Category Archives: Guest Post

Types Of Running Injuries To Be Aware Of

Cause of Acute Sciatic Nerve Pain

Sciatica is a medical condition that is an inflammation of the sciatic nerve that is usually characterized by pain plus tenderness through the thigh and leg. Acute sciatic nerve pain usually begins in the buttocks which then extend down the back of the thigh and lower leg until the sole of the foot. An individual can also experience pain in the lower back. There are actually different reasons why an individual, even a pregnant woman, experiences sciatica. The primary cause of this is a herniated or bulging lower lumbar intervertebral disk. This leads to the compression of the nerve roots before it joins with the sciatic nerve. At times, irritation of the sciatic nerve branch in the leg can be so serious that makes a reflex pain reaction involving the entire length of the nerve. For instance, for individuals who have a pinched or irritated nerve near their knee, they may experience the pain in their hip or buttocks.

Runner’s Knee Treatment and Prevention

Runner’s knee is actually a very common injury that is likewise easy to prevent. Some preventive measures you can do includes stretching plus strengthening your muscles especially your hamstrings; avoid running on hard or uneven surfaces; develop and maintain great mechanics and habits when running; wear proper running shoes; and avoid over-training. However, if preventing this condition is too late, then you should know about different runner’s knee treatment. These treatment plans help alleviate the pain and hasten the process of healing. They includes applying ice on the area near the knee once pain is experienced; take days off until the pain subsides; and use running shoes which have extra support and shock absorption mechanism. But if these don’t work and the pain persists, talk to a specialized doctor immediately so you can attain proper medical advice and treatment plan to avoid the worsening of the problem.

How to Prevent Muscle Cramps

Muscle cramps can be common, and often not serious. Muscle cramps can be prevented by taking a few measures:  1) Drink a lot of milk, this helps increase the calcium in your body for better muscle contraction; 2)Eat food rich in potassium; 3) Try taking B complex vitamins to help with nerve impulse transmission and conduction; 4) Exercise regularly for better circulation; and 5) Wear the right kinds of shoes when you walk in order to prevent muscle cramps. Of course, always seek the help of a medical professional for complete health care.

Two Environmental Actions You Can Take to Address Multiple Problems at Once

Every day brings more reasons to be concerned about the modern economy’s environmental costs. These costs were once effectively hidden from view, but mass media, social networking, and the scale of consumer activity have all brought knowledge of environmental destruction into everyone’s backyard. A walk in the local park will more than likely reveal tires, abandoned construction materials and other toxic trash, and almost every waterway features a polluting industry upstream that makes parents warn their kids to not go swimming.

The scale of pollution and abuse being heaped on the places many adults safely enjoyed just decades ago can be disheartening. The idea that dealing with these problems effectively requires sacrifice is a popular one, and it adds to the hopelessness. Everyday people have shown time and again, however, that caring for the land provides benefits far in excess of the sacrifice. Positive actions can even provide savings in your budget. Consider these two actions to begin visualizing what is possible.

Master Gardeners 015

Organizing Clean-ups

American culture is filled with stories of rugged individualism where one person begins doing something for the benefit of all only to be joined by others in the same pursuit. Why not start off with community involvement? Some parks are regularly maintained by municipal areas for public relations purposes. Other parks, and even out of the way places in popular parks, are often left uncared for by bureaucracies with limited budgets. There may be ordinances against dumping, but these areas become filled with waste. A lot of it is toxic.

Partnering with a local environmental group to sponsor a clean-up of your favorite park will have profound effects. The water will be cleaner for starters, and outdoors enthusiasts will find these more isolated areas enhance their ability to enjoy the local flora and fauna. Removing old tires in these locations will dramatically reduce mosquito populations.

This action could easily be combined with local recycling programs or efforts to replace invasive plants with native vegetation. The possibilities depend only on your dedication and community resources.

Gardening

The combination of pesticide use, monoculture farms and yards, and a general fear of insects and germs has combined to reduce wildlife and put species diversity in danger. The most common remedy for this is planting native plants that provide food for native wildlife. If attracting local butterflies and songbirds to your yard isn’t enough of a benefit, native plants can always be chosen based on their usefulness. A little research will reveal every region has a number of native plants that once provided inhabitants with food, medicines, and aesthetic pleasure.

