Motorcycle Injuries and Traumatic Brain Injuries

Motorcycle accidents are a well-known leading cause of
traumatic brain injury (TBI). Together with auto accidents,
they are the single largest cause of brain injury in the
United States. One out of every five motorcycle accidents
results in head or neck injuries, which account for most
motorcycle fatalities. And partly because drivers often
don't see motorcyclists or yield them the right-of-way,
motorcyclists are at higher risk of an accident than
drivers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
estimated that, per mile traveled in 2003, a motorcyclist
was 32 times more likely to die in an accident than a
passenger in a car.

Motorcyclists, even those who wear helmets, are most likely
to sustain non-penetrative injuries to the front of the
head, damaging parts of the brain responsible for speech
and higher functions. Those without helmets may also be
susceptible to a penetrating brain injury, in which an
object enters the head and skull, damaging the soft tissue
of the brain itself. Helmets Essential to Prevent Traumatic
Brain Injury

Study after study shows that the best way to prevent a
traumatic brain injury is to wear a helmet approved by the
federal Department of Transportation. (Some also carry
approval from the Snell Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit
organization dedicated to testing the effectiveness of
commercial helmets.) In January of 2006, only four states
in the U.S. — Colorado, Illinois, New Hampshire and
Iowa — had no law at all requiring motorcyclists to
use helmets. Twenty-six others had limited helmet laws,
usually ones that require helmets for riders who are under
18 or 21.

But even in states without strict helmet laws, riders are
still strongly advised that their chances of death or
serious head injury are seriously reduced by wearing a
helmet. A rider's failure to equip passengers, particularly
passengers who are under 21, with helmets may be considered
negligent. And if the helmet is below state and federal
standards, poorly fitted, old or has been through a
previous accident, that helmet is not safe, may not be
legal and will not prevent death, brain damage or another
traumatic injury. Other Brain Injury Risks for Motorcyclists

Even though proper equipment significantly cuts down a
motorcyclist's chance of a traumatic brain injury, it is
not foolproof. Riders must stay aware of other factors that
could lead to a motorcycle accident involving a traumatic
brain injury. Motorcyclists are advised to check their
bikes and equipment for problems before each ride; adjust
the suspension and tire pressure of the motorcycle when
carrying a passenger; wear boots, gloves and other
protective gear; and adjust for changing road conditions.

The cost of an accident that causes traumatic brain injury
can be severe. A traumatic brain injury causes brain damage
that can range from a mild concussion to severe,
life-changing disabilities such as trouble communicating,
personality changes, schizophrenia, or even a coma. Because
the brain cannot heal itself the way other organs do, these
are often lifelong problems that cost tens of thousands of
dollars to treat. They also place a severe emotional and
financial burden on the injured person's family members. If
you or someone you know is the victim of a motorcycle
accident causing traumatic brain injury, it is essential to
seek out an expert in accidents and TBI who can help
reconstruct the accident and secure compensation.

----------------------------------------------------
LegalView.com is your source for everything legal on the
web. Visit Legalview at http://www.legalview.com for access
to a complete legal database, including a free attorney
referral service. Using the service, visitors can use
resources to contact attorneys for a variety of legal
issues, such as a mesothelioma lawyer or auto accident
lawyer. Visitors can locate a Brain Injury lawyer at
http://brain-injury.legalview.com/

Think Different

Have you noticed how easy it can sometimes to be miss the
obvious? What you're looking for might be right in front of
your nose, but you simply fail to see it. Then when you do
finally see it you have a major "duh" moment and you
wonder: "Why didn't I see that before?"

As human beings we struggle with certain thought patterns
and behavior patterns that we learned from our parents or
other people that we look up to. Because these patterns are
so ingrained in our minds, we don't stop to "think" that
perhaps there's another way to see a particular situation
or another way to accomplish what we want to accomplish.

Several years ago, Apple Computer had a simply brilliant
two-word slogan: "Think Different"

It seems that it's about time for many of us to begin to
"think different" about health, fitness, diet, and time
management. Most people live their lives with all sorts of
goals that they never attain (such as weightloss). I'm
convinced that in many cases it's because they are simply
in need of some mental reprogramming.

Albert Einstein (a man well known for thinking different)
said: "The world we've created is a result of the level of
thinking we've done thus far and it produces problems, the
solution to which does not exist at the same level of
thinking."

