Ice and heat are commonly used to treat sports-related injuries, such as sprained ankles or shoulder injuries. Sometimes, the best treatment for an acute injury or chronic soreness can be the application of ice or heat to the affected area. But how do you know whether you need to use ice or heat for your injury or chronic pain or soreness?
Are you among the 45 percent of Americans who will make a New Year’s resolution this year? Did you know only about eight percent of people who make a New Year’s resolution will succeed?
Hypothermia is a lowering of the body’s core temperature, and it’s a potentially dangerous condition that can occur when the body is exposed to cold or moisture. Your body’s natural response to cold is shivering, which is a mechanism used to re-warm the body. Eventually, however, that shiver response is not enough to keep your body warm, which can result in hypothermia. When left untreated, hypothermia can be fatal.
Nanalee Jeffus Nichols and her husband Thomas are natives of Deport, Texas, where they own a small herd of cattle and a host of community newspapers. Nanalee has been in the newspaper business for 37 years and won First Place in the Texas Press Association Better Newspaper Award four times. She’s also the medical captain of the Deport Volunteer Fire Department, and an Intermediate EMT. Her ability to work, serve and play was being limited by severe back pain, and she could barely walk at times until back surgery at North Central Surgical Center restored her to full health.
The immune system is the body’s defense system against microorganisms that cause disease and illness. When you consider the amount of germs you are exposed to on a daily basis, it’s easy to see just how busy your immune system is. Occasionally, the immune system gets bogged down—it can’t keep up, and germs successfully invade the system, causing illness.
It’s a moment every runner dreads: You’re midway through a training plan for your next race when you start to feel a dull, aching pain in your knee. The pain is at its worst when you take the stairs or sit at your desk for an extended period of time. Luckily, knee pain is a very common running injury that will usually heal on its own. However, it’s still important for runners educate themselves about runner’s knee should it ever affect them.
When one thinks of sports injuries, they generally think of a hard-hitting running back, a too-tall-for-his-own-good center or a rambunctious hockey defenseman. After all, injuries are just part of life for contact sports players. However, injuries can come with any sport, and that includes golf.
That spot, bump or lump you notice on your arm, leg, face or other part of your body may be more serious than a superficial “age spot” or mole. It could be a sign of melanoma. Any type of new skin growth or discoloration should be checked by a board-certified dermatologist as soon as it is noticed.
It’s a natural instinct to break a fall with an outstretched hand, which is why wrist sprains are one of the most common sports injuries. When you break a fall with your hand and wrist, the weight of your body forces the wrist back toward your forearm, stretching the ligaments that connect the wrist and hand. A wrist sprain can range in severity from a tiny tear to a total break of the ligament.
