Back Clinic Mobility & Flexibility: The human body retains a natural level to ensure all its structures are functioning properly. The bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and other tissues work together to allow a range of movement and maintaining proper fitness and balanced nutrition can help keep the body functioning properly. Great mobility means executing functional movements with no restrictions in the range of motion (ROM).
Remember that flexibility is a mobility component, but extreme flexibility really is not required to perform functional movements. A flexible person can have core strength, balance, or coordination but cannot perform the same functional movements as a person with great mobility. According to Dr. Alex Jimenez’s compilation of articles on mobility and flexibility, individuals who don’t stretch their body often can experience shortened or stiffened muscles, decreasing their ability to move effectively.
Parking yourself in front of the TV may make you as likely to develop dementia as people genetically predisposed to the condition, a Canadian study suggests. In a study of more than 1,600 adults aged 65 and older, those who led a sedentary life seemed to have the same risk of developing dementia as those who carried the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene mutation, which increases the chances of developing dementia.
Conversely, people who exercised appeared to have lower odds of developing dementia than those who didn’t, the five-year study found.
“Being inactive may completely negate the protective effects of a healthy set of genes,” said lead researcher Jennifer Heisz, an assistant professor in the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
However, the study didn’t prove that lack of exercise caused dementia risk to increase. It only found an association between the two.
Prevalence of Dementia Due to Inactivity
The APOE mutation is the strongest genetic risk factor for vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, Parkinson’s disease and, especially, Alzheimer’s disease, the researchers said. People with a single APOE “allele” may have a three to four times increased risk of dementia than non-carriers, the study authors said. How exercise may reduce the risk for dementia isn’t known, Heisz said.
These study results, however, suggest that your physical activity level can influence your dementia risk as much as your genetics, Heisz said. “You can’t change your genes, but you can change your lifestyle,” she added.
The kind of exercise that’s best isn’t known, although the people who were physically active in the study reported walking three times a week, Heisz said.
“Which means you don’t have to train like an Olympian to get the brain health benefits of being physically active,” she said.
The report was published Jan. 10 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Dr. Sam Gandy directs the Center for Cognitive Health at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He said the study findings aren’t “really a surprise, but it is good to see it proven.” Other scientists showed some years ago that people with the APOE mutation could virtually erase the risk of developing amyloid plaques in the brain if they became regular runners, Gandy said. Amyloid plaques are one of the hallmark signs of Alzheimer’s.
“That was an amazing report that, I believe, has been underpublicized,” Gandy said.
However, this new study suggests that if you are blessed with genes that lower your risk for Alzheimer’s, you could lose that benefit if you don’t exercise, he said.
“I cannot understand why the fear of dementia is not sufficient to induce everyone to adopt a regular exercise program,” Gandy said. “I tell all my patients that if they leave with one, and only one, piece of advice, that the one thing that they can do to reduce their risk of dementia or slow the progression of dementia is to exercise,” he said.
About 47.5 million people around the world are living with dementia, the researchers said, and that number is expected to surge to 115 million by 2050. With no known cure, there’s an urgent need to explore, identify and change lifestyle factors that can reduce dementia risk, the study authors said.
SOURCES: Jennifer Heisz, Ph.D., assistant professor, department of kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Sam Gandy, M.D., Ph.D., director, Center for Cognitive Health, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City; Jan. 10, 2017, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease
The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic and spinal injuries and conditions. To discuss options on the subject matter, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
Additional Topics: Chiropractic Care for Older Adults
Chiropractic care is an alternative treatment option which focuses on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of injuries and/or conditions associated with the musculoskeletal and nervous system, primarily the spine. Chiropractic utilizes spinal adjustments and manual manipulations to treat a variety of injuries and conditions. As people age, degenerative injuries and conditions can commonly occur. Fortunately, chiropractic treatment has been demonstrated to benefit older adults with spinal degeneration, helping to restore their original health and wellness.
Regular exercise is potent medicine for older adults with heart disease, a new American Heart Association scientific statement says.
