Untitled Document
Health issues and miscellany:
June 8, 2009
We are not made to live as long as we do. The first humans barely reached their twenties. But that is how it is, and the planet resounds with the cries and sighs of "vertebrates" of all kinds. My personal case (I managed to avoid arthrodesis for 33 years):
Go look up spondylolysis on Google and consult the images. Not very encouraging at all.
I wrote a comic strip that deals with the subject,
e. Being able to practice maintenance strength training in a basin of very hot water would relieve millions of us bipeds. Joints, contrary to popular belief, wear out when... we don't use them. It is the alternating stresses on bones and joints that prevent decalcification. And this applies to
all
joints. To such an extent, the first thing astronauts suffer from immediately, if they do not engage in intense daily gymnastics, is ... decalcification.
But age, weight gain, and the difficulty of moving easily increase people's difficulties, especially for elderly people. Not everyone can afford the luxury of having a covered, well-heated pool at home. If I were to design a retirement home, I would immediately include an aquagym basin, with a view of the garden, or in a pleasant setting, with green plants. Future residents would only be better off.
Companies offer jacuzzis or "spas" at gold prices, whose main virtue is to have up to eight pressurized water jets, plus machines that make bubbles, etc.
Two meters in external diameter. 1.80 m internal.
6000 euros.....
But, if it is pleasant, it does not replace aquagym, movements in a basin, and most of the time the basin is too small and too shallow for one to move in it. It is "a thing for relaxing".
Having studied the question ....
I implemented the (final) solution below.
I put this in a small room on the ground floor, adjoining my house. Under construction. There is a deeper "pit," which allows essential movements for recovery from a herniated disc. Alas, these depths are only found in swimming pools, in the "deep end." Even physiotherapists who group together to share a collective basin cannot ensure depths greater than 1.2 m.
What is it for?
In the "pit" (2 meters, it's a bit too much. It is enough to no longer have footing. This depth has been reduced to 1.8 m) one can stand in a vertical position, like this:
There, one floats with the head out of the water, "without having footing."
In water at 40°, after about ten minutes of immobility, the body is completely relaxed. This is essential for all the muscles of the spine to relax. Otherwise they are tense due to the phenomenon
of antalgia
and squeeze the discs by reflex action, totally unconscious. Then one can make the gesture "of trying to extract oneself from the water," by pulling on the arms. The torso emerges by 10 cm, no more. That is enough. It is an "auto-manipulation," entirely gentle. You think you are doing the same thing by hanging from a bar fixed in your hallway. But the effect is not the same, at all. Firstly, the traction on the spine is much more violent (the entire weight of the lower body pulls on your spine). There is little chance that your spinal muscles will accept to relax in such a situation of muscular stress. As antalgia, the reflex contracture, will persist, this "auto-manipulation" will not give the desired result. Your body will say "I don't trust it, let's stay tense."
Then one lets the body descend back into the water naturally, and Archimedes does the rest. And one starts again. This movement decompresses the discs and encourages the nuclei to return to their place. To be completed by a slight "twist" movement without ever forcing. If it hurts, it is not good. I have gotten out of it n times in 33 years by doing this. All physiotherapists would say "we start by mobilizing without effort
to restore the joint's flexibility and functionality." This applies to vertebrae, a hip, a knee, a shoulder (correcting a retraction of the scapulo-humeral capsule, for example). Water allows gravity to disappear.
Afterwards, when things have been put back in place, one begins proper strength training, to tone the "internal corset." Do you have 72 brooms, girl-like forearms, hanging biceps and calves? Tell yourself that inside it is the same. And if these muscles are essential to brace the spine, hello trouble. However, to do this, one needs a basin. I have gone to swimming pools a thousand times. I never liked it. Taking one's car, finding a parking spot, going through the cash register, the locker room, finding oneself alone in a basin pedaling like an idiot, in central prison lighting. And the reverse operation on the way back.
