Seasonal Greetings

"If, as Herod, we fill our lives with things, and again with things;
if we consider ourselves so unimportant that we must fill every moment of our lives with action, when will we have the time to make the long, slow journey across the desert as did the Magi?  Or sit and watch the stars as did the shepherds?  Or brood over the coming of the child as did Mary?  For each one of us, there is a desert to travel.  And a star to discover.  And a being within ourselves to bring to Life."
                                                                                                                              -  author unknown

How to save your Kids Back

Amazon's Kindle. The ipod has made carrying cd's around  a thing of the past..  As these readers evolves, textbooks and other readings will be available electronically.  My kids carry backpacks that look like astronaut jetpacks. Not for much longer.

From the Happiness project

If you're in the mood to read a novel about happiness...

A reader suggested that once a month, I include a suggested reading list. Great idea: I’ll include this list on the last day of every month.

Because it’s summer, when people tend to have more time to read novels, I’ll start with a list of novels that I found most interesting on the subject of happiness.

All of these books are TERRIFIC. You may be cowed by the thought of readingWar and Peace, but I was staying up late to read it every night until I finished it--there's a reason it's a classic of world literature. Or if you're in the mood for something more light and fun, start with Happy All the Time. But I promise, you can't go wrong with any book on this list.

Elizabeth von Arnim, Elizabeth and Her German Garden
Wallace Stegner, Crossing to Safety
J. P. Marquand, Point of No Return 
Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
Laurie Colwin, Happy All the Time
Michael Frayn, A Landing on the Sun
Lisa Grunwald, Whatever Makes You Happy
Nick Hornby, How to Be Good
Ian McEwan, Saturday
Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace 
Winifred Watson, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

June 30, 2006 | Permalink

knee problems

Will Eccentric Exercise Cure You?

 

Will eccentric exercise cure your patellar tendinosis?

 

-- Even using the ideal protocol for eccentric exercises, one may or not be completely cured. However, there are success stories in some medical journal articles where people who have had many years of patellar tendinosis have outstanding success after a program of eccentric exercises.

 

-- These exercises put a lot of force on the patellar tendon, so they must be done very carefully over many months. If done improperly, they can lead to a worsening of symptoms. These exercises should be used only for chronic cases, should not be used for inflammatory tendinitis, and should be done only under the recommendation of an appropriate physician.

 

-- Even if you are not completely cured, however, your pain might be reduced substantially and you may be much happier. Your pain may be reduced to such a low extent that it does not bother you much. And, there may be more times of the day when you have no pain, or much less pain. In my case, the exercises have helped me to reduce pain a substantial amount. I feel much more normal, with more of the day without any pain. The times I do have some pain, it is much more tolerable -- and I am much, much happier.

 

-- The exercises may help you to have no pain or substantially less pain while you do certain activities, such as walking down stairs; driving a car; walking for long distances; bicycling, etc...

 

-- Even if you find you are not completely cured, eccentric exercise may still be a substantially better alternative than most other kinds of treatment, including surgery, other kinds of physical therapy, certain chiropractic techniques, extracorporeal shock wave therapy, prolotherapy, sclerosing treatments, etc...

 

-- In my opinion after reviewing the medical literature and trying a number of different kinds of treatments myself, I believe eccentric exercise is far better than other alternatives. The success rate is generally much better. Furthermore, other kinds of treatments, such as surgery, may lead to irreversible adverse effects.

Creaky Knee Syndrome

Actually there is not such a problem, but it sounds kind of cool..  After playing a lot of soccer my knees started making creaky sounds when I was going up the stairs.  I'm in good alignment, wear orthotics, etc.  so I wanted to know if I had any knee damage (specifically -wearing down the cartilage between the leg bones).  An x-ray revealed normal joint spacing.  Yeah!  The moral of this story is that joint noises aren't an indicator of joint damage.  I don't know if long term noises are associated with more damage, but I suspect this to be true.  I don't want to find out so it's time to take my glucosamine regularly and do my eccentric knee exercises.

