Back Pain

Larry R. Harding, 49, left home one night this month on an errand. He never returned. A day later, Harding was found suffering from blunt force trauma in an abandoned rowhouse across town in West Baltimore, police said. He died Sunday. Homicide detectives said yesterday that they are scrambling to find motives and possible clues. Harding didn't appear to have any enemies, detectives said. "He was a person who was taking care of his own life," said Detective Danny Danzy. "He was taking care of his elderly mother.

When you run, you land on the outside bottom of your foot and roll inward, causing your lower leg to twist inward -- at the same time your kneecap is pulled in the opposite direction. This natural "rolling in" motion is called pronation, and it helps prevent injury by distributing the force of a footstrike throughout your entire leg rather than concentrating that force in your knees, hips and back.Place the outside bottom of your foot on the ground and deliberately roll your foot inward. You can see your lower leg twist inward.

What Mandate?Already in their first days of control of Congress, the conservatives have stamped their reign as having "the mandate of the people." They really seem to believe they have a "mandate," but I fail to see where one exists.If you walked into a room of 10 people and four came up to you and complained about the state of the nation, would you call that a good survey of the opinions of the total population of the room?No, certainly not. However, it does represent 40 percent of the room.

Everyone in the group agrees: What brings them together each week is a pain in the neck. Or the knees. Or the back. Or just about any other place where pain prowls. "I never know when it's going to hit," said Columbia resident Margee Flowers, 85, detailing her facts of life matter-of-factly to a sympathetic crowd. "Whenever it wants to, it comes." At Florence Bain Senior Center in Columbia, people dealing with the tribulations of aging have an outlet beyond the age-old tradition of complaining about it - they belong to a support group.

This is it, folks: The mother of all springs.The beauty of Severna Park in April and this year's temperate weather have combined to turn our landscape into a Monet watercolor of soft green, pale pink and bright yellow.Although the star of this early show has been the lacy, white Bradford pear tree, it is when the dogwoods bloom that we understand whyour founders named this community Severna Park.*Last week, we mentioned the concert series being presented at Severna Park UnitedMethodist Church to introduce its newly improved pipe organ.

Facing a potential break point in their off-season renovation, the Orioles have presented free-agent outfielder Brian Jordan with a modified five-year offer worth approximately $40 million, according to sources familiar with talks.The upgrade, representing the most lucrative contract in franchise history, apparently puts the Orioles in a showdown with the Atlanta Braves for the Milford Mill graduate and former Pro Bowl defensive back. While the Orioles have promised Jordan he will inherit center field should he decide upon a return to his hometown, the Braves reportedly have assured him they will meet or beat any offer.

Jim Calhoun should be on the sidelines of a basketball court, coaching the University of Connecticut men's team. Instead, he's been on medical leave for a painful arthritic condition. Calhoun's pain is caused by spinal stenosis, a medical condition that causes narrowing of the spinal column and crowding of the nerves and affects about 1 million people in the United States each year. Dr. Lee H. Riley III, chief of the spine division and associate professor of orthopedic surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, tells us about the symptoms of the disease, who typically gets it and how it is treated.

To cover the incision from Dale Borgman's recent bac surgery, his doctor needed only a Band-Aid. That's because the incision consisted of a single needle puncture.Yet that needle -- as skinny as a plastic coffee-stirrer -- contained a miniature laser and fiber optic lens that made it possible for Sacramento orthopedic surgeon Paul Lim to operate on the ruptured disk that had plagued Mr. Borgman for several months. The procedure was done in a half hour.Dr. Lim and other doctors believe the laser surgery, which has been used on a small scale around the country, may revolutionize back surgery, allowing those who suffer from debilitating back and leg pain to be cured relatively easily.

I recently wrenched my back, but I can't take anti-inflammatory medicines. An advertisement for a painkiller that contains no drugs or narcotics caught my eye. They say it is as effective as morphine and contains phenylalanine. It sounds like a miracle, but is it really safe and effective?An amino acid, d-phenylalanine, has been shown to relieve acute back pain and might be worth a try for you. It interferes with an enzyme that breaks down the brain's natural pain relievers. Expecting it to work as well as morphine could set you up for disappointment, though.

I have had chronic low-back pain, with occasional flare-ups of worse pain, for at least five years. Examinations by my doctor and the tests he ordered have not found a herniated disk or any other obvious cause for the problem. I would be interested in any suggestions you might have to relieve my discomfort.The agency for Health Care Policy and Research has published guidelines for adults with low-back problems. These guidelines describe some common treatments that don't work and some that do and include some advice on how to carry out everyday activities in ways that may help to reduce the recurrence of back pain.