Megan O’Laughlin works out despite having just broken her elbow two weeks ago, in the Total Body aerobics class at Cooper Aerobics Center.


By Leslie Barker
 

Megan O’Laughlin works hard to maintain her weight loss and fitness level. She’s diligent about portion control. She runs regularly and takes aerobics and weight-training classes at Cooper Aerobics Center.
So when she fell while running December’s Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon in Las Vegas and broke her elbow, she had a big question for her doctor:
“How soon can I start running again?”
“I used to be morbidly obese,” said the Dallas attorney, who ran the last nine miles of the race without knowing the extent of her injury. “I lost more than half my body weight. When you go through that, one fear is gaining weight back.”
Another was losing the level of fitness she’d worked so hard to attain. The injury was, she said, “like having the rug pulled out from under me. For someone who is addicted to exercise as mental therapy, it’s really hard to be sidelined.”
Luckily, avid exercisers can find ways to ease back into a routine during recovery from injury or illness — if they’re careful about it. Meanwhile, being injured, getting sick or having surgery can send diehard exercisers’ spirits into a sedentary tailspin.
“For people who exercise regularly, exercise becomes part of them,” said Bill Borowski, director for athletic training services at Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation in Texas. “It’s part of their social network, stress relief, everything else.”
O’Laughlin has spent almost every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for the last six years running with groups from Luke’s Locker.
She misses the camaraderie, she said. But she knows if she doesn’t do what she’s supposed to do — including three hours of physical therapy every day — her recovery will be longer.
The line between taking it too easy and rushing recovery is a narrow one, said Dr Damond Blueitt, a sports medicine physician on the medical staff of Texas Health Fort Worth.
“With prolonged bed rest, you lose muscle mass, you lose strength,” he said. “Prolonged bed rest can decrease bone calcium.” It can also increase the risk of blood clots because the blood is static, he said.
But trying to speed your recovery can be dangerous, too.
“Say you had a surgery where you were repairing something,” he said. “You have a lot of blood vessels in that area. The tissue gets altered. Any time you do an exercise where you get your heart rate up, more blood is going to that area. One of the consequences is that it may produce more swelling, more scarring.”
Just as frightening is the potential for infection if you’re sweating and the wound gets dirty, he said.
“If someone has surgery and stitches, don’t get your heart rate up high for four or five days,” he says. “Let the tissue heal some.”
Most important, ask your doctor, and listen to the answer.
“You have to be specific,” he says. “If the doctor says, ‘I want you to rest for two weeks,’ ask what that means. ‘Does that mean I can’t go for a slow walk? Does it mean I can’t go light on the exercise bike or do light resistance training?’”
A stationary bike is often a go-to recommendation for Borowski, who tailors clients’ workouts based on what their doctors advise.
“It’s non-impact in general, so you’re not getting a pounding like when you’re running,” he said. “You’re still using quads and hamstrings. It’s just a little different.”
Pilates instructor Marilyn Levitt will work with injured clients only after they have a doctor’s release. Often, they come to her to learn how to modify their workouts while they heal.
“Engaging in different types of exercise is so important,” said Levitt, owner of Core Pilates Dallas. “It’s tough being told you can’t run for a while. But that time could be used to strengthen other areas of the body.
“You can always do something else,” she said. “People who want to will find something they can do.”
Advised Blueitt: “There’s usually always something you can do to get your blood flowing and your heart rate up so you don’t have such a tough time recovering. You get better results after surgery if you can get that person moving again, but you want to make sure they’re not doing things to affect the area that needs rest.”
He uses as an example Mohs surgery, which is a layer-by-layer removal of a skin cancer often followed by a skin graft.
“I’d ask if you can go for a nice, slow walk,” Blueitt says. “Things we try to avoid are running. What if you slipped and fell? You messed up a skin graft. But walking gets the blood flowing, or light resistance training with dumbbells in the house.”
What he, Levitt and Borowski stress is the neck rule: If your illness is from the neck up, you’re probably OK to work out. “When I really won’t work with a client,” Levitt said, “is when they are sick with a fever or something in the chest.”
“Once you get a chest problem, be careful,” Blueitt said.
For people like O’Laughlin who work out regularly and worry about dropping their fitness level or gaining weight, he has encouraging words. First, if you’re in fairly good shape, “it will take a while to lose a substantial amount” of fitness and will be easier to get it back.
As far as weight, Bluieitt said, yes, you may gain some. Once you start moving again, you’ll drop it.
Besides, he said, “Your body is working in overload to heal. So usually the caloric intake you don’t have to watch as much because you need those extra calories to help the body heal.”
O’Laughlin has been relieved to find that she didn’t gain weight. In fact, her post-surgery experience has had the opposite effect.
“It’s crazy because my first fear was that I’d start gaining weight,” she said. “Without even trying, I’ve lost about 3 pounds. I think even if I’m not getting my heart rate up with a cardio workout, I’m being so active with physical therapy that I’m burning more calories.
“I wouldn’t think sitting on my butt and moving my arm would burn calories, but apparently it does.” — The Dallas Morning News/MCT