First Steps

1. Reduce the amount of sitting at one time and in total during the day. Do this by getting a pedometer and shoot for 10,000 steps per day. The more you sit, the worse it is for your spine. If you must sit, use an inflatable beach ball (with just a small bit of air in it) behind your lower back. This will give your spine support and help reduce the forces on the back side of the spine. Sit less and walk more.
2. Every two hours, lie down on the floor and place your lower legs on a Swiss Ball. You may need to place your trunk on a couple of pillows. In this position, slowly roll your legs back and forth a very small amount (as soon as you feel your buttock come off the floor, stop the motion and go the other way). The excursion is usually only a couple of inches. It should be relaxing and easy to do and not painful. Do this for 10 minutes.
3. Learn how to "Lock and Load" and use it everyday. Lock and Load is a phrase we use to describe the process of engaging the spinal stabilizer muscles. Some people call this "drawing in" or "hollowing out" the abdomen but it's not either of those things. To learn how to get your abdominals and spine muscles to work, lie on your back again with your feet on the Swiss Ball. Place your hand on your lower abdomen. Now, imagine a burning candle a few feet in front of you. Purse your lips and try to blow out the candle. You'll feel tension in your abdomen. This is the kind of tension you need in your abdomen all day long, every day, for the rest of your life. You must learn how to produce it and vary it according to the task. If you're sitting in your chair, you need a very light amount of tension. If you're going to lift a heavy box, you need a lot of tension. This is a key step. Without mastering this, all other exercises become very difficult to do.

This is good advice wether you have just injured yourself or are having chronic pain. We always want slick and immediate solutions to our health problems;  most of the time it's the slow and steady  changes that we make that ultimately get us better,

David Bowie once said..."CHH CHH CHH CHANGES"

Five Myths About Change and Getting More Out of Your Life

Digg

Here are five myths about change and getting more out of your life:

Myth: Crisis is a powerful reason for change.

Reality: In a recent study, ninety percent of patients who’ve had quadruple heart bypass surgery continued to live a lifestyle that would worsen their condition and threaten their lives.

If you won’t change despite a life and death decision, then what?

Solution: Most people use “will power” and “persistence” to make the changes they want or need thinking that they are doing the best they can. After all that’s what we were taught.

Although it’s a gallant effort, we now know that permanent change takes reconditioning the brain to a new way of thinking and behaving. According to scientists, it takes approximately 30 days of daily reconditioning to create the new “neural networks” that are needed for long-term permanent changes in a person, before you can expect your business or life to get better, and stay that way.

It took time to create your beliefs and habits and it takes time to get rid of the ones that don’t serve you.

Myth: Change is motivated by fear or loss.

Reality: Absolutely not true! People almost always go into automatic denial of the bad things that might happen to their business or themselves no matter what the potential severity of their decisions and consistent actions are. It’s as natural as breathing for us to wait till the absolute last minute to change.

Solution: Creating compelling, positive visions of the future with a viable plan or solution is one of the best ways to inspire long term and permanent change. You must get emotionally involved with why you must change and then follow your plan. If you have a big enough reason to change, you may be more serious than if it’s just convenient. Having a buddy to help you is also a great way to ensure you follow through. In addition, create an environment around you to help support any new changes you seriously want to make and keep.

Myth: Facts are what we need to help us makes changes in our lives.

Reality: Our thinking is guided by our internal stories, narratives and habits of thought, not facts. When a new fact doesn’t fit our current internal map of reality—which we use to make sense of the world—we automatically reject it. Change is best achieved when emotions are involved and invoked quickly, not facts.

Solution: If you seriously want to make significant gains in any area of your life or business, you must get emotionally charged regardless of the doubt, fear, obstacle or size of your goal. Emotions are the brains fuel for making your goals a reality and as mentioned above, get support to help you along the way.

Myth: Gradual and small changes are the best way to go to achieve your desired goals or outcomes.

Reality: Radical, fast, and severe changes are often easier to sustain because of the quick results one derives. We thrive on fast gains and will do a lot to sustain them. When we see that our efforts have paid of fast, we are 100% more likely to continue vs slower to see results.

Solution: Make a specific decision on what you want to achieve and go full out executing a well thought out plan. Make sure you get the support you need to sustain the changes during and beyond the 30-day mark. And remember the change MUST happen on the inside first or it will be very short-lived.

Myth: We can’t change because are genetically predisposed to certain thoughts and have become “hardwired” early in life and have to many bad habits to change.

Reality: The latest findings suggest that only 50% of our “hard wiring” is genetically based and that our brains have extraordinary “plasticity” that can be molded and plied in new ways throughout our lives. We have the ability to grow complex new “neural networks” very fast that can help us create a new reality for our business and life no matter how young or old we are.

Solution: We can rewire our brains by creating new beliefs of what is possible for us to achieve. You can create new beliefs using affirmations, visualization techniques and meditation. You must then act upon our desired goals as if your life depended on getting great results regardless of the doubts or fears that we feel due to your old conditioning or past results.