ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 19, 1996 TAG: 9603190051
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Health Notes
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY|
About 50 million of us have arthritis or chronic neck and back pain, but we could do more about it than we do, says a Florida senior citizen who helped ease her own pain.
We could get in the water and exercise the right way, not the way regular swimming has us move, says Dvera Berson, who is in her 80s.
Berson is an author of books and videos that promote exercise for aching bodies and warn people away from arthritis drugs. She said she developed the program when, at age 54, she began an eight-year bout with debilitating pain.
She took cortisone and other anti-inflammatory drugs and developed stomach ulcers and mouth ulcers from them. Gold shot treatments didn't help either. She found her solution after a friend encouraged her to move from her home in New York to Florida. In the warmth of Florida, she said, she soon learned that she didn't hurt any worse if she walked around and got in the water and moved about than she did just sitting.
From that, Berson developed a series of exercises that relax and strengthen the muscles but don't tighten them like regular swimming movements do. Her recommended exercises include standing chest- or shoulder-deep in water and doing simple side leg raises to keep the hip joints flexible. From this, the exerciser moves to intermediate and advanced movements, some of which are done in a floating position.
Berson's efforts were impressive enough that she was asked to coauthor a chapter in a medical textbook, "The Spine in Sports." Her contribution is in a section devoted to the use of water to treat arthritis and chronic disc deterioration.
She says her techniques work equally well to ward off pain for people who exercise a lot and even for computer users.
Be forewarned that the prices of her mail-order books and videos are such that it might be nice to share the cost with a friend, or get your health club to look into buying them.
To reach Dvera Berson, call (407) 368-5726. Her books and tapes are available only through mail order: S &J Books, P.O. Box 276092, Palmetto Park Station, Boca Raton, Fla. 33427-6092. The book, "Pain-Free Arthritis," self-published in 1980, is $22.50; the three-hour, two-tape video is $93. "The Berson Program to Stop Chronic Back and Neck Pain," a 91-minute video, is $39.95.
Alzheimer's caregivers|
Make a note on your calendar to brown bag it at the Roanoke Valley Graduate Center on April 5 from noon to 1 p.m. The topic will be "Development of a Computer Network for Alzheimer's Caregivers." Speakers are Janet McDaniel, associate professor, School of Nursing, and Thomas Pierce, assistant professor, Department of Psychology, Radford University. For more information or to reserve a seat - and a free drink - call 857-7900.
Patient transport|
The Virginia division of the American Cancer Society needs volunteer drivers and transportation coordinators to help get patients to and from medical treatments. If you have a car and some time, call 344-8699 in Roanoke or (800) 227-2345 and sign up. Last year in Virgnia, volunteers in the Road to Recovery program provided 12,367 rides for cancer patients.
To contact Sandra Brown Kelly, call 540-981-3393 or e-mail her at skelly2180AOL.COM.
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