Physical activity should be a key part of care for older adults with heart disease who want to reduce their symptoms and build their stamina, said geriatric cardiologist Dr. Daniel Forman. He’s chair of the panel that wrote the new statement.
“Many health-care providers are focused only on the medical management of diseases — such as heart failure, heart attacks, valvular heart disease and strokes — without directly focusing on helping patients maximize their physical function,” Forman said in a heart association news release.
Yet, after a heart attack or other cardiac event, patients need to gain strength. Their independence may require the ability “to lift a grocery bag and to carry it to their car,” said Forman, a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.
“Emphasizing physical function as a fundamental part of therapy can improve older patients’ quality of life and their ability to carry out activities of daily living,” he added.
And, no one is too old to get moving. “Patients in their 70s, 80s and older can benefit,” Forman said.
Cardiac rehabilitation is a crucial tool for elderly patients, providing exercise counseling and training to promote heart health, and manage stress and depression. But Forman said it’s not prescribed often enough.
“When treating cardiac patients in their 70s, 80s and 90s, health-care providers often stress medications and procedures without considering the importance of getting patients back on their feet, which is exactly what cardiac rehabilitation programs are designed to do,” he noted.
Daily walking and tackling more chores at home also can be helpful, Forman said. Resistance training and balance training can help prevent falls. Tai chi and yoga employ strength, balance and aerobic features, he explained.
The statement also outlines ways for heart doctors to assess patients’ levels of physical functioning.
The statement was published March 23 in the journal Circulation.
Heart disease in older Americans is a growing concern because the number of people 65 and older in the United States is expected to double between 2010 and 2050.
News stories are written and provided by HealthDay and do not reflect federal policy, the views of MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Exercise Beats Weight Loss At Helping Seniors Hearts
Seniors who want to give their hearts a healthy boost may want to focus on exercise first, a new study suggests.
The research found that getting active may do more for cardiovascular health in older adults than losing weight does.
“Any physical activity is positive for cardiovascular health, and in elderly people of all weights, walking, biking and housework are good ways to keep moving,” study author Dr. Klodian Dhana said in a news release from the journal European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. The findings were published in the journal on March 1.
In the study, Dhana’s team tracked 15-year outcomes for more than 5,300 people. Participants were between 55 and 97 years old, and free of heart disease when the study started.
Over the 15 years of follow-up, 16 percent of the participants developed heart problems.
In this group of older people, the researchers found no link between their body mass index (BMI) alone and heart disease. BMI is an estimate of body fat based on weight and height — the higher the number, the more fat.
However, the study did find that physical activity was tied to a lower risk of heart disease, no matter what a person’s BMI was.
“Overweight and obesity is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and it is recommended to lose weight,” said Dhana, who is a postdoctoral researcher at Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
However, “in the elderly this is slightly different because weight loss, especially unintentional, is associated with muscle loss and death,” the researcher explained.
She said the study’s authors aren’t refuting the idea that overweight and obesity can raise heart risk in the general population.
But, “our results show that physical activity plays a crucial role in the health of middle age to elderly people,” Dhana said. “Those who are overweight and obese without adequate physical activity are at higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease.”
Expert guidelines currently recommend 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity physical activity to decrease the risk of heart disease, she said.
News stories are written and provided by HealthDay and do not reflect federal policy, the views of MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Ice fishing may seem like a relaxing pastime, however, it can result in broken bones, concussions and other types of injuries, according to surgeons from the Mayo Clinic.
“Ice fishing has become more popular in the last few years, and, with this, we have seen an increase in ice fishing-related injuries,” study author Dr. Cornelius Thiels, a surgical resident, said in a hospital news release. “What is even more concerning is that ice fishing injuries tend to be more severe than injuries associated with traditional fishing,” Thiels said.
“We hope this research will bring awareness to the safety issues that surround this pastime and help prevent similar incidents,” he said.
