Outsmart Golf Injuries

Golf is considered as a sedentary game but surprisingly the injury rate is approximately 60 % (every season) and for most of these injuries incorrect golf swings are to be blamed. A golf swing usually involves a huge trunk swing and the player is required to move both the shoulders in different ways - all at high speeds. Compared to amateur golfers, professionals are better conditioned to execute these motions and therefore they suffer from fewer numbers of injuries. However, both amateurs and professionals equally suffer from certain types of injuries while playing on the public or private golf courses.

Golfers, while playing on the public or private golf course are usually bothered by problems like golfer's elbow and tennis injury. Tennis elbow takes place when there is soreness and tenderness on the outer part of the elbow. The pain, when occurs on the part of the right elbow is known as golfer's injury. For prevention of these two types of injury, a player can consider the following tips-

• Using low compression golf balls and graphite shafts is advisable because they are known to reduce elbow strain at impact.

• Practicing on the turf of the public or private golf course is better as compared to practicing on the rubber mats.

• Do not put too much pressure on the grip and the elbows during the golf swing.

• While executing the back-swing, avoid switching to the downswing too abruptly.

• Never release the hand suddenly at the top of the back-swing

Back pain is one of the most common injuries that are faced by golfers. Performing a golf swing puts a great stress on the back and this is the reason why so many golfers experience this particular type of injury. Back pain can be of different types (arthritis pain, mechanical back pain etc) and possible remedies would include proper rest, medication, surgery, therapy etc. In addition, one must consider the following tips-

• It is advisable to use correct back mechanics while lifting the golf bag.

• Squatting would be a good idea when the golfer is retrieving the ball on the public or private golf course.

• The back-swing can be slowed down to reduce the rotational stress that is usually put on the lower back.

• Be careful to shift the body weight to the right foot when the back-swing takes place. Also, make sure that at the top of the back-swing, the shoulders and the arms do not move out of the plane of the golf swing.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is another issue that bothers the golfers. Fingers become numb and hands clumsy and weak. For getting rid of the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, one can take note of the following suggestions.

• Regularly replace the club handle grips. One can also consider softer or larger grips.

• Avoid pressurizing the club handle.

• Regularly replace the club handle grips. One can also consider softer or larger grips.

• Avoid pressurizing the club handle.

Shoulder pain accounts for 8-12 percent of the golfing injuries. The interesting fact is that left shoulders are more prone to injuries in a right-handed golfer. Apart from taking help of medicines, surgeries etc, golfers should remember the following tips-

• The shoulder and the scapular muscles must always remain flexible.

• Avoid putting too much pressure on the shoulders. One way to do this is to slow down the pace of the back-swing.

Knee pain is also a common injury faced by golfers while delivering a shot in the public or private golf course. Symptoms include pain in the knees, swelling and these are increased by activities like walking, twisting, squatting etc. To avoid knee pain, golfers can start using spike-less shoes (many private golf courses allow only such shoes) which will reduce the stress that is being put on the knees. It is a good idea to avoid full swinging prematurely after one has experienced knee surgery or injury.

Common Auto Accident Injuries That Can Lead to Lawsuits

Approximately 75,000 people are struck by a car each year, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Injuries are more common and wide-ranging than most people realize until they become a victim. A lawsuit ensures all of a victim's injuries, both immediate and latent, are paid for by the wrongful party. It also compensates lost work time, lingering pain, and diminished enjoyment of life.

Traumatic brain injury is a common auto accident injury. It can result from skull fractures, nerve damage and bruising of the brain. TBI can occur upon impact or by the whiplash effect. Like neck injuries, the true extent of brain trauma is usually not apparent right away.

The tests needed to diagnose brain injury, such as a CT scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are very expensive. Doctors may not prescribe them right away in every situation, and insurance companies do not automatically cover them. Therefore, it is common to file a lawsuit to make sure diagnosis and treatment of latent injuries are paid for by the wrong-doer's insurance.

Neck and back injuries are also a common auto accident injury. This type of trauma ranges from temporary whiplash to injury of spinal discs. Discs in the neck can herniate (bulge), rupture or slip. Compression fractures or herniation can harm discs in the mid and lower back. This can lead to permanent disability and require risky surgery.

Injuries to the trunk are also common. An auto accident can cause fractured ribs, punctured lungs, and injuries to spleen, liver, aorta or heart. All require emergency surgery to treat.

The hands, wrists, arms and shoulders are frequently injured in accidents because victims either grip the steering wheel tightly or stiffen and brace for impact. Fractured bones and rotator cuff (shoulder) injuries are common. Physical therapy and loss of motion can limit your quality of life and lead to lost time at work. Successful lawsuits ensure that treatment and all aftercare are covered by the responsible party and not the innocent victim.

