Combining palm therapy, reflexogy & acupressure: ‘the Amazing Headache-Break Handshake’!

DO YOU KNOW that there is a spot on both of your hands which has been rubbed for thousands for years, bringing notable relief to headaches? According ancient Chinese medicine, this spot corresponds to the adrenal glands; clearing blockages from the adrenal glands’ energy circuit will likely bringing life force and vitality to your often ‘overworked treasures’. The big mystery is that various alternative therapies – like for example: palm therapy, hand reflexology, and acupressure – provide various explanations for why this ultimate ‘self-handshaking’ works! Olivia Rosewood (author of spiritual literature) says: “To give yourself a break from a headache or even just a bit more zip in your doo-da, find the most tender spot between your thumb and forefinger. Use your other thumb and forefinger to pinch this spot from the top and palm of your hand, the way you might pinch a penny should there be a world-wide financial crisis. Take a few deep breaths, and release this spot when you have an indication that you have unblocked this energy point: usually your pain subsides.” Source: The Huffington Post

Take a look at your 2th finger and 4th finger: is this the new palmistry?

The index finger vs. ring finger ratio could become the basis of a new type of palmistry In 2007 a British study pointed out that the intellectual talent of 7-year old children can be discovered by measuring their finger length. Was this study a new milestone for the new palmistry? The British study reaveld that pupils with long ring fingers & short ring finger are more likely to excell in numeracy; while pupils with short ring fingers & long index fingers are better at literacy. Last year professor John T. Manning – a.k.a. the ‘finger professor’ – presented his 2th book about the 2D:4D finger ratio: ‘The Finger Book‘ (2008). Recently another British hand-expert, professor Chris McManus, responded with a review of Mannings work. McManus focusses on Manning’s claim that finger-length ratios point to individual and sex differences. THE NEW PALMISTRY? Manning’s theories are build upon the belief that there is a connection between finger lengths and sexual development – via the sex hormone testosterone – which appears to implicate that whenever one sees a longer ring finger one can infer the existence of higher testosterone levels in early foetal development. The simplicity of the measure has inevitably launched a thousand research papers on hundreds of topics, finding correlations of 2D:4D with – to select just the terms used in Manning’s chapter titles – heart attacks, breast cancer, infectious diseases, skin colour, running speed, football ability, sexual attraction, homosexuality, and schizophrenia. Nevertheless, whether the new palmistry will succeed is far from clear at present since many questions remain unanswered so far. The biggest unanswered question appears to be: could your 2D:4D finger ratio provide any usefull clue regarding your personal attributes, in terms of: your genetic-, medical-, and/or psychological characteristics? SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING: • Palmistry’s digital analogue: the new Chiromancy? • News about the 2D:4D finger length ratio • The digit ratio weblog!!

The swine flu etiquette: use good hand hygiene, no handshaking, no mask, to prevent a pandemic!

DO YOU KNOW the “etiquette rules” to prevent a swine flu pandemic? It is all about hand hygiene & no handshakes! Six of the most important swine flue etiquette rules to prevent a swine flue pandemic – all are related to hand hygiene – are: • No handshaking! – No handshake, high five, nor intimate greatings such as: beso-beso, touching cheeks, air kisses; • Do not sneeze nor cough in your hands! – Use a handkerchief, tissue, or your t-shirt; • Wash your hands frequently! – Even at home, and don’t forget the soap; • Wash your hands before and after eating! Additional options are: • You can use alcohol hand cleaners when washing your hand; • The ultimate protection is to stay at home & wear a face mask – though the experts agree that the biggest benefit of a mask is when they are worn by those who are already sick! Dr. Richard Besser (acting director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control) says: “I would rather people really focus on hand washing, not giving that little kiss of greeting when you’re meeting someone, of doing those sorts of things, covering your cough and your sneeze.” Source: The Canadian Press

NASA Presented a cosmic hand in the Universe: ‘the hand of God?’

On April 17 (2009) NASA presented a Chandra X-ray observatory including a ghostly blue cloud that resembles a hand with outstretched fingers grasping a ball of fire. According the experts, the “hand” was created when a star exploded in a supernova resulting in the radiance of electromagnetic energy. The energy created a dust + gas cloud – 150 light years away from planet earth! The photo shows what appears to be ghostly blue fingers – the thumb and pinky are clearly discernible from the index-, ring- and middle fingers – reaching into a sparkling cloud of fiery red. The NASA scientists estimate that the moment captured on the photo above actually happened 17,000 years ago. Patrick Slane (NASA scientist) says: “The pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star which is spewing energy out into the space around it to create complex and intriguing structures, including one that resembles a large cosmic hand.” Source: NASA photos show giant ‘cosmic hand’

Leonid Stadnyk has the world’s largest living hand! – About the tallest man on earth.