A basin at home, with ten minutes a day: health assured. One can install a fixed bar to work the arms, shoulders, etc. And put green plants, make the place pretty, put on music, whatever. A basin of this kind could be installed in a ... cellar, subject to appropriate ventilation. If you suffer from claustrophobia, install a DVD player, in a watertight plexiglass box (I would do it).
Let's move on to the technical aspects. The solution we have envisaged: No drainage at the bottom, like that, no risk of leakage. Pipes that dive and serve to fill, empty, and circulate the water. Provide a slight slope at the bottom and a "strainer," with a filter to catch hair or other things.
The basin itself.
Here, I hand the floor to my friend Jacques Juan:
-
Concrete blocks to be cast + reinforcement for the front wall. Reinforced screed (light, it's not hollow blocks!) for the bottom
-
Polyurethane insulating foam panels (blue or green, special for building, which resists polyester resin) glued on concrete with special glue for building, taking care of the joints to avoid thermal bridges: this is capital to avoid heat loss from the 3000L of water at 40°C. Thickness: 5 cm.
-
Stratification with polyester resin + fiberglass in a thick "Rowing" mat (I think there is 450 or 500 grams/m² which would do the job ... and perhaps even thicker) and if necessary reinforce the angles with a 2nd thickness of fiber cut into strips 10cm wide.
Glue the ceramic tiles with the special glue for pools: it sticks on all supports like old tiles, concrete, glass, resin
Heating
Housing heating resistances in the walls? Complicated. We opt for a closed circuit, external, with heating resistance and thermostat. After filling the basin, a fairly long time to bring these 3 cubic meters of water to temperature. Afterwards, the system simply maintains these 38-40°. When the basin is not in use, cover the water with a polyurethane plate 5 cm thick, which floats on top and thermally insulates. Very light: can be maneuvered with two fingers. The basin, when not in use, is designed like a camping cooler, with a lid.
Sterilization
By UV with a pump acting as a circulator.
General view, schematic, when it is finished.
Aquagym basin in my house in Pertuis. View of the garden
In your cellar
About vertebral discs
Refer to the
. The "discs" are made of a "nucleus" which has the consistency of the lens of the eye and is 15 mm in diameter. In the form of flattened ellipsoids. They are enclosed in successive envelopes evoking "Russian dolls" or "onion skins." These envelopes themselves resemble surfaces also in the form of flattened ellipsoids, in "reinforced nylon," by sorts of reinforcement wires, which "follow the geodesics of the surface." This system allows all possible movements. Flexion and torsion, weak for each junction, but these movements, added together, give you flexibility.
These discs can withstand very important compressions. The nucleus being incompressible, these efforts are found as tractions in the "resistant wires that reinforce the envelopes." We have "an oleo-pneumatic suspension." But, age or trauma, wires can break and facilitate the escape of the nucleus. This is the
herniated disc
. In extreme cases the nucleus makes "protrusion" and can create neurological effects by compressing the spinal cord.
By practicing the aquagym above, one encourages the nucleus to return to its place and the reinforcement fibers to plug the hole, if possible. Afterwards, the strengthening of the muscles that enclose the vertebrae will help to keep all this mess in place... with luck and a lot of patience. But if the plan succeeds: imperative necessity to maintain this muscle tone. Weight loss is also strongly recommended.
Incidentally, these discs are not vascularized. Otherwise the efforts would burst the blood vessels. They are therefore nourished by
imbibition
. Compressed, they exude liquid. Relaxed, the reverse phenomenon (this is why naps do good, among other things).
June 9, 2009
As a sort of editorial, some diverse and varied remarks.
The film "Home": Very nice. I appreciated that the director lights up the emirs of Dubai.
The ski slope of Dubai....
At the time we live in, it is scandalous to see that idiots "invest in luxury," judging that it is "the market of the future." The saddest thing is that it is true. It is easier to sell 40-meter long yachts than small cruise boats for fathers. When I think that we had been there hoping to sensitize the emirs to the problem of Solar Towers. These people live backed against a desert representing an immense energy reservoir.
