13A
STYLE/The Charlotte Post
Thursday, June 18, 1998
HEALTH
Golf can cause serious back injuries to careless
By Ira Dreyfiiss
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Add to ten
nis elbow and runner’s knee
another sports complaint:
golfer’s spine.
The powerful twisting motion
in some golfers’ swings can,
over time, deform bones in the
lower back, researchers say.
One study terms it the “crunch
factor.”
“It looks like what is going on
is a combination of how the
spine twists and how it bends
to the side,” said researcher
Scott A. Banks of the
Orthopedic Research
Laboratory, Good Samaritan
Medical Center, West Palm
Beach, Fla.
Banks and other researchers
on golf injuries presented their
data recently at a meeting of
the American Academy of
Orthopedic Surgeons in New
Orleans.
Banks’ team studied the
swings of 43 healthy, experi
enced male golfers ages 18 to
84, to see where the stress
huilds. They taped reflective
discs over the golfers’ joints,
then used high-speed cameras
to record how the discs moved
during the swings. The cam
eras’ data were fed into a com
puter, which produced a three-
dimensional analysis.
Older golfers had the lowest
crunch-factor levels, meaning
they had the least torque.
Younger golfers had the highest
levels, the study found. The
greater torque in the young
could reflect the natural flexi
bility of youth, and the older
golfers may have gotten stiffer
with age, said epidemiologist
David A. Morgan, who also
worked on the study.
But it could also be because
older players learned a swing
that had less body movement.
Banks said. “In the early part
of the century, a swing where
the hips and shoulders moved
more together was more com
mon,” he said. “There was less
twisting of the back.”
The change in swing came
because steel shafts replaced
hickory shafts in clubs, said Dr.
Timothy M. Hosea, who has
done separate camera-and-
computer research on low back
pain in golfers.
Steel shafts allowed greater
accuracy, hut they were less
flexible, said Hosea, of the
University of Medicine and
Dentistry of New Jersey-Rohert
Wood Johnson Medical School
in New Brunswick, N.J. To get
more power behind the hit, he
said, golfers began to twist
their bodies.
Japanese medical imaging
experts say they have seen the
apparent results of the repeti
tive stress on the lower back.
They performed X-ray and CAT
scans of 26 right-handed male
elite amateur or professional
golfers, and compared them
with results from 105 matched
nongolfers.
Many members of both
groups had discernible low-
back problems. But the golfers
were more likely to have mal
formations on their right side,
where the torque from the
swing would have the greatest
effect, the Japanese study said.
About 60 percent of golfers did,
compared with about 50 per
cent of nongolfers.
Back problems afflict golfers
and nongolfers, but the right-
Children must be careful when bike riding
By Dr. Andrew E. Price
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
As children shake cabin fever
and take off on their bikes this
spring, parents take caution:
More than 300,000 people seek
emergency-room care for bicycle
injuries each year. Most of them
are between the ages of 4 and 13.
Children who have been riding for
less than a year and don’t know
the basic rules of the road are at
greatest risk for accidents.
Most injuries occur on quiet side
streets less than five blocks from
home. But even parents whose
children are experienced bicycle
riders should be watchful.
Adolescent daredevils, particular
ly boys with a penchant for jump
ing ramps, riding fast down steep
hills or practicing the latest
stunts they’ve seen on television,
fi^uently end up in the hospital
emergency room.
Unsafe riding practices account
for most problems. Head trauma
is the most common injury, and
often the most fatal, followed by
broken legs and arms, jaw frac
tures and abdominal injuries.
Many children get hurt falling off
their bikes while trying to avoid
trees and potholes than actually
get struck by cars. Nevertheless,
falling onto hard pavement at
even a speed of 5 mph can cause
serious brain injury. Parents can
protect their children by insisting
they wear helmets. Studies
repeatedly show that helmets can
prevent as much as 85 percent of
aU head and brain injuries, and
significantly reduce injuries to
the eyes, ears, nose and cheeks.
A growing number of counties
and states require bike riders to
wear helmets as the first line of
defense against serious injuries.
When parents wear helmets,
their children are more inclined
to wear them. But too many older
children are embarrassed to wear
helmets because they think
they’re uncool. Parents should
insist that wearing helmets is an
integral part of biking, just as
wearing them is a necessary and
accepted part of playing hockey or
football. It is a good idea to take
your child to a bicycle shop and
have him or her fitted for a hel
met by a salesperson with experi
ence. Make sure your child’s hel
met has a certification sticker
from either the SneU Memorial
Foundation (SNELL), or the
American National Standards
Institute (ANSI).
Also, hikes for veiy yoimg chil-
First aid supplies required for quick response
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Granted you’ve got a first-aid
manual within easy reach on your
bookcase and a medicine cabinet
leaded with ipecac syrup, antibac
terial ointments, and a handsome-
array of bandages.
