If you have been suffering from recurring shoulder or neck pain, then you will want to consider the results of this study.
Reported in January 2008 in Arthritis & Rheumatism, women who performed hand-weight exercises for their shoulder and neck muscles decreased their pain 70-80%. And they only practiced the exercises three times per week.
Strength exercises using hand-weights, resistance tubing, and machines can reduce upper-body tension by several means. They increase blood-flow to tight, restricted muscles. They make muscles work in balance when poor posture and alignment causes imbalances.
Here are four simple hand-weight exercises that reduce tension in the neck and shoulders:
1) Shrugs- Holding a heavy weight in each hand, keep the arms straight, raise and lower your shoulders in a shrug. You can roll them back a bit as you raise them. This relieves a lot of tension in the upper-body and reduces neck stiffness.
2) Reverse flyes- Lean your torso over so that it is parallel with the ground. Your body should look like an L. Lift the chest forward slightly. Holding a light weight in each hand, lift arms straight out to your sides. Keep the arms mostly straight. Keep the torso still: avoid lifting the torso as you raise the weights.
3) Deltoid raises- Stand tall and hold a light weight in each hand. Lift the arms straight out to the sides. Keep the arms and hands just slightly in front of the body.
4) Rows- These will target the neck and shoulders if you focus on the muscles in the middle and upper back. Similar to the reverse flyes, lean your torso over so it is parallel with the floor. But use heavier weights than the ones you used for the flyes. Instead of keeping arms straight, bend the elbows up to your sides. Squeeze between your shoulder blades as you raise the weights.
Practice 12-15 repetitions of each exercise, two to three times. If you can raise the weight 15 times without feeling challenged, then you should use more weight.
In the study, participants felt as much as an 80% reduction in pain in only 10 weeks. When you start practicing targeted exercises, you may feel instant relief. Over months and years, you may feel complete, long-lasting relief.
By: Nina Schnipper
Archive for January, 2010
Shoulder and Neck Pain – Study Shows 80% Shoulder and Neck Pain Reduction, 4 Simple Relief Exercises
January 26th, 2010Case Study – A Power Play For Howard
January 23rd, 2010
As a sophomore during the 1995-96 NBA season, Juwan Howard posted superstar-like numbers for the Washington Bullets. The fifth pick in the 1994 NBA Rookie Draft was immediately courted by many teams as he was about to be a free agent in the 1996-1997 season.
Although publicly stating he wanted to stay with the Bullets, Howard and his agent, David Falk, were not attracted to the team’s seven years $78 million offer. Howard felt that his market value was far more than that. Then Miami Heat offered a 7-year/$98M contract. The Bullets pushed their offer to $89M, but stopped short of matching the Heat’s offer.
On July 15, 1996, Howard signed a $101 million contract with the Miami Heat. However, this contract was voided by the NBA citing that the Heat exceeded its salary cap. On August 5, 1996 Howard returned to the folds of the Bullets after signing a seven-year contract worth $105 million. The Heat went to court to challenge the NBA’s ruling.
Assumptions
The NBA indicated that the Heat violated its salary cap and only used this as basis to void its contract with Howard. However, salary cap violations come with strict penalties – $5 million penalty to the team and a season long suspension for Heat Coach Pat Riley. The NBA maintained that the Heat already had an agreement with center Alonzo Mourning before signing Howard and, that the bonuses of two other players were not counted against the cap when they should have been.
Vantage points
1. Impose the $5 million penalty against the Heat and season suspension for Coach Riley.
2. Give concessions to Miami for it to stay competitive in the league during the season.
3. Leave the case to courts to settle the matter.
Diagnosis
Impose Sanctions against the Heat
For the NBA to pursue its allegations of salary cap violations against the Bullets it would have to seek imposition of the $5 million penalty against the Team and a season long suspension of Coach Pat Riley.
The league maintained it had evidence that the Heat had an agreement with its center Alonzo Mourning prior to signing Howard – a violation of salary cap rules. The league also maintained that that the bonuses in the contracts of Tim Hardaway and PJ Brown were not tallied the cap by Miami, and that those bonuses should have been included. These allegations, as expected, were denied by the Heat camp.
Voiding Howard’s contract with the Heat and imposing severe penalties on the team may have been the right thing to do, but many things would have to be given consideration – the Heat can contest the matter in court and the league could face a backlash from Miami fans and other fans of the league who might view this action as too much on the part of the NBA. Remember, the Heat took pains to prepare for drawing Howard to Miami unloading several of its high value players to make room for Howard. Now left with a shallow roster of talents, Miami will be facing an uphill challenge to stay competitive and maintain its base of loyal fans in market rich Miami.