We need a new level of thinking. We need to think different.

Let me give you a couple of simple examples of how
"thinking different" about some normal day to day
activities can have a dramatic effect on your health and
waistline.

We have been conditioned to THINK that the more convenient
something is the better it is. As a result, when you or I
take a trip to the mall, Stuff-Mart, or the local grocery
store, we generally spend extra time struggling to find the
parking spot that is as close to the front door as
possible. After all, that's the "best spot." Parking there
will get us from the car to the store the fastest (or so we
think) and with the least possible amount of walking. But
is that really better?

I'm always amazed when I think about how silly we humans
really are. We spend the entire day doing all we can to
avoid walking or any other unnecessary physical activity.
Then we pay $50 each month to join a gym so that they can
walk on a treadmill. Doesn't that seem a bit odd?

We all know that walking is beneficial. We know it will
burn fat. We know that it's good for the heart. We know
that it increases our respiration, clears the mind and
eases stress. Yet, when it comes time to look for a parking
space we forget these things because we've been conditioned
to think that it's best to get the parking place closest to
the front door so that we won't "have to walk."

So we struggle and strain to get that perfect parking spot
and in the process we waste away precious minutes that we
will never get back again. We could have simply parked at
the far end of the lot (where no one else parks), walked to
the front door and gotten started on our shopping before
those who are fighting for the best spot have even gotten
out of their cars. But our parking paradigm (and our
walking paradigm) keeps us from seeing it that way. We want
the "best" spot and we don't want to "have to walk."

Guys and girls, here's the bottom-line. It's not about
"having to walk." It's about GETTING TO WALK.

We need a new perspective. We need to begin to think
different.

The world around us is truly is a gym. Think about that
next time you pull into the Stuff-Mart parking lot or the
next time you have the opportunity to choose between riding
an elevator or taking the stairs. People pay good money to
walk on stairs that take them nowhere, when we could be
walking real stairs for free.

----------------------------------------------------
James Flanders is a health nut with a passion for helping
others get fit physically and spiritually. His DVD "Make
The World Your Gym" and CD "Eat, Drink, Move, Breathe" are
available at his fitness site:
http://www.weightlessfitness.com/

How To Get Maximum Weight Loss and Fitness Results

1. Set realistically attainable goals.
You must have tangible short-term and long-term goals for
your fitness program so that you can gauge your progress
and stay motivated. It’s crucial to have a
“baseline” before you begin so that you can
measure your success. A qualified personal trainer can give
you a complete fitness analysis that will aid you in
developing a personalized fitness program which addresses
your particular needs. Having goals, particularly
short-term goals, allows you to track your progress and
keeps you motivated when times are tough and you
don’t feel like exercising. Keeping a journal of your
cardio and resistance training workouts, as well as
tracking what you eat is truly a fitness success
“secret.” Just remember that your goals should
be realistic and attainable. The best way for you to
understand what is realistic and attainable for you is to
talk to a fitness professional – not to buy into the
“hype” of infomercials or diet and fitness
products that blatantly mislead.

2. In the beginning your fitness plan should not be overly
aggressive.
One of the biggest problems most people encounter when
starting a fitness program is rapidly depleted motivation
after only a few weeks due to an overly ambitious fitness
plan. Two days per week of 20-minute low-intensity
cardiovascular exercise (walking, jogging, biking,
swimming); and two days per week of 30-minute light
resistance training (using weights or resistance machines)
is adequate in the beginning. As you become acclimated to
the lifestyle “shift” you can add more days and
get improved results. But beware: if you try to do too much
too fast, you may end up quitting altogether. If
you’ve tried and failed doing it alone then I suggest
you get a training partner or personal trainer who will
help you sustain your motivation and accountability.

3. Eat regularly throughout the day.
Fasting or overly restrictive diets will enable you to lose
weight – in the short run. Because the weight you
lose is primarily water weight and lean muscle tone. But in
the long-run it has exactly the opposite effect you want.
When you restrict your diet, your body instinctively thinks
it’s being starved and shifts into a protective mode
by storing fat. Your body’s energy expenditures will
be fueled by your lean muscles causing your body fat to
remain essentially the same while you lose vital fluids and
muscle. The less muscle you have, the slower your
metabolism becomes, and the less fat you burn. You should
be eating three nutritionally balanced meals each day, and
you should have at least one or two healthy snacks. Avoid
fried and processed foods at all cost – talk about
dead calories! Here’s a good rule of thumb: make sure
that you are consistently “grazing” on health
foods about every three hours. This includes at least half
a gallon of fresh water every day. This keeps your
metabolic furnace firing, so you burn more at a faster rate.

