Agony Medic

Dr. Luthful Aziz

Care and Protection of the Osteo-Arthritic Knee

Keep Your Knee movement full
Allowing your knees to stiffen and losing some movement at the extreme straight or bent position will restrict your activities and reduce nourishment to the cartilage. Walking will become more uncomfortable if stiffness occurs and your legs will feel tired and achy more quickly.
The Squeeze-Pump-Squeeze Action
This movement helps to feed the cartilage by pumping the nutrients towards the joint and squeezing them into the cartilage. This should be done several times on waking in the morning and repeated again last thing at night.
Lying down, bend your knee as far as it will go, now grasp it with both hands and give it an extra pull towards you (this is the squeeze). Now straighten your leg (this is the pump), and brace it flat on the bed (the squeeze). Repeat these movements several times.

The Half Hour Rule
If sitting for a long time, for example longer than half an hour, try to remember to bend and straighten your knee several times every half hour.
This helps to prevent stiffness setting in and the associated stiff discomfort on first standing up. Stretch your leg first, loosen up and then stand up.
Exercise Routine
To Improve/Maintain Mobility
a. A large board or tray makes this exercise easier, but if one is not available the exercise can still be performed perfectly well. Start by lying yourself down on your bed, floor or sofa, place the board beneath your legs and a towel folded up into quarters to make a pad to go between your heel and the board. Now bend and straighten your leg by sliding the towel up and down the board. Make sure you bend up as far as you can and also straighten out as much as possible. Do this exercise until you feel your knee loosen up (up to 5 minutes).
b. The next exercise is done sitting on a chair with your feet firmly planted on the floor.
Place your feet about six inches apart, but keep your knees together. Now try to turn your feet out like Charlie Chaplain, then turn your feet in so that your big toes almost touch.
Do this 10 times turning in and 120 times turning out. Rest for a short time, then repeat. That totals 20 in and 20 out.
The following issue will carry exercises to strengthen muscles that helps osteo-arthritic knee.

Dental Wise

Dr. Mahfuzul Haq Khan

Do you have or do you know someone who has sensitive teeth? If your answer is yes, you will have a true appreciation for the content of this topic!!!!!
Tooth Sensitivity

What is tooth sensitivity?
It can be defined as a painful reaction in one or more teeth triggered by hot, cold, sweet, or sour foods and drinks. This pain can be sharp, sudden and shoot deep into the nerve endings of your teeth.
Apart from a cavity or a missing filling, the most common cause of tooth sensitivity is exposed dentin on the roots of your teeth. Normally, the dentin (the second, more sensitive layer of the tooth) is surrounded and protected by your enamel, cementum(special root covering) and gums. The cause or mechanism of dentinal sensitivity is still not well understood. It is believed that the little tubes that connect the dentin to the nerve or pulp serve as sensory conductors. That sensation may be one of pain. OUCH!!!
Causes of exposed root surfaces which may result in dentinal sensitivity:
· Brushing too hard - Over a period of time, brushing too hard or using a hard-bristled toothbrush may wear away enamel or cementum and cause the dentin to be exposed.
· Recession of the gums - Movement of gums away from the tooth due to periodontal disease will expose the root surface.
· Gum disease - Inflamed and sore gum tissue may also cause sensitivity due to the loss of supporting ligaments which exposes root surface.

Other causes of sensitive teeth:
· Cracked teeth - Chipped or broken teeth may fill up with bacteria from plaque and enter the pulp causing an inflammatory reaction.
· Grinding your teeth - Grinding or clenching your teeth may wear down the enamel and expose underlying dentin.
· Plaque- The presence of plaque on the root surfaces can cause sensitivity.
Ê
What to do at home:
· Maintain good oral hygiene - Continue to clean all parts of your teeth and mouth thoroughly.
· Use a soft bristled toothbrush -This will result in less toothbrush abrasion of the tooth surface.
· Use desensitizing toothpaste - There are many on the market. With regular use you should feel a decreased sensitivity.
· Consider what you eat- If you frequently eat foods high in acids, such as citrus fruits (example: sucking on lemons), they can gradually dissolve the enamel over time, leading to dentin exposure. The citric acids may aggravate the hypersensitivity and initiate a painful reaction.
· Use fluoridated dental products - As an example,with a daily application of a fluoridated mouthrinse, hypersensitivity usually decreases.
ÊProfessional Care:
Ask your oral health professional, about professional products that may be used to help reduce sensitivity. Some of the most common treatments are:
· white fillings to cover exposed root surfaces
· fluoride varnish applied to the exposed root surface
· dentin sealer applied to the exposed root surface
You don't have to suffer with sensitivity!!

