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From “My encounters with the Barbarians blade”, by Lady Elina Greypepper

 

Of all my encounters with the Barbarian in that hellish forest while we travelled back towards the slavers, the seventh night of our enforced companionship is one of the most memorable. We always made camp just after dusk, Skarr setting a fire and cooking one of the small creatures she had killed during the day that I had been tasked to prepare. She forbade me from using what she called my “lotions and potions” on it, claiming the”bare taste of the meat was adequate”. And so this seventh night, we sat eating what I think was a cross between a small bird and a rat, a rough tasteless meat. Evidently Skarr thought so too because she spat out the first mouthful and ate nothing more that evening, muttering something about Norther animals being far more tasty and succulent. I did not respond, nor did she expect me to.

 

Then began the barbarian’s normal ritual of sharpening her blades. Not the Doomsayer, her greatsword. That mighty weapon had magical properties of some kind, and no matter how hard Skarr whacked it into some poor unfortunate creature’s skull, it never even tarnished. The edge was as sharp and fine as any blade I had ever seen. No, Skarr had several other small blades which, not being magical, required sharpening, and after supper, she pulled out a tiny wrapped oilstone from her pack and began to sharpen the weapons upon it, running her finger down each keen blade until blood was drawn.

 

As I watched her thumb bleed, I saw a vicious looking scar on the side of her stomach. This was unusual for her, as Skarr healed quickly, something I put down to her Norther blood. But this was still red and angry, as if someone or something had tried to rip her stomach open. Feeling strangely foolhardy, especially while the barbarian held her small blades, I crawled over to her from my place by the fire and reached out to the wound. She regarded me with her sharp eyes, and watched as my finger moved to the wound.

 

“I can make a poultice that will stop the pain”, I said.

“No!” she cried, flinching backwards, “the pain is important! It is part of me.”

“I don’t understand,” I asked, pulling back.

“Poshol ti nahoo, oslayob!” she muttered in her own tongue.

 

Unfortunately for Skarr, I had begun to understand a few words of Norther myself and I knew what most of Skarr’s foul mouthed little rants meant.

“Donkeys indeed!” I said, looking at her with an amused expression, “You need your mouth scrubbing out with nightwort”.

She said nothing, but returned my look of amusement. Then her look changed, the pained expression came across her face, an expression I have come to see once or twice since. I was wary, as, following the pained expression there usually came an outburst of violence. I watched as she moved position and came next to me by the fire. Speaking softly now, her voice wavering slightly, she spoke in her broken, heavy accented Imperial.

 

“They were my brothers. Tribe brothers, blood brothers, call them what you will. We have our own words; they do not…translate well. We have been through the blood rituals together, when every village pits it’s warriors against each other, the strongest of them rule, the weak are hacked to pieces. There is much drunkenness and death in these times. We had survived and united our tribes, bled together, laughed, cried, lain together”. She looked at me as she said this, the pained look in her eyes deepening. This was the longest speech I had ever heard Skarr speak.

 

“There were those who sought to break up the five of us, but they did not. We came to rule the seven tribes between us. We struck down the warlords and I was elected to rule in their stead. The terror of the north. When the attack on the Imperial city of filth was repelled, I fought to get in the same boat with my brothers, so we could laugh and chant at the Imperial weaklings who thought they had defeated us. We got into our boat and sang bawdy songs and drank till we puked, then drank some more”.

Skarr laughed as she remembered the good times, staring into the flames of the flickering camp fire. Then she continued.

 

“Gunnerson surprised me as we sailed to our homeland. He thrust a sack over my head and pulled the string tight. I was drunk and I puked inside the bag. Then he hit me in the face and the inside of the bag was full of my puke and now blood. Then someone else hit me in the back of the legs and I went down hard on the deck. Taggarhey and Gunnerson discussed whether or not they would hamstring me, they decided against it. My blood brothers. My beloved warlords. I was undone. Turned against. As they came to thrust me from the boat, Bunds slipped his knife deep into my side and twisted. I knew it was him, even though I could not see. He was beautiful with his blade. Efficient as only a Norther warrior can be. Blood to attract the slitherfish, he said. Bunds, the one I had lain with, the one who….never mind.”

 

“But yet you survived?” I said, looking directly into her eyes. Sure enough, the pain had gone now from her face, and I could feel the anger and fury radiate from her.

 

“I was dying in the water, surrounded by slitherfish preparing to strike their poison spines into me and drag me to the depths. I was ready to meet my ancestors and walk the halls of Varnarok where my father, mother and precious daughter waited. I was a warrior. Varnarok would embrace me into the afterlife. I had died in battle. That was when I found the Doomsayer in the water. I killed the slitherfish with it and washed ashore here. I crawled up onto the rocks and washed the blood and puke from my face. After I had dressed my gut wound, I sat upon the rocks and began to plan the way in which I would kill my treacherous kinsmen, my beloved blood brothers. I vowed vengeance upon them, terrible, personal vengeance. Vengeance written in blood. I will decapitate them, so that they will be forever denied the Halls of Varnarok.

 

I gasped at this. The Halls of Varnarok were, to the Northers, what the Nine Divines were to us Imperials. Decapitation was the worst possible death for any Norther. It meant that he would be forever denied the Halls of Varnarok. Never to walk with his ancestors. The reasons why they were denied this I did not know. Much of the old Norther faith is still a mystery to us, even now. Skarr looked at me and smiled. She did not have a pleasant smile; it was a smile of blood and death, of tears and vengeance. I did not know what to say to her, but she was relaxed enough to let me apply a poultice, before we settled down to sleep, or in my case, another sleepless night listening to the catcalls of the forest creatures and noises, or to Skarr’s incessant snoring as she slept soundly. I almost looked forward to meeting the slavers again. I just hoped Skarr would not slaughter them all before they conducted us to Samaria.

As I watched the fire burn, I saw the faint flicker of a smile cross Skarr’s lips. She looked at me,

“Fear not Dushka”, she laughed softly, “we will run into the slavers soon. Then we shall have fun and see if your plan works.”

Fun? I doubted it. Maybe for her it would be fun, but for poor little apothecary apprentice me, I sincerely doubted that I would come through it either free or alive. That night I slept even less well than I had done previously. And if I’d have known then what I know now about our forthcoming adventures, I would not have slept at all.

 

wednesday, july 25, 2012

 

today i went to the dr bc my hamstring is killing me. she thought it was coming from something pinched in my back. not sure that's right.

Haden Hill Leisure Centre has launched its latest Les Mills class - BODYBALANCE...

  

The new class takes place every Sunday from 11am to 12pm.

BODYBALANCE is a Yoga, T'ai Chi and Pilates-inspired workout leaving you long, strong, calm and centred. Feel balanced - a perfect way to spend your Sunday!

 

Controlled breathing, concentration and a carefully structured series of stretches, moves and posese create an holistic workout that brings the body into a state of harmony and balance.