4. Don’t waste your time working small muscles with
isolated movements.
If you don’t enjoy doing resistance training, or are
pressed for time, concentrate on working the largest muscle
groups with compound resistance movements. Most people want
to lose fat and tone and firm their bodies. The way to do
that is to use resistance to train the large muscle groups.
Try to incorporate compound movements, which means the
exercises you choose incorporate multiple muscle groups,
and compound movements are known for quickly increasing
your metabolism.

5. Always stretch.
Stretching improves flexibility, blood flow, muscle
recovery, low back pain and a host of other things.
Additionally, stretching can prevent injury, make you sleep
better and improve your performance in all sports. Always
stretch, but be certain not to stretch cold muscles. You
should always warm up before stretching. However, it is
very important that you know how to stretch to achieve
optimal fitness results. Never bounce, or aggressively push
and pull a muscle beyond its natural range.

6. Set exercise appointments with yourself.
Use your day-timer to set appointments for exercise –
and then stick to them. You wouldn’t miss a business
meeting or client appointment, would you? So don’t
miss your exercise appointment with yourself. Nothing is
more important than your health. Nothing. Everything else
will crumble around you if your health goes south. So make
your exercise appointments a priority. If you find it
difficult to keep these appointments, then consider hiring
a personal trainer who will hold you to your commitment.
When you have money invested, and someone waiting for you
to show up – you are much more likely to actually
show up!

7. Remember the benefits of resistance training. Remember
that feeling of euphoria you experienced after a
particularly good workout? You experienced that feeling
because the most powerful “feel good” drug in
the world – endorphins – are coursing through
your veins. If there is a panacea, it’s exercise. It
will fuel your motivation on those inevitable days when you
just don’t feel like exercising. Additionally,
exercising with resistance has tremendous benefits for your
metabolism. Further, resistance training is the only way to
sculpt, tone, and tighten your muscles on demand. Do you
want shapelier legs? Resistance training will give it to
you. How about a firm perfectly shaped rear? Resistance
training will give it to you. Firm tummy, defined arms and
a strong back? Resistance training will give it to you.
Being physically fit affects every single aspect of your
life: you sleep better, eat better, love better, overcome
stress better, work better, communicate better and
definitely look better!

8. Never Ever skip breakfast.
If you want to maximize your fitness results or fat-loss
efforts, you’ve got to eat breakfast. Even if you
don’t exercise at all – breakfast remains the
most important meal of the day. Your breakfast should
contain complete proteins and complex carbohydrates A great
breakfast is oatmeal (not the pre-packaged, pre-sweetened
kind) with a little honey and banana and a protein drink.
Or try scrambled egg whites with Healthy Choice turkey
sausage.

----------------------------------------------------
Machelle Lee owns and operates The Invisible Gym in Santa
Cruz, CA. Her mission is to inspire people to become
physically active and enjoy the benefits of a balanced,
healthy lifestyle. For more information and questions you
can visit her website.

http://www.the-invisible-gym.com/

As Seen On TV Fitness Equipment- How Not to Get Scammed Women

Its three o’clock in the morning and you can not seem
to sleep. So you turn on the TV and see an infomercial
for some fitness equipment. You might be seeing a
celebrity who you know and like endorsing the product.
Or, you will see unbelievable before and after photos of
people who like you struggled with getting fit. You see
women who have struggled with weight all their life, or
have recently had children and can’t seem to get fit
again. These commercials make promises that you too can
lose weight without doing any work by buying the product.
But do these products work or are they preying on you and
your struggles?

One of the most played infomercials you might see are for
Electrical Muscle Stimulators (EMS) these are the
commercials that show women and men with rock hard abs and
give the impression that you can lay out in the sun all day
wearing an EMS around your abs and in no time, you too will
have flat, hard rock abs. Guess what, there is no
evidence that EMS will improve strength or weight loss and
to say that you can flatten your abs without any exercise
is simply not true.

