Greg LaRochelle
Clocking in at a little more than two and a half minutes, the Rolling Stones studio rendition of “You Gotta Move” just seems like a nifty number to motivate a microbreak for about the same length of time. Indeed, the twang from the electric slide-guitar accompaniment might inspire you to glide across the kitchen floor (if you re working from home) and you don t need to have moves like Jagger to strut your stuff with your head held high. Yeah, you gotta move regularly during the day to shake off the static posture blues and here s why.
Minimal movement coupled with awkward posture, repetition, and excessive force creates insidious stress on the body. Prolonged static tasks such as sitting at a computer workstation or assembling widgets on a production line will eventually cause fatigue. Muscles tense, joints stiffen, flexibility diminishes, and a reduction in blood flow to the tired tissue ensues. In time, with more than one hit (to the body) from the deleterious
04/14/21
Greg LaRochelle
As our nation moves towards an end to this deadly pandemic, we continue to be faced with another epidemic in the form of distracted driving. But hope springs eternal with April designated as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. And it s especially the hope of one mother that we keep a laser focus on our driving to avoid tragedy. In 2008, Shelley Forney lost her 9-year old daughter, Erica, when she was struck head-on by a distracted driver in an SUV while riding her bike home. Erica passed away two days later on Thanksgiving Day. Largely through this grieving mother s advocacy, Congress unanimously passed a resolution in 2010 declaring April as the month to promote greater awareness to preventing driver distraction. Sadly, with a spike in motor vehicle deaths last year, perhaps every month should be recognized as an opportunity to promote awareness to this menacing over-the-road risk.