Holiday Greetings

Just a quick but heartfelt message here: I hope your Christmas was the merriest and brightest, and your New Year is the best ever!

Cold Tolerance

This question crosses my screen fairly often: Is it possible to increase your tolerance for cold? This is really two questions. If you're wondering if individuals can "feel" cold less if they are acclimatized to cold, the answer is a big YES. People who spend a lot of time outside in the cold definitely feel the stress of cold less, so they tolerate cold better. If you're wondering if you can become more resistant to frostbite and hypothermia, the answer is probably no. Eskimos, for instance, who spend much of their lives in extremes of cold, and who are very tolerate of cold, can freeze just as fast as those who spend most of their lives in Figi. I say "probably no" because there does exist a small but growing body of evidence suggesting some people can become more resistant to cold injury. If it becomes fact that some people are more resistant to cold injury, the fact will likely remain academic, not much use to most outdoor enthusiasts. This remains a fact: people who avoid frostbite and hypothermia know how to dress and act properly in the cold outdoors.

Of Little Broken Arms

Bo, my five-year old daughter, held her left arm tightly to her chest, refusing to let me see it, while she wailed with pain. Assessment point one: guarding. When she calmed down enough for a gentle palpation, I found point tenderness just below the elbow, and that was assessment point two. And point three: there was a little swelling at the site. I took her to the hospital where an X-ray revealed fractures to both radius and ulna, and now she wears a bright pink cast immobilizing her arm from mid-humerus to fingers. Signed by her classmates in kindergarten, she bears it proudly, something like a pink badge of courage. The mechanism was landing on her outstretched arm while bouncing on a neighbor's trampoline, and she was added to a long list. During a recent six-year period, the number of children injured on trampolines has doubled. The number has reached to more than 60,000. For more trampoline stats, check out www.sciencedaily.com. Based on the stats, some experts are calling for a ban on the devices.

Back To It

Hard to believe, it is, that almost a month has zipped past--and I apologize for being away so long (just in case anyone is reading this). Here is part of my excuse: picking up Bo, my littlest and youngest daughter, pain shot through my lower back. I could walk, hunched over, and it felt better to sit still. No pain radiated down either leg. My self-assessment: pulled muscle. And I was correct, I learned, after a visit to the doc. Cold packs were indicated, and they helped, as did gentle stretches from a seated position. The doc recommended putting one ankle on the opposite knee and leaning forward slowly for the stretch. I now recommend the same stretch for easing tension in the lumbar region. Two chiropractic adjustments have been worth the time. Sleeping has been easiest on my side. Despite my preference for sitting still, slow walks have helped circulation and, therefore, healing. But it remains important to forego any lifting and toting. After a week, life has become much better--though stiffness and some soreness nag. If this happened on the trail, I'd do the same thing . . . excepting, of course, the chiropractor.

Naked or Not

With the temps decreasing, the questions concerning sleeping warm are on the rise. Lately, this has been the most common one: Should I sleep naked in my bag or in clothes? As with so much in life, no answer addresses all situations. If your sleeping bag contains adequate insulation for the temperature, and if your bag contains the proper amount of room inside for you, most people sleep better, and warmer, in long underwear or at least a layer of light clothing--and your bag stays cleaner. What you never want to do is dress in extra layers that compress your bag's insulation. You need the dead air created by insulation to hold in your body's heat. If you have a roomy bag, you can safely sleep in extra layers for extra warmth. If you find yourself in a chilly bag without extra room, you might sleep warmer naked. You won't know for sure without experimentation.

MI and Aspirin

Kate, one of my students at Central Wyoming College (www.cwc.edu), asked in class about the dose of aspirin to give someone who might be experiencing a myocardial infarction (MI). Aspirin, a great drug that's been available over-the-counter since 1897, is certainly recommended when you're thinking, hey, this could be a heart attack. The "blood-thinning" properties of the drug tend to improve the outcome for the patient. Yes, the dose has changed over the years, and remains somewhat controversial, but most experts currently recommend 3-4 baby aspirin (each containing 81 mg) or one adult aspirin (with 325 mg). The aspirin gets to work a bit quicker if the tablets can be chewed before being swallowed with a swig of water. Then keep the patient physically and emotionally at rest until help can be found for an evacuation. If evacuation is delayed into additional days, each day should include more aspirin, once a day, at the same dose.

One-Ten-One

More than a foot of snow fell on Lander during the past week. It's that time of year when many beloved myths experience a rebirth. One of my favorites says something like this: If you fall into icy water, you might as well give up since hypothermia will kill you in minutes. It just ain't so. What does happen, and how you should respond, is summed up in the words "one minute--ten minutes--one hour," a slogan created by Gordon Giesbrecht, Ph.D., the guru of cold. After a plunge into very cold water, use to first minute to calm yourself and control your breathing. Those who don't are the ones who panic and drown. You then have approximately 10 minutes of useful movement. Use that time attempting to get out of the water or at least figuring out how to stabilize yourself. After 10 minutes, you should remain still to reduce heat loss. You have about one hour before you'll lose consciousness from hypothermia. If you're wearing a PFD, another hour or so will pass before your heart stops from the cold. One-ten-one. Remember it. And for more information read Hypothermia, Frostbite and Other Cold Injuires by Giesbrecht and his co-author James A. Wilkerson, M.D. (www.mountaineersbooks.org).