, weighing our health, the chance of getting the flu, our memory of last winter, and the hassle factor of both illness and getting the vaccine. All this is almost unconscious, and steers us either toward or away from opportunities for vaccination. Public health folks tear their hair out trying to convince us of the benefits of herd immunity.

I recently came across some data that looked at flu vaccination from a different perspective. The study looked at respiratory illness rather than just flu. Respiratory illness includes anything that makes you congested and cough, presumably 20 dozen different cold viruses and the flu. They vaccinated a bunch of healthy working adults and watched what happened. Those vaccinated adults had 25 percent fewer respiratory illnesses, 43 percent less sick days from respiratory illness, and 44 percent fewer visits to a physician for a respiratory illness. The savings on average for each person vaccinated was almost $47.

At first glance it appears that the flu vaccine helps protect you against a bunch of cold viruses as well as influenza. That would be a heck of a flu shot – sign me up. Sadly, it doesn’t.

What it actually means is there are a bunch more cases of flu going around than anybody realizes. And the flu is a much bigger part of what makes us cough in the winter. One would suppose from this data that a third or even a half of our winter respiratory illness is flu based. Who knew?

So maybe you get vaccinated for some noble reason, like saving an elderly person’s life, or trying to keep the kids healthy this winter, or missing less work, or simply to save a buck (or $47) — it all works.

There is plenty of vaccine, and winter is coming, so what are you waiting for?

Take care,

Dr. B

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Coffee and Kids: Wonder Beverage or Devil’s Brew?

Posted on September 12, 2011 by ushealthworks| Leave a comment

There has recently been a lot of talk about a very old beverage, coffee.

The occasion for this has been the admission by seemingly responsible parents that they actually give their young child a cup of coffee with breakfast. Egads – what is the world coming to?

With some guilt, I admit my 8-year-old had a cup with her Fruit Loops this morning, as she does most mornings. (Please don’t report me to CPS).

So is coffee bad for kids? The old cup-a-joe has a long and somewhat sordid history. Going back to the days of dirt and plague, coffee was associated with all manner of dark things, like most of what went on in the Middle Ages, with no scientific basis.

Yet coffee is one of the most studied beverages on the planet, not surprisingly as there are nearly 1000 organic chemicals in a cup of brew. Caffeine is the one that everyone talks about. This is an interesting chemical, a mild stimulant in the methyl xanthene family. This is closely related to adrenalin and medications that are used to treat asthma. Coffee is a well known bronchodilator. So coffee certainly isn’t bad for kids with asthma.

One of the other effects of coffee is to mildly raise dopamine levels in the brain. You’ve heard of raising dopamine in talking about antidepressants, like Prozac. In fact kids who drink a cup of coffee with milk per day have a significantly lower rate of depression. So coffee isn’t bad for sad kids.

Caffeine is a stimulant and recently parents of kids with attention deficit disorder have been experimenting on their kids.

The thought goes something like this: if the stimulant amphetamine helps kid with ADHD focus and concentrate, maybe a good cup of coffee will do the same. Funny thing is, it does seem to help. We don’t have any huge definitive studies to quote, but limited research shows coffee helps kids with ADHD focus and concentrate. It doesn’t help as much as Adderall, but it does help. For some kids, coffee is all they need. For other kids who don’t get enough benefit from medications, adding a cup of coffee helps. So coffee isn’t bad for kids with attention deficit disorder.

What about other kids? My daughter had a cup this morning. She isn’t challenged by ADD, or depression, thankfully. She just likes a cup in the morning like I do. Coffee doesn’t stunt your growth or hurt your development in any way we have found. It actually does some good stuff. Parkinson’s disease is reduced in coffee drinkers as is colon cancer, liver disease and Type 2 diabetes. All well proven. Early research on Alzheimer’s disease suggests its occurrence is reduced in coffee drinkers.

For those still thinking coffee is an adult only vice, I invite you to consider normal kid breakfast drink alternatives. What do your kids drink for breakfast? Popular orange drinks have many times the sugar of coffee. Other beverage choices have higher fat or cholesterol content. In this epidemic of obesity, nobody ever got fat on coffee.

So tomorrow morning when I pour my cup, I will cheerfully give some to my 8-year-old; she gets her own cup because I don’t like to share.

Take care

Dr B

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The Quiet Revolution In Lighting

Posted on September 6, 2011 by ushealthworks| Leave a comment

There has been little notice of the planned phase out in the United States of most incandescent light bulbs in the next two years. We are actually behind several other countries that are already well along in the process of replacing regular incandescent bulbs for LED and Compact Fluorescent lights.

