By Alison Ganong

As we gear up for outdoor winter activities, the potential for sports-related injuries stacks up. Tendonitis is a common winter sports injury.

Tendons are bands of fibrous connective tissue that attach muscles to the bones. Micro tears in the tendon can lead to irritation and inflammation known as tendonitis. If the area is not well rested or treated, the tendon starts to degenerate and can turn into unhealthy scar tissue that does not perform or move well.

Alison Ganong

Injuries to tendons are commonly caused by minor stress and repetitive overuse activities, but can also occur from a sudden injury. Symptoms include pain and stiffness where the tendon and bone attach and is especially aggravated by physical activity. Common sites for tendinitis include the shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, and ankle.

Ways to prevent tendinitis:

• Don’t do too much too soon.

Avoid repetitive strain on the tendon. With the arrival of snow, it can be exciting to try a new sport or return to an activity you haven’t done for months. The body is not ready to dive into snow sports as if it were the middle of the season. Ease into activities and, as a general rule, do not increase your intensity or duration in any one sport by more than 10 percent per week.

• Practice using correct form.

Avoid overloading the tendons. Warm up and go slow when starting new activities or a new season of activities. Before hitting the slopes, a ski or snowboard lesson can ensure your technique is safe and sound.

• Follow a well-planned resistance training program.

Light resistance exercises in the gym may help prevent or treat tendinosis. Use lighter weights and higher repetitions to gradually build up tendon strength and length. It helps to discuss this with a sports medicine specialist and to work with a physical therapist to know when and how to start these exercises. This training program should only begin when your pain subsides or improves.

• Be aware of aging tendon issues.

Be patient as your tendons may not bounce back from overtraining or injury the way they did when you were younger. Tendons gradually lose their elasticity with age which makes anyone over the age of 40 more prone to tendonitis.

If you suspect you have tendinitis or tendinosis, consult a medical professional for treatment options. Options may include modification of activities, a sports rehabilitation program, or regenerative medicine techniques, such as injections of platelet rich-plasma and stem-cell therapy.

Alison Ganong is a board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation physician who specializes in interventional sports medicine and spine care. She works at the Tahoe Center for Orthopedics. 

Allori

Allori is a 5-year-old Chihuahua mix who is great with other dogs and cats. She prefers men to women, but does warm up, and will quickly jump into your lap. She is a bit fearful and so would be best in a home with children older than 12. Allori is only about 10 pounds, seems to be housetrained, and likes to go for walks.

Allori is spayed, microchipped, tested for heart worm, and vaccinated. She is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes. Go to the Tahoe animal shelter’s Facebook page to see photos and descriptions of all pets at the shelter.

Call 530.573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

For spay-neuter assistance for South Tahoe residents, go online.

— Karen Kuentz

By Gordy Megroz, Outside

For my 40th birthday, I decided to climb the Grand Teton, a 13,770-foot peak in my backyard of Jackson, Wyoming. The Grand is technical, requiring rock climbing and rappels on exposed faces with 5,000-foot drops. Make a mistake and you’re dead. I’d decided the ascent would help me feel less 40. I gathered the gear I needed and did all the necessary training, including steep, hourlong hikes wearing a 60-pound weight vest. The one thing I was missing to perform at my best? Enough sleep.

If you’re like me, work and life prevent adequate time to snooze. That’s bad. Besides weakening your immune system (a recent study shows that getting only six hours of sleep a night makes you four times more likely to catch a cold, compared with those who get more than seven), not getting enough rest can sabotage athleticism.

A study in Sports Medicine determined that inadequate sleep results in decreased motor skills and cognitive function, as well as increased inflammation—symptoms similar to overtraining.

Conversely, researchers at Stanford University found that when the school’s basketball players got 10 hours of sleep each night, their shooting accuracy improved by 9 percent.

Read the whole story

As part of the national Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement campaign period, police, sheriff and the
CHP will be deploying DUI checkpoints and DUI saturation patrols now through Jan. 3.

El Dorado County DUI Coalition reminders everyone to follow these tips:

• Plan a safe way to get home before you attend the party. Alcohol impairs judgment, as well as reaction
time. If you’re impaired you’re more likely to choose to drive drunk.

• Designate a sober driver; take public transportation, a car service, or a call a sober friend of family
member to get home.

