Posts Tagged ‘education’

Healing Pain For Children

December 23, 2009 - 9:08 am No Comments

Some mothers may give their healthy children many pills every day. Some pills are not even necessary such as sleeping pills. Imagine a young girl with good health is receiving sleeping pills from her mother every single day. One day she has a party with her friends and she needs to take those pills in the middle of the party. Do you think the girl will fall asleep right after taking the pills? The answer is obvious. The girl will only fall asleep when her friends are asleep too.

Parents’ education is the first important part for medication consumption of kids.

There are babies and young children died of poisoning every year. This could be prevented if they were taught the right attitude towards medication. So parents should show their children that it is wrong to take pills whenever they feel uncomfortable. Many of the fatal cases of poisoning can be avoided if they have this thinking.

I have seen all four of my children in pain and I know it hurts. However, it is sometimes more important for us to show them love and acknowledgment at those times. Say a boy falls hard on the ground somewhere far away from his house, he cries extremely hard. As he slowly makes his way back to his parents, he gradually stops crying. He then cries again upon seeing his parents. As a parent, you only have to take him in your arms and tell him you know he is feeling painful. All he needs is a sign of love. The pain has actually already long been gone!

Kids, like adults, their minds can only focus on one thought consciously at one time, either on an object or on a thought. You must have seen a baby staring at his hand or at a fan, paying full attention to that. Thus whenever your kids feel painful, you can direct his or her to think of something other than the things that make him or her feels painful. This can help healing their pain.

What do mothers usually do when we are in pain? They kiss us and you must agree that it does make it less painful.

There are of course some children who are under chronic pain, others may have to face treatments like chemotherapy or bone marrow transplant which are highly painful. What do we do if such things happen?

“Patch Adams” is an inspiring movie on these issues. Patch Adams was brave enough to challenge the existing system as a physician. He maintained that positive spirit while he was talking to patients with terminal diseases. I can’t imagine myself doing that, but I do admire him a great deal. Some people complained too much about the movie, disliking the fact that the old physician came together with a beautiful girl. These people should pay closer attention because they were missing the point of the whole story. I would suggest them to watch it a second time. It’s worth it.

Learn more about Christmas Ecards. Stop by Carol Cheung’s site where you can find out all about Christmas Ecards and what it can do for you.

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Facts About The Achilles Tendon

July 11, 2009 - 2:19 am No Comments

The Achilles Tendon: Injuries & Treatment

The largest tendon is the Achilles tendon. It connects the calcaneous (heel bone) to the muscles in the back of the calf. This tendon must be able to tolerate a lot of force during exercises, sports and pivoting activities.

There are two types of injury to which the Achilles tendon is particularly susceptible:

#1 Achilles tendonitis is inflammation caused by overuse.

#2 The Achilles tendon can be torn during strenuous activity.

Achilles Tendonitis Information

When you suddenly increase the intensity of your training or change to a new kind of training without completely conditioning your body to it, you may be subject to Achilles tendonitis. You may be particularly prone to it if you add sudden vigorous activity like uphill running to your training schedule. Additionally, if you take a long break from training and then start right back up at your peak level, you may cause Achilles tendonitis.

This may manifest as mild pain following exercise that gradually becomes worse. You may experience mild stiffness, swelling, and tenderness upon arising. These symptoms may improve as you move around during the day. You may feel very severe pain in the tendon several hours after you have completed your exercise routines.

In the case of a torn Achilles tendon surgical repair may be indicated. Toughened, fibrous tissue and tears can be removed with surgery. Following surgery, rehabilitation will speed recovery and help avert future ankle weakness.

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More Information About A Torn Achilles Tendon

During strenuous activity, it is quite possible to tear the Achilles tendon. This is especially likely to happen while participating in sports. When the Achilles tendon tears, you may actually hear an audible snapping or cracking sound. You may have a partial or complete tear. This injury usually occurs just above the heel bone.

If this happens, you may find that you are not able to bend your foot into a downward position or even to walk normally. This type of injury is very painful and causes a lot of swelling around the heel.

A complete rupture is usually treated with surgery. After surgery, your doctor will have you wear a walking boot or a cast to stabilize your ankle. You will need to do this for about three months.

Torn ligaments can be treated non-surgically by using a below-knee cast; however, this is not as effective as surgical treatment. It takes longer, and the healing is not as complete. You are more likely to have problems in the future when you allow the tendon to heal naturally.

With surgery, there is a much better chance of recovering fully. This is why athletes prefer to have the surgery. It allows them to return to their former level of activity with confidence after an Achilles tendon injury.

Click here to learn more about orthopedics and knee surgeons.

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Surgery of the Knee: Cartilage Restoration – Osteochondral Allograft, OATS, Microfracture, and ACI

July 7, 2009 - 8:15 am No Comments

Treatments of biologic origin are best when treating knee disease or injury. This type of treatment can restore the knee to a near-normal state. Reconstruction of the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), meniscal repair, and anatomic knee fracture repair are three kinds of biological surgical repairs that have good success with knee injuries.

Orthopedists as well as patients often find managing a full-thickness, symptomatic chondral lesion of the knee to be problematic.

Injury leading to articular cartilage cell death can best be treated by restoring the surface cells of the joint. The surface cells are the articular cartilage. This is the shiny white surface of which all joints in the body are made.

Four separate treatment options are possible: Osteochondral Allograft, Microfracture, Osteoarticular transfer system (OATS), and Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI).

Click here for more on Arthroscopy of the Knee.

If the patient is young, a small lesion can be repaired with Microfracture surgery. When using this method, a pick-like tool will be used to enter the marrow of the knee multiple times under the chondral defect. These entries will stimulate the bone marrow. This causes repair tissue to be created. The repair tissue fills the chondral defect with fibrous cartilage tissue.

In this scenario, the patient will be on crutches for a month to eight weeks. The patient must not participate in sports for a six months to year. Additionally, the patient must realize that it may take up to eighteen months to be completely pain free.

It is possible to restore the knee surface to a near-normal condition with a procedure called autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI). This procedure is used if the knee defect is large.

Articular cartilage cells can be harvested from the healthy part of the injured knee for utilization in ACI. There are very specific criteria that must be met for this surgery to be used.

The patient must have a full-thickness, weight-bearing, symptomatic chondral injury to the femoral articular surface. Additionally, the patient must be physiologically young. Furthermore, the patient must agree to an 18 month rehabilitation process.

There is no guarantee of successful surgery to the tibia and patella. In fact, insurance companies will often refuse to pay for this type of surgery. It is important to note that ACI is not a workable procedure for the treatment of osteoarthritis. In this condition, two reciprocal joint surfaces experience damage. X-rays will reveal narrowing of the joint space. Additionally, bone spurs will be in evidence. 3T MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) may be used to assess for ACI. By using this procedure, the proper treatment can be determined.

Click here for more on Dr. Stefan Tarlow, a leading Phoenix knee surgeon.

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