How to keep kids safe online

Staying safe while using the Internet can be a daunting task for children who are unaware of many risks. Here's how you can protect your kids:

Create a list of rules for Web usage, and post it near your computer.
Keep your home computer in an open area of your home, not behind closed doors of your child's bedroom.
Set parental restrictions in your Web browser.
With many free email accounts, you can also set parental controls that allow you to block messages that contain offensive language or come from specific people.

Know which sites your kids visit. Check your browser's history once a week to mitigate any unpleasant surprises.

Establish clear rules about making purchases, and monitor your credit card activity.

Help your kids create their screen names and passwords. Make sure the screen names are nondescript and don't identify your kids as young children. Explain the importance of keeping passwords confidential.

If your children visit social networking sites, monitor their profiles and contacts list for inappropriate material. Talk to them about whom they are connecting with online - particularly new friends.

Speak to them about what is not acceptable to post, including personal information like your phone number or address. Some parents take this a step further and restrict their kids from posting their last name.

Don't allow your child to set up a face-to-face meeting with an online friend unless you're present - even if it's with a friend from school.

Let your kids know that if they come across anything that makes them feel uncomfortable - whether it's objectionable material or a social situation where they feel bullied - to immediately alert you.

If your kids have an e-mail address, don't allow them to give it to Websites, online contests, or people they don't personally know. Email addresses are bought and sold every day to criminals perpetrating phishing, spamming, and spoofing schemes.

Benefits of Massage Therapy

While the profession of Massage Therapy has been ridiculed and criticized, the benefits and effects of treatment have time ands time again been proven in case studies and experiments. Many people, who believe in massage therapy as a legitimate medical profession, still don’t know all the amazing benefits it can have on the body.

In this article I will give you just a few of the many advantages of Massage Therapy. First the body has many immune factors and many massage techniques can increase those factors. Long strokes of massage increase blood flow and increase the circulation of blood and the immune cells in the blood, speeding up healing times of patients with injuries or diseases.
Sedating techniques such as stroking and light touch can decrease the sympathetic nervous system resulting in relaxation, decrease in fight-or-flight response and slowing many conditions that involve the sympathetic nervous system’s over-activity. Massage to an area of inflammation can help reduce the swelling and pain, light stroking away from the area and specific positioning of limbs with swelling can reduce the inflammation and help the area heal faster.

In specific cases such as tendonitis, adhesive capsulitis, ligament sprains, muscle strains, scar tissue from surgery and many more, a technique called fractioning is used. This application is used to stimulate receptors in the tissue, bring more blood flow to the area of injury or adhesion and help heal the area and decrease restriction on the tissues. This technique is also used to lengthen muscle or ligament tissue which has become adhered or shortened abnormally; this will increase motion of a joint or muscle and will eventually benefit the patient in their daily life.

Many cases of carpal tunnel syndrome are treated immediately with surgery; this is usually not the safest and most effective way to treat it. Massage can decrease carpal tunnel syndrome nearly 100% of the time and nearly 100% of the symptoms will be gone without use of surgery which can cause other problems related to scar tissue. Sometimes carpal tunnel syndrome is a misdiagnosis of pronator teres syndrome, a condition which only a massage therapist can fix.

Postural difficulties affect every person, whether there are directly aware of it or not. Low back, neck, shoulder and head pain are usually indirectly caused by postural imbalances, massage is most likely to help in most of these situations by restoring postural balance. Of course the therapist’s given homecare will help the patient improve postural imbalances in daily life.

Headaches are usually caused by postural problems in the neck or back; tight muscles can refer pain into the temple or about the eye and sometimes even into the jaw causing the illusion of a toothache. These special points on tight muscles are called trigger points, and the only way to relieve these muscle knots is with massage pressure techniques as well as other related techniques. The patient’s willingness to do homecare stretches to reduce the trigger point size and effects are also tantamount.

Yet another benefit of massage that many of you may not know is constipation, the infrequency of bowel movements can be a great health concern in many people causing diseases of the intestinal system, pain, inflammation, back pain and increased weight. Massage techniques applied to the abdomen, down past the organs and directly onto the colon through the abdomen can move intestinal contents through the colon and can commonly result in a bowel movement right after treatment. Decreasing bowel obstructions in the colon is a common and incredibly beneficial treatment for many people.

The effects and benefits of massage are endless and unimaginable; I suggest that skeptics try a treatment or two for themselves, and enjoy.