Any individual can make this effort, but community efforts will create more opportunities. Partnerships with native plant societies and trusts created by concerned citizens can ensure larger tracts of land will always be available to future community gardeners. Summer and after-school programs can receive grants with the right non-profit partnership, which will ensure a safe place for children to get exercise and learn local lore from older generations.

Of course, native gardening is only part of the picture. Vegetable gardens and miniature forests can also be used for the same effects. Many gardeners combine all of these with composting, vermiculture, chicken cooping, and other efforts. A combination of clean-ups and gardening will reduce your impact on the land and reduce the community’s impact on the global systems everyone relies upon.

Billie Seddon is a conservation writer who works with NRDC and other organizations to protect our health and environment. She urges everyone to learn about the damaging effects being caused by extreme weather conditions.

Fun And Adventure At Their Best With The Branson Zipline

A zip line is a cable that is suspended on an incline. A rider is attached to a harness and using a pulley, the rider can move from one location to another. Built with one end or tower higher than the other, the line allows the rider to “zip” down assisted by gravity, while safely secured. The ride is enjoyable and is often part of adventure tours around the country. One such example is the Branson Zipline which has become popular with people of all ages who are able to enjoy amazing views even as they enjoy the ride.

While the Branson Zip line is designed for thrill seekers of all ages; it is important for the rider to go through the workings of the zipline in order to be able to feel comfortable with the ride. Most tour or adventure trips have zip lines as a simple or fast way to reach a destination. The mechanism is built with high safety standards, and is regularly tested to ensure it is in good condition. For the zip lines to function effectively, there has to be a slope as the slope allows the rider to slide down to the destination. A steep slope offers a more thrilling ride as the rider is propelled down faster.

The rope which runs from one end to the other is made of material that is strong enough to hold any human weight. Pulleys on the rope help to pull the rider down the slope. The pulleys are attached to a plastic case that has handles, where the rider holds onto during the ride. When people understand the mechanism and how it works, they are able to feel safe enough to try it. The adventure companies at Branson always use certified and experienced guides to help the riders to enjoy the experience and the guides ensure that the riders understand what to expect, and that they are secure before embarking on the ride.

Rock Climbing and What You Need To Get Started

Like many people, you started rock climbing for fun at a local indoor rock climbing facility.  As you got better you’ve decided try your hand at the real deal. Great! You probably know that rock climbing is great exercise and a wonderful way to experience the outdoors, while testing the limits of your body, but you may not know what you need to get started. Like many people, you may have gotten an REI coupon in the mail and, upon entering the outlet store, find yourself completely overwhelmed by the range of rock climbing products on the market. Don’t worry! Getting started rock climbing is really quite easy.. Here is what you need to get started!

1. Rope- A good length of rope is your most important piece of equipment! It is best not to skimp and buy a cheap rope, or you may find yourself in a tight spot with an unreliable safety net. Instead, buy the best you can afford. A 10.5 to 11 millimeter cord style rope will serve you best. You do not need dry rope unless you are planning on climbing in snow and ice, and should get approximately 200 feet (60 meters) of rope. You may also be interested in purchasing a rope bag to keep your rope clean while you climb.

2. Quickdraws- Quickdraws are a pair of oval or d-shaped clip hooks connected with a strong piece of webbing. Though they may seem small and insignificant, quickdraws are absolutely necessary to your safety, second only to rope! One end of the quickdraw attaches to a bolt, nut, or cam in the climbing course, and your rope threads through the other end. You will need approximately twenty of these.3. Belay Device- A good belay device is very important. Belay devices are used to secure your rope, or to rappel back down the rock face. You won’t get your feet on the ground without one! Belay devices come in several shapes and sizes. It is recommended, especially for beginner rock climbers, that you purchase one that locks automatically.

4. Harness- Even the most experienced climbers rely heavily on a harness. A lightweight harness is cheaper and is perfectly fine for most sport climbing. When purchasing a harness, try to get one with four or more gear loops. Each loop is capable of holding seven quickdraws.