Is it safe?
How to know whether it’s OK to resume your workout:
Listen to your body. “It’s telling you something, no matter what it is,” said Bill Borowski of the Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation. If your foot hurts, stop working out for a little while. Otherwise, it could get worse and you could end up having to stay off your feet for much longer.
“I know a lot of people who won’t stop and slow down,” he said. “Then instead of a little tendonitis, they’re dealing with stress fractures and have to sit out for eight weeks.”
Let your neck be your guide. If your illness is from the neck up, like a head cold, and you feel like working out, go ahead. But, cautioned sports medicine physician Dr Damond Blueitt, “once you have a chest problem, be careful.”
Said Borowski: “Once it’s into your lungs, you’re taking an already irritated organ because of inflammation or mucus — something inflamed — and making it work harder by increasing the heart rate.”
Ease back into your routine. It’s going to take some time to get back to where you were before you eased off on your workouts. So be patient. If you get tired walking to the end of the block, back off a little the next day.

Listening to loud music on earphones can damage hearing and more

By Tobias Hanraths
 

Listening to music on the way to work can certainly relieve the boredom of the daily commute but also increases the risk of suffering hearing loss and the likelihood of being involved in an accident because of an inability to hear traffic.
Experts recommend music lovers turn down the volume and in certain circumstances refrain completely from wearing ear- or headphones.
There is a clear decibel limit for listening to music on headphones, above which a person runs the risk of causing permanent hearing damage.
“All noise above 85 dBA causes damage,” says Professor Roland Laszig, head of the department of otolaryngology (ENT) of the University Medical Centre Freiburg, in southwestern Germany.
The unit dBA is one that measures relative loudness as registered by the human ear.
Obviously, the closer your ear is to the noise source, the louder it will be. In-ear headphones are much closer to the eardrum than supra-aural ones, which is why Laszig believes they are much more likely to cause hearing damage.
European Union regulations mean that MP3 players and smartphones bought within the EU never produce noise levels greater than 85 decibels (dB) while those from the United States have a limit of 110 dB, explains Michael Zirkel from High End Society, a European association of electronics manufacturers and distributors.
Zirkel recommends that users should not use US equipment at full volume for longer than 15 minutes under any circumstances.
More worryingly, there is theoretically no limit to the decibel level that can be reached listening to music on a home stereo system with headphones.
“It would be possible for me to blow my ears away if I wanted,” says Zirkel.
However, such carelessness can have serious health consequences. Small hair cells in the inner ear are responsible for regulating a person’s hearing.
Auditory fatigue is defined as a temporary loss of hearing after exposure to sound and appears to be related to excessive vibrations of the inner ear which may cause structural damage.
This auditory fatigue results in a temporary shift of the auditory threshold known as a temporary threshold shift (TTS), which leads to an immediate deterioration in a person’s hearing.
“Everyone has experienced this effect, for example after a rock concert,” explains Laszig, who recommends giving your ears a break after such an exertion because otherwise the damage can become permanent.
“Under no circumstances should you put your headphones back into your ears immediately after leaving a nightclub,” he warns.
If ears are subjected to excessive noise too often, there is the real danger of any temporary loss of hearing becoming permanent in what is called a “permanent threshold shift.” Tinnitus is also a possible consequence.
According to Laszig, it is impossible even for experts to say where the danger of irreversible hearing damage begins.
“For every person it is different,” he says. However, the danger that an ear has been previously damaged and is therefore more susceptible to permanent hearing loss through noise increases with age. The risks can be minimised by purchasing the right type of headphones.
“With certain brands, I probably don’t have to turn to volume up fully and can still understand everything,” says branch expert Zirkel. It also helps if the headphones can filter out external noise sources.
Some brands now use active noise-cancelling functions but, unfortunately, this type of technology requires its own battery power source.
The filtering out of external sounds has the disadvantage of removing important noises such as traffic sounds. The best headphones reduce the level of external noise to between 20 and 25 dB even before a person listens to music, explains Zirkel.
“There is probably no danger doing this while jogging in a forest but I wouldn’t recommend it while riding a bike.” — DPA


Hair care tips for the Gulf

By Mike Ryan
 

HAIR ACCESSORIES: Try not to use uncovered elastic bands. Instead, use ones with a fabric covering. Uncovered elastic can cut into your hair shaft resulting in breakage & can also pull your hair out when removed.
 
NUTRITION: The energy to form hair cells drops four hours after eating a meal. Have a healthy snack, such as fruit, raw vegetables or wholegrain bread/crackers, between meals to boost energy levels to your follicles. Carbohydrates are a good between-meal snack as the energy they produce is quickly and easily absorbed by your body.
 
HYDRATION: Make sure to keep hydrated throughout the day. Not only can dehydration dry out your skin, but it can dry your scalp. Water is best, but decaffeinated beverages, such as herbal teas and fresh juices, are also good options.
 
BLEACHING/HIGHLIGHTING: Bleached/highlighted hair is more prone to problems such as split ends, breakage and dullness. But it can look wonderful when it’s healthy and hydrated. To improve the condition of bleached hair and to keep it looking its best, use a weekly pre-shampoo conditioning treatment. This will help prevent and repair damage, strengthen your hair and add shine.
 