 

Like all the Les Mills programmes, a new BODYBALANCE class is produced every three months with new music and choreography.

 

BODYBALANCE Benefits

 

Improve joint flexibility and range of motion

Increase your core strength

Reduce your stress levels

Provide a lasting sense of well-being and calmFocus the mind and raise consciousness levels through

controlled breathing

A Typical Class

 

Each class follows a set sequence of exercise disciplines and is made up of 45 minutes of simple,

yet challenging, exercises followed by 10 minutes of relaxation and meditation. Your instructor takes you through the moves and shows you options to suit your fitness level. If you haven’t done any yoga or group fitness before, please take it easy. Use your first few classes to learn the poses and moves and how to get the most out of your workout. Don’t hesitate to have a word with your instructor if you have any questions.

 

T'ai Chi warm up

Easy, flowing moves from the ancient Chinese exercise discipline let you leave your day behind, centre yourself and warm the body.

 

Sun salutations

A traditional yoga sequence warms your body more deeply, stretching and strengthening key muscle groups.

 

Yoga standing strength

Poses such as Warrior Pose and Triangle Pose strengthen and tone the body.

 

Balance

Concentration and focus allow your mind and body to meet the challenge of balancing poses.

 

Hip openers

Focuses on stretching for greater flexibility and freedom of movement in the hips and lower back.

 

Abdominals and back

Uses exercises from yoga and Pilates to strengthen core abdominal and back muscles.

 

Twists and forward bends

Poses and stretches create suppleness and flexibility in the hamstrings and back.

 

Relaxation and meditation

The final 10 minutes deliver the mental and physiological benefits of meditation and enhance the effects of the exercise you have just completed.

 

For more information please contact Haden Hill Leisure Centre on 0845 659 4815 option 0.

 

gastrocs and hammies and quads, oh my!

Student Maddie Blazer performs a handstand on the wall in the yoga studio on Tuesday. This exercise strengthens hip flexors, hamstrings, inner thigh muscles and spinal muscles.

Planning to lose weight fast and naturally? Avert towards the science of yoga and indulge in a dedicated practice of these six amazing yoga poses discussed and elaborated in the accompanying Info-graphic:

 

Paripurna Navasana (Boat Pose)

 

Ideal for: Toning and strengthening of the Abdomen, Vertebral Column, and Hips.

 

How to Perform: Lie on the back and gently lift the torso and the legs towards the ceiling until the entire body rests on the hips. Keep your arms and legs straight and parallel to each other during the performance.

 

Hold Time: 30 Seconds

 

Repetitions: 15-20

 

Chaturanga Dandasana (Four-Limbed Staff Pose)

 

Ideal for: Heating and conditioning the core and the upper body.

How to Perform: Lie flat on your stomach. With the toes firmly planted on the floor, lift the upper body and rest it on the arms folded at the elbows. Make sure to keep the hips, back, neck, in a straight inclined line to the ankle.

 

Hold Time: 30-90 Seconds

 

Repetitions: 5

 

Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II Pose)

 

Ideal for: Burning fat around the thighs, shoulders, and quadriceps

How to Perform: This lunge-style yoga asana requires you to spread your legs wide apart. Rotate the right foot outwards. Lift your arms parallel to the floor in a straight line. Look towards the right and gently bend your body at the right knee until the shin is parallel to the floor. Repeat with the other leg.

 

Hold Time: 30 Seconds

 

Repetitions: 12-15

 

Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Dog)

 

Ideal for: Toning and strengthening the entire body especially back, thighs, and hamstrings.

 

How to Perform: From a table-top position, gently raise the hips towards the ceiling in an Inverted-V shape. Hold the body weight in the torso as much as possible without placing too much stress on the palms.

 

Hold Time: 30 Seconds

 

Repetitions: 10-12

 

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose)

 

Ideal for: Weight loss by stimulating the thyroid and heating up the gluteus muscles

 

How to Perform: Lie flat on the back. Fold your legs at the knee at a perpendicular position. Place both the arms under the back and gently lift the body upwards at the hips while the chin feebly touches the neck.

 

Hold Time: 30 Seconds

 

Repetitions: 12-15

 

Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand Pose)

 

Ideal for: Boosting the metabolism by stimulating the thyroid gland and for strengthening and toning the upper body, legs, and abdomen.

How to Perform: Lie on your back. Place both the arms under your back for supporting the lower body while lifting it towards the ceiling. Continue to lift the body until the lower body is in a straight line with the torso.

 

Hold Time: 30-60 Seconds

 

Repetitions: 5

    

via

 

Repair for a vaginal rectocele is pursued in order to correct the herniation or bulging of the bottom wall of the vagina. Symptoms of rectocele can become quite uncomfortable and painful over time. If left untreated, rectocele can lead to symptoms such as: the feeling of increased pressure or protrusion in the vagina or rectum, inability to defecate or feeling of incomplete emptying of the bowels, pelvic pain, and/or painful sex. Both non-surgical and surgical procedures for rectocele repair are only considered if symptoms become severe and inhibit daily life. Surgery for rectocele is typically performed transvagianally, yet, in some severe cases, may be completed both vaginally and abdominally.

 

Why Do I Need Treatment for Rectocele?

 

Treatment for rectocele can greatly aid in managing and reducing symptoms of rectocele or other forms of pelvic organ prolapse. In some cases, rectocele and POP may be undetectable until the condition has progressed in severity. A small rectocele is often unrecognized until a doctor notices it during a physical examination. In many cases, rectocele occurs alongside other pelvic organ related conditions.

 

Treatment is designed to help reduce symptoms and heal any herniations, tears, or prolapses. Treatments include both surgical and non-surgical options. Although surgery for rectocele is often rare, in severe cases surgery may be your best option. Severe rectocele symptoms include:

 

Bowels feeling full post defecation

 

A noticeable bulge or protrusion in the vagina

 

Inability to perform a bowel movement

 

Rectal incontinence

 

Is Rectocele Repair Major Surgery?

 

Rectocele repair surgery is a major, out-patient surgery. A doctor will typically only recommend surgery for rectocele if at home exercise programs and / or physical therapy has not resolved the problem. The surgical procedure for rectocele removal is called posterior colporrhaphy which removes the herniated bowel from the wall of the vagina. Rectocele surgery is designed to:

 

Ease pain and discomfort

 

Minimally invasive transvaginal procedure

 

Outpatient (usually released without needing overnight stay)

 

Quick recovery time (2-3 weeks or less on average)

 

What is a Rectocele Repair Procedure?

 

The procedure for rectocele repair surgery is typically a straightforward process. The surgery is often performed through the vagina (transvagianlly.. The procedure is typically performed by a surgeon making a small incision along the posterior vaginal wall. Excess tissue along the herniation is removed and stitches are sewn around the tear sight. If the doctor notices any other forms of pelvic organ prolapse, he may resolve those issues as well during the procedure. Once complete, the vaginal incisions are stitched up and packed with gauze. Please speak with your doctor for more information on this process.