5. Climbing Shoes- A good pair of climbing shoes is going to be one of the best investments you ever made if you wish to continue climbing. Many sport climbers like a slipper-shoe, which fits your foot like a glove. Whatever you choose, be sure you have good foot-movement and flexibility!

6. Chalk- While it’s not absolutely necessary, most sport climbers like to have a bag of chalk. When you climb, your hands become sweaty, and chalk dries them out and helps to re-tighten your grip.

Got all your gear? Great! Now you’re ready to start climbing!

Rare Meteorite from Mars is Donated to Science

The Natural History Museum in London has recently become the proud owner of the largest piece of the Tissint Martian meteorite. The new addition is now the largest piece of meteorite held in the prestigious museum, weighing in at 1.1kg. The museum is delighted with the donation, but do not know who to thank because the donor has decided to stay anonymous. The piece of meteorite would not have come cheap, and is thought to have cost much more than a Mediterranean cruise or a flashy new sports car.

Scientists hope to find answers to questions about the Red Planet, like what its atmosphere used to be like and whether life could have once flourished on the planet. Dr. Caroline Smith works at the Natural History Museum, and has said the Tissint meteorite is the, “most important meteorite to have landed on Planet Earth in the last 100 years”.

How the Martian Meteorite Ended up at the Natural Science Museum

Last year in July, eyewitnesses in Morocco heard two loud sonic booms as a bright light sped towards the ground leaving a distinctive trail behind it. That bright light was a meteorite, which entered Earth’s atmosphere and broke up into smaller pieces before landing in a desert in southern Morocco. The pieces of rare Martian meteorite, called Tissint, were quickly searched for and collected up before the Earth’s atmosphere could contaminate them too much.

A man named Darryl Pitt, of the Macovich Collection in New York City, heard about the meteorite landing and set out to track a piece down. Rumors spread about it being retrieved and Mr. Pitt frantically searched for people possessing the alien rock. He almost gave up his quest, but then a phone call out of the blue lead him straight to the largest piece recovered. Mr. Pitt purchased the meteorite on behalf of an anonymous benefactor and then donated it to the Natural History Museum in London.

Details of how much the rare space rock actually cost have not been revealed, and the donor wishes for their identity to be kept private. But a spokesperson from Sotheby’s auction house in London has said that meteorites had previously sold for sums between £10,000 and £20,000, but the origin of the meteorite makes a lot of difference, as does its size. It might be the case that the Martian meteorite in question reached a price similar to the Moon Rock sold at Sotheby’s in 1993, which reached a staggering £250,000.

Why the Tissint meteorite is so rare

There have only been four recorded meteorites from Mars landing on Earth, and the last most recent one landing in Nigeria 50 years ago, in 1962. The three other occasions where in 1911, 1865, and 1815. In the last fifty years technology has developed so rapidly that there are new ways to analyze Martian rock, and scientists are excited at the prospect of studying a piece of the Tissint meteorite. Another reason that this particular meteorite is significant compared to earlier landings is the short amount of time between landing and collection. They landed in a dry area of desert, so contamination from the earth’s environment and organisms has been minimal.

Out of the 41,000 known meteorites in the global science community, only 61 of them originate from Mars, only 0.15% of all meteorites. Material from Mars has never been able to be transported back to Earth by human efforts, although this may happen in the next decade. Even so, the process of collecting rocks from Mars and bringing them back here would costs billions of dollars. So having them blasted from the surface of Mars and land on Earth is much easier, but it doesn’t happen often.

What scientists hope to find out from the meteorite

It has already been estimated that the Tissint meteorite was ejected from the surface of Mars approximately 600,000 to 17 million years ago. Scientists hope to be able to glean information about the history of the Red Planet, and maybe gain evidence on whether life existed on Mars in the past.

Further analysis will look at the exact chemistry of the rock, to see what elements it is made of. In particular they will see if any minerals that form when water is present are in the rock, and if it contains molecules rich in carbon. If these things are found, they would provide evidence that there once was life on Mars.

Knowing exactly what secrets the rock holds about the planet nearest to earth is some time away at the moment, but the investigation has begun. Let’s hope this donation inspires other people to help science unravel the many mysteries of the universe.