April 20, 2004 [Volume 5, Issue 9]
To Your Health is brought to you by:
- Working Your Way Through Back Pain
- Ignore Me Now, Pay Me Later!
- Is a "Mild" Concussion Really Mild?
- Don't Be a Cereal Killer!
Working Your Way Through Back Pain
Most people experience loss when they miss work due to an injury. Sure, the first few days are fine, especially if you\'re being compensated for the time off, but eventually, a feeling of missing out sets in - many times accompanied by monetary concerns or a sense of reduced \"job security.\" The longer you\'re out, the stronger the feeling can grow.
The
occupational health services department of a major Dutch airline took
part in a randomized, controlled trial comparing traditional spine care
to behavior-oriented "graded" activity. Employees who had been absent
from work due to low back pain were assigned to receive graded activity
or usual care from their doctor for three months, or until they returned
to work. The graded activity program showed impressive results, with patients
missing an average of 58 days (over six months of follow-up), versus 87
days for those under usual care.
What exactly is "graded" activity? In this study, it consisted of aerobic exercise (i.e., rowing, cycling); strengthening exercises (i.e., sit-ups, leg presses, latissimus pull-downs); and those tailored to each worker's regular duties (such as lifting and setting down suitcases, e.g., for baggage handlers). This was combined with praise and consistent feedback from the treating physiotherapists, with attention paid more to "improvements rather than pain."
You have a choice: You can place your recovery in the hands of the "usual" care providers, who often rely on pain medications, or you can utilize the services of an expert in treating back pain and getting you back on the job as soon as possible: a doctor of chiropractic.
To learn more about back pain and the chiropractic approach to its prevention, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/tellmeabout/backpain.html.
Reference: Staal JB, Hlobil H, Twisk JWR, Smid T, Kške AJA, van Mechelen W. Graded activity for low back pain in occupational health care. Annals of Internal Medicine, Jan. 20, 2004:140(2), pp77-84.
Ignore Me Now, Pay Me Later!
Perhaps the most important (yet most neglected) part of the human anatomy is the heart, but cardiorespiratory fitness is a factor in overall health. Reseachers conducted exercise tests over a 16-year period, factoring in a subset of 2,478 participants available to repeat the exercise tests conducted at the outset of the study.
Men and women 18 to 30 years of age were administered a maximal treadmill test (with increasing incline and speed until the subject reached physical exhaustion), gauging their overall health, and as late as 2001, given repeated tests and checked for their health status. Adjustments were made for age, race, sex, smoking, family history of diabetes, hypertension, and myocardial infarction.
Results: Those shown to be of "low fitness" were between three and six times more likely to develop diabetes, hypertension, and the metabolic syndrome than those espousing a "high-fitness" regimen. This study was performed in conjunction with another study, "Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults", sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; the subset repeating the exercise was a portion of a group of 5,115 participants from Chicago, Minneapolis, Birmingham and Oakland.
Ultimately, the study results confirm what your parents and doctors have told you: Your health habits today - good and bad - will affect your lifestyle years down the road. For more information on health and wellness, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/general/index.html
Reference: Carnethon MR, Gidding SS, Nehgme R, Sidney S, Jacobs DR, Liu K. Cardiorespiratory fitness in young adulthood and the development of cardiovascular disease factors. JAMA December 17, 2003:290(23), pp 3092-3100.
Is a "Mild" Concussion Really Mild?
Imagine
an egg, with its contents rocked back and forth after being hit by an
object not quite hard enough to break the shell. Compare this to the human
skull and you have concussion: the result of a blow to the head or upper
body that can manifest in disorientation, loss of consciousness, and other
symptoms - or nothing at all.
Undiagnosed danger is the alarm sounded in a study by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Recent guidelines have suggested that high school athletes with mild or grade 1 concussions, could be returned to play if asymptomatic for 15 minutes, yet the study indicates much longer-lasting repercussions and a measurable decline in neuropsychological functioning from such injury during the first week of recovery.
Forty-three male and female high school athletes (a subgroup of 64 overall) tested with the "ImPACT" tool for neuropsychological performance prior to respective playing seasons; each was later tested two times during the first week of recovery. ImPACT, developed by UMPC researchers, includes assessment of attention, memory, reaction time and information-processing speed. It is also used by the NFL, NHL, MLB, several athletic organizations and approximately 250 high schools in the United States.
A dramatic decrease in memory and an increase in self-reported symptoms was visible in mildly concussed athletes 36 hours after an injury. The group with on-the-field symptoms lasting longer than five minutes retained a 500 percent chance of demonstrating a drop in memory performance.
The study also pointed out the 1.25 million high-school-age contact-sport athletes who incur an estimated 63,000 concussions per year, with mild concussion occurring most frequently. Research suggests - or rather, demands - that this type of injury be looked at more carefully. No longer should the words, "I'm fine," be acceptable to parents and school officials when coming from a "mildly concussed" high school athlete.
For more information on sports and fitness, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/sports/index.html
Reference: Lovell MR, Collins MW, Iverson GL, Johnston KM, Bradley JP. Grade 1 or "ding" concussions in high school athletes. American Journal of Sports Medicine 2004:32, pp47-54.
Don't Be a Cereal Killer!
Parents: Before you crack down too hard on your kids' daily consumption of the latest sugary breakfast cereal, you may want to consider a study culled from the December issue of Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
From February 1998 through February 1999, more than 2,000 households in the United States kept a two-week food diary. Included in the study were 603 children ages 4 to 12 years, divided into three groups: those ingesting ready-to-eat cereal eight or more times within two weeks; those consuming cereal four to seven times; and those eating three or fewer servings. The results were evaluated in terms of the notoriously "unforgiving" body mass index (BMI), which for the first group (those eating cereal the most frequently) showed 80 percent falling within appropriate standards.
Contrary to this, only 52.6 percent of the children who consumed relatively little cereal for breakfast maintained an appropriate BMI. Now of course, Dr. Albertson represents the Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition (formed by General Mills, one of the world's leading cereal companies), but the message is still clear: Cereal - or any breakfast food containing even the minimum of nutritional ingredients - is better than nothing at all.
Have you taken your children to see your doctor of chiropractic yet? In addition to starting them on the road to health with regular chiropractic adjustments, your chiropractor can discuss nutritional strategies to keep you and your kids fit in an increasingly unfit world.
For more on pediatric health, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/pediatrics/index.html.
References: Albertson AM, Anderson GH, Crockett SJ, Goebel MT. Ready-to-eat cereal consumption: Its relationship with BMI and nutrient intake of children aged 4 to 12 years. Journal of the American Dietetic Assocation December, 2003:103(12).
This issue features a number of articles you will want to share with your family, friends and co-workers. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to them via e-mail. If you have received this e-mail newsletter from someone else, you may subscribe free of charge and begin receiving your own copy by going to: www.chiroweb.com/newsletter/TYH/subscribe.php
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