Ice Fishing Injury Prevalence
For the study, the researchers examined ER records of visits that occurred between 2009 and 2014. Overall, they identified 85 people treated for injuries sustained while ice fishing. Ironically, burns are among the most common ice fishing injuries, the study revealed. Four of the anglers included in the study fell into the frigid water, but just as many suffered burns.
“Falling through the ice is the most feared risk of ice fishing,” Thiels said. “However, it turns out that burns are just as common, but rarely discussed. Ice fishing huts often contain rudimentary heating systems, and we have seen injuries from fires and carbon monoxide inhalation,” he said.
Nearly 50 percent of the injuries, however, were broken bones, sprains and strains. Roughly 30 percent of these ER visits involved minor trauma, including cuts, scrapes, punctures and fishing hook injuries, the study found. People hurt while ice fishing were more likely to have been drinking alcohol. They were also commonly under 40 years old, the study showed.
Most of patients treated for injuries didn’t have to stay overnight in a hospital. But at least five people had serious injuries, including concussions, loss of a limb, and organ damage.
The study was published recently in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.
SOURCE: Mayo Clinic, news release, Feb. 14, 2017
For more information, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
Additional Topics: Preventing Sports Injuries
Many athletes largely depend on chiropractic care to enhance their physical performance. New research studies have determined that aside from maintaining overall health and wellness, chiropractic can also help prevent sports injuries. Chiropractic is an alternative treatment option utilized by athletes to improve their strength, mobility and flexibility. Spinal adjustments and manual manipulations performed by a chiropractor can also help correct spinal issues, speeding up an athlete’s recovery process to help them return-to-play as soon as possible.
As kids play sports like soccer and football with more frequency and force, many are damaging their knees, a new study finds.
A common knee injury — an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear — has steadily increased among 6- to 18-year-olds in the United States, rising more than 2 percent a year over the last two decades, researchers report. These injuries peak in high school, said lead researcher Dr. Nicholas Beck. Girls have a higher rate of ACL injuries, added Beck, an orthopedic surgery resident at the University of Minnesota.
Sports that involve cutting or pivoting — such as soccer and basketball — are the riskiest for ACL tears. And contact sports like football can further increase the risk. But ACL tears can occur in tennis and volleyball, too, the researchers noted.
Rising ACL Tears, According to Researchers
Study co-author Dr. Marc Tompkins said the researchers didn’t look at why ACL tears are on the rise. But, he said, “one potential cause is the year-round sports specialization that is occurring in kids at an earlier age.” Tompkins is an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Minnesota. Instead of getting cross-training from multiple sports and therefore using different muscle groups, this means the kids do the same thing over and over. This can lead to fatigue and an increased potential for injury, including ACL injury, Tompkins explained.
“Another potential cause is that children as athletes play with more intensity and force than 20 years ago, which may put the body at increased risk of injury,” he added.
More girls are playing sports, which could affect injury rates, the study authors said. And it’s also possible that rates are up “because we are getting better as a medical community at diagnosing ACL injury,” Tompkins suggested. Beck hopes this study will increase awareness of ACL tears in young athletes and promote interest in prevention programs or developing athletic participation guidelines.
The anterior cruciate ligament sits in the center of the front of the knee. It’s one of the ligaments that holds the knee bones together. When it tears, the ligament splits into two, causing knee instability, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. When a tear occurs, you might hear a popping sound and your knee may give out from under you. Depending on the severity of the injury, treatment can range from physical therapy to surgery.
“ACL injuries are serious in the short term because they generally require six months’ to a year’s worth of hard recovery work before going back to sports. And even then it often takes longer to get back to pre-injury function,” Tompkins said. “ACL injuries are serious in the long term, too, because we know that even if they recover well with or without surgery, the risk of developing arthritis in the injured knee is higher than before the injury,” he added.
Dr. Stephen Swirsky is an orthopedic surgeon at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami. He said one of the best ways to reduce injuries is to teach good running techniques, which will improve function and agility.
“We have developed an injury prevention program, and we try to reduce the rates of ACL injuries,” Swirsky said. “In addition, kids need to be on a flexibility and stretching program,” he advised. “The more flexible they are, the less likely they are to have an injury.”
