Posted on 11/27/2007 4:30:17 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo
I don’t have to wear gear to be short.
It stinks =(
Hope they recover quickly.
So do school children get shorter after hauling around book bags all year?
Not sure about that, tho, there has been some linking of school backpacks/bookbags to spinal injuries, so I’m sure that the same sort of thing does occur.
My father’s left leg is about 3/4 inch shorter than the other. He started carrying mail at 17 on a walking route. So 30 pound backpacks probably are affecting kids.
I remember hearing a long time ago about Basketball players temporarily getting shorter from the compression of the spine.
A more significant worry is that Calcium is taken from the bones to help the body perform certain functions.
So Calcium is important for kids and grownups. Protein prevents the absorption of Calcium (people in Africa who do not get much meat in their diet tend to absorb Calcium better).
As I recall, Broccoli has a lot of Calcium. And the rule I remember is that having protein 12 hours before or after taking calcium prevented absorbing as much.
Calcium pills might be a good supplement for Iraq Vets -- as the article seems to point to stress on the bone system, and giving the body more calcium might be a good thing...
When I when back in later 1967 if you couldn't eat it or shoot it or use it to keep the rain off you didn't carry it, I was in an Air Scout Unit so the loads varied, we had discretion a lot of the grunts did not.
Yeah. It happened to us in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, and nobody really cared.
By the way I was 6’2 in 1963 and I am still 6’2 in 2007.
So, why do they call you “Little Bill”??
;-)
Later when the Frogs came we lucked out, we were forced onto Kings land and thus paid a Quit Rent in cash, again the wool Trade. Because this rent was reordered we needed a name and a patrinome.
Because William was this ancestors name, Wyllyame, we became Wyllykynes, Little Will or in this case Little Bill.
I suspect better load distribution combined with strengthening the affected muscle groups would have more compensatory value than dietary supplements alone.
My unit had physicals after a Reforger exercise and nearly all were surprised that they were at least 1/4 inch shorter after schlepping crap for two months with minimal rest time. Fortunately all recovered after returning to normal duties.
But these complaints are nothing compared to the suffering so many endured during World War II. Those guys had the disadvantage of heavy weapons, even heavier ammunition and glorious bastards like Patton forcing them to nearly sprint with all of it across many miles of terrain.
And those who survived with merely an incremental loss in height would have considered that a blessing.
Get set up with a select comfort bed starting now.It wont get any better than that.If it is bad now when they hit their 40s it will be terrible.
So,so true.
“...doctors say that’s because the 60 to 90 pounds of gear they carried
likely caused their spinal discs to compress.”
I’m not a medical doctor...
but maybe this should be tried (UNDER MEDICAL SUPERVISION) to see
if it can help put things back in place?
(I’ve never tried it, it could just be hokum)
Inversion Therapy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inversion_therapy
“Some of the 2,600 Minnesota National Guard members who spent 16 months in Iraq say their tour of duty made them shorter, at least temporarily, and doctors say that’s because the 60 to 90 pounds of gear they carried likely caused their spinal discs to compress.”
Gee. I’m 5’1 and was 100 pounds WITH my full gear while I was in the Army for 20 years, LOL!
This is one of two things: A bogus story to begin with, or some Minnesota Social Worker laying the ground work for grant money to “research” this post-war “disorder.”
*Rolleyes*
I don’t think I am going to touch that one. lol
I was 6’5” when I entered the Navy in 1972. I got jerked around so many times for 12 years .... must be why I am now 6’6”.
“So do school children get shorter after hauling around book bags all year?”
I had to pick up my son up early from school today, he pulled a muscle in his back walking up stairs carrying 45lbs of books in his pack slung over one shoulder. He’s been laying flat all day.
Might 60-90 pounds of gear, combined with blistering heat (dehydration) cause an inch of compression?
I think it might, over 16 months.
You get an A for creativity for that story, but are you sure Little Bill wasn’t a pet name from your first girlfriend? ;~))
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