 

Post-Op Rectocele Repair

 

Post operation there are a few things that may occur. The most common symptoms post rectocele surgery is slight pelvic and rectal discomfort and pressure, as well as slight vaginal bleeding, and minimal pain during bowel movements. These symptoms typically resolve in a couple weeks once the tissues have healed. Please speak with your doctor for more information on post-op expectations.

 

Rectocele surgery is usually successful and helps resolve the symptoms in nearly all patients.

 

Rectocele Surgery Recovery Time

 

Recovery for rectocele is usually quick and has minimal risks during recovery. The incisions made at the repair sight will typically heal in approximately 2 to 3 weeks. Please speak with your doctor for more information on recovery expectations.

 

Post-operation, you should be able to move about, carefully, within a few hours after your surgery. You may be prescribed some pain medication to help relieve any discomfort during your recovery. You should abstain from any physical exercise and sex until after 6 to 8 weeks post-op. Please speak with your doctor for more information on post-op instructions. There will typically be a follow-up appointment required within the final 4 – 6 weeks after your surgery.

 

What are the Risks of Rectocele Surgery?

 

Although uncommon, there are a few risks with rectocele surgery. These can include:

 

Failure to repair a rectocele or recurrence

 

Potential blood clots due to surgery

 

Infection

 

Post-op bleeding

 

Injury to other vital organs or rectum

 

Anesthesia issues (allergic reaction)

 

Sex related issues due to improper healing on the vaginal tissues

 

Can you Fix a Rectocele Without Surgery?

 

Often, yes. As with many forms of pelvic floor prolapse, rectocele is treatable without the need of surgery. Various forms of exercise, pelvic floor therapy, dietary restrictions or additions, staying hydrated, and practicing proper core and pelvic floor engagement techniques are highly beneficial for treating rectocele. Surgical procedures should always be a last resort when dealing with core or pelvic floor related issues. Some of the best advice I give to my clients regarding their health includes practicing proper breathing mechanics and good posture as well as learning how to have a reflexive core and pelvic floor to support their daily activities.

 

Good Practices for Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP)

 

A few of the techniques and practices I cover in my program Restore Your Core include:

 

Proper Breathing Mechanics:

 

I teach my clients in RYC how to breathe 3-dimensionally. This means that as you inhale, you use your ribcage to accommodate air as it enters your body. Think of it like this: breathing in air creates a shape change in your body. You can change shape by pushing your belly out and increasing pressure, or you can change shape by allowing your ribcage to expand to make space for your lungs. Doing the latter allows your body to properly engage and respond to the demands of daily life.

 

Your pelvic floor function is closely related to your core function. So, when I am working with my clients to resolve any pelvic floor issues (i.e. rectocele), I am essentially addressing their core issues as well. Belly breathing does not only affect your pelvic floor, but also significantly impacts core function.

 

Posture: Pelvic Alignment and Reducing Abdominal Pressure:

 

Our posture and how effectively we use our bodies in our daily activities significantly impacts our overall core and pelvic floor health. Not only that, but our posture can also greatly affect our joints, muscles, and bone health. When it comes to working with my clients on their rectocele, I always ensure part of their treatment involves restoring and healing their pelvic floor function. An unintentional mistake many women make when standing upright is shifting their weight forward in their hips. Think of the hips leaning forward. This shift can actually increase tension in the muscles of the pelvic floor leading to varying types of POP. In the process of resolving pelvic alignment, I might work on hamstrings, upper back mobility, glute function, pelvic mobility and more. Resolving pelvic floor issues requires us to view the pelvic floor as a part of an entire system and therefore requires a whole-body approach. The process of learning how to align your body to better support you while you stand takes time, but is well worth the process. And your pelvic floor will thank you for it! Better alignment = less pelvic floor tension and pressure.

 

Now that you know that rectocele can be treated without the need of surgery, it may be time to learn more about how to use exercise to heal your pelvic floor. My 13 Week Program: Restore Your Core offers a step by step approach to developing a strong, healthy, responsive core & pelvic floor system, for the health of your whole body.

 

restoreyourcore.com/learn/prolapse/rectocele-repair/

From “My encounters with the Barbarians blade”, by Lady Elina Greypepper

 

Of all my encounters with the Barbarian in that hellish forest while we travelled back towards the slavers, the seventh night of our enforced companionship is one of the most memorable. We always made camp just after dusk, Skarr setting a fire and cooking one of the small creatures she had killed during the day that I had been tasked to prepare. She forbade me from using what she called my “lotions and potions” on it, claiming the”bare taste of the meat was adequate”. And so this seventh night, we sat eating what I think was a cross between a small bird and a rat, a rough tasteless meat. Evidently Skarr thought so too because she spat out the first mouthful and ate nothing more that evening, muttering something about Norther animals being far more tasty and succulent. I did not respond, nor did she expect me to.

 

Then began the barbarian’s normal ritual of sharpening her blades. Not the Doomsayer, her greatsword. That mighty weapon had magical properties of some kind, and no matter how hard Skarr whacked it into some poor unfortunate creature’s skull, it never even tarnished. The edge was as sharp and fine as any blade I had ever seen. No, Skarr had several other small blades which, not being magical, required sharpening, and after supper, she pulled out a tiny wrapped oilstone from her pack and began to sharpen the weapons upon it, running her finger down each keen blade until blood was drawn.

 

As I watched her thumb bleed, I saw a vicious looking scar on the side of her stomach. This was unusual for her, as Skarr healed quickly, something I put down to her Norther blood. But this was still red and angry, as if someone or something had tried to rip her stomach open. Feeling strangely foolhardy, especially while the barbarian held her small blades, I crawled over to her from my place by the fire and reached out to the wound. She regarded me with her sharp eyes, and watched as my finger moved to the wound.

 

“I can make a poultice that will stop the pain”, I said.

“No!” she cried, flinching backwards, “the pain is important! It is part of me.”

“I don’t understand,” I asked, pulling back.

“Poshol ti nahoo, oslayob!” she muttered in her own tongue.

 

Unfortunately for Skarr, I had begun to understand a few words of Norther myself and I knew what most of Skarr’s foul mouthed little rants meant.

“Donkeys indeed!” I said, looking at her with an amused expression, “You need your mouth scrubbing out with nightwort”.

She said nothing, but returned my look of amusement. Then her look changed, the pained expression came across her face, an expression I have come to see once or twice since. I was wary, as, following the pained expression there usually came an outburst of violence. I watched as she moved position and came next to me by the fire. Speaking softly now, her voice wavering slightly, she spoke in her broken, heavy accented Imperial.