• Walking while impaired can be just as dangerous as drunken driving. Designate a sober friend to walk you
home.

• Use your community’s sober ride program.

• If you see someone you think is about to drive while impaired, take their keys and help them get home
safely.

The South Tahoe Alliance of Resorts has provided $5,000 each to Boys and Girls Club of Lake Tahoe, Christmas Cheer, and Live Violence Free.

The Boys and Girls Club of Lake Tahoe used the $5,000 to purchase equipment including new desks, chairs, computers and laptops.

A $5,000 contribution was made through Raley’s to Christmas Cheer to help keep the South Lake Tahoe pantry stocked with food.

Live Violence Free’s donation will support needed maintenance to the confidential shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.

STAR is comprised of Edgewood Companies, Lake Tahoe Hard Rock, Harrah’s/Harveys, Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel, Lakeside Inn and Casino, MontBleu and Vail Resorts.

By Bella DePaulo, Washington Post

When I taught a psychology course on singles in America at the University of Virginia in 1999, one of the assignments was: Go out to dinner alone. One of my students waited patiently as the hostess seated one party after another; the hostess thought my student was waiting for someone else, so she ignored her. Another student got dressed up and headed to an upscale restaurant with several dining rooms. She was ushered into a room with no other diners.

Today, things would be different. Recently, the online restaurant reservation service OpenTable reported that, over the past two years, the fastest-growing party size has been tables for one; one-person reservations have increased 62 percent. Diners are not going to restaurants alone just by chance — they are committing to it ahead of time.

Solo travel has also increased.

Read the whole story

El Dorado County has created a website with the latest health statistics as well as how the county compares to other counties across the state and nation? The

The database includes more than 90 indicators relating to the health and demographics of El Dorado County, such as obesity, cancer and diabetes rates; information on public transportation and walkability; and the availability of healthy foods and much more.

In addition to accessing health data, residents can also share promising practices and post announcements for things like community wellness events and trainings.

For more information, contact Olivia Byron-Cooper at 530.621.6374.

Kayvan Khalatbari will lead an expert panel in a discussion on the science and medical benefits of cannabis on Jan. 29 as part of the Squaw Valley Institute’s lecture series.

He’s an innovative entrepreneur and volunteer in several political and nonprofit ventures that focus on the ethical framework of the cannabis business. Khalatbari co-founded Denver Relief, a medical and adult-use cannabis dispensary, the second oldest and the longest continuously operating cannabis business in the city, serving several thousand regular patients and customers in Denver.

He has been an active participant at Sensible Colorado, volunteering for patients’ rights and proactive regulation over cannabis.

For more info, go online.

By Claudia Buck, Sacramento Bee

Got a cold and a headache? If you’re treating them by popping pain killers and downing cough/cold medicines, be careful.

With the cold and flu season under way, too many Americans may be unwittingly overdosing on over-the-counter medications, according to consumer research conducted recently by a team of CSU and UC professors. In five surveys of more than 600 adults, the study found that most were unaware that taking two or more off-the-shelf pain relievers and cold medicines was risky, potentially leading to severe liver disease and other health risks.

The culprit is the “active ingredient” contained in many pain/fever relievers, such as acetaminophen in Tylenol, ibuprofen in Motrin or Advil and naproxen in Aleve.

Read the whole story

Lake Tahoe Community College is looking for actors of all ages and ethnicities to audition for its winter production of “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” written by John Bishop.

Auditions will be Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. in LTCC’s Duke Theatre, inside the Fine Arts Building. Performances of the play take place March 11-20.

“The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” takes place on a dark and snowy night in the library of a mansion in upstate New York. The creative team responsible for a recent Broadway flop has assembled for a backer’s audition of their new show. The house is replete with sliding panels, secret passageways, and a German maid who is apparently four different people—all of whom figure diabolically into the comic mayhem that follows when the infamous “Stage Door Slasher” appears and strikes again—and again. It all gets resolved eventually, but not until the audience has been treated to a thoroughly sidesplitting good time and a generous serving of the author’s biting, satiric and refreshingly irreverent wit.

The play is full of great roles for men and women of ages from 18-65. Copies of the play’s script are available to borrow in the Roberta Mason Library on campus. Auditions will consist of readings from the play, and actors are encouraged to read the script before auditioning.

For more information, call 530.541.4660, ext. 240.