Moreover, thanks to their oil, they have the money to build these plants: 1000 meters high and room to house the "greenhouse" that will raise the air to 80°. On this greenhouse, an immense capacity made ... of water, which stores the heat collected during the day, and returns it at night. Christophe and I had hoped to be able to say to one of these former goat herders:
- Do you want to leave your name in history by becoming the first country capable of doing entirely without oil, and even exporting electrical energy.
Instead, a joker solicited us for "tourist submarines" (
).
Wasted time. But Sarkozy made friends with Sheikh Mohammed, "king of the emirates." You know that this is where France will install a military base, facing Iran. A Sarkozy who had, at the beginning of his term, received Gaddafi with all honors, to whom he hoped to sell ... nuclear reactors. And Serge Dassault saying "if it can create jobs....". I read that this one had been made ineligible for a year, his system of buying votes to become mayor of his village having ended up causing a bit of disorder.
Back to the film Home which teaches us little more than what we already knew. At the end we see different solutions for producing energy scroll by. There would be a complete film to make on everything man already has. I will write a book, as soon as possible. The burning problem par excellence is not addressed. It is that of demographic escalation. It is true that it is very difficult to evoke it. The first to do so was Malthus (Malthusianism). His conclusion at the time was that if one helped the poor, it only encouraged them to proliferate. So it was better to leave them in their misery. I think we should urgently consider "general states of the planet," putting on the table the problems, the needs, the resources, the solutions. Earthlings do not realize that the "ship Earth" is simply sinking, while we toast champagne in first class. I read that in Peru, important oil resources had been discovered under the primary forests. And it starts again: we proceed to the flaying of the country, to its sale at auction. The Indians revolt. There are deaths.
I laughed well reading the funeral eulogies of Omar Bongo, this "great friend of France" (Sarkozy, Kouchner). It is "Francafrique" or "France for cash" in all its splendor. As for elections: the socialists are in full shipwreck. One cannot say that imagination is the main virtue in this party. If it continues, they will join the communists in the political fossils section. Beneficiary of the operation, the great opportunist
, ex "Dany the Red".
June 30, 2009
Amar finishes the concrete block lining of the basin.
June 8, 2009
We are not made to live as long as we do. The first humans barely reached their twenties. But that is how it is, and the planet resounds with the cries and sighs of "vertebrates" of all kinds. My personal case (I managed to avoid arthrodesis for 33 years):
Go look up spondylolysis on Google and consult the images. Not very encouraging at all.
I wrote a comic strip that deals with the subject,
e. Being able to practice maintenance strength training in a basin of very hot water would relieve millions of us bipeds. Joints, contrary to popular belief, wear out when... we don't use them. It is the alternating stresses on bones and joints that prevent decalcification. And this applies to
all
joints. To such an extent, the first thing astronauts suffer from immediately, if they do not engage in intense daily gymnastics, is ... decalcification.
But age, weight gain, and the difficulty of moving easily increase people's difficulties, especially for elderly people. Not everyone can afford the luxury of having a covered, well-heated pool at home. If I were to design a retirement home, I would immediately include an aquagym basin, with a view of the garden, or in a pleasant setting, with green plants. Future residents would only be better off.
Companies offer jacuzzis or "spas" at gold prices, whose main virtue is to have up to eight pressurized water jets, plus machines that make bubbles, etc.
Two meters in external diameter. 1.80 m internal.
6000 euros.....
But, if it is pleasant, it does not replace aquagym, movements in a basin, and most of the time the basin is too small and too shallow for one to move in it. It is "a thing for relaxing".
Having studied the question ....
I implemented the (final) solution below.
I put this in a small room on the ground floor, adjoining my house. Under construction. There is a deeper "pit," which allows essential movements for recovery from a herniated disc. Alas, these depths are only found in swimming pools, in the "deep end." Even physiotherapists who group together to share a collective basin cannot ensure depths greater than 1.2 m.
What is it for?
In the "pit" (2 meters, it's a bit too much. It is enough to no longer have footing. This depth has been reduced to 1.8 m) one can stand in a vertical position, like this:
There, one floats with the head out of the water, "without having footing."