You will also see infomercials for fitness products that
promise you results by working out for three minutes a day.
The truth is, there is just no way you can lose weight
with only three minutes of activity a day. Recent studies
have shown that you have to exercise for at least 45
minutes a day to burn fat. Some studies even recommend
that you double that amount to at least 90 minutes.

Perhaps one of the biggest infomercial scams has to do with
abs machines. There is not a woman out there who has not
wished they had the rock hard abs they see on celebrities
and models. Due to this, there is an overwhelming amount
of abs equipment on the market today and infomercials are
taking full advantage of this and making empty promises.
There is no way possible one machine would can get give you
rock hard abs. Also look at how a lot of the machines are
designed. A majority of them mimic the motions of
crunches. Plus you can not tighten your abs alone with
just doing one thing. Sure those machines might help
build a lot of muscle, but you need to get rid of the layer
of fat that is overlaying them. In order to do that you
need to have a good cardio routine.

Not all infomercials are scams though. There is some
really good as seen on TV fitness equipment, especially if
you are tight on cash and want to have some fitness
equipment. Some of the Elliptical trainers you will see
will give you a good low impact cardio work out. Some of
the weight training equipment will work good for you also.

A rule of thumb is to avoid anything that promises your
pounds to melt away in just minutes a day. You can not
lose weight in just minutes. No infomercial is going to
give you the secret to getting fitness results. You
already have the secret, do not let the infomercials tempt
you with short cuts.

----------------------------------------------------
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revealing the hidden secrets to having that body you desire
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and you will see results right now within the next 24 hours
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Supercharge Your Workout

One of the best ways to keep seeing consistent results from
your workouts is to change things up on a regular basis.

For years I basically worked out the same way week in week
out, month in month out, year in and year out. What
happened? Eventually not much. I reached a plateau. My
muscles adapted and I stopped making progress. Don't get me
wrong, I was still in good shape. However, I wasn't seeing
the external results that I was after.

I know I'm not the only one who has fallen into that rut.
When I used to workout at the local gym I remember seeing
the same people doing the same routines the same way week
after week just like me. Guess what? Most of them weren't
making much progress either. There were a few exceptions,
but overall, I think most people were disappointed with the
results of doing the same old thing.

Listen and listen carefully. Settling for the same old same
old when it comes to your workout is a very bad decision.
Not only does it lead to boredom, which leads to losing
motivation, which may lead to an end of working out
altogether. But, it also leads to stalling on a plateau. On
the other hand, changing things up on a regular basis can
keep your workouts interesting, keep you motivated and keep
you seeing great results.

Simply making small adjustments to your workout program on
a regular basis will keep your mind engaged and keep your
muscles guessing. That will equate to increases in
strength, better muscle definition and greater fat loss.

Let me give you some examples of how you can change things
up.

If you enjoy jogging you can shock your system by adding a
few sprints into the mix. Not only will this make life more
interesting, but if will really boost your metabolism.

Every few minutes kick yourself up near your maximum speed
and hold it for twenty or thirty seconds (or whatever you
can handle), then slow back down to a jog. A few minutes
later, do it again and then again and again. Adding five or
six sprints to a jogging routine can have a huge impact.
This is called Interval Training, and studies have shown
that it can increase the effectiveness of your workout BIG
TIME. It will literally supercharge your routine.

This same technique also works with strength training. For
instance, when you work your upper body, if you are in the
habit of starting a workout with push-ups, then moving on
to pull-ups, then moving on to whatever, try changing the
order of the exercises and you'll be surprised at what
happens!

You can also alter the tempo of your repetitions. If you
generally move in a steady, up down, up down motion, change
it up. Instead of quickly lowering yourself down on a
push-up, squat or whatever you happen to be doing, take
several seconds for that movement (DOWN, two, three, four,
five, six), pause and hold at the bottom of the rep, then
explode back up.

For more variety you could do both the positive and the
negative of each rep very very slowly (DOWN, two, three,
four, five, six, hold, hold, hold, hold, UP, two, three
four, five six). Your total number of reps per set will
decrease, but with a slow rep you will find all sorts of
stabilizer muscles beginning to kick in that normally don't
get much of a workout at all.