Leonid Stadnyk has the world’s largest hand, unofficially the tallest man on earth The photo above presents a snapshot of Leonid Stadnyk while playing with his new cell phone - you may think: ‘… tiny cell phone, or large hands?’. Definitely large hands! For, Leonid Stadnyk from the Ukraine has the world’s largest living hand: measuring 31 centimeters (12.2 inch). In 2007 Leonid Stadnik was unofficially measured as the tallest man on earth: 2.59m. However in 2008 mister Stadnyk refused to be measured under new guidelines of Guinness World Records, and as a consequence the title of ‘the world’s tallest man’ is now in the hands of China’s Bao Xishun. APRIL 2009 – ANOTHER LARGE HAND This month (april 2009) another pair of ‘strange hands’ was reported about a chinese young man of 22 years old, named Zhao Liang was measured at 2.46m (8.07ft) – in the Tianjin hospital. The exact size of Zhao Liang’s hand is unknown so far, but in the picture below you can see that it is REEEAAALLLYYY very large as well. FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT IMPRESSED… Even more impressive is the life story of Robert Wadlow (1918-1940), who is likely the tallest man that ever lived on planet earth: his full body length was measured at: 2.72m (8ft, 11.1 inches), and his hand was measured at: 32.4 cm (12.75 inches) – quite an impressive ‘hand fact’! Source: Leonid Stadnyk has the world’s largest hand

My hands feel like ‘pins and needles in my fingers’! – PARAESTHESIA

Many people often fee tired and experience the feeling like having ‘pins and needles in your fingertips’. It might be a sign that you’re having a vitamin B12 deficiency – especially if you’re a vegan. However, there are other causes for having this rather painful feeling in the hands and fingers. The medical name for feeling pins and needles in your fingers is ‘paraesthesia‘. Paraesthesia is a sign that sensory nerves in the area of the tingly sensation are being irritated – sometimes this condition is combined with small colour variations in the hand (pink/yellow spots). The condition may be the result of a disease or damage to the nerves themselves, damage to the blood supply, or disease of the surrounding tissues (arthritis the nerves themselves get affected). Pins and needles are a more complaint as people get older – poor blood supply is then likely the cause because of atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries. Millions of people in the developed world suffer on the feeling of having pins and needles in the hands & fingers – and often the conditions is associated by the people with RSI. So, there are a variety of possible causes: • Carpal Tunnel syndrome; • Multiple sclerosis; • Vitamin deficiencies; • Metabolic disorders (e.g. diabetes); • Poisoning (heavy metals); • Infections; Karen Evennett (free lance journalist) says: “There’s far more to reading hands than fortune-tellers’ mumbo jumbo – it can be a life-saving skill if you know what to look for. Pins and needles in your fingers is a sign that you’re lacking in vitamin B12, which is essential for energy and the nervous system. A deficiency is more likely if you’re vegan, as the main sources are meat, fish, eggs and dairy.” Source: Your health is written in your hands

Fingernails are the barometer of your health – what do your hands reveal?

What do your fingernails say about your health? According to the ‘American Academy of Dermatologists’, your nails may reveal a lot more than what you expected! In order to understand the nature of fingernail problems, it is necessary to have some knowledge of the structure of a normal nail. The basic components of a normal nail unit include (see also the picture above): (1) the nail plate, (2) nail bed, (3) proximal nail fold, (4) lateral nail fold, (5) eponychium, (6) cutticle, (7) lunula, and (8) nail matrix = the root of the growing nail. A FEW GUIDELINES One should realize that the cause of nail problems may vary from person to person. For example, most people sometimes experience problems with having brittle nails and/or cracked nails. The leading causes of this problem are: malnutrition, vitamin deficiency, lack of moisture and absence of nail care – however, a cracked or brittle fingernail can also be the result of certain circulatory and respiratory problems! • Eliz Greene (author of The Busy Woman’s Guide to a Healthy Heart) says: “If your nail bed is red, it is a sign of heart disease. If your nail bed is pale, it is a sign of anemia. If you nail is half pin and half white, it is a sign of kidney disease. White nails are a sign of liver disease. Slow growing, yellowing and thickening nails indicate lung disease. Yellowing nails with a slight blush at the base are a sign of diabetes. Black, brown, or purple marks under a nail that has not been injured should be seen by a doctor immediately. This could be a sign of melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer.” Source: Fingernails & your health

RSI Hand palm therapy: six hand-excercises to avoid the ‘Repetitive Strain Ingury’!

