Holiday-Proof Your Body: Part 3

Many common seasonal activities can cause injuries, here are some tips to help you stay healthy during the holiday season.

Holiday Challenge #3 - Tight calves/Sore Feet

Causes:
• Wearing high heels
• Dancing at parties
• Standing while cooking
• Walking and shopping

What woman doesn’t love to wear a chic pair of high heels to a holiday party?  But dancing at your holiday parties and shopping can wreak havoc on your feet.

The good news is stretching the calves and loosening the connective tissue at the bottoms of the feet can go a long way towards preventing foot and ankle pain.

Solution:
Stretching your calves: Lean against a chair and lunge forward with one leg and back with the other, gently bring the back heel down to the floor.  Hold the stretch for 15-30 seconds, repeat 3 times.  Remember… stretching and working out have added benefits for baby boomers including improved bone health, reduced risk of osteoporosis, better balance and reduced risk of falls.

Experts say that nearly 600,000 Americans turn to back surgery every year looking for relief from pain. For many, like Nancy Scatena, relief is never found.

Scatena was back in pain just one month after her back surgery. The pain was so intense even her pain medication couldn’t take the edge off. Finally she decided to seek a second opinion. The new doctor assured her that he could fix everything. He fused two of her vertebrae together. At first she experienced some pain free days, then the pain came back, with a vengeance.

In many cases surgery can backfire leaving you in more pain than when you started, this according to a study in the journal Spine.

Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation records showed 1,450 patients who had disc degeneration, disc herniation, or radiculopathy. Of that group half chose to fuse two or more discs together while the other half chose no surgery at all.

After 2 years, 67 percent that didn’t have surgery went back to work. Of those that elected for surgery, only 27 percent were able to go back to work. Also those that chose to have surgery saw a 41 percent increase in the use of painkillers following surgery.

According to Dr. Trang Nguyen, a researcher at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, the study clearly showed that fusion surgeries to alleviate pain for degenerating disc disease does not work.

Even with bad outcomes and studies showing this might not be the solution, fusion surgery is on the rise. In just 15 years there was an eight fold jump in the number of surgeries performed. This has many surgeons and heath experts concerned.

For those with back pain, non-surgical conservative treatments such as spinal decompression therapy seems to be a better solution.

The pain shoots down your leg—burning, tingling, almost electric. Anyone who’s felt it knows that this is the hallmark symptom of sciatica. But did you know that there’s more to sciatica than just leg pain? And what about the best treatment—should you get plenty of rest or join boot camp?

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When a tear takes place in the outer ring of the disc allowing the soft nucleus of the disc to bulge out, it is known as a herniated or slipped disc. Inflammation may result in the area as well as pain. Treatments for a herniated disc, tear, protrusion or bulge often consist of anti-inflammatory medication to alleviate pain and swelling.

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Here are five back exercises you can do at work to reduce the stress of long hours of sitting:
 
1.  Bird-Dog - Place both hands and knees squarely on the ground.  While keeping your abs tight and your pelvis neutral (no excessive arching or sagging), slowly lift the opposite arm and leg off the ground.  Extend both of them out while holding your head straight.  While lifting the arm and leg, squeeze your glut and do not allow your hips to tilt.  They should be square with the ground.  Do slow reps (10) at 2 -3 sets, two or three times per week.  You can simplify this by lifting only the leg.
 
2.  Swimmers - Lay flat on the floor on your stomach.  Fully extend your arms and legs.  While keeping your forehead flat on the ground, slowly lift the opposite arm and leg off the ground.  Do not bend the knee, imagine someone trying to pull your shoe off your foot as you lift the leg.  Your hips should be pressed on the ground and your gluts should be tighten.  Do not kick the leg up.  (The movement is similar to the doggie bridges)  Do 10 reps slowly at 2 - 3 sets, two or three times per week. 
 
3.  Figure 4 Stretch - Lay on your back.  Cross one leg over the other as if you were sitting at a table.  Reach through your legs and bring the crossed-leg position towards your chest.  You will feel this on the outside of your gluts.  Hold this stretch for 20-30 seconds, do 3-5 times on each side.
 

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