 

“They were my brothers. Tribe brothers, blood brothers, call them what you will. We have our own words; they do not…translate well. We have been through the blood rituals together, when every village pits it’s warriors against each other, the strongest of them rule, the weak are hacked to pieces. There is much drunkenness and death in these times. We had survived and united our tribes, bled together, laughed, cried, lain together”. She looked at me as she said this, the pained look in her eyes deepening. This was the longest speech I had ever heard Skarr speak.

 

“There were those who sought to break up the five of us, but they did not. We came to rule the seven tribes between us. We struck down the warlords and I was elected to rule in their stead. The terror of the north. When the attack on the Imperial city of filth was repelled, I fought to get in the same boat with my brothers, so we could laugh and chant at the Imperial weaklings who thought they had defeated us. We got into our boat and sang bawdy songs and drank till we puked, then drank some more”.

Skarr laughed as she remembered the good times, staring into the flames of the flickering camp fire. Then she continued.

 

“Gunnerson surprised me as we sailed to our homeland. He thrust a sack over my head and pulled the string tight. I was drunk and I puked inside the bag. Then he hit me in the face and the inside of the bag was full of my puke and now blood. Then someone else hit me in the back of the legs and I went down hard on the deck. Taggarhey and Gunnerson discussed whether or not they would hamstring me, they decided against it. My blood brothers. My beloved warlords. I was undone. Turned against. As they came to thrust me from the boat, Bunds slipped his knife deep into my side and twisted. I knew it was him, even though I could not see. He was beautiful with his blade. Efficient as only a Norther warrior can be. Blood to attract the slitherfish, he said. Bunds, the one I had lain with, the one who….never mind.”

 

“But yet you survived?” I said, looking directly into her eyes. Sure enough, the pain had gone now from her face, and I could feel the anger and fury radiate from her.

 

“I was dying in the water, surrounded by slitherfish preparing to strike their poison spines into me and drag me to the depths. I was ready to meet my ancestors and walk the halls of Varnarok where my father, mother and precious daughter waited. I was a warrior. Varnarok would embrace me into the afterlife. I had died in battle. That was when I found the Doomsayer in the water. I killed the slitherfish with it and washed ashore here. I crawled up onto the rocks and washed the blood and puke from my face. After I had dressed my gut wound, I sat upon the rocks and began to plan the way in which I would kill my treacherous kinsmen, my beloved blood brothers. I vowed vengeance upon them, terrible, personal vengeance. Vengeance written in blood. I will decapitate them, so that they will be forever denied the Halls of Varnarok.

 

I gasped at this. The Halls of Varnarok were, to the Northers, what the Nine Divines were to us Imperials. Decapitation was the worst possible death for any Norther. It meant that he would be forever denied the Halls of Varnarok. Never to walk with his ancestors. The reasons why they were denied this I did not know. Much of the old Norther faith is still a mystery to us, even now. Skarr looked at me and smiled. She did not have a pleasant smile; it was a smile of blood and death, of tears and vengeance. I did not know what to say to her, but she was relaxed enough to let me apply a poultice, before we settled down to sleep, or in my case, another sleepless night listening to the catcalls of the forest creatures and noises, or to Skarr’s incessant snoring as she slept soundly. I almost looked forward to meeting the slavers again. I just hoped Skarr would not slaughter them all before they conducted us to Samaria.

As I watched the fire burn, I saw the faint flicker of a smile cross Skarr’s lips. She looked at me,

“Fear not Dushka”, she laughed softly, “we will run into the slavers soon. Then we shall have fun and see if your plan works.”

Fun? I doubted it. Maybe for her it would be fun, but for poor little apothecary apprentice me, I sincerely doubted that I would come through it either free or alive. That night I slept even less well than I had done previously. And if I’d have known then what I know now about our forthcoming adventures, I would not have slept at all.

 

Name: Master Sgt. Christopher Aguilera

 

Age: 37

 

Hometown: El Paso, Texas

 

Current residence: Las Vegas, Nev.

 

Years in service: 18

 

Injury/disability: In a 2010 helicopter crash in Afghanistan, he sustained a broken ankle, back, collarbone, hip, jaw, sternum, punctured lung and left upper hamstring, burns over 20 percent of his body, and traumatic brain injury.

 

Sport/sports: Shooting, track and field, wheelchair basketball and sitting volleyball

 

What do the Warrior Games mean to you?

To me, it’s the camaraderie between fellow wounded warriors and holding each other up for one common goal.

 

What motivated you to try out for the Air Force Warrior Games team?

It’s being able to return to my new 100 percent and my friends and family.

 

(U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III)

acgmedicalsupply.com/

With fall sports up and running, injuries are bound to happen. Whether your child runs cross country or is in football or volleyball, at some point during their athletic career, some type of pain will surface. Today, ACG Medical has listed the five most common sports injuries and what you can do to prevent and heal them!

 

Patellofemoral Syndrome

 

Since the majority of sports injuries involve the lower body, patellofemoral syndrome is a common knee injury that occurs. When swelling occurs from a fall, the two muscles holding the kneecap in place can be disrupted and cause an imbalance. Ice, rest, bracing and physical therapy can help solve this injury. ACG Medical Supply offers many different types of knee braces, so you’re able to find the best fit for you!

 

Shoulder Injury

 

Your shoulder is the weakest joint of the body and gets a great deal of force from playing sports. So it makes plenty of sense when we see dislocations, misalignment, muscle strains and ligament sprains. Shoulder braces and Biofreeze will help you heal. Biofreeze is an amazing solution for so many injuries to help lessen the pain thanks to being the #1 clinically recommended topical analgesic!

 

Hamstring Strain

 

When the hamstring is tight it is more susceptible to a tear or strain. Rest, ice, gentle stretching and physical therapy will help heal this muscle. It does take time to heal and some injuries may be severe enough to where no pressure can be put on the leg. Crutches will help relieve the pressure but give the mobility needed to the athlete.

 

Concussion

 

It’s very common to get hit in the head playing sports, which then can lead to a concussion. Concussion symptoms can include sensitivity to light, headache, nausea, confusion, dizziness and slurred speech. Be sure to have your child checked out by an athletic trainer and doctor, as a concussion is a serious injury. Rest, reduced activities and the avoidance of visual and sensory stimuli are required to heal.

 

acgmedicalsupply.com/

Tennis Elbow

 

Due to the repetitive action of a sport, the tendons of the forearm can become inflamed and make any wrist or hand motions extremely painful. Early treatment requires ice to lessen the inflammation. Ice packs of any size will work to help along with anti-inflammatory medication and an elbow brace. After some physical therapy, the athlete should be able to return!

With fall sports underway, there are bound to be injuries to follow. If you or a loved one has faced an injury and is in need of a recovery device, contact ACG Medical Supply today!

acgmedicalsupply.com/

September 2017

 

Hasselblad 500c/m

Hasselblad C Zeiss T* Planar 80mm f/2.8

Portra 160

Fitness might not come easy to you. It isn't something many people find simple. It becomes hard to know where to begin a fitness regimen when you have no clue where to start. Information and guidance are required. Following is some advice that offers both, so you can begin improving your fitness right away.