SHAMPOOING: Before shampooing, gently run a wide tooth comb through your hair from tip to root. If you start off with tangles, you’ll end up with more tangles. Hair is most vulnerable when wet, so you certainly don’t want large knots to contend with after washing, as this can cause damage and breakage.
 
BLOW-DRYING: Correct blow-drying doesn’t damage your hair. It’s blow-drying and applying heat to already dried hair that causes damage — so turn the power off when your hair is just dry. If you use straighteners on already dried hair, apply a heat-protective serum, to help minimise damage.
 
STRESS: Stress is sometimes blamed for extra hair fall and also dandruff. This is not a myth. Stress, through a convoluted route, can produce more androgens, the male hormones that can be responsible for hair thinning. Stress can also exacerbate dandruff. You can help lower your stress levels by meditation, yoga, or an afternoon nap. If you are experiencing dandruff, you can use products such as those from the Clear Shampoo range to soothe your scalp and clear up irritation/flaking. It’s extremely important to wash your hair regularly if you have a flaky/itchy scalp to keep the flakes from building up.
 
*** The author is trichologist and brand expert, Clear Arabia.

How do you discuss
a weight problem
with your child?

By Alva Carpenter


Children across the world are becoming overweight and it is of serious concern to medical professionals.
Now in the United Kingdom, nearly a quarter of children starting school are classed as overweight. These children face years of health problems but it is a problem that can be sorted out if parents will recognise the fact that they have an overweight child. A fat child is not healthy, but unhealthy. We have to act now; gradual changes of habits are the key as well as being very sensitive to children’s feelings. Of course parents too need to lead by example.
Children on the whole will know that they are overweight and will feel sensitive about it.
Talk about getting fitter, stronger, and healthier with your child. Do not talk about losing weight or looking more attractive as this can cause problems in the future.
How to help your child control their weight
Children are very sensitive and although some young boys may act tough they are very easily wounded and children’s confidence is very fragile. So you need to deal with the situation in a positive manner and lead by example. Never nag or tease them about their weight or they will just feel just awful. They do know they are overweight and do not need attention drawn to it. If you buy loads of sweets and treats they will eat them. Sugar creates imbalances in energy that can contribute to erratic behaviour, hyperactivity and mood changes.
Teach your child about marketing of unhealthy fast food and factory made food.
{ Show them what happens to a baby tooth when it is left in a glass of cola overnight.
{ Look at labels with them: a fruit drink with only 6% fruit juice and 94% water and sugar is not a healthy fruit drink.
{ If you cannot read the words on the label or do not know what they mean do you think they are good food?
{ Teach children that fast food is only a weekly treat.
{ Do not single out the child make the whole family healthy.
{ Lead by example; let your child see you enjoying fruit and vegetables.
{ It is also important not to push children to eat more food when they feel full.
{ Do not use food as a reward or to comfort. Teach your child that food is what his/her body needs to run on for fuel and to make new parts like bones and muscle,
{ Eat meals together as a family and discuss each other’s day. Get into a habit of sharing problems.
{ Parents who over-feed young children can lead them to weight problems in later life.
{ Young babies should be introduced to pureed vegetables and fruit when the doctor advises they are ready to be weaned.
{ Try making your children a healthy, brightly coloured fruit salad ready for them to eat when they return home from school.
{ Teach your child that a colourful plate of food is a healthy plate of food.
{ Treats are for holidays and special occasions. Have treats to look forward to such as Friday croissants for the family who eat healthy cereals during weekdays.
{ All changes should be made gradually and after full discussion with your child.
{ Stop offering sweetened beverages, except on special days. Help your child to find sources of comfort, pleasure, and fun other than food. Hobbies, sports, and clubs can relieve boredom
{ Limit television viewing. For the average child, watching television to a maximum of 2 hours per day of screen time is recommended.
{ Teach your child to “Just Say No!” to excess food and junk food. Praise him or her when they resist temptation.
{ All eating at home needs to occur at the table, even snacking. No nibbling in front of the television, no box of cookies in the bedroom, no dish of ice cream at the computer.
{ If you buy lots of treats and your child eats them then you are part of the problem.
{ Make time to cook with your children so they can learn how to make real food. Make eating meals a happy family occasional as a family.

Get active — together
It will be no good asking your child, “Why don’t you switch off the video and go and play some tennis?” But you could say, “Let’s go to the park together”. Most overweight children do not need to diet they just need you to help them make gradual changes to their eating habits; and as they grow taller and take exercise they will lose the weight as they grow in height. Taking exercise and making exercise fun is the key to good health. Children should be encouraged to have one hour of exercise or outdoor play per day.
E-mail me for Get Your Kids Active fact sheet [email protected].

Breakfast Raspberry
and Oat Smoothie

Ingredients
1 small pot of plain Greek-style yoghurt
1 tbsp of oatmeal
1 tbsp of raspberries (or your favourite berries)
1 banana
Half a cup of whole milk
Method
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and blend with your blender.
This recipe is thick and creamy and is best enjoyed with a spoon. Little ones love it!