First lady Bush has pinched nerve, to skip APEC

CRAWFORD, Texas, Aug 26 (Reuters) President George W Bush's wife, Laura Bush, has been suffering from a pinched nerve in her neck and shoulder area, and will not travel with the president to the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Sydney next month, the White House said today.

''Her physicians have strongly advised her to not travel overseas in order to avoid potential complication and aggravation by extended long distance travel,'' her spokeswoman, Sally McDonough, said in a statement.

The injury occurred while Bush was hiking in Zion National Park in Utah in late April, McDonough said, and she has since been treated with physical therapy.

The White House did not previously disclose the injury because it had not affected the first lady's public schedule until now, McDonough said.

Last year, Laura Bush was treated for the second most common type of skin cancer, a squamous cell carcinoma. Doctors removed a small growth from the shin area of her right leg and the White House said at the time to be healing well.

REUTERS AK BST0205