If the Heat decides to slug it out in court, as would be expected if the matter reaches arbitration, the players union and the team owners would be coming into the picture as the union was supporting Howard and the Heat was getting sympathy from some team owners. In that situation, a lock-out scenario could be inevitable and it’s one scenario that the NBA – from Howard Stern down to the last man in a team’s staff – dreads.
Give Concessions to Miami
The NBA can opt not to pursue sanctions against the Heat as a concession. At the same time the league should recognize the Heat’s disadvantages- if losing Howard is not enough, losing key players just to make salary room for Howard has given a serious dearth in team competitiveness. The league should stay away from giving impressions that it favors certain teams.
Coach Riley had suggested that the Bullets’ first round pick should have been given to the Heat. Giving Miami concessions would allow it to stay competitive and maintain their fan base.
The NBA decided that that Washington can keep the players it had signed up after renouncing Howard – Tracy Murray and Lorenzo Williams, Rod Strickland and Harvey Grant. These are high caliber players that Washington could not have been able to sign up if their initial deal with Howard pushed through in the first place. Sure the Bullets forfeit their next year’s first-round draft choice for the right to re-sign Howard still they got a huge concession in this case.
The league can also require the Bullets to release one or both of their free agent signings (Tracy Murray and Lorenzo Williams) and pay the difference between the final offer for any player cut and the deal they signed with the Bullets.
In the overall picture, Washington became a powerful team by a stroke of circumstances. And the Heat just had to start from scratch, again.
Leave the case to courts to settle the matter
The Heat had gone to Florida state court and was granted a temporary injunction. According to the Heat, the judge’s order stated that Howard could not sign with another team, and that the league could not approve Howard’s contract with the Bullets, unless the contract recognized the prior validity and superiority of Miami’s contract. If the Heat won the case it would have been disastrous for the league as its powers to scrutinize and approve player contracts will be put to question. Team owners can follow suit and bend the salary cap rules then bring the matter to court and have a reference case to peg against.
On the other hand, if the league wins the case and Miami gets sanctioned, the Heat would claim that David Stern succumbed to pressure by the Bullets and, more importantly, by the players’ union -an idea that would not sit well with a lot of team owners.
Prescription
The NBA is successful because it thrives on balanced competition. And one way that ensures that balance is the implementation of a salary cap. If not for the cap the richer teams will raid the players’ roster with abandon. Fans like to see healthy competition; they don’t pay to see their team to get trashed by other teams with deeper resources. I would say impose the sanctions on Miami. The spiraling salaries of players need to be put in check. Otherwise, what’s a salary cap for? Ultimately it is the fans who pay for the spectacle that is the NBA. And they will pay more if the league loses sight of this basic premise.
By: Carlo Simbajon
Case Study; Staples VS Office Depot
January 21st, 2010
Many people have shown done case studies on the Office Supply Industry and there has been literally an over kill of white papers, research and even books written on the issue. Currently in the market there are several such category killer businesses in that sectors such as Office Max, Office Depot and Staples. Indeed, we should also not forget Corporate Express either.
Most people and consumers believe this sector to be a retail endeavor, yet that is not really so. In fact the biggest income generator is the catalog and Internet sales to Corporations and it is know that businesses which have 20 or more employees spend $200 per year in office supplies. Are you shocked by that high number; well you should not be if you are in a small business for yourself and post all your office supplies receipts into Quick Books and fill out your Schedule C tax return. Small Businesses often spend even more.
Even better or worse depending on your perspective; Government Agencies spend $250 to $400 per person in office supplies. Paper Pushers terminology comes to mind? Even considering the huge push of the Government Paper Work Reduction Act office supply expenditures continue to increase.
Now for an interesting kicker; Staples was the first office supply store retailer to really get into the Internet Ordering and Delivery to Companies. Office Max and Office Depot followed into this lucrative market and this has affected Corporate Express, which is solely Corporate Office Supply Delivery, not retail office supplies.
Why is this of interest? Well simple Office Depot outsourced its phone ordering call in lines and those who answer the phone are not in the United States. So now the Staples Corporate Sales Forces are going ballistic with Corporate clients changing companies for office supplies. Moral of the story; Outsourcing does not always make sense. Consider this in 2006.
By: Lance Winslow
