Health Tips ... from UPI

WALKING RESULTS IN MOST ER TRIPS

Walking is one of women's most popular exercises, but it also results in more trips to U.S. emergency rooms than any other non-equipment exercise. University of Arkansas health science professors Ches Jones and Lori Turner studied data gathered by the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. The researchers focused on emergency room visits among women age 65 years and older, injured from walking, aerobics, hiking, swimming, stretching, yoga or tai chi. Walking was the most common non-equipment activity cited in the study and also was linked most frequently to injury. Falls were the major cause of injuries. The researchers presented the findings at the 7th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion held in Vienna, Austria.

MEDICATIONS MAY DELAY CUFF HEALING

A Cornell University Medical Center study finds that widely prescribed pain medications may possibly delay healing in rotator cuff repair. About 2 million people in the United States seek medical care each year for rotator cuff injuries and prescribing pain medications is standard post-operative procedure. The research involved 180 laboratory rats that had acute rotator cuff repair surgery. One-third of the rats were treated with a NSAID drug, one-third were treated with a COX-2 inhibitor and one-third were a control group. The tendon-to-bone healing in the rats treated with the two drugs was "distinctly less robust" than those in the control group. The research was presented at a meeting of the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine in Quebec City.

SUPERVISE CHILDREN PLAYING IN SAND

As summer begins, parents are being warned by Mayo Clinic doctors they should supervise children playing in the sand. In the two accidents, the weight of the sand compressed the children's chests and was too heavy for the youths to get out of or ventilate their lungs adequately. One 10-year-old died when the tunnel he was digging in his sandbox collapsed on him. The second 10-year-old boy was buried in wet sand at a construction site after a 30-foot pile of sand collapsed on him. The findings are published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

MANY NYERS DON'T KNOW THEY HAVE AIDS

One in four people living with HIV/AIDS don't know it, a New York City study finds. A Health Department HIV surveillance report from the first three months of 2003 finds 85,000 adults were reported living with HIV/AIDS in New York City, but are least 20,000 more were estimated to be living with the disease and don't know it. The New York City Department of Health is urging people get tested. "Avoiding risky sexual behavior, using condoms and discussing your HIV status with your partners are important to protect yourself and others and to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS," says New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas R. Frieden. New Yorkers can call 311 to get a free, confidential HIV test.

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(EDITORS: For more information on WALKING, contact Ches Jones at (479) 575-4009, or ches@uark.edu. For CUFF, Todd Ringler (617) 872-1235 or todd.ringler@edelman.com. For SAND, John Murphy, (507) 284-5005, or newsbureau@mayo.edu)