If you really want to shock your system, you can try doing
what I like to call Mega Reps. Mega Reps are repetitions
that last as long as you can possibly hold the particular
position you are in. For instance a low squat, the mid
point in a push-up, the top of a pullup, or my all time
favorite handstands.

Combining, "UP one, DOWN one" movements with, "Up, two,
three four, DOWN, two three, four" and "UP, DOWN, two,
three, four" movements and the occasional Mega Rep will
give you mega results whether you are doing bodyweight
exercises or lifting weights. If you try doing mega reps
with weights be sure to always use a spotter.

----------------------------------------------------
James Flanders is a teacher and motivator specializing in
physical and spiritual health. His new CD "Eat, Drink,
Move, Breathe" and DVD "Make The World Your Gym" are
getting great reviews. They are available at his fitness
site: http://www.weightlessfitness.com/

Acne Scar Treatments – Learn How To Get Rid Of Those Scars And Have Beautiful Skin

The scars left behind by acne can cause many problems in
the lives of those that suffer from acne. Depression, lack
of confidence and self esteem are a few of the issues that
acne can create. It has been said that your skin often
reflects your inner health so it can become important to
look within to find a solution to your acne scarring.

The first step must be to stop the acne from recurring in
the first place because even if you get rid of the old acne
scars any new acne that forms will just create more
scarring. Once you have found a way to eliminate your acne
now you can concentrate on some acne scar treatments to
help heal those scars and give you more clear skin.

There are many natural and herbal solutions to reducing
your acne scars and these are great because they have very
little side effects. Of course if you know you have a
medical condition or are on certain prescription drugs then
you should first consult with your doctor before trying
anything. Make sure that you are also keeping your skin
clean by washing your face regularly and resist the
temptation to pick or pop your acne as this will make the
scars even worse.

Vitamin E Oil has been shown to have many healing
properties. It is one of the more popular scar treatments
products being used today. Most drug stores carry this
product and most brands should do the job just fine.
Antioxidants in vitamin C can also be beneficial for the
skin so consider some sort of vitamin C supplement or just
make sure you are consuming enough fruits like oranges,
grapefruits, plums and peaches. It is best to buy pure
vitamin E oil rather than using a cream that has vitamin E
added to it as these creams are not as effective.

A simple way to heal scars using a completely natural
product is lemon juice. Simply squeeze some onto a cotton
ball and apply to the affected areas. Olive oil can also be
useful in helping to heal those scars. The pure virgin
olive oil type is probably the most effective.

Drinking enough water is also important as the skin needs
water to function correctly and to be able to heal itself.
This is a great way to heal yourself from the inside out.
Often it is lack of nutrients in your body that hinders the
healing process so make sure you are consuming a balanced
diet rich in fruits and vegetables.

Aloe vera is another great product that can help to get
your skin clearer. It has many soothing and cooling effects
that help to keep the skin soft and healthy. It also helps
to reduce the swelling that occurs when you develop a scar.
Dandelion root is another plant that can be useful in
treating scars. It has the properties of reducing toxicity
and improving the overall look of your skin.

Tea tree oil can also be effective in treating acne scars.
Just add a few drops of the oil on a cotton ball and apply
to your skin a few times a day. Almond oil mixed with
lavender oil can also be a great way to reduce the
appearance of acne scars.

A more modern approach to getting rid of acne scars
involves the process of using lasers. Laser resurfacing is
a process where a laser beam is used and targeted on the
affected areas. The process can be quite expensive and it
does have some potentially negative side effects as the
laser can damage the outer layer of skin.

There are many acne scar treatments out there. The key
thing is to pick one and stick with for a while. You need
to give any particular treatment at least 30 days before
you decide whether or not it is working. Try different
approaches if you have to but remember to first get rid of
your acne because that is the original cause of your
problem to begin with. In many cases it just takes time to
heal the scars as your body has its own natural healing
mechanisms that can be quite effective as long as you give
them some time to work.