 

Beginning a workout routine with a personal training session is a great idea because the trainer can tell you what areas you need to work on and what specific exercises can help you strengthen those areas. Your personal trainer can help you meet your goals and determine a fitness routine that is right for your needs. The first visit to the gym can be overwhelming, so you'll have your foot in the door after you've had a pro show you what to do. The trainer will help you start off on the right foot.

 

Many people work toward their fitness goals by going to the gym to lift weights. These six exercises are all you need for a full muscle workout: pull-ups, push-ups, squats, leg raises, bridges, and handstand push-ups.

 

When it is time to start some kind of a fitness regimen, try to think outside of the box. Joining a gym is not the only way to get exercise there are different ways that you can be active. You need to do something that you enjoy so that you can maintain motivation and keep doing it.

 

Keep your knees strong by exercising your thighs. Torn ligaments behind the kneecap are a common injury obtained from sports and other physical activities. Work out both your hamstrings and your quads to ensure that your knees are protected. Some examples of these exercises are leg curls and leg extensions.

 

You will never get yourself a six pack of abs by doing crunches all the time. You aren't going to lose tummy fat with abdominal exercise, but you can make your muscles stronger. If you desire to have six-pack abs, it's necessary to reduce your overall body fat by following an excellent diet and workout routine.

 

Use what you learned here if want to get in shape. You might require some time to modify to a fitter routine, before long you will notice good results and feel healthier. By obtaining into shape, you are ensuring your vitality and spirituality for a long period. www.ultimate-six-abs-system.com

A stretch to moderate/banish any lower leg cramp nightime pyrotechnic tendencies (the objective being to maximise stretching but with least waking as just shuffling away to the land of nod). After extensive hamstring and other upper leg stretching (for me, reaching heel up onto bathroom sink whilst brushing teeth is ideal). You've made sure there's plenty of water in you, as dehydration can make cramping a lot worse. Now go to pre-investigated stairs (ideally we are looking for one that is carpeted securely (to ensure least chance of slipping, but also comfortable to the foot). On one side, preferably both, a convenient banister or some strong upright is within arm's reach. Now the trick (of course ymmv) is to stretch to the max (and thereby reduce or eliminate stiffness and cramps). Position yourself so just at the rear of the ball of one foot is just on the lip of the stair (you'll need to experiment to get the feel of just where this is), now we stand on that foot only, on the step (we're trying, in effect to hook that foot just on the edge but without requiring any effort). Reach hands out to supports to stabilise. Now let the heel sink down over the edge, all the time making sure that the ball is safely, but only just on the step. We're looking for the position that allows maximum weight and leverage on the ankle pivot through the achilles tendon etc. Now we just wait, it takes quite a while (minutes) for things to let go and stretch out. Meanwhile you are doing everything you can to relax all muscles from knee down which initially can be a bit counter one's instincts as there's a sense of insecurity while hovering on the edge. To minimise the risk of any accident, in a relaxed way, dangle the other foot down below this step, so it is positioned just above the next step down and ready (but relaxed!) to catch you in case your stretching foot were to slip off. Now you can do this with trainers on, on such as the front door step or road kerb side, using the shoe sole grips to give you a really strong locked on foot (I do this too, in daytime), but the point here is pre-sleep stretching. I find wearing slippers helps the toes to relax and gives a better grip (and isn't so cold), but bare feet works too). So there you are relaxing and stretching that calf muscle plenty … but not enough yet. Now you lean back on your arms so that even more force is applied to that resisting muscle mass. This gives a bit more grip to your foot on the step too, as you are pushing into the step a bit, but take care as if you do slip or flunk, there's room for more upset. But we're not done, when you are secure and comfortable with all this (which might take quite a few nights experimentation), you raise the stakes again, by moving the foot of dangling leg till the knuckles of that foot cup underneath the heel of the stretching foot - and now you steadily pull up on that foot by raising the knee forward so you stretch out the shin muscles a bit (this applies ever more stretching force where needed to the main calf stretch). Done? … oh no, not so easy, now flip to the other leg/foot, probably positioned on the other side of the staircase, and repeat. And that makes round one. Repeat both again until you can feel your foot being allowed to flex up freely to its full extent. All the time, you are being sure to relax that mighty brain of yours, be gone all busy-ness, cares, nags, todos, bête noires, ambitions, worry-mongering, thinki-thinkis, ego-dents, doubts, regrets, plans, and admit it - you can list hundreds more … as you are on that delicious slide down into your bed and away into the world of uninterrupted sound healing sleep. PS1. and now don't undo all the leg good by roasting your legs too hot during the night, so keep the warmest covers for the upper body. PS2. No doing any of this with a wonky head, drunk, etc., we don't want you doing a head plant over the banister. PS3. Once you get this technique and style down pat, you'll find that legs less or no play games at night, and less in the day too. You sleep better. And it cost zero $, you didn't have to schlep to any quack, trust any "expert", there are no drugs, surgery or appliances involved, no waiting, you don't rely on anyone else, don't need any permissions, can do it as much as you like (the more the merrier), … and in some form or other such stretching is as old as humanity. Try it.

From “My encounters with the Barbarians blade”, by Lady Elina Greypepper

 

Of all my encounters with the Barbarian in that hellish forest while we travelled back towards the slavers, the seventh night of our enforced companionship is one of the most memorable. We always made camp just after dusk, Skarr setting a fire and cooking one of the small creatures she had killed during the day that I had been tasked to prepare. She forbade me from using what she called my “lotions and potions” on it, claiming the”bare taste of the meat was adequate”. And so this seventh night, we sat eating what I think was a cross between a small bird and a rat, a rough tasteless meat. Evidently Skarr thought so too because she spat out the first mouthful and ate nothing more that evening, muttering something about Norther animals being far more tasty and succulent. I did not respond, nor did she expect me to.

 

Then began the barbarian’s normal ritual of sharpening her blades. Not the Doomsayer, her greatsword. That mighty weapon had magical properties of some kind, and no matter how hard Skarr whacked it into some poor unfortunate creature’s skull, it never even tarnished. The edge was as sharp and fine as any blade I had ever seen. No, Skarr had several other small blades which, not being magical, required sharpening, and after supper, she pulled out a tiny wrapped oilstone from her pack and began to sharpen the weapons upon it, running her finger down each keen blade until blood was drawn.

 

As I watched her thumb bleed, I saw a vicious looking scar on the side of her stomach. This was unusual for her, as Skarr healed quickly, something I put down to her Norther blood. But this was still red and angry, as if someone or something had tried to rip her stomach open. Feeling strangely foolhardy, especially while the barbarian held her small blades, I crawled over to her from my place by the fire and reached out to the wound. She regarded me with her sharp eyes, and watched as my finger moved to the wound.

