Rolling Through Your Foot in Dance

A staff member of mine was talking to me again about how she's been hearing from her dance teachers about rolling through the foot. I've been told it a thousand times by my teachers, but have you ever stopped and actually thought about how important it is to roll through your foot? It seems like I am hearing it almost every time I'm in class now, so there must be some importance to it.

What do I mean by rolling through the foot? Rolling through the foot can be done either from toe to heel or heel to toe, but most commonly in ballet it is the former. When you roll through your foot you should do exactly that: from your toes, to the ball of your foot, and then finally your heel.

This is extremely important in ballet. Think of how you not only bring your tendu out, but in as well. Are you gripping the floor? Then you are not rolling through your foot. When you make the transition from ballet slippers to pointe shoes, you need to be able to roll through your foot both on your way up and on your way down. If you do not roll through your foot in pointe shoes on the way down, then you will land flat footed and make that dreaded pointe shoe on floor noise (We all know that sound, right?)

Try this: stand in first position and take a tendu a la second. Your heel should be the first thing that leaves the floor, then the ball of your foot, then your toes point. You should feel the resistance against the floor. Now bring your foot back in to first position. It should be ball of foot then heel. When you put the ball of your foot down, you should be thinking of Barbie shoes (You know how Barbie is perpetually walking on her toes, almost like she is on pointe forever?). Think of bringing your heels together as well as your thighs. Now try a saute in first position. When you land back on the floor, are you going toe, ball, heel? You should be.

Dancers who do not roll through their feet are prone to many foot problems, including bunions, hammertoes (from gripping instead of relaxing your toes), cramping, as well as injuries from landing incorrectly from jumps. Rolling through the foot from jumps prevents injuries like sprains and breaks.

Next time you are in class, make a concerted effort to roll through your foot, especially at the bar, where good habits are made and bad habits are broken. You should notice a difference in your tendus, jumps, and the power in your foot.

How to Prevent Foot Injuries in Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes, Or Without Shoes

Here is some basic anatomical facts about your feet:

*** The support is provided by 28 bones *** 19 muscles attach to these bones by tendons *** 30 different joints held together by up to 117 ligaments allow finely detailed movement *** There are many yards of blood vessels and a complex nerve system *** Each foot has 125,000 sweat glands *** Everything is covered by sheets or bands of tough connective tissue called fascia

When you consider that a ballerina or a male ballet dancer spends years training, and then performing, and each time their feet hit the ground they are impacted by three to four times their body weight, that's amazing! Proper training and care of the feet is essential. Even beyond preventing injuries, accurate technique will contribute to preventing early arthritis as well.

Shin splints, a burning stinging pain in the front calf muscles, sprained ankles, bone bruises, and blisters from pointe shoes, are foot injuries that can be prevented by building strength specifically in the sole of the foot.

Weakness in the foot muscles causes the lower leg muscles to over work, leading to chronic tension and loss of muscle tone. This will develop into tendonitis in the Achilles tendon which can become chronic and end a career, at the worst. Chronic tension in any set of muscles in the body will cause mis-alignments, and strain, in the next joint/muscle group, and the next, and so on.

Prevention then, is understanding your foot's construction. Look at photos or drawings, and x-rays of feet. How to use the fact of repetitive motion in ballet (just try to count the number of times you point your foot in a ballet or modern dance class) as strictly a plus, and not a danger to your feet, requires extra study and awareness.

Listening to your body, and paying attention to pain, should be considered part of your training. Aches and sorenesses should go away with warm soaks using epsom salts, ginger or apple cider vinegar, followed by icing. But pain of a sharp, burning or stinging nature must be addressed.

Your foot is brilliantly structured to prevent harmful movement - such as sickling in, and then landing that way, and lo - you have a sprained ankle. However, this can be treated immediately and properly and never cause future discomfort.

Understanding your foot shape and bone structure tells you exactly what your potential is, to increase flexibility, or control hyper-mobility to your best advantage.

For example, if you think you should have more arch to your foot, the shape of your individual bones determine that. You can increase your ankle flexibility to get up onto pointe better, and improve the line of your foot and leg. The shape of your bones will limit the actual arch shape, to some degree.

Famous athletes and dancers actually buy insurance for their body parts. Your insurance is how you take care of your feet. Soaking or rolling a pinky ball around under your feet, while you study or watch tv, takes up no extra time.

Letting your parents know that you have a persistent pain and that you need to have it checked by a professional is important. A visit with a physiotherapist or chiropractor and an x-ray is not terribly expensive, and the completion of your training may depend on it.

Navigating With GPS

Global Positioning System (GPS) is an international navigational system that was primarily developed as a means of helping the Defense Department of the United States. The idea was to use this navigational system to help the military forces track their routes or find new ones. GPS is used by the military to narrow down on the sites of weapons as well as track the movement of troops, friendly or enemy. They are also extremely useful in search and rescue operations.

This is how GPS works. It is a structured set of 24 satellites that constantly orbit the earth's surface. The transmission signals from these satellites are received by base stations on earth. With a number of varieties of servers and hardware devices, these base stations store, analyze and even interpret these signals into organized data. This data is then stored and can be used in several ways with the help of advanced technology.

GPS is available in a number of forms and can be incorporated into phones, cars and even in watches. The auto Global Positioning System helps you navigate with a real-time road map and charts your route from your starting point to your destination. Here are simple and helpful ways in which you can use GPS. To use GPS, you need to install a receiver as this is what will help you connect with the satellite via a signal.

