July 26, 2005 [Volume 6, Issue 16]

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In this issue of To Your Health:

• More Evidence: Improper Backpack Use May Cause Back Pain
• At Any Age, It's Wise to Exercise
• Time to Tighten up Your Belt?

An increasing amount of evidence suggests that carrying heavy backpacks may lead to low back pain in children and adolescents. The exact reason for this remains unclear, but some scientists have theorized that a backpack laden with books, supplies and other implements places an undue amount of stress on a child’s spine, resulting in occasional, sometimes intense pain. Few studies, however, have examined the way children wear backpacks and what specific effect that can have on the spine.

In a recent study, investigators in Greece examined over 1,200 children (ages 12 to 18) who used backpacks at school. Researchers asked each child if they experienced back pain while carrying their backpack to and from school and during holiday periods, along with other questions about their participation in sports, how they traveled to and from school, and the amount of time it took to travel from home to school and back. In particular, children were asked about whether they carried their backpack with one strap over one shoulder or with straps over both shoulders.

Among the study's results:

• Carrying a backpack over only one shoulder caused the student to raise his or her backpack-bearing shoulder and shift the upper body in the other direction.
• As a result, students who carried backpacks slung over one shoulder were more than four times as likely to experience high-intensity pain than students who carried backpacks with weight distributed evenly across the upper back.
• While there was no association between time spent carrying backpacks and back pain during the school period, there was "a significant correlation" between time spent at school and back pain during holiday periods. The authors of the study believe this is due to a possible "delayed response" to the stresses applied to the spine during the school periods.

To learn more about factors that can cause childhood back pain (and the short- and long-term consequences), visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/pediatrics/backpain.

Reference: Korevessis P, Koureas G, Zacharatos S, et al. Backpacks, back pain, sagittal spinal curves and trunk alignment in adolescents. Spine 2005;30(2):247-255.

The benefits of exercise have been well-documented over the years. Among other benefits, numerous studies have shown that exercise can help reduce the incidence of disease, promote weight loss, and improve mental health. A recent long-term study set out to examine if exercising during the senior years benefits people who were previously sedentary.

Canadian researchers investigated two groups of previously sedentary healthy adults, ages 55-75 years at baseline, for 10 years. One group remained sedentary during the study period, while the other group engaged in regular exercise. consisting of 30- to 45-minute aerobic sessions, three times a week, for a minimum of 46 weeks a year.

At the conclusion of the study, researchers examined data for 161 participants in the active group and 136 participants in the sedentary group. Among their findings: "The active group showed a significantly lower prevalence (11%) of metabolic syndrome than the sedentary group (28%) at 10 years." (Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors that can lead to type-2 diabetes and coronary heart disease, among other health problems.) The sedentary group also had a 13% decrease in fitness over the 10-year study period, while the exercise group showed a small increase in fitness levels. In the exercise group, HDL, or "good" cholesterol, increased by 9%, whereas the sedentary group showed an 18% decrease in HDL. The active group also had "fewer comorbid conditions, and fewer signs and symptoms of cardiovascular disease" than their sedentary counterparts.

Your chiropractor can help design a comprehensive exercise program suitable to your needs. For more information on the many benefits of consistent exercise, visit www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/sports/exercise.

Reference: Petrella RJ, Lattanzio CN, Demeray A, et al. Can adoption of regular exercise later in life prevent metabolic risk for cardiovascular disease? Diabetes Care 2005;28:694-701.

Dozens of previously published studies provide evidence that being overweight can increase your risk of developing type-2 diabetes. While body mass index (BMI) has generally been the accepted method of calculating obesity, specific body measurements such as waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR).

In a recent study, researchers analyzed the incidence of diabetes in a group of more than 27,000 men ages 40 to 75. Men were tracked over a 13-year period, with body weights and heights recorded and noted at one and 10-year intervals. Other pertinent information on physical activity levels, dietary intake and incidence of smoking were also recorded at regular intervals.

Men with waists larger than between 29 and 34 inches in diameter were up to 12 times more likely to develop type-2 diabetes during the 13-year span of the study. Another measurement comparison was that of the waist-to-hip ratio; when it was above normal, the risk of developing diabetes was seven times greater than for people with normal WHRs.

The study authors concluded that the size of your waist may provide important insight into the potential diagnosis of diabetes. If you have questions about ways to predict, prevent or treat type-2 diabetes, contact your health practitioner or visit the American Diabetes Association Web site at www.diabetes.com.

To learn more about general health and wellness, go to www.chiroweb.com/find/archives/general.

Reference: Wang Y, Rimm EB, Stampfer MJ, et al. Comparison of abdominal adiposity and overall obesity in predicting risk of type 2 diabetes among men. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2005;81:555-63.

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