Dr. Bloom

My wife is definitely not overweight, and she goes walking with a friend on her lunch hours when the weather is nice, yet still she has periodic problems with back spasms and painful muscle flare-ups. I will occasionally come down the stairs from my office to see her holding up the wall of our home, but that's just what it looks like. She is actually leaning against a tennis ball that's hiding between her back and the wall, relieving some pressure and providing a bit of an instant massage when she needs one.

The folks at Real Age say if you get yourself one of those big exercise balls - you know, the type you can sit on or lay across - and sit on that instead of slouching deep into your comfy sofa, you'll increase the strength of your back muscles and, if you do a few little exercises during the commercials, you'll tone up for summer!

Of course, they offer no suggestions on where to keep it when company comes over.

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Dr. Bloom was known for his miracle cures for arthritis. One day, his waiting room was full of people when in shuffles a little old lady, bent nearly double, leaning on her cane.

When her name was called, she ambled into the patient visitation area and, amazingly, emerged less than thirty minutes later, walking completely upright, with her head held high.

A woman who had seen the old lady come in to the office stood and approached her. "This is incredible!" she exclaimed. "You walked through that door bent in half, and now you're walking as straight and tall as a young woman! What kind of miracle did that doctor DO for you?"

The old lady looks the woman in the eye and says, "Miracle, shmiracle ... he gave me a longer cane."

[as seen in God Laughs; edited by Mark Raymond]

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WORDS for YOUR WEEK: "You know what they call someone who finishes last in their class at medical school? 'Doctor.' " (Author Unknown)

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