Your receiver will have to be switched on and then you will have to use the control pad to input the country you are based in. Once you find it, you will have to press enter. You will next have to mark the elevation. If you are unsure of this, you can just mark it as zero and continue. Once you put in the current time and date, your GPS is ready-to-use. Locations that you commonly visit can be saved on the GPS. If you are making any modifications to the location, you will need to input longitude and latitude and press enter after each modification.

The advantage with GPS is that it can be used not only in the military but also by individuals. It gives an almost-accurate position irrespective of the location, all over the globe. This allows you to get to your point of destination in the quickest possible manner. Mobile phones have it as a freeware that can instantly be downloaded and installed.

Using GPS is one of the fastest and simplest ways of ensuring that you do not get lost no matter where in the world you are.

Alaskan Lodges: Truly Experience Alaska

Many people vacation to exotic places to absorb the breathtaking beauty that the land has to offer and take part in the diverse cultural activities only to spend their nights in a run of the mill, standard hotel room. What fun is there in that? Truth be told, one hotel room is identical to another. When these people wake up, do they know where they are? Are they really experiencing the land and culture of their chosen getaway destination?

Take Alaska for instance. By day, this magical land has a lot to offer: scenic glacier cruises, kayaking, fishing, hiking, wildlife, music, fine dining. Who wants that magic to end when you go to your room? Wouldn't it make much more sense to fill your nights with something that is uniquely Alaska? With Alaskan lodges, you can do exactly that.

Situated in prime locations all throughout the state, rustic, beautiful Alaskan lodges bring the Alaskan experience to a whole new level. The lodges feature lush accommodations nestled in some of the most scenic and beautiful parts of the state. Most Alaskan lodges are stunningly constructed and decorated to reflect the Alaskan heritage and the surrounding countryside. Many are even themed to your favorite activities such as fishing.

Imagine the experience of sleeping in a cozy cabin overlooking the scenic turquoise water of the Kenai River. Every morning you would awake to the sounds of the surrounding wilderness and think about which activity you were going to enjoy that day: hiking, rafting or guided fishing.

Or you could stay at one of the many gorgeous lodges in and around the Denali National Park, home of Mt. McKinley. These lodges feature fine dining, luxurious accommodations and views that are spectacular. Imagine waking up in the morning to a breathtaking view of a grazing moose or Mt. McKinley from the privacy of your own room.

Not only do the Alaskan lodges surrounding Denali have a lot to offer, the park itself can keep you intrigued for days. Home to wildlife such as moose, grizzly bears and gray wolves, Denali National Park offers a wide variety of activities including midnight sun golfing, ATV adventures, airborne glacier viewing and landings, river rafting, music and exquisite dining.

And Alaskan lodges can be quite inexpensive if you are a smart shopper. While some lodge accommodations which include guided tours can be nearly $500 per night, you can find lodging for as little as $100 per night. That's almost the price of a standard hotel room.

So what are you waiting for? Why not see for yourself what Alaskan lodges have to offer. You may just find yourself making a reservation.

Don't Lose Sleep Over Your Multi-Specialty Coding Worries

Multi-specialty coding is more of a necessity for surgery, where coders are required to work across specialties. As a 'floater', you will have to research and document multiple specialty CPT and ICD-9 codes to get reimbursement. Surgery has the most varied type of specialties which can include any and every part of the human body. Surgical areas include plastics, interventional radiology (IR), general surgery, cardio-thoracic and many other surgical sub-specialties.

Working as a multi-specialty coder will require you to code for both inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures. A common scenario other than surgery, where the need for multi-specialty coding arises is when your physician coordinates with another physician to go on with the treatment. The biggest challenge in multi-specialty coding is keeping yourself up-to-date at all times, across specialties. Along with time constraints, you could face difficulty in getting updates from different experts in a specified time. You have to accommodate yourself with the changes that come without a warning every year. Your best option is attending a multi-specialty coding conference where everything will be discussed.

However, unlike the usual conferences where you would be stuck on a single specialty, you need to have access to all the specialties to get the maximum benefit. This will ensure that you get all the knowledge you want and at the same time, a cost-saving opportunity too. Meeting industry experts and advanced-level coding professionals has its own benefits - you get to know and understand real-life coding complexities much better. The 2009 Coding and Reimbursement Conference, Orlando, Fl is one such upcoming conference where you can jump across specialties, that too, at no extra charge! The specialties at the conference include cardiology, emergency medicine, evaluation & management, family practice and internal Medicine, ob-gyn, ophthalmology, optometry, otolaryngology, pediatrics, and urology. The conference will provide you a wealth of knowledge on various specialties which can help you code more efficiently and avoid pitfalls.

The Importance of Risk Assessment For Your Business

Starting, owning and operating a business requires taking a series of risks. For the talented risk taker, these leaps of faith will result in professional success and large profits. Sadly, risks can also result in financial hardship, heartache, and failure in business. This is why it is important that you never take a large risk without analyzing the decision. One of the most effective methods for contemplating and research the possible outcome of your decision is professional risk assessment.

Risk assessment is the process of using analytical methods to quantitatively and qualitatively calculate the potential gain and potential loss for your proposed endeavor. From there it is possible to weigh the potential gain against the risk of loss. When the assessment shows that your potential for success is higher than the risk itself, you can make your decision with confidence that it is a risk worth believing in.

Depending on your company and business field, there are many different times when it is appropriate to undergo an extensive risk assessment. These typically include the following

When you plan on starting a new business If you are expanding your business or opening a new branch When you plan to change suppliers If you are interested in expanding your market When you decide to manufacture new products or offer new servicesThese business choices have the potential to help you make more profit while further developing your business and professional interests. However, as with many business ventures, these steps towards success can also be your downfall. Luckily there are trained professionals who can help you assess the risks associated with your choice so that you can make the best decisions for your organization.