Finally, sprains and fractures of the lower body have a long-lasting impact that deserves compensation by the wrong-doer's insurance. Your body might hit the steering wheel or dashboard if an air bag does not deploy. Drivers reflexively jam the brake pedal upon impact, stiffening the right leg and leaving it vulnerable to injury. Rehabilitation for lower body trauma is usually lengthy, requiring casts, surgery, a wheelchair or crutches - even hip or knee replacement.

Whether a car accident involves brain injury, neck trauma, or other life-altering effects, attorneys file lawsuits to ensure that a victim's full treatment, lost income, pain and suffering are fairly compensated.

Crunching Sound in Knees - Osteoarthritis - What Can Be Done About It?

Do you suffer from crunching knees?

Even as a child you will be used to hearing the sound of knees crunching when the class knelt down at school but that probably didn't concern you at the time.

Fifteen years on if it was your knees that were crunching back then, then they may be giving you cause for concern as that sound maybe getting a little sickening to hear.

It may even be getting in the way of everyday life where you find yourself walking up stairs a funny way so to avoid any embarrassing looks.

Knee Crunching Cause

The cause is in the cartilage. That gooey liquid which helps keep the joints nice and lubricated much like oil on a chain.

When it starts to dry out the joint becomes inflamed hence the grinding sound and this is normally the sign of that osteoarthritis is kicking in.

The cause can range from a bad diet through the years, to obesity or it runs in the family, but it's more influenced by your lifestyle as a youngster.

One drawback to exercise which involves using the legs through hard impact sports on the joints like running, football, tennis etc, is that the knees may come to pay the price in the future.

Crunching Knee Treatment

NSAID's will help keep the inflammation of the joint down and reduce that crunching sound.

Even when they're not swollen, doctors suggest you take some form of prescription each day so it stays in your blood stream, so when inflammation occurs, you won't need to get your body accustomed to the NSAID again - meaning it will act straight away.

Ibuprofen is popular for people with this grinding knee condition, but these are only short term pain relief supplements and in no way help the disease go into remission.

In fact NSAID's simply cover up the real problem which is that the disease is still slowly eating away at the depleting knee cartilage, so if you want to treat the cause you need to take more control.

Arthroscopic surgery used to clean out the knee joint and smooth the cartilage was often thought of as a way of slowing down the disease, but this has now been proved false - it simply lessens the pain.

How to Treat a Crunching Knee

1. Take magnesium supplements: These have been proven far more effective than calcium supplements and have been medically proven through a 9 month clinical trial carried out in the U.S by the Journal Medicine in 2009, to improve bone density by some 11%.

2. Do low impact sports: These help rebuild the muscle tissue around the knee while improving functionality to the joint. The pain will subside and your legs will be stronger and more capable of supporting your upper body with more assurance.

Hip Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis affects a person's joints. The parts of body at maximum risk are the hips and knees. Hips carry the body weight and, over years, the smooth and glistening articular cartilage that helps the hip joint to glide ultimately wears thin. Initially, there is discomfort and stiffness in groin, buttocks, or thighs that increases with activity inflaming the hip joints and reducing rotation, flexibility, and movement.

Osteoarthritis of hips affects both genders equally due to diverse causes such as age, obesity, congenital deformity, injury, or stress. We cannot reverse the effects of Osteoarthritis of the hips but it is important for sufferers to go in for early treatment to reduce discomfort. Consult a doctor to determine the extent of damage and the treatment required. An x-ray will check if the hip joint space has changed or there is any development of bone spurs or abnormalities. If in the early or initial stages, the patient is advised to rest the hip, participate in a physical therapy program, engage in non-strenuous exercises like swimming, water aerobics, or cycling to keep the joint functional and healthy. A hip Osteoarthritis patient can follow a self help plan of sound sleep at night, work on weight reduction by following diet plans, reduce strenuous activity, and generally take it easy. Women need to be extra vigilant because they are more susceptible to hip osteoarthritis. Use a cane or some support when and if movement is painful, and keep in mind that household chores can be shared or done at leisure. Another precautionary measure is wearing appropriate footwear.

Once the disease sets into the advanced mode, hip replacement surgery or arthoplasty is advised to help cure the pain and improve mobility. Surgery is not an instant cure and if both hips are affected it requires patience and a rehabilitation program to pull the muscles in shape. Treatment also depends on the patient's attitudes, daily activities, and anxiety.

Foot Arch Pain - Why Does it Hurt and What Can I Do About it?

What Is The Foot Arch?

