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21st century work-related health outcomes–bone spurs in the neck

June 15, 2013

me and john at raystown 2013 sojourn If you’ve read my book, ‘Talking about health,’ you may remember the narrative about physical therapy as an alternative to drugs and surgery. The story relates to having bone spurs in my neck. And one of the strategies I learned in physical therapy to deal with it and the pain they cause–support the neck. Always. So elbows on the table–not rude, pain-saving. Elbows on arm rests in the car, on the plane, any and everywhere–pain-saving. Even here, as we wait to launch our kayaks. There you see it. Elbows on my hips. And where did these bone spurs come from, you might ask. Too much time leaning into the computer without a break. Yes, the 21st century technology has its own ‘factory-worker’ like syndrome. Try to avoid it with frequent breaks and moving your neck around. If it’s too late, support your neck, lift it off the painful spot and give yourself support to relieve the pain…

Creativity and health

June 2, 2013

me and sam at mc saltysMy husband and I recently had the pure joy of a week long visit from our five-year-old grandson here in Pennsylvania. We were a bit worried since he had never stayed overnight away from home. We have stayed at his house while his parents had an overnight trip. But he had not stayed with us at our home alone.

The adventure began with a plane flight. And the plane flight should have been easy peasy leaving about 8 am and arriving in State College about 4 pm. Recall the two hour time change and that makes for six hours. We had a nice layover in Detroit with plans for lunch and riding the train.

We began to get phone calls at 4 am that our flight was delayed. And delayed and delayed. We went to the airport expecting the flight to leave finally about 10:30. It did not. Mechanical problems. Most other passengers were being placed on other flights but we needed 3 seats with 2 together. Our grandson was a great sport about it all as we got to the airport and watched the flight board inch later and later. The attendants at our gate were also helpful. they provided him with first class passenger goodies. And we all got 25 dollar vouchers for food and drink.

We finally took off about 1:30. Yep. And we did not have a connecting flight now until 9:30 pm…about an hour past our grandson’s usual bedtime. Still, he remained completely enthused. Exploring everything with us in the stops along the way. Enjoying dinner. He did fall asleep on the last flight home and wasn’t too happy about being awakened to get off the plane. Still, the adventure  spirit prevailed.

We went to beaches that weren’t open for swimming and parks to feed ducks. We had picnics everyday. But mostly we played in the sand, threw rocks into a frog pond, and built forts. We piled honeysuckle bushes being cut back and climbed to the top of the growing pile.

And we talked. Endlessly. If you haven’t talked with a five-year-old lately, I highly recommend it. They are so boundlessly creative. During one conversation, my grandson announced that he had powers to change me into anything I wanted to be. I said I was fine as I am, thank-you very much. He said, “No, Grammie. You have to pick something and I will change you into it.” I said, “OK, a butterfly.” “Why?” he asked. “Because I could fly and spend so much time among beautiful flowers.” “OK, Grammie” he said. “Then I am making you into a monarch butterfly. You will be beautiful and birds won’t eat you.” That’s mostly true. That monarch butterflies have an ingredient in their bodies that is mostly poisonous to most birds. How thoughtful and creative that my grandson would think of that in our conversation. I hope he can always be so thoughtful and creative. I am sure it will serve him well. A discussion of some of the research findings to support creativity’s boost to well-being can be found at this site: http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/25/health/enayati-innovation-passion-stress

 

Applause applause for Disney and ban on junk food ads for cartoons

June 11, 2012

Disney has decided to ban ads for junk food when it comes to kids’ cartoons. That’s some good news when it comes to media exposure and kids’ learning product names. The bad news is that it won’t take effect until 2015. Wow. Why? Contracts?


Read more in the AP story here: http://www.registerguard.com/web/business/28184338-41/disney-ads-junk-ban-sugar.html.csp

The power of poetry in talking about health

February 15, 2012

I discovered a new site and a beautiful poem there. I will share it at the end of this post. But to begin, it is worth considering what we know about poetry as ‘talk’ and its effects for our health. Doctors benefit. Reading poetry has been found to increase empathy for patients. [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2929.2005.02178.x/full]
[http://www.stfm.org/fmhub/Fullpdf/July01/lame.pdf]

Patients can benefit from reading poetry aloud, contributing to healthier and less stressed breathing and heart rates. [http://ajpheart.physiology.org/content/287/2/H579.short]

Perhaps a poem a day… keeps the doctor at bay…

{ naked } from Maria Korporal on Vimeo.

 

Why?

February 10, 2012

Why do we talk in “either” “or” terms when we know better?

It is not “either” we drill for Marcellus shale “or” we will remain energy dependent.  

It is not “either” we quit drilling for Marcellus shale “or” we will destroy the environment.

As long as we keep talking and thinking that way, here is the story…

 

 

 

When communication benefits health

January 28, 2012

 There is hardly anything more fun than getting together with family and friends. And celebrating life is the best reason to get together that I can think of.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We had a baby shower that proved the point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Everyone got a preview of the nursery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                     The food was fantastic. Chocolate-dipped strawberries. Crab cakes. Mini   quiche and more…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was fabulous! And will keep me smiling to remember it in the days and weeks to come…

 

Would you like to have a copy of the book, ‘Moral problems in medicine’, edited by Samuel Gorovitz and colleagues?

