sOcial buTterfly

Poor body posture is one of the leading causes of low back pain, a problem experienced by 80% of adults at some point in their lives. It is important to teach clients about proper posture and body mechanics in order to help prevent injury, dysfunction, and pain. When the spine is shifted from its proper alignment, discs between vertebrae can become stressed, leading to bulging, herniation, rupture, or fragmentation. Furthermore, disc displacement can cause spinal nerves to become compressed and surrounding areas to experience pain. Using poor body mechanics while performing tasks that involve lifting, reaching, pulling, pushing, bending, and turning (especially in a repetitive manner) can also cause injury to discs, muscles, ligaments, and tissues. Such injuries can interfere with one’s ability to participate in daily activities such as, working, resting, performing self-care tasks, cooking, cleaning, driving, and enjoying hobbies. This can become a costly issue (both spiritually and ...

One advertisement that always affects me is the ASPCA commercial that advocates for animals living (and left to die) in shelters. Before even looking at the television screen, I hear the music that plays during the advertisement and am compelled to look away. The faces of the innocent animals who have been abused, abandoned, starved, and neglected makes me depressed! Even more so, it makes me want to adopt all of them, or give all my money to helping them—both of which are not possible for me. I must use my frontal lobe, especially the executive functions of my prefrontal cortex, to refrain from dialing the ASPCA number each time the commercial airs. The emotional response that I feel can be attributed to my limbic system. Specifically, my amygdala causes me to empathize with the suffering animals. The attachment I feel to animals in general can be traced back to my hippocampus, storing my long-term memories of growing up with dogs, cats, ponies, ducks, squirrels—you name it! Both...

After reading the chapter from "Man from the South," I was intrigued by the life of the wife of the South American man. All we know of her is divulged in a few short lines at the end of the chapter, yet the story of her life quickly becomes complex. Unfortunately, the woman cannot even take the time to wash her hair without having to fear that her husband is engaged in dangerous and costly schemes. Moreover, she has lost at least three digits having to "un-do" the bets that her husband has lost. If the soldier had lost the bet, the woman's livelihood would have become even more unstable. For example, the couple may have had to move once again to prevent the southern man's incrimination. However, I will focus on her occupation as "care taker" of her scheming husband. If the bet had ended badly, the wife would assume that she could go absolutely no where without her husband -- even to shower, to sleep, to eat, or to shop alone. One strategy that co...