----------------------------------------------------
Jitender is a webmaster and runs many online websites. Get
rid of acne quickly and easily with our proven acne
treatment systems, visit http://www.acnetreatments4u.org/

Trasylol Manufacturer Removes Trasylol from Shelves after Increased Risk of Death Found

Under pressure from medical regulation agencies around the
globe, the manufacturer of Trasylol (generic Aprotinin)
announced on November 5, 2007 that it would remove the
controversial heart surgery drug after a study conducted in
Canada appeared to show an increased risk of death among
patients on whom the drug was used. The drug's maker,
German pharmaceutical firm Bayer AG, has stated that it
still believes the drug to be beneficial. However the study
in question, conducted by the Ottawa Health Institute, had
to be stopped after it appeared that among the heart and
valve surgery patients in the study, though those given
Trasylol had increased risk of death, compared to those
patients given two older antifibrinolytic drugs used in the
study.

Antifibrinolytic drugs such as Trasylol are used during
heart surgery because they slow the breakdown of blood
clots during, and thus can prevent excessive bleeding.
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) there
are not many alternatives when it comes to patients at
risk for excessive bleeding during heart surgery. Thus, the
FDA is working with Bayer to phase Trasylol out of the
marketplace in a way that does not cause shortages of other
drugs used for reducing bleeding during surgery. Therefore,
at this point there will be no complete Trasylol recall.
However, these recent negative findings concerning Trasylol
are only the next in a long line of safety concerns and
warnings that have been documented by the FDA.

In September 2006, Bayer A.G. was faulted by the FDA for
not revealing during testimony the existence of a
commissioned retrospective study that concluded Trasylol
carried potentially greater risks than other similar
antifibrinolytic drugs. The FDA was alerted to the study by
one of the researchers involved. Although the FDA issued a
statement of concern they did not change their
recommendation that the drug may benefit certain
subpopulations of patients. In a Public Health Advisory
Update dated October 3, 2006, the FDA recommended that
"physicians consider limiting Trasylol use to those
situations in which the clinical benefit of reduced blood
loss is necessary to medical management and outweighs the
potential risks" and carefully monitor patients. Due to the
necessity for such drugs in hear surgery, the FDA did not
recommend any withdrawal or Trasylol recall, but did issue
a new Trasylol warning label to strengthen safety warnings
concerning Trasylol.

This trend of potentially dangerous findings concerning
Trasylol illustrates sometimes that once a drug is approved
by the FDA, halting its sale is exceedingly difficult.
Experts on FDA advisory panels are often hesitant to take
widely used medicines out of doctors' hands, even when
their safety is uncertain. For this reason it is important
for anyone who may have had Trasylol used during a surgical
procedure to consult with their doctor about the potential
risks involved. The need for serious consultation
concerning the safety of Trasylol is perhaps even more
important for those who may potentially require Trasylol in
a future surgical procedure.

For anyone who believes that, in addition to a medical
consultation, they might require any kind of legal advice,
contacting an experienced Trasylol law firm may be the best
course of action. A Trasylol lawyer experienced in the
intricacies of the complex situation involved in this case
would be able to offer guidance and information to anyone
who may have been affected, or who may have had a loved one
affected. Getting in touch with an expert Trasylol attorney
can be as easy as filling out the Trasylol lawyer case
evaluation form at the top or bottom of this page. Get
advice you need on any potential Trasylol lawsuit today!

----------------------------------------------------
LegalView.com is your source for everything legal on the
web. Visit Legalview at http://www.legalview.com for access
to a complete legal database, including a free attorney
referral service. Using the service, visitors can use
resources to contact attorneys for a variety of legal
issues, such as a mesothelioma lawyer or auto accident
lawyer. Visitors can locate a Trasylol Aprotinin lawyer at
http://trasylol-aprotinin.legalview.com/

Surgery for urinary stress incontinence may make incontinence worse

Women who submit to surgery for urinary stress incontinence
should be aware that they may be taking part in what may be
nothing more than a large scale clinical trial. Countless
women's lives have been devastated by needless and
ineffective surgery for urinary stress incontinence.

During both a TVT surgery (tension-free vaginal tape), and
the newer TOT (transobturator tape), a tape is drawn under
the urethra. The theory is that the tape will support the
urethra so that under the 'stress' of sneezing, coughing,
etc., it will eliminate the leaking of urine that women who
suffer from stress incontinence are familiar with. These
procedures are most definitely not risk-free and leave some
women suffering more after the surgery than before.