The foot arch is located between the heel bone and the ball of the foot. It is formed by the bones, ligaments, muscles, fascia, and tendons of the foot. Its purpose is to support the weight of the body and to help propel the body forward while walking. To do this, the foot requires both a high degree of stability and a great deal of flexibility, which is provided by the arch.

There are three arches that help form the overall foot arch.

1. The medial longitudinal foot arch runs along the inside of the foot from the front to the back and is the one most people think of when they think of their arches. Part of its job is to absorb most of the shock that occurs upon impact and support the structure of the foot.

2. The lateral longitudinal foot arch runs in the same way as the medial longitudinal arch, but it is located on the outer edge of the foot. For most of us it is fairly horizontal and contacts the floor along its entire length when standing. It can be seen best in people with high arches.

3. The transverse foot arch, also called the metatarsal arch, unlike the first two, runs from the outside to inside (lateral to medial) across the mid/front part of the foot and also helps provide support and flexibility.

General Foot Arch Classifications

There are three general classes of foot arch, primarily based on observation of the medial longitudinal arch (the main arch at the inside of your foot).

1. Normal arch

2. High arch (associated with supination)

3. Low arch (flat feet, associated with overpronation)

Low arches, or flat feet, known as pes planus, usually occurs when the arch disappears upon standing or taking a step. In a smaller percentage of people it remains low whether they are standing on it or not. People with low arches or flat feet are often overpronators. With too much pronation, the ankle turns inward and the arch collapses upon standing. It can give a knock-kneed appearance.

In individuals with a high arch, known as pes cavus, you can see a big gap between their foot and the ground at the inside (medial longitudional) arch, and sometimes even on the outside (little toe side) as well. This condition often leads to the ankles rolling slightly outward and giving them the appearance of being bow-legged. Both of these conditions change the mechanical approach to walking and can cause painful arch symptom.

How Can I Tell What Type of Foot Arch I Have?

To estimate what type of arch you may have, look at your feet in a standing position. If you have a clear space between the ground and your foot arch, even on the outside (little toe side) you may have a high arch. If you have absolutely no defined medial (inside) foot arch, you are most like flat-footed.

You can test this by stepping on a dry surface with a wet foot. If your footprint shows only a thin strip along the outside of your foot connecting your heel and ball-of-the-foot area, you have a high arch. If the connecting strip is approximately half the width of the foot you most likely have a normal or medium arch. If most or all of the sole of the foot touches the floor between the heel and the ball-of-the-foot area, you have a low foot arch or flat foot.

What Problems are Associated With Foot Arch Position?

The foot is the primary part of our body that absorbs the force when we hit the ground. So the arch has a lot of work to do and can become injured fairly easily. Direct force can cause injury, or when the ligaments or the muscles of the foot are overstretched. Overuse can also result in a significant amount of irritation and pain. Poor biomechanical alignment can cause pain not only to the arch of the foot, but to other parts of the foot, ankles, knees, hips, and lower back. Arthritis of the joints in the area may also occur if your arch is improperly aligned.

Injury leading to inflammation of the plantar fascia is a common source of pain as well. The plantar fascia is a thick band of fibrous tissue that extends from the heel to the toes and acts as a support platform, making up one of the main components of the foot arch. Excessive pronation or supination generally caused by having flat feet or a high arch, can cause micro-tears and tension where the plantar fascia attaches to the heel. When this happens, the point of insertion into the heel becomes inflamed and plantar fasciitis pain occurs.

Foot Arch Pain: How Is It Treated?

If you are having pain, a visit to your doctor may determine the best course of action. Often for foot arch problems, foot orthotics or arch supports will be prescribed. Foot orthotics work to distribute your weight more evenly when you are walking and to adjust poor biomechanical alignment that is contributing to your pain. For a flat foot, your arch supports will have longitudinal arch support, and may have angles built in to tilt your foot in a better position. For a high foot arch, your orthotic insoles will cushion the heel and help absorb some of the shock.

Other treatments include stretching exercises, heel cups or heel cradles, plantar fasciitis night splints, and proper fitting footwear.

If you know you have a high or low foot arch but have no pain, you may never develop a problem...or you may develop problems over time. Make sure you don't ignore even slight foot arch symptoms. Over the counter arch supports (off the shelf arch supports) may bring the symptoms under control before they become a bigger problem, or they may be able to help prevent foot arch problems before they occur in the first place.

If you are getting over the counter arch supports for foot arch pain, make sure they are designed with enough stability to actually support the arch. Many products on the market today add a bit of cushion, but very little support.