Parlour Wise

Bithi's

Bithi's, located in Dhanmondi Road # 4 is a beauty parlour and saloon that has been in Dhaka for ages.
Housed in the same building as Gyankosh, this beauty parlour and herbal saloon is well done suited to the needs of beauty parlour customers. With customers waiting their turn and the buzz of the dryer, the Bithi's staff diligently work with their customers till late in the evening.
The parlour's expertise lies in its herbal therapies, facials and massages. The demand for their service is so high that even on regular days, you might have to sit and wait your turn since even after hiring enough people to tend to you, Bithi's often becomes too crowded, especially during occasions such as Eid and in wedding season. The staff is polite, efficient and well trained and any complain is immediately looked into.
Unfortunately on that score, Bithi's still has to make a niche for itself in make-up and hair-styling services. Nonetheless their specialty is worth the charges and any one in need of a pampering should try out Bithi's.

By Tahiat-E-Mahboob

 

 

Sad News

Turn the page

It is only when you do not have something that you realize how much you miss it. Sigh! How can something be so close and yet so far all at the same time? Please, I beseech you not to think that this is some soppy article because I have had my heart broken or anything of the sort. It is just that I miss life. No, I have not turned into a character from loony toons because I am saying something that seems to be odd-I just miss my family and my friends and the life I had before when everything was not so simple. There I go, saying something weird yet again! Well, allow me to explain. Have you ever been in a state when there was only one thing, and only one thing, in your life that took over everything else, or more simply put, something that took over your life without you even consciously being aware of it.
Suppose you have a deadline to meet, and you are bogged down with so much work that you do not have the time to breathe-now think how it would feel if that were the case for five consecutive years. It is not a complicated thing to do, because it is just work after all, but it is oh so tiring. Now my work is my studies, but let us not concentrate on me right now. How about you? How have you been doing lately? Is life getting you down or lifting you up? I hope it is the latter because the former is not a pretty option at all. But you know what, more often than not people are more miserable than happy. Instead of saying "shobar kopale shukh shoi na", one should say "karo kopale shukh shoi na"- not for an extended period of time anyways. Sheesh, sometimes life can be so morose and glum.
Oh, by the way, the other day my father told me (I hate to admit that I have been out of touch with the newspapers lately-I have to rectify that) that a few policemen had picked up (or should I say kidnapped) two businessmen and demanded five lakh Taka for their release. Now the question that pops into mind is that if the policemen are going to do all the kidnapping what are the rongbajes and chadabajes and mastaans and the real kidnappers going to do! What do you do when the very people who are supposed to uphold the law are the ones who so blatantly disregard it? Granted it is not particularly a novelty in this country because it has been done so many times before-I do not mean the kidnapping, just lawlessness in general, but that does not make it any less disappointing-to know that this is the kind of place I reside in. Sigh!
So, like I was saying before, this shukh thing is quite relative, varying greatly from one person to another (like duh!), but it is up to each one of us to make ourselves feel good. If something is bothering you, the best possible thing to do is to turn the page and forget about it. There is no use in moping around, and generally wasting away. Depression and hopelessness are so corrosive-they can eat away your soul. When you are feeling down there is nothing more uplifting than doing the things that you want-be it hanging out with friends and addafying, working out in a gym, turning off the lights and turning on the music, or simply reading a book. So go and spread around a little happiness because we all need it, or rather, crave it. Wishing you all great mental health (I admit I stole that particular line from Frasier), bye for now Seatt…err I mean Bangladesh.

By Sumaya Siddiq Shashin