General | Pediatric Surgery

Avoiding Some Surgeries

: Image via Wikipedia

It is always a sad occasion when a child has to have a surgical operation performed. After all, children are young enough that everything in their bodies should still work very well. Unfortunately, there are ample occasions in which this is just not the case.

While there are all manner of childhood diseases, including a suite of different cancers that can afflict a child, one of the most common causes of a child needing to have surgery done occurs when the child is in some type of accident. According to statistics, a very large number of Americans are hurt in auto accidents every year.

Most people are so busy trying to find some discount car insurance that they forget auto accidents can injure people. While saving some money is great, it may not provide enough compensation if you improperly install a child seat. That can be extremely dangerous for your child, and it is a major cause of the injuries that children tend to sustain in auto accidents. Another cause of injuries is just the normal issues that cause any kind of accident. You want to make sure that your car is in good repair, which can help reduce the potential for maintenance-related accidents.

Are your brakes good? How about your tires? Those are the parts of your car that are most likely to wear out and that will end up needing replacement before they inadvertently cause an accident. Also, most drivers with children in the car need to be more cautious. Kids are more sensitive to whiplash than adults are, since their necks are not as strong. And, while this advice will not eliminate the possibility that an accident might one day injure your kids, it will certainly reduce this likelihood. Sometimes reducing your risks is the best possible outcome.

Filed Under: Child Care, Cord blood, Diagnosis, General Tagged With: Accident, Injury, Medicine, Surgery, Sweden, Traffic collision, United States, Vehicle insurance

Convincing Children To Exercise Through Gaming

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Convincing children to exercise is not always an easy task. Many Healthcare professionals in the pediatric society have offered options for exercise over the years but none seem to stick. Recently, however, there have been new innovations in exercise options for children. Several gaming companies have derived ways to get even the toughest of children active and ready for more.

Parents are finding that an easy way to get children interested in exercise is through the use of gaming consoles such as the Nintendo Wii. These consoles have a wide range of fitness related games that allow the player to enter in all of their information and set weight loss goals for themselves. The games range from yoga to running and even kickboxing. They are age appropriate and goals may be adjusted depending on the age of the player.

Another great exercise for children is found in console gaming but can also be purchased for less than $20 as a plug and play game for the computer or television. The game is known as Dance Dance Revolution or DDR. Many doctors within Pediatrics department recommend the game as a good source of cardiovascular exercise. The game is easy to follow and has a calorie counter and different goals based on gaming levels. There have been reported cases of children who are morbidly obese loosing over one hundred pounds by staying active with this game.

A final option to help convince children to exercise is to set reward goals for them. Base the goals on the game that they seem to like the most. For example, if the child enjoys one of the Wii games then set the rewards according to the goals of the game. If they make it from running half a mile on the game to a full mile it is the same as if they did that on a normal track. Reward them with a non-food item or perhaps another fitness game for the console. This will keep them motivated and keep them active while still having fun.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Dance Dance Revolution, Nintendo, Video game console

Nike in the News

When you think of running a 10K race, what comes to your mind? Running and listening to an MP3 player? Running through long stretches of boring scenery? Having a tired, sore body, and aching feet? Wishing you were at the finish line when you are only half-way along the route? These thoughts will never enter your mind when you run in the Nike City 10K race on October 24.

The race, held in Singapore, winds along a scenic route. It starts at the Marina Bay Floating Platform (that is slightly larger than a soccer field). It goes past the Singapore Flyer, which is the world’s tallest Ferris wheel. It is 42 stories high (541 ft) and towers over a three-story building that houses restaurants, gift stores, restaurants and bars. The view from the Flyer extends across Singapore and out to the Indonesian islands in the bay.

From there, the race passes the Formula One pit building that is home to the nail-biting, intoxicating F1 Singapore Grand-Prix race. The ground floor houses 36 garages for the 12 racing teams. The second floor has the Media Center (that has capacity for 4,000 guests), the race control center and the winner’s podium. The top floor has hospitality lounges and an open rooftop terrace for a bird’s eye view of the race.

In addition to these impressive sites, the race planners have created four entertainment zones along the route where local bands perform for racers and those watching the race. One zone features classic songs from the 1960s through the 1980s, one performing hip-hop, one playing retro style music and one performing pop rock.

Can your Nike shoes be running shoes AND dancing shoes? Hopefully so because at the end of the race at the Republic Avenue tunnel, runners and dancers can boogey to the music of a band playing a variety of music styles.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Athletic shoe, Nike, Singapore Flyer

The Prepaid Credit Card for Your Children

Your insurance card is an awful lot like a prepaid credit card. Obviously, it does not have any particular cash value to it. And this is definitely a good thing, because some yahoo would probably try to sell it if there were. But when it comes to both your health and your family’s health, your insurance card is sort of the “keys to the kingdom” of health care. Think about how much insurance can save you, when one of your children gets sick. If they develop an infection that requires them to be hospitalized, you may end up having to pay only a tiny amount of money out of a bill in the five digit range.

And consider the possibility of what could happen if your child had a congenital defect. If something is wrong from the very beginning, your insurance could literally save their life. While it is terrible to imagine something like that happening to your baby, don’t you feel a lot better knowing that you can focus on caring for your child, instead of being afraid that you may not be able to afford the treatments they might need? When it comes to the fancy treatments our society seems to be in love with, they all cost a lot of money.

And insurance pays that money, except for your percentage and your copay. While it isn’t exactly the free health care people receive in a lot of countries, at least it’s better than having to pay cash for every medical good and service you receive. And when it comes to your children, do you honestly think you could ever even consider saying no to what they need? Your insurance card is not just the medical equivalent of a prepaid credit card – it is the ticket to a long life for your children. And it’s also a long life in good health.

Filed Under: Child Care, General Tagged With: Insurance, Money, Prepaid

Monitor Your Child with a Finger Pulse Oximeter and Other Devices

: Image by hopeandmegan via Flickr

If you have a child who has health problems, especially of the heart, lungs or circulatory system, you may have to monitor him more closely than you would other children. The same is true of a child who’s very overweight and must exercise to lose the extra pounds. One of the monitoring devices you can use to check your child’s health is a finger pulse oximeter. You can also use a blood pressure monitor, and be sure to take your child’s temperature regularly. These three devices together will help you know the overall health and well being of your child.

Having a sick child, or worrying over one that’s very obese and must lose weight for his health, can be stressful. There are few things that can really be done to take that stress away, but even being able to ease it is helpful. When you have a way to monitor your child, the stress that you’re facing won’t be as severe, because you’ll have up-to-the-second information that will help you stay more informed and in tune with what’s going on. Just knowing what’s taking place is often one of the best ways to feel better and more in control of a situation.

While there are plenty of things in your life – and your child’s life – that you can’t control, being able to monitor important conditions is very valuable. It gives some measure of comfort, and it can help you determine whether things are stable or whether your child needs to see a doctor or go to the emergency room. Even something as simple as monitoring blood pressure, oxygen and temperature gives security that you would otherwise miss out on. It can keep you in the loop and can also help your child to feel safer and more protected because his condition is being closely monitored.