Some ailments come with the territory

Overusing your voice, standing up all day and underutilising the bathroom can cause stress on other parts of your body. In fact, say health care professionals, too much talking, walking and "holding it" may be hazardous to your health.

Even more hazardous is ignoring physical problems that seldom go away. If they do, they might come back with a vengeance. To stay healthy, make sure you take care of yourself from head to toe.

Putting your best foot forward

The average person walks around the world three times in a lifetime. For teachers, it might be many times more.

"My feet get tired from walking around the classroom and standing up all day," says Anita Adelson, an art teacher at Janesha High School and a member of the Associated Pomona Teachers (APT). "There is always someone who needs help. By the end of the week, my feet are really hurting."

To compensate, she wears comfortable shoes. "Even with skirts, I have to wear shoes with laces. I don't own a regular pair of pumps."

Bobbie Del Prete, a kindergarten teacher who is on her feet all day long, also wears comfortable shoes. "I went home every day with achy feet and tired legs until I plunked down $100 for tie-up leather shoes with cushiony soles that do not make a fashion statement," says the Ventura Unified Education Association member. "I look longingly at the cute, nice and pretty shoes my coworkers wear, but I continue to tie and double-tie my support shoes every day."

Dr. Peter Squellati, a podiatrist in San Mateo, urges teachers to make sure that shoes fit properly. "It might cost more money, but it's worth it," he says. "Find a good shoe store where they will measure your feet with a Brannock Device."

Soaking your feet at the end of the day in warm - not hot - water and Epsom salts for 20 minutes two or three times a week can do wonders for sore feet, says Squellati. So can rubbing them with lotion.

Pain in one's feet may be a good reason to see a podiatrist.

Squellati recommends that teachers who stand on hard linoleum or wood floors bring a piece of carpet or rubber matting to stand on. "Or you can wear two pairs of socks. Some of the newer socks are really cushy. The ones designed for diabetics have a pillow-type feel and can be purchased in medical supply places."

"Treat your feet the way you want to be treated," he adds. "They are going to be with you for a lifetime."

When you gotta go

Perhaps nothing has been more harmful to the bladders of teachers than block scheduling. "When you have a two-hour time block for one class, it can be just awful," says Susan Stewart, an English teacher at Redondo Beach High School.

"In an office, you can just get up and go. If students need to go, we excuse them. But teachers go without a break because we can't leave the classroom."

As a result, the Redondo Beach Teachers Association member has suffered from numerous bladder infections, a common ailment in the teaching profession. The condition, called cystitis, can be extremely painful.

"I have seen this often with teachers," says Dr. Regina Hovey, a professor of urology at UC Irvine Medical Center. "I have noticed patterns based on different occupations. Teachers and others who aren't allowed to use the bathroom when they need to end up with big problems."

"Healthy urinary habits are essential to maintaining a healthy lifestyle," says Dr. Hovey. "Many people with urinary incontinence or excessive urinary frequency do not drink enough fluids in an attempt to urinate less frequently. The result is chronic dehydration, which can lead to bladder or kidney infections and urinary stones in people who are predisposed. Chronic dehydration is a common cause of urinary stone disease."

According to a study of 1,492 teachers conducted by the University of Iowa College of Medicine, those who drank the amount of fluids they desired while at work were half as likely to develop urinary infections as those who drank less.

Caffeine drinks tend to dehydrate people as well, says Hovey.

"It is important that teachers have adequate access to bathroom facilities to help prevent urinary and other health problems. This is especially important in people who have underlying urinary conditions, such as incontinence (involuntary wetting), recurrent urinary infections and urinary stones."

Teachers with bladder problems should ask for someone to watch their students so they can use a bathroom, says Dr. Hovey. "If it's interfering with work, seek medical attention. Ignoring it will only worsen the severity and frequency of urinary infections."

Speaking up about voice problems

When Lucia Miranda-Celestino realized she always had a sore throat, the middle school language arts teacher saw her doctor. She was told that she had nodules on her vocal chords caused by overusing her voice.

"It was definitely work-related," says Miranda-Celestino, a teacher for 13 years at Simons Middle School in Pomona. "Of course, it was partly genetic. I probably had a tendency to develop this kind of problem. But it's likely that if I were not a teacher using my voice all day long, these nodules would never have developed."

Her doctor suggested that she use a microphone to avoid straining her voice. But obtaining such a simple device from her school district was anything but easy. She had to beg to get one from the personnel director, which was a humiliating experience, she recalls. "He said, 'You don't sound like you have a problem.' I told him, 'I have a handicap. You can't see it, but I have one.'"

Eventually her district purchased a microphone and now the nodules are gone. "If I hadn't gotten one, I would have needed surgery. Or maybe I would have lost my voice or had to quit teaching," muses the Association of Pomona Teachers (APT) member.

She went to a speech therapist and re-learned how to speak. "I learned how to maintain the same tone, how to take breaks and how to take short breaths," she says. "Things are much better."

"It's pretty common for teachers to have voice problems, because they use their voices so much," says Jacqueline Wolffe, a speech therapist for the Vista Unified School District. "When it happens, they ask me all kinds of questions. I tell them that there are many things teachers can do. I go in and out of different classrooms all day long, so I see what is happening, and know what they are doing wrong."

Most common, especially in the upper grades, is to see teachers trying to talk above high noise levels to get students' attention. "It's not a good habit," she says. "It's much better to flick the light switch on and off or clap your hands to get their attention."

Staying hydrated is also important, says Wolffe, a member of the Vista Teachers Association. "Both air conditioning and the heating system can be very drying on the vocal chords. Teachers have to drink a lot of fluids. But coffee can have the opposite affect because it's a diuretic. If you drink coffee, replenish yourself by drinking lots of water."

Other suggestions include:

• Don't whisper. It can be more stressful on the vocal chords than talking.
• Treat allergies that make you cough and sneeze and aggravate voice problems.
• Project your voice from your diaphragm rather than from your throat.
• Don't smoke.

"Remember to breathe," she adds. "Breathe and talk; talk and breathe. Take your time. And take breaks. If your voice is hurting, it may be time to modify the lesson and have students read aloud or do a hands-on activity."