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| HEALTH & FITNESS |
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Sudden increase in activity may cause calf pain Know thy child
Health Notes
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Sudden increase in activity may cause calf pain Calf pain is a common occurrence. If not managed early, it can become chronic. The causes of such pain could be a traumatic, vascular or neurogenic experience. Most of the calf injuries occur due to trauma caused by the following factors: *
A sudden outburst of acceleration leading to tearing sensation in the calf muscles. *
Individuals who are very keen to become fit in a short span of time also sustain such an injury due to a sudden increase in activity. *
When the workload is increased beyond capacity, it also leads to painful injury in this region. Calf is the most common site for muscle cramps and muscle soreness. Muscle soreness occurs after the first training session following a lay-off or during excessive training sessions. Some individuals complain of episodes of cramping-type calf pain with exercises. It is generally presumed that the pain is either caused by exercising ischemic leg muscles or has a neurogenic origin. Vascular cause can be confirmed from a Doppler ultrasound test and angiography. In such cases, pain may be felt in the thigh or the calf with an exercise. At rest the peripheral pulses may be difficult to palpate or are absent. In resistant cases, surgical treatment in the form of angiographic balloon catheter dilatation or stenting or bypass surgery is undertaken. The neural component of calf pain can be due to lower back problem (spinal stenosis, prolapsed disc.) The superficial compartment syndrome also leads to calf pain. This pain is aggravated with activity and relieved on rest. An elevated compartment pressure confirms diagnosis during exercise. Treatment comprises of massage therapy. When not successful, surgical intervention is advised. Deep vein thrombosis should be suspected when individuals suffer constant calf pain, tenderness, increased temperature and inflammation. Doppler scan can confirm the diagnosis. Prolonged sitting as in cases of air travel, long car journeys and recent surgeries can also lead to deep vein thrombosis. Treatment includes rest, ice compression and elevation during first 48 hours. Bilateral heel lift is indicated to provide rest to the calf muscle. Aerobic activity is shifted from running to stationary cycling. Ultrasound with massage helps in removing the inflammation. Start the following exercises when the pain has decreased by about 25 per cent: Sitting calf stretch - While sitting, loop a stretchband around the ball of the foot. Pull the band towards the body while keeping the knee straight. Hold this position for a count of 15, and then relax. Repeat eight times. *
Standing calf stretch — facing a wall, place both hands against the wall. Keep the injured leg back. Slowly, lean onto the wall while bending the front leg until a stretch is felt in the calf muscle of the injured leg. Hold for a count of 15. Repeat it three times. Heel walks — walk on the heels for 20 metres with the toes pointing straight ahead. Rotate your legs outward at the hips so that the toes are pointing outward and again walk for 20 metres. Rotate your legs inwards at the hips so that your toes are pointing in, and walk on your heels for 20 metres. Standing calf raise — Position your toes and balls of the feet on the staircase with the heels unsupported. Lower the heels until your calves are stressed. Repeat 10 times. After some time one can hold dumb-bell in each hand. Prevention is the most effective form of management for exercise-induced calf pain. The writer is a former doctor/physiotherapist, Indian cricket team.
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Know thy child Dr Samuel Hahnemann of West Germany, an allopath who founded homoeopathy, after a strenuous research work for 12 years, discovered the miasmatic theory of chronic diseases. He found out that the micro-organisms such as sarcoptes scabiei causing skin eruption have been suppressed by external applications since the time of Adam and Eve. In order to escape from the harmful effects of ointments, this itch might drive into our organisms, dwell there and emit poisons into the blood stream and affect the mind dynamically causing symptoms such as irritability,
jealousless, fear of death, etc. He calls this “psora, the first disease that effected the human race.
The second is sycosis which developed due to the suppression of Gonorrhoea caused by another micro-organism called Gonococci through impure coition. This disease also got suppressed because of the faulty treatment and affected the mind causing abnormal behaviour and diseases such as warts, tumour, etc. Dacoits, extremists, murderers, et al, belong to this category. This third is the syphilis, caused by another microorganism, treponema pallidum, through impure coition. This disease also, due to an unscientific method of treatment, got suppressed and caused numerous abnormal behaviour and diseases such as cancer. Union leaders indulging in strikes, causing the closing down of factories, etc, belong to this category. So, according to Hanemann’s discovery, the three miasms —
psora, sycosis and syphilis — are the causes of all diseases, and psora (as the result of suppressed skin eruption) is the mother of all diseases. Children can be recognised from their foetal life, when the foetus is in the womb of the mother. A psoric foetus will grow normally and move gently. The mother will put her hand on the abdomen and feel the pleasure of motherhood. No medicine is needed for a normally growing foetus. The sycotic foetus will kick the mother vigorously and cause pain. The mother will put her hand on the abdomen in order to avoid pain. A few doses of Thuja will calm down and bring normal movements of the child. After birth he would be more obedient and healthy. The syphilitic foetus, on the contrary, will have very sluggish movements and the mother quite often put her and on the abdomen to see if the child is alive or not. A few does of Secalecor will encourage the normal growth and reduce the anxiety of of the mother. The knowledge of miasms not only helps us in treating the foetal disorders but also in preventing the birth of mentally and physically handicapped children by treating the would-be couple, or before the girl becomes pregnant, with the (miasmatic) totality of symptoms. The writer is Director, Institute of Homoeopathic Medical Education and Research, Fatehgarh Sahib.
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Kazakh scientists develop bird flu vaccine
Astana: Kazakh scientists have created the first national bird flu vaccine to be used on birds. “Immune and biological characteristics of the vaccine developed in Kazakhstan is on par with those of foreign analogues,” claimed Byrganym
Aitimova, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Education and Science. Currently, an experimental series of the vaccine, called Kazakhstan-15, is ready and was registered with the veterinary department of the country’s Ministry of Agriculture, Aitimova added. Seidigappar
Mamadaliev, the Director of the Research Institute of Biological Safety, noted the Kazakh vaccine is different from foreign analogues in that “it is based on H5N1 pathogen and is the most epidemiologically relevant.” —
ANI Experimental vaccine to eliminate malaria Washington: Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have developed an experimental vaccine, which they believe could theoretically eliminate malaria from entire geographic regions by eradicating the malaria parasite from an area’s mosquitoes. The vaccine, so far tested only in mice, would prompt the immune system of a person who receives it to eliminate the parasite from the digestive tract of a malaria-carrying mosquito, after the mosquito has fed upon the blood of the vaccinated individual. The vaccine would not prevent or limit malarial disease in the person who received it, say researchers. —
ANI An emulsion that can obviate bypass surgeries Washington: An emulsion of olive oil, egg yolk and glycerine might be just the recipe to keep heart patients away from the operating room and cardiac bypass surgery, according to a new study. Michael Savage, Director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, explains that the mixture is not swallowed, rather it is used in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory to bathe surgical stents before they are inserted into problem heart arteries. Coated or drug-eluting stents, which prevented restenosis (the re-closing of the artery a short time after stent insertion) were the next advance in this field. The cardiologists tested the emulsion in a group of 15 men and five women between the ages of 60 and 80. These patients had abnormal arteries that were oddly shaped or winding or had particularly tight blockages. —
ANI
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