The impetus behind this change is energy efficiency.

Florescent and LED lights are 4 to 10 times more efficient than incandescent bulbs. They also last much longer than incandescent bulbs. Most common incandescent bulbs – 40 watt through 100 watt – will be unavailable by 2014.

Thomas Edison is perhaps rolling over in his grave.

This change has been visible when we make semi-regular pilgrimages to the local hardware store. More and more shelves are filled with these funny looking spiral shaped bulbs (at 2-3 times the price).

Just the other day a company nurse asked me about the health effects to expect from increased exposure to florescent lighting. Health effects from florescent lighting, I asked nervously, looking over my shoulder at my office lighting. Perhaps a little research is in order.

It doesn’t take long on the Internet to find some ominous sounding quasi-scientific concerns regard fluorescent lightening. Let’s explore some.

Seizure risk: Fluorescent lights traditionally are driven by magnetic ballasts and flicker at 100 to 120 times per second. Like movies, which are a series of still pictures flashed on the screen at 24 times per second, almost all people are unable to perceive the flickering of the light (anything over 16 flashes per second is seen as continuous light). Theoretically the light flickering could trigger a seizure. This is more of a theoretical concern, than something neurologists are treating. Since compact florescent lights use electrical ballast, there is no flickering, thus no seizure risk.

Ultraviolet radiation: Ultraviolet radiation is often raised as a concern with fluorescent lights. UV light is emitted from some fluorescent lights in relatively greater amounts. There are a handful of rare dermatological conditions that have been suggested to be worsened by high UV emitting florescent lights. Even a few that are improved. The florescent bulbs can be constructed to emit various light frequencies for different applications. High output UV lights are used to simulate sunlight in aquariums, terrariums and tanning beds. The UV exposure approximates sunshine, perhaps useful for the “winter blues.” Florescent lights can be manufactured with double walls to eliminate almost all UV light. The color of the light is also becoming more of a choice; gone are the days of harsh blue-white light showing every skin imperfection. Florescent lights now are designed to emit a more amber glow, longer wavelengths, a light that flatters people and interiors.

Aside from UV radiation, which is completely manageable with light design, there is little evidence they will otherwise cause you injury.

After looking at risk from UV radiation, we quickly travel into so-called “emerging science.” That is a euphemism for information that is not explained by conventional scientific thinking. Not surprisingly, the diseases mentioned as having some possible connection to florescent lighting are among the least understood diseases. Autism and Lupus are examples of such diseases. There is no scientific support for such claims.

The wholesale change to florescent lightening may provide a few surprises, but not health ones.

So, I am not buying cases of incandescent bulbs to horde or sell on eBay. Florescent lights are well researched and improved in design every year. Your house and job will be a little more efficient for the change – and you might ultimately have a little more jingle in your pocket.

Take care,

Dr B

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How to Cope With the Back-to-School Routine

Posted on August 30, 2011 by ushealthworks| Leave a comment

'tired' photo (c) 2008, nigelpepper - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/Here it is almost September again. How is that possible? Wasn’t Memorial Day just last weekend? It’s time for the start of another school year, which is a stressful time in my house and I’m guessing yours as well.

It isn’t exactly a secret when school starts; we’ve known the date for months. We’ve been hitting the back-to-school sales for weeks, so it’s not like we weren’t thinking about it. One would think with all this advanced warning and preparation, we would have this down to an art. However, my third and eighth grade kids will tell you we don’t.

Why is the start of the school year so physically and emotionally challenging? Perhaps it is sleep, specifically the lack of it. Bedtimes for most students slowly drift into the late evening hours as summer progresses, and the kids never see a sunrise.

Despite the best of intentions, bedtimes do not adjust easily or painlessly when school begins. The two- or three-hour sudden change in bedtime amounts to a good case of Jet Lag; colorfully named “desynchronosis.” The rule of thumb is it takes one day to adjust for every hour changed. Common symptoms of desynchronosis include fatigue, irritability, headache and mild depression. This describes how my kids feel on the first few days of school – and you thought it was normal.

But what time they go to bed isn’t the whole story. When they get up is important, too. “Sleep latency” is the medical term for being awakened and feeling like “something the cat drug in.” This depends on when in a sleep cycle you wake up. Being awakened during deep sleep or REM sleep is disorienting and amplifies sleep latency (the cat thing).

