Grab Bag Personal PT:

NOTE: For your future reference, a link to the site below appears in the

Health/Medical column →

on the right side of every page.

If I sustain some major injury, one that sidelines me from normal activities, I will probably visit  a doctor….. probably. But I’m not running to the doctor for nagging aches and pains that result from some activity, injury or chronic pattern (driving/sitting/sleeping/computer-using positions). Maybe I should, but I don’t.

And my guess is that there are a lot of people out there who have aches and pains they just put up with. So if we’re not going to go to a doctor about it, what are we going to do? Most of us probably just learn to live with/around it.

But lack of, or restriction of, the range of movement usually isn’t the best answer once the acute phase of the problem has passed. In fact, limiting movement in the area in question will not usually help any pain or injury to resolve. I have one simple axiom to share, which I hope you will remember daily:

Movement is medicine.

So…. if you need to improve some part of your body that ails you, and you don’t feel it’s worth obtaining a doctor’s input, please know that it IS worth addressing, not ignoring.

Here is a great, free resource I found online that provides injury and anatomy information, rehab exercises and stretches for most of the areas that sustain injuries and hold on to pain and stiffness:

The site provides a pretty comprehensive database of most aspects relating to improving your movement and functionality. It explains common injuries:

suggests treatment techniques (self-administered, alternative and medical):

provides Rehab exercises with photos and/or videos and descriptions:

as well as suggested stretches:

… and if what’s here doesn’t clear things up, visit a specialist. Don’t settle for compromised movement… it can and usually will become permanent if you don’t correct it.

BUT……

Whether you pay to go to a doctor/physical therapist and get a recommended series of exercises and stretches, or you use this or another resource to find what works for free, the ONLY way to success is to

DO YOUR PROGRAM

This is where most people fail to recover.. they simply stop doing the exercises and stretches.

If you make your movement a priority, it will improve, guaranteed.

Grab Bag Heart Stopper:

Before this heart-focusing month of  February goes in the books, let’s set our sites on that ubiquitous health issue still present in our culture, heart disease. More specifically, the awareness that women must become familiar with in order to identify their possible warning signs.

Here is an excerpt from a good article on the subject from DrWeil.com:

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in men and women. Unfortunately, women are at a disadvantage when it comes to matters of the heart as they often don’t realize that heart disease is as much of a threat to them as it is to men. They are less likely than men to believe they’re having a heart attack and therefore are more likely to put off seeking treatment. In addition, doctors tend to treat women less aggressively with surgery, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors or even aspirin after a heart attack.
Common symptoms of a heart attack shared by both genders include:

• Chest discomfort
• Arm discomfort
• Shortness of breath
• Sweating and clammy skin
• Nausea
• Stomach pain and feelings of indigestion

Additionally, women are more likely than men to experience:

• unusual fatigue
• sleep disturbances 
• anxiety
• throat, jaw and neck discomfort

Grab Bag Let There Be Light:

Thanks to GrabBag reader Ginni D., who sent me this link. I was blown away by the resourceful simplicity and beauty of this solution to bring light without electricity. I can’t help but imagine this concept could be expanded in major ways.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

 

Grab Bag Gauntlet Throw-Down:

Last week’s Brain Game was a fun little version of the classic Concentration. With the completion of each level, the game shows how you performed against the average “Par”.

SO …. who out there wants a challenge? Beat me at my own game, brothers and sisters… I encourage you to better my result… it will inspire me to become stronger 🙂

Grab Bag Refridge-arranger:

Visiting my new granddaughter a few weeks ago, I put myself to use by reorganizing the family’s refrigerator. I had a blast. It just satisfied me no end to see order in the shelves of what often becomes chaotic mishmash.

Then lo and behold, I find an article WRITTEN about such folly in Men’s Health this month (I read it for the articles.. but the shirtless pictures of David Beckham, et al, don’t hurt, now, do they?). Here’s what Michael Ferraro, chef at Delicatessen in NYC suggests in the magazine:

• Buy a fridge thermometer from a hardware store or restaurant supply and stick it on the fridge’s ceiling. Keep the thermometer at 40°F or below. One here for $8 from Amazon is the Taylor 5*

• The back corners of the top shelf are the coldest spots.Store dairy items there to keep them from temperature fluctuations.

• Place sticky notes on containers of  leftovers to identify contents and date. Most food is safe for 3-4 days after cooking.

• Middle shelves are your high-traffic, most-used items. Arrange in rows from back to front, tallest to smallest.

• Bottom shelves are dedicated to things like raw meats and poultry, and any items that could drip. Keep meats tightly wrapped and placed as far back as possible to stay cold as long as they can.

• Bins and drawers are perfect for produce, which is especially susceptible to cross-contamination from raw or cooked poultry, so keep it protected. Also good for cheese, which can breathe in the bins without drying out so much.

Aside from those, here are some tips I have learned through experience:

• Ziploc bags in various sizes for leftovers save the most space. If I had a lot of them, I’d probably get one or more clear plastic bins that fit one of my shelves to keep them all in.

• Speaking of containers, some plastic bins are helpful for the freezer, grouping frozen fare by category to make things easier to find

• Differentiate hard-bolied eggs from raw by putting a small mark on top of the cooked eggs.

• Freeze bread with a piece of wax paper between slices so you can grab one piece and pop it in the toaster… otherwise they all get stuck together.

Other tips I found from the Container Store site include:

“Placing a folded fresh towel in the clean produce drawer makes cleaning the fridge next time so much easier. And if anything gets spilled, bruised or goes bad, you save even more time. This is a good way to use those towels that are stained or worn.”

“I purchased very large zip lock bags and sorted all the meat, poultry and fish in separate bags. Now when I need chicken I pull out the chicken bag and find exactly the package I need. You could also do the same for frozen vegetables. So much easier and my freezer looks great.”

“Often the plastic or glass containers aren’t the perfect size for freezer leftover storage. When I have extra room at the top I put a piece of plastic wrap on top of the leftovers. It helps prevent freezer burn. Don’t worry about cutting to fit the top, just fold or crumple the edges in fill in the space.”

“When I have cooking time, I frequently cook double or more and freeze in portions for when I don’t have that time. My very small freezer limits this, so I maximize by what I choose to store: soup, 3-4 cups, in ziplocks, frozen flat & stacked; similar method for rice, pasta, and beans; and all our meat bought in quantity gets divided into meal-sized portion containers, frozen & stacked so I can get out only what I need quickly.”

“Clean out both your fridge and your freezer once a month. Make it part of your household cleaning routine. Doing so will make it easier to know what you have and what you still need, in addition to keeping the areas clean.”

And not to be outdone, RealSimple.com has a fridge makeover article (read it here): which has great suggestions for space-saving containers that keep things organized and visible, going from this:

to this:

Grab Bag Brain Game:

SELECTIVE OBJECT MEMORY

View the series of colored figures, then when they disappear, choose from a page of similar figures which ones were shown to you.

Grab Bag Funny Stuff:

For the Academy Awards tonight… this makes the show SO much more enjoyable…go to this Thrillist.com link and print hilarious Academy Awards Bingo cards (randomly generated, you can refresh the page between prints to get as many different cards as you need).

Winning squares include “Tebow joke“, “Jack Black mischievously grins while doing king fu move” and “Nick Nolte appears unmoved by exceptionally loud applause“.