But it’s almost a law of natvue,
wrote RacheUe Vander Schaaf in
an article in the July issue of
Redbook, that kids get injured in
decidedly non-textbook scenarios
that can leave even a well-pre
pared mom stymied.
Know the right way to diagnose
and deal with a break.
Despite popular belief, “A limb
with a broken bone can move,”
insists Mark Stegelman, M.D., a
pediatrician with Egleston
Children’s Health Care System in
Atlanta. So abandon the wiggle
test and gently run your hand
across the bone to feel for a sharp
edge. Also, get your kids to be spe
cific about location and type of
pain. “Discomfort that’s spread
over an area suggests a sprain,
while intense, localized pain
along a bone may mean a break,”
he explains. Should all signs point
to a break, splint above and below
the injured area with a roUed-up
newspaper or magazine if a piece
of wood isn’t available, and wrap
with cloth if bandages or tape
aren’t handy. Then get to an
emergency room as soon as possi
ble to have the bone examined
and set properly, if necessary.
If your kid’s going to twist and
sprain an ankle, you can be sure
that it’ll happen in the middle of a
foiu-mile hike, when help is a
long Ump away, rather than just
outside your front door. In this sit
uation, don’t remove your child’s
shoe. Instead, ‘loosen the laces
and stuff it with grass and leaves
to increase pressure directly on
the side of the injury,” says Dr.
Stegelman. “Just don’t cram in so
much foliage that you cut off the
blood flow and the foot gets
numb.” This well-padded show
trick will minimize swelling imtil
your child’s foot can be bandaged
and given that standard “rice”
(rest, ice, compression, elevation)
treatment you’ve probably got
down pat.
Let’s say yoiu child runs eye-
first into a tennis ball in mid-vol
ley. When you get her home,
freeze a raw egg for about fom-
minutes (no longer than that, or it
might explode) and use it as a
compress to reduce pain and
sweUing. The shape of an egg fits
nicely into the eye’s contovu in
kids over age 3, and it feels better
than having water from a wet
cloth dribbling down the face. For
kids who are Ukely to handle the
egg roughly, pop it in a plastic bag
before placing it in the freezer and
on your child’s eye.
The best tool for removing insect
stingers is a credit card, says Dr.
Stegelman. Just gently scrape it
away with the edge. Don’t pinch
the stinger with tweezers or your
fingers when trying to pull it out.
Squeezing releases more toxins,
worsening what’s already a bad
scene.
If your fresh out of bum oint
ment, soothe a minor bum with
toothpaste. The ingredients that
make your mouth feel cool have a
similar effect on skin. Don’t grab
for ice cubes. Ice decreases the
blood flow to the damaged skin to
sided problems were clearly a
bigger problem for golfers.
Banks said.
About 90 percent of golfers’
back problems can be treated
with physical therapy, said Dr.
Pierce E. Scranton Jr. of
Seattle, sports medicine chair
man of the American
Orthopedic Foot and Ankle
Society. Muscle relaxers and
anti-inflammatories can control
the immediate pains, he said.
In some cases, however, the
problem may require surgery to
remove a herniated disk or
even fused vertebrae, Hosea
said.
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an.
dren should have foot brakes,
since kids may not be strong
enough to grasp only the hand
brakes when they need to stop.
For many children, there is no
greater sense of freedom or
adventure than taking off on their
bikes. But they need to tmder-
stand tlie consequences of riding
unsafely and without a helmet.
Each year, more than 600 chil
dren under the age of 15 die in
bicycle accidents, accormting for
over half of all biking fatahties.
In addition to wearing helmets,
children and adolescents can ben
efit from the following safety tips:
Ride in the same direction as traf
fic. When riding in the dark, use a
headhght, reflectors on the back
and spokes. Wearing reflective
clothing also helps. Obey the
same traffic rules as cars. Ride a
bike that is the appropriate size.
Don’t wear headphones, they
keep you from hearing traffic.
Always leave your hands free to
steer. Use a rack to carry pack
ages, Don’t cany passengers. Pay
attention to cars. Don’t drink alco
hol and ride. Use bike paths if
they’re available.
Dr. Andrew E. Price is Chief of
Pediatric Orthopedics at New York
University School of Medicine.
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quickly, thereby interfering with
healing.
Resist the impulse to reach out
to a child who’s been electrically
shocked. “The human body is a
great electrical conduit,” says Dr.
Stegelman. If she hasn’t let go of
the source, unplug the appliance
or turn off the current. If that’s
not possible - say, at an electric
fence - push away the wire with a
wooden stick or puU your child
clear with a loop made from cloth,
like a towel or your shirt. If your
child is unconscious or has
stopped breathing, call 911 and
administer cardiopulmonary
resuscitation. Take her to the
emergency room to be examined
for heart damage, a risk with elec
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When it comes to a nosebleed,
forget the advice about having
your child tilt her head back.
Blood can get in the throat and
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Instead, have your child sit
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