Stay Healthy

WHEN TEAM HAPPY FEET SETS OFF AT THIS YEAR’S LOCO MOTION, THEY’LL HAVE PLENTY TO BE HAPPY ABOUT.

Carolyn Neely is smiling. She is ordering lunch at Bluffton’s Corner Perk, the late summer heat ruling out a coffee and casting pearls of condensation on her water glass. Along May River Road, cars are rumbling along. And Carolyn Neely is happy.

Happy because she can call herself a survivor, smiling because she knows all too well how much the deck was stacked against her.

In his best-selling book “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” Atul Gawande tells a story about a maverick geriatric doctor, Bill Thomas, who takes a job in a New York nursing home and decides to combat what he calls the three plagues: hopelessness, helplessness, and boredom.

Breaking all the rules, Thomas brings in dogs and cats and 100 parakeets and gives the animals and birds to residents, telling them to take care of them as their own.

Visiting an island with a bright blue sky and world-class beaches can lead to irrational decision-making. Like going outside unprotected from the sun.

Summer on Hilton Head Island is ideal for swimming, boating, golfing, riding bicycles and horses, fishing and frolicking in the surf. But even a few minutes of the island’s sun can cause skin damage.

Ultraviolet rays accounted for 80 percent of skin aging in a recent study of almost 300 women published in the Journal of Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology.

Welcome to 2015! Are you ready for a change? Do you want to start the year with resolutions that radiate throughout the year and longer?  
The New Year symbolizes rebirth. We cannot go back and relive 2014, but we have blank pages to write in 2015.  
Perhaps you went through a divorce, had a baby, retired, or maybe nothing extremely life-changing occurred in 2014, but you are ready for transformation, a new beginning, a new you!  

Enjoy the lazy days of summer, but follow these tips to avoid or minimize the risks that summer fun can pose to your eye health.

FOREIGN BODIES

In sand traps or on the beach, objects such as sand, no-see-ums, and debris can lodge under your eyelids. Keep a squirt bottle of water handy to flush the eyes. If you can’t easily dislodge the object, a visit to your eye doctor may be necessary. A golf coach wouldn’t hurt either.

Simple, short-term goals key to reaching fitness goals

GETTING FIT, STAYING FIT AND FEELING FIT.

As a Physical Therapist, I’m a firm believer that a strong core is the key to everything. I’ve seen a direct correlation betweenhaving a weak core and back pain, rotator cuffissues, running injuries and more. These basic but functional exercises are a great addition for runners, cyclists, swimmers, cross fitters, triathletes, yogis,and more. I put 90% of my patients on a core strengthening programbefore we do anything else.
— Laura Fromdahl,
Physical Therapist, (Fit Chics Founder, Triathlete)

Summer is officially here, folks. If you are one of the 90 percent that doesn’t feel like your body is ready for public display yet, fear not. Just because summer has started, we’ve still got plenty of time to get into those shorts and swimsuits.

Emma Annunziata gets excited to go to school on yoga days. On a Tuesday morning, she can be seen running into the yoga room at Hilton Head Island School for the Creative Arts as her mom Tara tries to keep up. 

As part of the early morning yoga club, Emma is one of up to 15 children who join school counselor Colleen Kowal twice a week before school.  

Tara Annunziata said she enrolled Emma in the club to “relax her and to get ready for a big day at school.” 

Your relationship with your plastic surgeon is a crucial step in creating a more beautiful you.

We all know looking good and feeling good go hand in hand. But the symbiosis between the two is perhaps never more apparent than when you walk into a plastic surgeon’s office as a patient.

SPY Elite System Technology for Breast Reconstruction

The Savannah breast reconstruction surgeons at The Georgia Institute For Plastic Surgery now have access to a valuable type of technology that will aid in reconstructive surgery using the patient’s own tissue to restore the breast. Memorial University Medical Center has added a piece of equipment to its operating rooms called the SPY Elite System. The SPY system helps the surgeons select the best tissue to use when reconstructing a breast, and can reduce the risk of complications and further surgeries.

What is the Spy System?