If you wake up during light sleep you feel almost human. There are actually alarm clocks that monitor your sleep and wake you up only when you’re sleeping lightly. So a wake up range would replace the wake up time. Have to get up at 7 a.m.? Set your range for 5:30-7 a.m. and it might make you feel better. Counterintuitive isn’t it?

But sleep patterns are not the only thing to consider when kids go back to school; change in activity is a factor as well. During the summer, kids move rapidly from interest to interest to keep themselves amused. They are working with an attention span that is as short as five minutes in young kids and 20 minutes for teenagers. When school starts they are suddenly trapped like rats for hours on end. Their activities are chosen by their teachers, who share neither their restlessness nor their short attention span. This too takes several days to readjust.

What about summer meals? What summer meals? The kids are going five different directions and grab something when they occasionally make a pass through the kitchen. Frequent small feedings, heavily loaded with “carbs” and taken at liberty, are the rule. Their young digestive systems tolerate this surprisingly well. With the start of school and scheduled, regulated meal times, blood sugars are predictably plummeting. The result is more restlessness, fatigue and irritability.

Like so many other things in life, the solution to adjusting to the back-to-school routine is practice, practice, practice. Think about the school day, wake up times, meal times and bed times. You can still fit in some fun and readjust your sleep and meal schedules at the same time. A two- or three-day head start will make all the difference. No, that doesn’t mean you have to do homework before school starts. Let’s not be ridiculous.

Take care, and good luck with your new wake-up regimen.

Dr B

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10 Reasons Not to Exercise

Posted on August 26, 2011 by ushealthworks| Leave a comment

I was a great exerciser for most of my life. Recently I seem better at making up excuses not to exercise than to actually exercise.

As a motivation tool for myself I have listed all my good reasons for not exercising. You may find a few of your favorites. Hopefully you will see my folly and get back on a program yourself. So after a little reflection, here are my favorites.

1. I am middle aged and don’t need to pretend I’m young.
2. I am too busy to exercise – work, child rearing, keeping the house livable doesn’t leave time for exercise.
3. I don’t get enough sleep as it is without getting up an hour earlier to exercise.
4. My back hurts. You may substitute knees, hips, or your big toe – pick your favorite, or least favorite, body part
5. It’s too hot to exercise (115 F in Phoenix as I write). Of course too cold, humid, windy, rainy or generally inclement works equally well. It could also be too light or too dark for that matter.
6. I have a big meeting tomorrow and I need to be well rested.
7. I’ve been married for 17 years and my wife still likes me (even without exercise).
8. My weight is good and I look like I exercise (I actually stole that one from my wife a decade ago).
9. No matter how much I exercise I still don’t look like Arnold (or Halle).
10. If I can’t do the exercise I want, why bother.

So use one excuse a week and it will be a long time before you exercise.

More seriously, most of these are easily swatted away and I have done that myself many times.

A few to discuss:

No. 10 is a real struggle for many. I had two back surgeries that put a stop to my running and weightlifting. It took some pondering, but rollerblading is easy on the back and aerobic exercise. Aging and injuries do force you to lower the exercise bar, but throwing in the towel is not necessary. If you can only walk, do that. Almost anyone can swim for exercise, the weightlessness makes it joint friendly.

Looking like you exercise is not the point. Living longer and being able to participate is the point. Exercise can make some wheelchair bound people walk again. You can be fat, thin, short, tall, old or young and still make your life better with exercise.

Most studies show exercise helps joint pain. This is true even with relatively advance degenerative joint disease. It also helps you lose weight, lessening pain.

Hopefully, I will think of these counterpoints tomorrow morning when I wake up with an excuse at my lips.

I will recognize it for the excuse it is and move anyway. If doesn’t work, Sheba, my Siberian Husky, will remind me she needs exercise also and doesn’t take excuses.

Take Care.

Dr. Bucklin

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Auburn (Washington) Reporter: Head Injuries

Posted on August 19, 2011 by ushealthworks| Leave a comment

Head Injuries Remain Major Problem for Football Players
By Dr. Bruce Kaler, U.S. HealthWorks

Head injuries in athletes resulting in concussions occur more frequently than previously thought. We are learning more about the problem and the important consequences.

Each year more than 300,000 U.S. athletes suffer some form of traumatic brain injury. High school athletes comprise 60,000 of these injuries. The consequences vary a great deal and can be physical, emotional and intellectual.

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/aub/lifestyle/127538508.html

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