WHAT IS HAND PALM THERAPY? Below you will find a number of hand palm therapy exercises that can be made in your workplace. It is not always necessary to perform all the exercises and the order is not important. Each exercise should be a light ‘stretch-feeling’ generation. Hold each exercise 15 to 30 full seconds and repeat each exercise three times (a general guideline). An importance point of the exercises: during the normal movement range of joints not to exceed. Make sure in any case that during the exercises only a slight sense of strain occurs and no pain. If there is pain occurs reduce the number of repetitions and shortens the duration of the exercise. Delete the exercise completely if necessary. Perform the exercises calm and avoid pulling or springing movements (not force). Breathe in quietly through the exercises.

RSI hand excercise 1.

HAND EXCERCISE 1: Keep both hands in front of you, stretch them and them keep up for a few seconds.

RSI hand excercise 2.

HAND EXCERCISE 2: Keep both of your hands in front of you, curl your fingers and thumb, and hold this position a few seconds.

RSI hand excercise 3.

HAND EXCERCISE 3: Put your arms in front of you, lift your right hand so that the palm of your hand points out, and put the palm of your hand against the fingers. Push the fingers to you body (light pressure) until you feel a slight stretch.

RSI hand excercise 4.

HAND EXCERCISE 4: Hold your arms in front of you, take the hand which you are using most frequently (look at the wrist). Place your other hand on the knuckles of your hand and put a little pressure until you feel a slight stretch to the top of the wrist. Change hands and repeat this exercise.

RSI hand excercise 5.

HAND EXCERCISE 5: Keep your right hand in front of you with the palm up, and use your left hand to massage the right hand. Massage the inside and outside, also between the fingers. Change hands and repeat this massage excercise.

RSI hand excercise 6.

HAND EXCERCISE 6: Put your fingers in front of you together. Turn your hands so that both palms directed away from each other, and push your arms straight.

Dutch source: RSI Hand oefeningen

Hearing heart disease via the hand: Itamar presents the EndoPAT finger sensor!

In 1998, three American scientists won the Nobel prize in medicine for proving that tiny cells in the blood vessels (endothelial cells), play a vital role in regulating vascular functions. The activity of these endothelial cells has become a marker of cardiovascular health, but backthen nobody had developed a method to measure the actvity of these cells quickly (and cheaply). In 2008 an Israelian company, Itomar Medical, presented a decive named EndoPAT – which measures the health of endothelial cells by measuring blood flow. A full EndoPAT test takes about 15 minutes. Two thimble-like finger probes are placed on each index finger and connected to a machine that measures blood flow. They spent five years perfecting the technology, which involves “listening” to minute vascular functions through sensors attached to a patient’s index fingers and interpreting the readings via software. Results are presented on a scale from 1 to 5: Healthy adults score around 3, while a mark below 1.7 raises red flags. 2009: NEW RESEARCH A few days ago a study has been presented which confirms that the EndoPAT can ‘measure’ heart disease. The US (Boston) study included 270 patients, ages 42 to 66, who had a low-to-medium risk of a major cardiac event and were followed from August 1999 to August 2007. During that time, 49 percent of patients whose EndoPAT test indicated poor endothelial function suffered a cardiac event. The findings were to be presented on march 31 at the annual scientific session of the American College of Cardiology, in Orlando, Fla. • Dr. Amir Lerman (cardiologist) says: “Fifty percent of those who arrive at emergency rooms with heart attacks don’t have conventional risk factors, such as high cholesterol or blood pressure. Measuring endothelial function via the index fingers may be the missing link.” Sources: New device ‘fingers’ heart risk & Itamar: hearing heart disease

There have been about 40 hand transplants around the world!

In 1998 surgeons in France have carried out the world’s first hand transplant. In 1998 the transplanted hand came from an anonymous dead donor and was grafted onto the right arm of 45-year-old Clint Hallam, an Australian whose own hand was amputated in 1984 after an accident. In april 2009 the 6th hand transplant in the US (the 40th in the world) was performed on a Marine combat engineer who lost his hand during the war in Iraq: on Jan. 31, 2007, while holding a quarter-stick of TNT in his right hand when it accidentally exploded. The transplanted hand came from an 18-year-old West Virginia man who died of head trauma. HAND TRANSPLANTS BETTER THAN PROSTHETICS? The benefits of a hand transplant can very significant, but these advances are not very well described and rated yet. However, the rejection risk (the body may ‘reject’ the new hand) and ethical concerns still make it a touchy issue. Likely, what is needed is a controlled study comparing hand transplant recipients and prosthetics users of a hand prosthesis on various tasks, including quality-of-life measurements. • Dr. Joseph Imbriglia (hand surgeon) says: “The prostheses become more of a burden than not, and the reason is that they have no sensation.” • MD. John D. Lantos (bioethicist) says: “You could look at such things as, can they pick up a penny, can they hold a pencil, can they eat with a spoon or play a piano – you can imagine hundreds of things you could measure with the two groups where you could say in these domains transplant patients are doing as well, or worse or better. And then you’d have the possibility for truly informed procedures.” Sources: World’s first hand transplant & A functioning hand