 

“I can make a poultice that will stop the pain”, I said.

“No!” she cried, flinching backwards, “the pain is important! It is part of me.”

“I don’t understand,” I asked, pulling back.

“Poshol ti nahoo, oslayob!” she muttered in her own tongue.

 

Unfortunately for Skarr, I had begun to understand a few words of Norther myself and I knew what most of Skarr’s foul mouthed little rants meant.

“Donkeys indeed!” I said, looking at her with an amused expression, “You need your mouth scrubbing out with nightwort”.

She said nothing, but returned my look of amusement. Then her look changed, the pained expression came across her face, an expression I have come to see once or twice since. I was wary, as, following the pained expression there usually came an outburst of violence. I watched as she moved position and came next to me by the fire. Speaking softly now, her voice wavering slightly, she spoke in her broken, heavy accented Imperial.

 

“They were my brothers. Tribe brothers, blood brothers, call them what you will. We have our own words; they do not…translate well. We have been through the blood rituals together, when every village pits it’s warriors against each other, the strongest of them rule, the weak are hacked to pieces. There is much drunkenness and death in these times. We had survived and united our tribes, bled together, laughed, cried, lain together”. She looked at me as she said this, the pained look in her eyes deepening. This was the longest speech I had ever heard Skarr speak.

 

“There were those who sought to break up the five of us, but they did not. We came to rule the seven tribes between us. We struck down the warlords and I was elected to rule in their stead. The terror of the north. When the attack on the Imperial city of filth was repelled, I fought to get in the same boat with my brothers, so we could laugh and chant at the Imperial weaklings who thought they had defeated us. We got into our boat and sang bawdy songs and drank till we puked, then drank some more”.

Skarr laughed as she remembered the good times, staring into the flames of the flickering camp fire. Then she continued.

 

“Gunnerson surprised me as we sailed to our homeland. He thrust a sack over my head and pulled the string tight. I was drunk and I puked inside the bag. Then he hit me in the face and the inside of the bag was full of my puke and now blood. Then someone else hit me in the back of the legs and I went down hard on the deck. Taggarhey and Gunnerson discussed whether or not they would hamstring me, they decided against it. My blood brothers. My beloved warlords. I was undone. Turned against. As they came to thrust me from the boat, Bunds slipped his knife deep into my side and twisted. I knew it was him, even though I could not see. He was beautiful with his blade. Efficient as only a Norther warrior can be. Blood to attract the slitherfish, he said. Bunds, the one I had lain with, the one who….never mind.”

 

“But yet you survived?” I said, looking directly into her eyes. Sure enough, the pain had gone now from her face, and I could feel the anger and fury radiate from her.

 

“I was dying in the water, surrounded by slitherfish preparing to strike their poison spines into me and drag me to the depths. I was ready to meet my ancestors and walk the halls of Varnarok where my father, mother and precious daughter waited. I was a warrior. Varnarok would embrace me into the afterlife. I had died in battle. That was when I found the Doomsayer in the water. I killed the slitherfish with it and washed ashore here. I crawled up onto the rocks and washed the blood and puke from my face. After I had dressed my gut wound, I sat upon the rocks and began to plan the way in which I would kill my treacherous kinsmen, my beloved blood brothers. I vowed vengeance upon them, terrible, personal vengeance. Vengeance written in blood. I will decapitate them, so that they will be forever denied the Halls of Varnarok.

 

I gasped at this. The Halls of Varnarok were, to the Northers, what the Nine Divines were to us Imperials. Decapitation was the worst possible death for any Norther. It meant that he would be forever denied the Halls of Varnarok. Never to walk with his ancestors. The reasons why they were denied this I did not know. Much of the old Norther faith is still a mystery to us, even now. Skarr looked at me and smiled. She did not have a pleasant smile; it was a smile of blood and death, of tears and vengeance. I did not know what to say to her, but she was relaxed enough to let me apply a poultice, before we settled down to sleep, or in my case, another sleepless night listening to the catcalls of the forest creatures and noises, or to Skarr’s incessant snoring as she slept soundly. I almost looked forward to meeting the slavers again. I just hoped Skarr would not slaughter them all before they conducted us to Samaria.

As I watched the fire burn, I saw the faint flicker of a smile cross Skarr’s lips. She looked at me,

“Fear not Dushka”, she laughed softly, “we will run into the slavers soon. Then we shall have fun and see if your plan works.”

Fun? I doubted it. Maybe for her it would be fun, but for poor little apothecary apprentice me, I sincerely doubted that I would come through it either free or alive. That night I slept even less well than I had done previously. And if I’d have known then what I know now about our forthcoming adventures, I would not have slept at all.

 

Running Woman is going to stretch out her hamstrings.

Kinetic Bands allow a gymnast to target leg, arm and core muscles while performing strength and conditioning exercises as well as gymnastics specific movements myosource.com/gymnastics/

Darren Sammy pulls a hamstring before the third one day international cricket match between the New Zealand Black Caps and the West Indies, Queenstown Events Centre, Queenstown, New Zealand. Wednesday, 01 January, 2014. Photo: Michael Thomas/ photosport.co.nz

Elephants very quickly learn where they're safe and where they're not, this bull is one of a small group that hang around the Zakouma HQ area during the dry season. After everything that these elephant's have been through it's remarkable that any of them are willing to trust humans at all. However they are such intelligent animals that not only do they know where there safe but they also know who their friends are and these bulls that come to the Park Director Rian Labuschagne's house have learned to take water from a garden hosepipe.

 

For roughly 6 months of the year between June and November Zakouma National Park is almost entirely inundated with floodwaters at this time elephants would often disperse into the surrounding area of what is now the Salamat Faunal Reserve. During this time Arab horsemen from the Darfur region of neighbouring Sudan would come to hunt the elephants as they had done for perhaps several hundred years. Traditionally a group of up to 20 horsemen armed with lances would charge a herd aiming to separate out one of the elephants. A single horseman would then ride in front of this elephant to draw its attention and get it to pursue him allowing the other men to ride in and spear it from behind with their lances. They would aim for the elephant’s hamstrings in its hind legs which if severed would bring the animal down and ensure it could not get up again. Huge numbers of elephants were killed this way and in response the surviving herds in the region have learned that at the first sign of horsemen their best defence is bunch up into tight groups to ensure that no individual can be separated out.

 

Today this is no defence the horsemen are Janjaweed militiamen and members of the Sudanese armed forces and they come not with the lances used by their ancestors but with AK47s, belt-fed machine guns and rocket propelled grenades. This habit of bunching up into a single large herd has meant that the poachers can easily kill 50-60 elephants in a single attack by simply machine gunning the terrified animals as they try to escape. In 2005 an aerial count found 3,885 elephants in Zakouma and the surrounding area in under a decade the population was reduced to just 430 and had stopped breeding due to the constant stress. Since African Parks took over Zakouma the poaching has been almost entirely stopped and the elephants are breeding again the population now stands at around 470.