In water at 40°, after about ten minutes of immobility, the body is completely relaxed. This is essential for all the muscles of the spine to relax. Otherwise they are tense due to the phenomenon
of antalgia
and squeeze the discs by reflex action, totally unconscious. Then one can make the gesture "of trying to extract oneself from the water," by pulling on the arms. The torso emerges by 10 cm, no more. That is enough. It is an "auto-manipulation," entirely gentle. You think you are doing the same thing by hanging from a bar fixed in your hallway. But the effect is not the same, at all. Firstly, the traction on the spine is much more violent (the entire weight of the lower body pulls on your spine). There is little chance that your spinal muscles will accept to relax in such a situation of muscular stress. As antalgia, the reflex contracture, will persist, this "auto-manipulation" will not give the desired result. Your body will say "I don't trust it, let's stay tense."
Then one lets the body descend back into the water naturally, and Archimedes does the rest. And one starts again. This movement decompresses the discs and encourages the nuclei to return to their place. To be completed by a slight "twist" movement without ever forcing. If it hurts, it is not good. I have gotten out of it n times in 33 years by doing this. All physiotherapists would say "we start by mobilizing without effort
to restore the joint's flexibility and functionality." This applies to vertebrae, a hip, a knee, a shoulder (correcting a retraction of the scapulo-humeral capsule, for example). Water allows gravity to disappear.
Afterwards, when things have been put back in place, one begins proper strength training, to tone the "internal corset." Do you have 72 brooms, girl-like forearms, hanging biceps and calves? Tell yourself that inside it is the same. And if these muscles are essential to brace the spine, hello trouble. However, to do this, one needs a basin. I have gone to swimming pools a thousand times. I never liked it. Taking one's car, finding a parking spot, going through the cash register, the locker room, finding oneself alone in a basin pedaling like an idiot, in central prison lighting. And the reverse operation on the way back.
A basin at home, with ten minutes a day: health assured. One can install a fixed bar to work the arms, shoulders, etc. And put green plants, make the place pretty, put on music, whatever. A basin of this kind could be installed in a ... cellar, subject to appropriate ventilation. If you suffer from claustrophobia, install a DVD player, in a watertight plexiglass box (I would do it).
Let's move on to the technical aspects. The solution we have envisaged: No drainage at the bottom, like that, no risk of leakage. Pipes that dive and serve to fill, empty, and circulate the water. Provide a slight slope at the bottom and a "strainer," with a filter to catch hair or other things.
The basin itself.
Here, I hand the floor to my friend Jacques Juan:
-
Concrete blocks to be cast + reinforcement for the front wall. Reinforced screed (light, it's not hollow blocks!) for the bottom
-
Polyurethane insulating foam panels (blue or green, special for building, which resists polyester resin) glued on concrete with special glue for building, taking care of the joints to avoid thermal bridges: this is capital to avoid heat loss from the 3000L of water at 40°C. Thickness: 5 cm.
-
Stratification with polyester resin + fiberglass in a thick "Rowing" mat (I think there is 450 or 500 grams/m² which would do the job ... and perhaps even thicker) and if necessary reinforce the angles with a 2nd thickness of fiber cut into strips 10cm wide.
Glue the ceramic tiles with the special glue for pools: it sticks on all supports like old tiles, concrete, glass, resin
Heating
Housing heating resistances in the walls? Complicated. We opt for a closed circuit, external, with heating resistance and thermostat. After filling the basin, a fairly long time to bring these 3 cubic meters of water to temperature. Afterwards, the system simply maintains these 38-40°. When the basin is not in use, cover the water with a polyurethane plate 5 cm thick, which floats on top and thermally insulates. Very light: can be maneuvered with two fingers. The basin, when not in use, is designed like a camping cooler, with a lid.
Sterilization
By UV with a pump acting as a circulator.
General view, schematic, when it is finished.
