Tips for a safe and healthful holiday
Published: November 21, 2009, 7:01 am
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Turkey Trotters, when is the last time you ran 4.97 miles? Touch football players, you know you'll dive for at least one ball. Domestic chefs, partygoers, shoppers — the last place you want to spend your Thanksgiving is in the hospital emergency room with a burned hand or twisted ankle.
There are ways to navigate the holiday minefield safely. Prepare yourselves for the madness ahead by developing a holiday game plan.
Kitchen safety
Don't let that big bird get the best of you. Emergency room physicians see an increase in cooking-related burns during the holiday season, noted Dr. Michael A. Manka, clinical director of emergency medicine at Erie County Medical Center.
Two scenarios are common:
Zealous cooks, in lifting a heavy turkey from the oven, tip the roasting pan and are burned by drippings and grease.
Less frequent, but also documented, are turkey-fryer burns caused when a turkey is dropped into hot oil, which spills over, splatters and burns.
"If it's just red, it's a first-degree burn," said Manka. Head directly to your sink for a cool-water bath, and apply a topical antibiotic like Neosporin. Take ibuprofen for the discomfort.
"If blisters are larger than quarter size, or if the burn is circumferential — encircling the arm — seek treatment immediately," Manka said. "The larger and deeper the burn, the greater the chance of infection. Once the infection sets in, the less favorable the cosmetic outcome."
In dicing and slicing, the highest risk comes with dull utensils, said Manka, who also likes to cook. A dull knife slides off the harder objects and can slice you instead.
"First wash the wound well to rid it of contaminants," he said. "Stop the bleeding by applying pressure. Usually five minutes of pressure should be enough. If it is not very deep and the edges come back together, it may not need to be stitched. If the wound edges are separated, or if it is actively bleeding, people need to have it closed."
Exercise
Running a race, or even playing touch football in the yard, requires a warm-up that includes cardio work and stretching, according to a local certified strength and conditioning specialist. The stretching helps to prevent pulled hamstrings and ruptured Achilles tendons, injuries sometimes suffered by weekend warriors.
"It's a matter of how aggressive everybody plays," said Connie Mearns, former conditioning coach for the Buffalo Bandits. "You can call it a touch football game, but it never ends up being one.
"Warm up, then stretch and then play," said Mearns. "Start with anything that will elevate your heart rate and increase your blood flow. You are then loose and ready to stretch out. Focus on flexibility and stretching. Hit the large-muscle groups: hamstrings, quads, calves."
You wouldn't consider calves a large muscle group, but when fortysomethings are playing like teenagers, they may rupture an Achilles tendon, Mearns cautioned. A good calf stretch could prevent that.
So find a wall and stand an arm's-length away. Lean forward and place both hands on the wall about shoulder width apart. Extend one foot (the side to be stretched) behind you with heel on the ground and one foot closer to the wall. Lean into wall with your hips until you feel a stretch in the calf of the extended leg. Hold this stretch for about 30 seconds and change sides.
Low back stretches begin on the ground. Bring one leg straight up, bend at the knee and let that bent leg fall over to the opposite side. Try and keep your shoulders square to the ground. Repeat on the other side.
Knees are another story — their snapping and crackling signals another sign of age.
"If you've been active all of your life, that is normal," Mearns said. "It's called crepitus, when joints aren't as lubricated as they should be so they make noise. Sometimes it may even be a tendon snapping in and out of its groove. As long as it's not painful, don't worry about it. Pain is the signal. It's your body telling you something is wrong."
Food and drink
For many of us, it's an inevitable sound of the season — a gurgling stomach triggered by eating too much, or too much that is too rich. Caffeine, alcohol and greasy food can upset our stomachs, said registered dietitian Theresa Amborski, but ginger, chamomile and peppermint can soothe it.
"Steep tea, drink diet ginger ale (sugar feeds bacteria in your mouth) or suck on cooling peppermint candies to get the effect," said Amborski. "Mint gum may help, but the act of chewing gum introduces more air into your digestive tract."
Bacteria is a culprit.
"When there's too much bacteria in your stomach and it gets out of control, it produces hydrogen gas, which leads to bloating, bad breath and worse. Parsley, ginger and mint have anti-bacterial properties. They clean your digestive system," said Amborski, clinical nutritionist at Mercy Hospital.
When it comes to battling bad breath, saliva is your friend.
"If your mouth is too dry, it provides an environment where bacteria will flourish," Amborski said. "Adequate saliva rinses the mouth and flushes plaque. Crunchy vegetables and fruits also remove plaque and bacteria from your mouth."
Waking up to a holiday hangover, you should first reach for water, then head to the kitchen to blend a peanut butter and banana smoothie with low-fat milk.
"Drinking water causes your blood vessels to open up, cleansing toxins en route to the liver and easing the liver's load," explained Amborski. "Your headache will go away because blood vessels in the brain will dilate, allowing oxygen-carrying blood to flow faster."
When you drink too much alcohol, you're ingesting toxins. The lighter the color of alcohol — vodka, gin — the fewer toxins. Counter toxins with foods high in potassium and magnesium, and that's where the smoothie comes into play. In addition, the peanut butter's protein and fat will help sustain you.
"Waking up to coffee and a doughnut will give you a caffeine spike, which will make you feel better temporarily, but then you will have a drop," said Amborski. "An hour later you will feel worse."
On your feet
Stressed-out feet can stall a mall trip. One area podiatrist believes the best thing you can do is to give them support.
"The proper shoe takes stress off tendons and muscle and ligaments," said Dr. Jason White of the New York State Podiatric Medical Association. "Being overweight adds to foot stress. Your bones and soft tissue are not made to absorb that amount."
Foot functions are controlled by your arch and heel, making a solid shoe critical to foot health. Heel stability depends on the back of your shoe, which should not be flexible. A little arch in your shoe, meanwhile, goes a long way to help keep your foot from collapsing. Wear supportive shoes and change them on a regular basis. Orthotics (insoles) help, too.
In a single day, our feet absorb about 1,000 pounds of force as they carry us from store to store, so before you head to the mall, give your feet a mini-workout with some range-of-motion exercises. Clockwise and counter-clockwise rotations loosen joints. To strengthen smaller muscles, try drawing the alphabet with each foot, Manka suggested.
To keep your feet healthy, take these simple steps:
Apply creme once or twice a day. Dry cracked heels are a function of a Buffalo winter and can become painful and possibly infected.
Take a load off. Foot pain is a result of tired muscles, so whenever possible elevate your feet at a 45-degree angle. This will move blood away from the feet and help reduce swelling.
e-mail: jkwiatkowski@buffnews.com
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