Standing pose that strengthens your back, leg, shoulder, and arm muscles; stretches the hamstrings and thighs; expands your chest, lungs and shoulders; improves your memory and concentration; improves core awareness, posture, balance, and coordination; builds core strength in your torso, abdomen, spine and pelvic floor; quiets your mind, calms your nervous system and reduces anxiety; stimulates your abdominal organs, and digestion.

 

By Emmanuel Palmer

 

Weight lifting routines for women , not everybody is willing to do the hard work to get there. If you want a great physique you will need a bodybuilding workout, complete with weight lifting programs that pushes you to go beyond your perceived endurance. So the question really is; how bad do you want it? If you think you can take the challenge, this article will help you achieve your goal.

Let's start with the chest-what lady can resist a broad, muscular torso on a guy? Make the most out of your exercise with sufficient warm up and stretching. This stimulates the blood flow to the muscles, cushioning it for the hard training up ahead.

Start with two sets of fifteen reps done on the bench press. Increase to three sets of heavier reps with dumbbell flyes. Emphasize your upper chest muscles by altering the degree to 25-30 degree. You can also opt to train your arms after your chest; again starting low and building up to the higher loads. Lift the weight load that will tire your muscles by the 8th rep of the set.

Crunches are still the most reliable exercise to sculpt and trim the stomach muscles. When performing this exercise, put your arms across your chest and not under your head. This significantly lessens strain you might put on your neck inadvertently. Supplement the crunches with leg raises, done either lying down with your hands under your behind; or sitting on a bench with your torso angled slightly and your feet not touching the ground. For obliques, hold a couple of dumbbells on each hand and bend from side to side slowly.

Many gym goers who aspire to be weight lifting programs are not as enthusiastic about working out their backs because they seldom see it anyway. You need to develop a strong back, this muscle group is important as it aids in the other exercises wherein you carry a lot of weight. As you begin, start with pull ups, dead lifts and chin ups. Later on as you progress incorporate more exercises like the lat pull downs, barbell shrugs (upper back); seated rows (middle back); and hyperextensions (lower back).

Shoulders are one of the most difficult body parts to target. Make sure you exercise them before you start with the triceps so it is more effective. Workouts for this muscle group include the seated shoulder press for beginners, moving up with the military press, machine presses and the lateral raises. Warm up before you go full on with 50% of the weights you normally carry.

Leg muscle workouts are physically exhausting. The upside is you see results without much problem. The squats are the basic exercise for the legs. This particular weight lifting routines hits almost all areas of your legs effectively. Incorporate lunges, leg curls, calf raises and several hamstring exercises. You want big strong thighs to carry the weight of your big strong body.

Weight lifting routines for women are the stepping stones we need to get on everyday to reach our goals. They demand immovable determination and an appetite for pain derived from physical training. You get a rock-hard body; but more than that, a winner's attitude that will bring you places even beyond the four corners of the gym.

 

About the Author:

 

Emmanuel Palmer enjoys the physical rewards that weight lifting programs give. Get great articles on Bodybuilding Workout today!

 

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Back injuries result from damage, wear, or trauma to the bones, muscles, or other tissues of the back. Common back injuries include sprains and strains, herniated disks, and fractured vertebrae. The lumbar is often the site of back pain. The area is susceptible because of its flexibility and the amount of body weight it regularly bears. It is estimated that low-back pain may affect as much as 80 to 90 percent of the general population in Canada.

 

Low-back pain is often the result of incorrect lifting methods and posture. Repetitive lifting, bending, and twisting motions of the torso affect both the degree of severity and frequency of low-back pain. In addition, low-back pain may also be the result of bad lifting habits. Sedentary lifestyles most often lead to weak abdominal muscles and hamstrings. This causes the stronger muscles which have remained strong to pull the body away from its optimal anatomical form. The imbalanced muscles cause people to continue to perform these repetitive actions. This results in misplaced force application within the spine, often resulting in hemorrhage of disks within the spinal column.

 

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From “My encounters with the Barbarians blade”, by Lady Elina Greypepper

 

Of all my encounters with the Barbarian in that hellish forest while we travelled back towards the slavers, the seventh night of our enforced companionship is one of the most memorable. We always made camp just after dusk, Skarr setting a fire and cooking one of the small creatures she had killed during the day that I had been tasked to prepare. She forbade me from using what she called my “lotions and potions” on it, claiming the”bare taste of the meat was adequate”. And so this seventh night, we sat eating what I think was a cross between a small bird and a rat, a rough tasteless meat. Evidently Skarr thought so too because she spat out the first mouthful and ate nothing more that evening, muttering something about Norther animals being far more tasty and succulent. I did not respond, nor did she expect me to.

 

Then began the barbarian’s normal ritual of sharpening her blades. Not the Doomsayer, her greatsword. That mighty weapon had magical properties of some kind, and no matter how hard Skarr whacked it into some poor unfortunate creature’s skull, it never even tarnished. The edge was as sharp and fine as any blade I had ever seen. No, Skarr had several other small blades which, not being magical, required sharpening, and after supper, she pulled out a tiny wrapped oilstone from her pack and began to sharpen the weapons upon it, running her finger down each keen blade until blood was drawn.

 

As I watched her thumb bleed, I saw a vicious looking scar on the side of her stomach. This was unusual for her, as Skarr healed quickly, something I put down to her Norther blood. But this was still red and angry, as if someone or something had tried to rip her stomach open. Feeling strangely foolhardy, especially while the barbarian held her small blades, I crawled over to her from my place by the fire and reached out to the wound. She regarded me with her sharp eyes, and watched as my finger moved to the wound.

 

“I can make a poultice that will stop the pain”, I said.

“No!” she cried, flinching backwards, “the pain is important! It is part of me.”

“I don’t understand,” I asked, pulling back.

“Poshol ti nahoo, oslayob!” she muttered in her own tongue.

 

Unfortunately for Skarr, I had begun to understand a few words of Norther myself and I knew what most of Skarr’s foul mouthed little rants meant.

“Donkeys indeed!” I said, looking at her with an amused expression, “You need your mouth scrubbing out with nightwort”.

She said nothing, but returned my look of amusement. Then her look changed, the pained expression came across her face, an expression I have come to see once or twice since. I was wary, as, following the pained expression there usually came an outburst of violence. I watched as she moved position and came next to me by the fire. Speaking softly now, her voice wavering slightly, she spoke in her broken, heavy accented Imperial.