"In most continence surgery the benefit of restoring
continence is often at the expense of developing new
symptoms, or exacerbating existing lower urinary tract
symptoms". This is from a study undertaken by the
Department of Urology, Mid-Western Regional Hospital,
Limerick, Ireland, and the Department of Obstetrics and
Gynaecology in the Regional Maternity Hospital, Limerick,
Ireland, and documented in the National Institute of Health
Sciences Bulletin, June 2004.

The first TVT was performed in Sweden in 1995. The TOT was
introduced from France in 2001. The long term results of
these surgeries may be catastrophic for women. Follow up
studies are generally carried out within three years of the
operation. Three years is not long enough to qualify as a
long term study considering the life-span of women today.

Health services around the world are investing billions in
solutions for urinary stress incontinence that may make the
problem worse or create new problems. One recent hospital
report states that 57% of women presenting for urodynamic
evaluation over the course of the year had already had some
form of pelvic surgery.

Urinary stress incontinence occurs due to a weakness in the
pelvic floor muscles. "There is a better way than surgery
to correct most cases of pubococcygeal weakness" Dr Arnold
Kegel, TIME magazine, 3 Dec 1956.

The better way Dr Kegel, an American gynaecologist, and
Associate Professor of gynaecology at the University of
Southern California was referring to over 50 years ago is
that of properly exercising the pelvic floor muscle against
resistance. He was alarmed at the amount of pelvic surgery
being carried out back in the 1940's. Resistance exercise
was a method he developed which reduced the amount of
unnecessary pelvic surgery, and often greatly improved the
sex lives of the women who practised it – a welcome
side-effect for once! Resistance exercise was found to be
so much more effective than surgery in eliminating urinary
stress incontinence in women that by 1950, routine surgery
for urinary stress incontinence was no longer carried out
in Dr Kegel's hospital. The success rate of 93% that Dr
Kegel achieved with resistance exercise in alleviating
urinary stress incontinence far surpasses the success rate
acheived with today's 'minimally invasive' surgeries.

"On the strength of these favorable results urinary stress
incontinence in women is no longer routinely treated by
surgical intervention at...LA County General Hospital." Dr
Kegel (A progress in Gynecology 1950, p768).

Resistance exercise must not be confused with the
nonsensical instruction to squeeze your pelvic floor
muscles against nothing. This cannot prevent or alleviate
urinary stress incontinence in the same way that working
the pelvic floor muscles against resistance can. Just look
at any fitness gym – any muscle toning is ALWAYS done
against some form of resistance. Pelvic floor exercises
were never meant to be done the way they are taught today.
They were ALWAYS meant to be performed against resistance.
It could be argued that anyone who instructs women to
squeeze against nothing may contribute to the problem, as
women conclude that pelvic floor exercises don't work for
them and opt for surgery as a result.

A ‘repair job' can never be better than a woman
strengthening her body to the degree that a ‘repair'
is unnecessary. A ‘repair job' to alleviate urinary
stress incontinence may cause more problems in the long
term than it resolves. Both the TVT and TOT involve the
formation of scar tissue to fix the mesh in place. It is
often only a matter of time before the repair becomes
ineffective as the weakness in the pelvic structure
increases, and then the incontinence will eventually
reappear. There may come a point after successive surgeries
where no further surgery may be carried out. The woman may
then be left permanently incontinent. Dr Kegel observed
that scar tissue from previous surgery contributed to the
failure rate of the few women who did not succeed with
resistance exercise.

More doctors today are becoming aware that resistance
exercise, not surgery, is the answer to the problem of
urinary stress incontinence. As resistance exercise
becomes more widely practised we can expect to see a
significant reduction in the numbers of women suffering
from urinary stress incontinence and from the after-effects
of a surgery they may have been easily able to avoid.

A basic understanding of the value of resistance exercise
would allow a woman to make a more informed choice about
consenting to a surgery that may not be in her best long
term interest.

© Abigail O'Donovan 2007

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Abigail O'Donovan is a mum of two and the founder of
Kegelmaster Europe. She completely alleviated urinary
stress incontinence suffered for 17 years within just 3
weeks with resistance exercise.
She has seen other women cancel their appointment with the
surgeon and is committed to raising awareness of this
option for women. Discover how you can stop urinary stress
incontinence without surgery at
http://www.kegelmaster.co.uk