Aquagym basin in my house in Pertuis. View of the garden
In your cellar
About vertebral discs
Refer to the
. The "discs" are made of a "nucleus" which has the consistency of the lens of the eye and is 15 mm in diameter. In the form of flattened ellipsoids. They are enclosed in successive envelopes evoking "Russian dolls" or "onion skins." These envelopes themselves resemble surfaces also in the form of flattened ellipsoids, in "reinforced nylon," by sorts of reinforcement wires, which "follow the geodesics of the surface." This system allows all possible movements. Flexion and torsion, weak for each junction, but these movements, added together, give you flexibility.
These discs can withstand very important compressions. The nucleus being incompressible, these efforts are found as tractions in the "resistant wires that reinforce the envelopes." We have "an oleo-pneumatic suspension." But, age or trauma, wires can break and facilitate the escape of the nucleus. This is the
herniated disc
. In extreme cases the nucleus makes "protrusion" and can create neurological effects by compressing the spinal cord.
By practicing the aquagym above, one encourages the nucleus to return to its place and the reinforcement fibers to plug the hole, if possible. Afterwards, the strengthening of the muscles that enclose the vertebrae will help to keep all this mess in place... with luck and a lot of patience. But if the plan succeeds: imperative necessity to maintain this muscle tone. Weight loss is also strongly recommended.
Incidentally, these discs are not vascularized. Otherwise the efforts would burst the blood vessels. They are therefore nourished by
imbibition
. Compressed, they exude liquid. Relaxed, the reverse phenomenon (this is why naps do good, among other things).
June 9, 2009
As a sort of editorial, some diverse and varied remarks.
The film "Home": Very nice. I appreciated that the director lights up the emirs of Dubai.
The ski slope of Dubai....
At the time we live in, it is scandalous to see that idiots "invest in luxury," judging that it is "the market of the future." The saddest thing is that it is true. It is easier to sell 40-meter long yachts than small cruise boats for fathers. When I think that we had been there hoping to sensitize the emirs to the problem of Solar Towers. These people live backed against a desert representing an immense energy reservoir.
Moreover, thanks to their oil, they have the money to build these plants: 1000 meters high and room to house the "greenhouse" that will raise the air to 80°. On this greenhouse, an immense capacity made ... of water, which stores the heat collected during the day, and returns it at night. Christophe and I had hoped to be able to say to one of these former goat herders:
- Do you want to leave your name in history by becoming the first country capable of doing entirely without oil, and even exporting electrical energy.
Instead, a joker solicited us for "tourist submarines" (
).
Wasted time. But Sarkozy made friends with Sheikh Mohammed, "king of the emirates." You know that this is where France will install a military base, facing Iran. A Sarkozy who had, at the beginning of his term, received Gaddafi with all honors, to whom he hoped to sell ... nuclear reactors. And Serge Dassault saying "if it can create jobs....". I read that this one had been made ineligible for a year, his system of buying votes to become mayor of his village having ended up causing a bit of disorder.
Back to the film Home which teaches us little more than what we already knew. At the end we see different solutions for producing energy scroll by. There would be a complete film to make on everything man already has. I will write a book, as soon as possible. The burning problem par excellence is not addressed. It is that of demographic escalation. It is true that it is very difficult to evoke it. The first to do so was Malthus (Malthusianism). His conclusion at the time was that if one helped the poor, it only encouraged them to proliferate. So it was better to leave them in their misery. I think we should urgently consider "general states of the planet," putting on the table the problems, the needs, the resources, the solutions. Earthlings do not realize that the "ship Earth" is simply sinking, while we toast champagne in first class. I read that in Peru, important oil resources had been discovered under the primary forests. And it starts again: we proceed to the flaying of the country, to its sale at auction. The Indians revolt. There are deaths.
I laughed well reading the funeral eulogies of Omar Bongo, this "great friend of France" (Sarkozy, Kouchner). It is "Francafrique" or "France for cash" in all its splendor. As for elections: the socialists are in full shipwreck. One cannot say that imagination is the main virtue in this party. If it continues, they will join the communists in the political fossils section. Beneficiary of the operation, the great opportunist
, ex "Dany the Red".
June 30, 2009
Amar finishes the concrete block lining of the basin.
