Foot pain prevention

Wearing worn out sports shoes, being overweight, and not gradually increasing the intensity of physical activity can all contribute to plantar fasciitis, the most common cause of a knifelike heel pain when taking the first steps of the day or walking after a long rest. Wear shoes with good arch support when walking or running for exercise. See a doctor if pain persists for more than a week.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer  

Get moving: take up tennis

Now that the weather has changed, it will be hard to resist spending time outdoors. Consider taking up tennis to increase your level of physical activity. Check with your city or county Department of Parks and Recreation for low cost classes for pee wees to seniors. Here's just one example of what's available.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer

Give water bottles a bath

At least once a week, wash your reusable water bottles, coffee and drink cups in soapy water mixed with a few tablespoons of household bleach. Soak for several minutes, scrub clean and rinse well. It's another way to help prevent colds and flu.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer 

Burn calories on the court

Looking for a way to get physically active? Give basketball a try. Play at a public park or your neighborhood Y. An hour long game will burn 400 to 700 calories; just shooting baskets for an hour can burn almost 300 calories. Click here to find out more about calories burned during sports.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer

Sports injuries and kids: What parents need to know

Fun facts that'll make you sound smart when musing from the sidelines about kids' sports injuries:

• 95 percent of sports-related injuries did not require surgery.

• 99 percent were not because of illegal play or activities

• 33 percent were referred to physicians.

These figures come from an analysis of the 600 injuries last year at 10 high schools in Hillsborough that are participating in a new state effort to create a registry of prep sports-related injuries in Florida.

Researchers at the University of South Florida are gathering the data, aiming to learn more about how injuries occur, so that they can be better prevented in the future.

Two-years into the effort, they've found that a lot of popular notions about youth sports and risk factors are wrong. Read the story in today's St. Petersburg Times to learn how dry conditions may be more hazardous than wet ones, and how injuries in practice can be just as severe and serious as those on game day.

Want to know more? Check out the full report.

-- Letitia Stein, Times health reporter

(Photo: A USF certified athletic trainer attends to an injured Gaither High athlete. Times staff photographer Kathleen Flynn.)

Healthy snack deserves a second chance

Rediscover prunes, aka dried plums. They’re sweet, portable and high in fiber and potassium and will give you an energy boost when you start the four o'clock fade. Five prunes are the perfect 100 calorie snack. But if your diet will allow it, they’re even better wrapped in a small square of prosciutto and drizzled with syrupy balsamic vinegar. Yum!

-- Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer

Swimming pool safety

Swimming pools with likely be busy this Fourth of July holiday weekend. Plan now to keep kids safe. Whenever children are around, designate an adult pool-watcher who will keep his or her eyes on the water at all times. During your watch, don't let the phone, arriving guests, food, music, or alcohol be a distraction. When leaving the pool area, make sure all children are out and accounted for; close and lock all gates and doors leading to the pool. If there are door and pool alarms, use them.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer  

Training for RAGBRAI: Riding in the rain

RAGBRAI, the weeklong bicycle ride across Iowa, goes on, rain or shine, so it's important to know how to ride when it's wet. These tips apply whether you are training, commuting or even if you simply get caught in a downpour. (There's been a lot of that the past few days.)

* First, if there is lightning or the threat of lightning, don't be stupid. Get off your bike and find the nearest safe haven and wait it out. Don't take a chance, period.

* Don't ride through puddles. You don't know what's down there beneath the surface.

* Avoid manhole covers and be careful of painted stripes on the roads. Both become slick when wet.

* Look down the road, not right in front of you. You need to plan ahead, as any quick movements are likely to cause a skid or worse.

* Brakes work poorly when wet. If you're coming to an intersection, apply the brakes early to scrub water off the rims. Don't plan on stopping quickly, because you won't.

* Get away from everything as best you can -- cars, other bikers, obstacles and debris. Everything is much more dangerous in the rain.

* Even if you need to wear glasses (and I've got the visual acuity of a bat), in a downpour you might see better by taking them off. Slow way, way down so you don't "override" your visual field.

* Good bike-handling is more important than ever. In turns, I put my outside pedal down and put my weight on it to "load" the tires and push them into the pavement for traction. You should do this anyway, but it's doubly important when conditions are slick.

* If you are training in the rain and have a choice, pick quiet routes like the Pinellas Trail where you have to worry only about yourself, not cars flashing and splashing past.

* Be visible. I have LED lights front and rear on my commuting bike. I had them on during a lunchhour ride on Wednesday.

* Be aware that flats are more common in the rain. Tires pick up more debris, and the rain lubricates the rubber so foreign objects are more likely to pierce the casing. You can avoid some of this by stopping periodically and wiping off the tire with the palm of your cycling glove. (Some riders do this on the fly.)

* When your ride is over, bounce your bike up and down a few times on its tires to shake off the water. Lift up the back of the bike and spin the cranks fast to throw water off the chain. Lubricate the chain as soon as possible, and gently spray grit off your bike as well.

* Oh, and keep this in mind. If you've taken proper precautions, it can actually be kind of fun to ride in the rain. You're going to get wet from sweat if not rain anyway.

--Jim Verhulst, Times staff writer

Beat the heat: Who's at risk?

Our theme this week is how to beat the heat. You don't have to be running on a sun drenched beach at noon to develop heat illness. Adults over 65, children age four and younger, very overweight people, and anyone with a medical condition like heart, kidney or lung disease could be at risk for heat illness even with very limited activity. If they are outside or don't have access to air conditioning, check on them for symptoms several times a day. Extreme heat can cause confusion; they may not be able to ask for help. According to the CDC, an electric fan cannot prevent heat illness.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer

Crunches: BAD for your health!?!

This has to rank up with research showing that chocolate has health benefits as the Best News Ever.

The exercise torture known as "the crunch" may be doing a lot of us as much harm as good, according to an intriguing feature in the New York Times magazine. What's more, the whole concept of "core" workouts may be flawed.

The piece explores the "mythology" oh-so-popular popular among fitness trainers that core strengthening should focus on the abdominal muscles. You know these drills: Suck in your belly while doing crunches, or curl up very slowly, focusing on one spinal ligament at a time.

You may get six-pack abs. But the regimen may also hurt your back.

The key is how much pressure you're putting on your spine. A fitness expert interviewed in the piece, Stuart McGill, a professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo in Canada, suggests that we'd be much better off thinking of a core workout in terms of all the muscle groups around the spine. That includes the abs, but isn't focused exclusively on them.

Kinda makes sense, huh? I always get little scared during the Pilates move when you curl up on your spine, pushing your legs in the air, so your body resembles a side-ways "J." If I move my head, will something snap, I'd wonder, debating whether to look at the instructor and see if my form was correct.

Be sure to check out the New York Times video highlighting "right" and "wrong" exercise moves for core strengthening. But be warned. It may not be "all abs, all the time," but it doesn't look easy. The move called "stirring the pot" isn't for the lazy!

-- Letitia Stein, Times health reporter