Zumba! It’s a high energy aerobic workout that uses dance steps borrowed from the merengue, salsa and other dances. The Zumba exercise craze continues to grow in popularity as more than 12 million fitness buffs worldwide participate.

Before beginning Zumba, as with any new exercise program, check with your doctor. If you are pregnant or have a major cardiovascular, pulmonary or metabolic condition, traditional Zumba may not be right for you. Consider taking Aqua Zumba or Zumba Gold, a low-impact version instead.

Winter Sports Injury Prevention

Winter means cold temperatures, snowstorms, and fun winter sports for millions of people.  For most winter sports, proper and well-fitting equipment, good physical conditioning, common sense, and good sportsmanship can help eliminate many injuries.

Winter Sports Related Injuries

More than 440,000 people were treated at hospitals, doctor's offices, and emergency rooms for winter sports-related injuries in 2010 (Consumer Product Safety Commission).

Winter Fall Prevention
When winter snowflakes fall, so do people. One of the most threatening winter hazards is the potential to slip and fall on patches of ice and snow, causing serious injuries including lacerations, broken bones, and even traumatic brain injuries.

Prevention Tips

Each year we hear the unfortunate news of a toddler being injured or killed after falling from a window. A study cited by Safe Kids Worldwide says children under the age of five rack up 3,300 injuries from window falls each year in the United States.

What is Folic Acid

• Folic acid is a B vitamin found in multivitamin supplements
• Folate is the form of folic acid found naturally in foods

Who Needs Folic Acid?

• Everyone needs some folic acid
• Women who are of child-bearing age need extra folic acid
• Pregnant women, especially in the first 3 months of pregnancy need more folic acid

Why is Folic Acid Important?

• Folic acid can help protect your unborn baby from birth defects of the brain or spine, such as spina bifida

Keep your family safe around water this summer.

Trampoline jumping is a common backyard sport and recreational activity. It is now experiencing a resurgence of popularity in commercial recreation trampoline jump facilities. Hospital emergency physician’s treat hundreds of thousands of trampoline-related injuries each year. The costs of medical, legal, insurance and disability expenses exceed four billion dollars. Injuries are significant among all age programs.

Always remember the following safety tips:

Each year in the United States, an estimated 3 billion toys and games are sold. In 2009, an estimated 185,900 children ages 14 and under were treated in an emergency department for a toy-related injury. 45 percent of toy-related injuries were to the head or face.

General Safety Tips:

A completed suicide occurs when an individual ends their own life. It is a serious public health issue that can have a huge impact on a family, an office, a school or even an entire community.

Talking about suicide is a difficult conversation that many just avoid, and some feel that not talking about the subject will make the problem disappear.

Winter Sports Injury Prevention Tips: Snowmobiling

More than 1.5 million snowmobiles in the United States will venture into the back country each winter. The majority of snowmobile accidents involved collisions with fixed or moving objects such as fence posts, barbed wire, trees, cars, and other snowmobiles.

Last year, the National Safety Council recorded about 156 deaths associated with snowmobiles. Fatalities have resulted from riding on thin ice, freezing when stranded after a breakdown and decapitation by running through a barbed wire fence.