Eliminating Jumper's Knee Pain

Jumper's knee pain

The patella tendon attaches the knee cap to the shin bone this along with the quadriceps muscles allows the knee to bend and straighten providing power for elevation and stabilization upon landing. Certain physical activities especially those that involves a lot of jumping and directional movement, such as basketball and volleyball increases the tension on the Patellar tendon and the accompanying quadriceps muscles. This gradual increase in tension over time results in the patella tendon and the surrounding tissue becoming irritated and inflamed, thus creating the condition known as jumper's knee or Patellar Tendonitis. This is a fairly common injury in athletes.

Symptoms of jumper's knee

The first symptom exhibited by individuals with jumper's knee is pain at the bottom of the knee cap; this may be followed by swelling. As the condition progresses individuals may experience pain and stiffness after exertion and in some cases calf weakness. In extreme cases grinding sounds can be heard and swelling occurs in the knee.

Treatment for Jumper's knee

Jumper's knee can be classified into four different grades and treatment is dependent on the grade in which one find him/herself in. The grades are as follows:

• Grade 1: This is when pain occurs at the bottom of the knee cap but only after training. This can be treated by resting, applying ice to the affected area and by elevating the leg

• Grade 2: This is when pain occurs both before and after physical activity. Cutting back on the activity usually does the trick, however slight physiotherapy might be required along with those methods previously mentioned in grade 1.

• Grade 3: This is the stage when pain occurs during the activity. Treatment is the same as those mentioned under grade 1 and 2.

• Grade 4: This is the most severe case as pain is now consistent and occurs during everyday activities. At this stage extensive break from physical activity is required, at least four months. If pain persist then surgery might be required although should be a last resort. Surgery is usually agreed upon after all other treatment has been ruled out and the tendon can be seen as degenerative on a MRI.

Other treatments methods include strengthen the calf and quadriceps muscles, proper stretching before activities also helps to reduce risk. A special type of massage treatment known as transverse friction/cross fibre friction massage is also used. Anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen and Voltaren can be used to control pain and reduce swelling.

Treatment of jumper's knee is slow, and it may take months before one totally recovers. Once the system recovers it is highly recommended that one stretch the quadriceps, hamstring, and calf muscles prior to physical activity. Getting into the habit of stretching and warming up and cooling down reduces one's risk of having a recurrence of the problem.

Jumper's knee can great impact on an athlete's career, however with adequate knowledge of this problem and adjustments in training methods this is an obstacle that can easily overcome as one seek to get his/her life back on track.

Yard Maintenance and Natural Lawn Care

Yard maintenance is certainly a hot topic during those summer months. You have many options at your disposal when hiring a lawn care service provider. They can do something as simple as weekly grass cuttings, to more involved services such as fertilization, rolling, and aeration, to specialist functions like pH balancing for your lawn, weed control application and even nematode applications to control European Chafer beetles and white grubs. To put it simply, if you need hometurf lawn care, there is a company that can provide that service for you. Natural lawn care is offered by the most advanced of these, they will use organic options that are great for your lawn, and even better for the environment.

To look at each piece of your yard maintenance plan we'll first look at grass cutting. The most basic of the whole thing is a weekly grass cutting. The most natural of ways is to do this with a reel cylinder mower. Understandably it may not be the best option for your large lawn, but it should be considered for smaller ones. It is entirely people powered, quiet, and requires no gas. Using a string trimmer can get those edges looking sharp all along your walls, and give you a transition between grasses and cement sidewalks and driveways if you use it to create a line of dirt all along the border between these areas. Trust me, it looks sharp.

Organic weed control, according to my grandmother, has been around for centuries: 'get down on your hands and knees and start pulling those weeds out!' she'd say. While this is still true, organic weed control now focuses on a spray option that is not harmful to the environment due to runoff into sewers and the water table. Frequency wise you need to apply this twice a year: once in the spring to knock them down before they even begin to grow, and one later in the summer to keep them at bay.

I always remember my father putting the big rolling cylinder on the back of our lawn tractor to 'squish worms' in the spring. For a while I thought he was serious, my Dad was a funny guy like that, but I later learned that he was trying to keep the lawn level for me, my brothers, and my cousins to play baseball on it. You may not be using your lawn for sport, but if you have parties believe me when I say it can still be useful to have a nice level lawn that makes it possible for your guests to move around and not drop their hamburgers when they stumble over a high spot. Get out and squish some worms in the late spring to avoid this.

An aeration of your lawn in either the spring or fall is a great way to keep your lawn healthy. It may look kind of awkward having all these small brown lumps all over your lawn at first, but it is worth it in the long run. Either time works; I most commonly see this yard maintenance technique being done in the spring.