 

“They were my brothers. Tribe brothers, blood brothers, call them what you will. We have our own words; they do not…translate well. We have been through the blood rituals together, when every village pits it’s warriors against each other, the strongest of them rule, the weak are hacked to pieces. There is much drunkenness and death in these times. We had survived and united our tribes, bled together, laughed, cried, lain together”. She looked at me as she said this, the pained look in her eyes deepening. This was the longest speech I had ever heard Skarr speak.

 

“There were those who sought to break up the five of us, but they did not. We came to rule the seven tribes between us. We struck down the warlords and I was elected to rule in their stead. The terror of the north. When the attack on the Imperial city of filth was repelled, I fought to get in the same boat with my brothers, so we could laugh and chant at the Imperial weaklings who thought they had defeated us. We got into our boat and sang bawdy songs and drank till we puked, then drank some more”.

Skarr laughed as she remembered the good times, staring into the flames of the flickering camp fire. Then she continued.

 

“Gunnerson surprised me as we sailed to our homeland. He thrust a sack over my head and pulled the string tight. I was drunk and I puked inside the bag. Then he hit me in the face and the inside of the bag was full of my puke and now blood. Then someone else hit me in the back of the legs and I went down hard on the deck. Taggarhey and Gunnerson discussed whether or not they would hamstring me, they decided against it. My blood brothers. My beloved warlords. I was undone. Turned against. As they came to thrust me from the boat, Bunds slipped his knife deep into my side and twisted. I knew it was him, even though I could not see. He was beautiful with his blade. Efficient as only a Norther warrior can be. Blood to attract the slitherfish, he said. Bunds, the one I had lain with, the one who….never mind.”

 

“But yet you survived?” I said, looking directly into her eyes. Sure enough, the pain had gone now from her face, and I could feel the anger and fury radiate from her.

 

“I was dying in the water, surrounded by slitherfish preparing to strike their poison spines into me and drag me to the depths. I was ready to meet my ancestors and walk the halls of Varnarok where my father, mother and precious daughter waited. I was a warrior. Varnarok would embrace me into the afterlife. I had died in battle. That was when I found the Doomsayer in the water. I killed the slitherfish with it and washed ashore here. I crawled up onto the rocks and washed the blood and puke from my face. After I had dressed my gut wound, I sat upon the rocks and began to plan the way in which I would kill my treacherous kinsmen, my beloved blood brothers. I vowed vengeance upon them, terrible, personal vengeance. Vengeance written in blood. I will decapitate them, so that they will be forever denied the Halls of Varnarok.

 

I gasped at this. The Halls of Varnarok were, to the Northers, what the Nine Divines were to us Imperials. Decapitation was the worst possible death for any Norther. It meant that he would be forever denied the Halls of Varnarok. Never to walk with his ancestors. The reasons why they were denied this I did not know. Much of the old Norther faith is still a mystery to us, even now. Skarr looked at me and smiled. She did not have a pleasant smile; it was a smile of blood and death, of tears and vengeance. I did not know what to say to her, but she was relaxed enough to let me apply a poultice, before we settled down to sleep, or in my case, another sleepless night listening to the catcalls of the forest creatures and noises, or to Skarr’s incessant snoring as she slept soundly. I almost looked forward to meeting the slavers again. I just hoped Skarr would not slaughter them all before they conducted us to Samaria.

As I watched the fire burn, I saw the faint flicker of a smile cross Skarr’s lips. She looked at me,

“Fear not Dushka”, she laughed softly, “we will run into the slavers soon. Then we shall have fun and see if your plan works.”

Fun? I doubted it. Maybe for her it would be fun, but for poor little apothecary apprentice me, I sincerely doubted that I would come through it either free or alive. That night I slept even less well than I had done previously. And if I’d have known then what I know now about our forthcoming adventures, I would not have slept at all.

 

Description from the book: This punishment is reported to have been inflicted upon malefactors, who have endeavored to make their escape. A vessel containing Chunam, a species of mortar, is at hand, to be applied, by way of syptic, to the wounds. It is said, that this punishment has been lately abolished, the legislature considering that the natural inclination for liberty merited not a chastisement of such severity.

 

Title: The punishments of China : illustrated by twenty-two engravings: with explanations in English and French.

 

Call number: 343.2 M399 QUARTO

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1. Sit with legs extended. Reach hands forward with neutral spine. Bend knees if hamstrings are tight.

2. Exhale, hollow abdominals and sequence the spine on to the floor.

3. Inhale and lengthen the head away from the feet.

4. Exhale, hollow and roll back up.

5. Repeat two more sets.

 

Dr. Stephen Courtney -- Board Certified Orthopedic Spine Surgeon

 

You can always tell when the Spring Football season comes in. You can always almost tell when Spring Football season comes in because the kids start coming in. And reason why they’re coming in because they usually do too many squats. Squats or lunges or deadlifts. So the kids know that. Most of the parents maybe not have an idea what they’re doing in weight training but just from that repetitive motion, too much weight, maxing out the weights in the weight room really triggers those facet joints. The cheerleaders have the same problem, they hyperextend their back. It engages those facet joints and they also have back pain as well. A lot of volleyball kids get it a lot too. I treat a lot of volleyball kids and a lot of gymnast. Sometimes they can even break their back, have a little pars fracture where this little bone here didn’t heal to that one. It’s very, very common to gymnasts and also cheerleaders and also volleyball players. But the lineman football players, they’re the one who usually get it the most because they’re maxing on too much weight and really triggers those facet joints.

 

It’s usually the base in the cheerleaders. They’re the ones who usually get it more than the flyers. A few schools around here in Plano, you can just tell where they come from, which school because there’s always a lot of work in the base. So usually the base girls have the most of the problems because that’s where all the load goes. When they’re catching the other kids, it goes right down to the facet joints. So the base and the cheerleaders, they’re more prone to come here than the flyers are.

 

You can’t get better in a day. So it takes time and sometimes, you have to modify your activity, take a few days off, and really try to not hyperextend your back. I always tell and encourage patients to get your quads strong as you can, your hamstrings strong. That will help alleviate some of the pressure that goes to those facet joints, into your lower back.

 

Visit: courtneymd.com/ to book your appointment.

Scout, on being sent in yesterday during the snow...

 

"I didn't really try to bite them. They were just getting too... close. I had to make a stand! I had to tell them they are not wanted in my yard! Why do I have to come in and they get to stay out there?! Its not fair!"

 

For such a loving dog, she will definitely snap if you get to close. Even if you come over every day for a week, she will circle and hamstring you when you're least expecting it.

My neighbor, Carlton, called me one day and told me the dogs had gotten out of their fence [Thanks, middle son who forgot to latch it correctly] While he was readily able to get the other three back in the fence, Scout, as he tells it, "Was a tough customer..."

So when their daughter and her boyfriend came out of the house yesterday, Scout had to be restrained. The easiest way is to just put her back inside. And then you get this: sulking at the window, chin on the back of the sofa, silent cursing [as she calls them] "The English..."

  

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