Christine Van Dusen

Sep 3, 2024 | atlantamagazine.com | Christine Van Dusen

My dad can’t believe I’ve started playing a full-contact sport in my mid-20s,” she panted, bent at the waist, her sweat leaving wet dots on the dusty field at Coan Park in Edgewood. I smiled knowingly. I too was a rookie with the High Country Women’s Rugby Football Club, a five-year-old team of adults who play traditional 7-a-side or 15-a-side rugby in matches and tournaments across the Southeast, complete with full tackles, while wearing only a mouth guard (and maybe a soft cap) for protection.

Jan 31, 2024 | thewell.northwell.edu | Christine Van Dusen

“But if you were to poll 100 people, they will have heard of endometriosis but not adenomyosis,” says Dana Almeida, DO, a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology at Northwell Health. “For both, we don’t know the cause. However, there are suspected theories on how these diseases start.”Adenomyosis is a clinical condition where endometrial cells, which shed during a menstrual period, are found in the muscular wall of the uterus.

Jan 16, 2024 | thewell.northwell.edu | Christine Van Dusen

When I was pregnant, I wasn’t one of those expectant people who, when seen from behind, looked slim and petite—and then shocked you when they turned around to reveal a small, round belly. In my case, I felt like I was pregnant everywhere, and you could see it from my ankles to my face. I’m now 50 years old, and lately I’ve been looking a bit like that other kind of person. I frequently have a small and protruding belly, but I’m not pregnant. I have adenomyosis.

Dec 19, 2023 | thewell.northwell.edu | Christine Van Dusen

“I think it’s important to say that a Pap test isn’t recommend until you turn 21, even if you’re sexually active,” says Jessica Rubin, MD, an OB/GYN with Northwell Health. This is because the likelihood of someone that young developing cervical cancer is so low. During the exam, the patient lies on her back on an exam table, bends her knees, and puts her feet into supports at the end of the table.

Aug 9, 2023 | atlantamagazine.com | Christine Van Dusen

In the 1980s, the attic was where my mother’s fitness-fad equipment went to die. Up there—near the NordicTrack, the Jane Fonda videotapes, and the ThighMaster—was a mini-trampoline, intended for use as a calorie-burning bounce machine. Most often I misused it, boing-boinging until my head nearly hit the ceiling beams in the storage area. These days the mini-trampoline (also known as a rebounder) is making a comeback, and it’s not just for the legwarmers-and-sweatbands set.