October 7, 2011

It happens. My library at home and in the office spills over onto the floor in my office. The floors at home. In the library. And the bedroom. There is the chair beside the TV. Oh and the table in the library. There is the tactic of placing a few books here and a few books there. All in the name of ‘decorating’ with books. But it reaches a critical mass and is just…too much. So I have selected some to part with. Before just dumping them into the local book drive box, I thought I would give you a chance to say that you would like to have this book. I will tell you a bit about it and how to have it [book jacket in tact and all] for your own.

First, let me just say that Penn State has approved a dual title degree program in bioethics, with Communication Arts & Sciences being one of the departments within which a student might elect to pursue this degree http://live.psu.edu/story/54735. I have always been fascinated and engrossed in debates about health, health care, and ethics. Not the least of these is the continuous discussion about whether access to health care paid for by insurance ’causes’ individuals to use more care–the moral hazard linked to insurance. It is because of my interest in this area that I’ve read hundreds [yes, ’tis true] of books dealing with the topic on all kinds of levels in all kinds of nations. And I own a lot of books on this subject–broadly speaking. Which brings me to this book.  

Regarding the book itself, it is listed in this bibliography:  http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/SS640/bibliography.html regarding “General works in medical and bioethics.”

The book was reviewed positively in the Journal of the American Medical Association shortly after publication. http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/236/25/2906.1.short  Notably, the reviewer comments on the fact that the book does not limit the topic to any one field but provides varied views from contributors in a number of fields. At any rate, if the topic interests you and you want this book, tell me so in the comment section. I will select someone to receive the book and go out of the blog to get your mailing information via email. Then the book will soon be traveling your way…

How are church dinners changing eating habits in the Mississipi Delta?

August 30, 2011

Access is everything. Access to health care. Access to education. Access to employment. Access to role models who walk the walk and talk the talk.

One of the followers on this blog brought the New York Times article, ‘Preaching a healthy diet in the deep-fried delta’, to my attention. You can find the article at  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/us/22delta.html?pagewanted=all.

Why in the face of so many messages about diabetes, obesity, and heart disease would anyone continue to eat fried foods? Because it tastes good. And because we socialize and have fellowship with family and friends over meals that feature these foods. But Reverend Michael Minor and other church leaders have been working to change all that.

‘No fry zones’ and fruit platters, fresh water and no soda… these are the new ‘normal’.

 

How do we communicate about responsibility and health?

July 18, 2011

I have been basking in the summer heat… catching up on some research and and reflection, and most importantly–my family. July is the month that my granddaughter, Grace, visits… and we have been reading the American Girl book that introduces Kaya…an American Indian. And that is what made me think of today’s topic.

Chapter 2 of the book introducing Kaya, the title is  ‘Switchings’, Kaya and all of the youngsters old enough to share in the responsibility for Kaya’s mistake [leaving her twin brothers when she was responsible for watching them] gets a ‘switching’ — that is, she must lay face down on the ground along with all of her peers and pull her clothing up on her legs to her knees. Then the ‘Whipwoman’–elected by the tribe to administer switchings to the youth–takes twigs from a tree and gives the children lashes. The message is that  what one of them does  affects all of them… So, the bad behavior of one gets all of them into trouble….

Grace is 7 years old… I asked her what she thought about everyone getting a switching because Kaya had done something wrong. She said that it was fair because Kaya went off with two boys to ride horses when she should’ve been watching her brothers. So, she said, those boys should be punished, too.  What about the others, I asked What about some of the kids who were punished who were nowhere near the other three kids? It seems fair…what we do does affect everyone, and everyone should support us in doing the right thing…

Interesting. I considered that I might use this book in my health communication classes this year to capture the many meanings of responsibility and health. Personal responsibility, as illustrated here, has more meaning than just what and how our behaviors affect our own health… It affects others, including the nation’s health care costs. But it is impossible to be responsible when all around us are people and ways temptinig us to forget about what we know we should do. And when there seems to be no support on the other end–no one and no ways to achieve the right things… ‘Switchings’…it is a good metaphor for what we are doing to ourselves as a nation when it comes to health and health care…

Direct-to-consumer advertising..

January 7, 2010

Only the U.S. and New Zealand have policies that allow advertisers to sell prescription drugs, durable medical goods, and even medical tests by appealing to consumers to be informed and ask their doctors to ‘prescribe’ specific drugs and therapies. On the one hand, these ads provide an opportunity for consumers to learn about different treatments. They also may reduce the sense that particular symptoms or conditions are unusual or embarrassing. For example, depression has long been a stigmatized condition. DTCA have undoubtedly played a large part in making us feel like the prevalence of depression is much greater than we might otherwise think. That might make us more willing to tell our doctor about our symptoms and seek help with them. On the other hand, DTCA have been faulted for providing a lot of content about the benefits of particular prescription drugs or treatments and providing very little information about possible harms.

If we find ourselves learning something new about health from DTCA, we should look for the content to give us a balanced review. Companies want to make profits. They won’t make profit by harming us, but they may make profit by persuading us that our life will be better if only we take a pill…

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