When ACL tears do happen, Swirsky said, he recommends a comprehensive rehab program after surgery. This is accompanied by advice for reducing the risk of injury when young patients return to play. To study the trends in ACL tears among U.S. children and teens, the study authors used insurance billing data for patients aged 6 to 18 from 1994 to 2013.
The researchers found that girls of all ages experienced a significant increase in the incidence of ACL tears over 20 years. In boys, however, only those aged 15 to 16 showed such an increase.
SOURCES: Nicholas Beck, M.D., resident, department of orthopaedic surgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Marc Tompkins, M.D., assistant professor, department of orthopaedic surgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Stephen Swirsky, D.O., orthopedic surgeon, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, Miami; Feb. 22, 2017, Pediatrics, online
For more information, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
Preventing Sports Injuries
Many athletes largely depend on chiropractic care to enhance their physical performance. New research studies have determined that aside from maintaining overall health and wellness, chiropractic can also help prevent sports injuries. Chiropractic is an alternative treatment option utilized by athletes to improve their strength, mobility and flexibility. Spinal adjustments and manual manipulations performed by a chiropractor can also help correct spinal issues, speeding up an athlete’s recovery process to help them return-to-play as soon as possible.
Sometimes you need to see a doctor for help in diagnosis and treatment. For strains or sprains, the pain can increase in the first one to two days, as the spasm surrounding the injury sets in.
When should you see a doctor for a sprain or strain?
If after trying RICE (an acronym for “rest, ice, compression, and elevation” of the injured limb) and over-the-counter medications the pain is not controlled or if the injury is thought to be more severe than initially believed, then a visit to a doctor is wise. A doctor’s visit also is important if swelling gradually develops over a large joint, such as a hip, knee, elbow, or wrist.
Sometimes you need the help of hospital equipment and specialists. Seek care immediately in any of the following cases:
If you are concerned that a bone is broken or a joint is dislocated
If you have numbness or tingling associated with the injury (This may signify damage to a nerve.)
If the injured part of the body is cold and discolored (This may be associated with damaged blood vessels and loss of circulation.)
Children present a special situation. Due to growing bones, muscles, and tendons, these structures can react differently to stress. Parents can be rightly concerned about possible broken bones. Remember, even if you can walk on an injured limb or move it, you may still have a broken bone. It just means that the muscles and tendons are working across the joint.
What tests do physicians use to diagnose a sprain or strain?
When visiting the doctor, expect many questions about the accident. The mechanism of injury can give clues as to what stresses were put on the body part and what injuries likely happened. The doctor will perform a thorough physical examination of the injured area. The physician will want to examine the joint above and the joint below an injury to make sure no hidden injuries are missed.
The doctor may need to take X-rays or perform other tests. X-rays only show bones and not the soft tissues, such as the muscles, tendons, and ligaments. The physician determines when it is appropriate to order X-rays. Injuries of knees, ankles, and the low back, are often unlikely to warrant X-rays to rule out any broken bones. The physician should discuss the reasons for or against taking X-rays.
For more information, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
Preventing Sports Injuries
Many athletes largely depend on chiropractic care to enhance their physical performance. New research studies have determined that aside from maintaining overall health and wellness, chiropractic can also help prevent sports injuries. Chiropractic is an alternative treatment option utilized by athletes to improve their strength, mobility and flexibility. Spinal adjustments and manual manipulations performed by a chiropractor can also help correct spinal issues, speeding up an athlete’s recovery process to help them return-to-play as soon as possible.
What home remedies are effective for sprains and strains?
Initial treatment for sprains and strains should occur as soon as possible. Remember RICE!
Rest the injured part. Pain is the body’s signal to not move an injury.
Ice the injury. This will limit the swelling and help with the spasm.
Compress the injured area. This again, limits the swelling. Be careful not to apply a wrap so tightly that it might act as a tourniquet and cut off the blood supply.
Elevate the injured part. This lets gravity help reduce the swelling by allowing fluid and blood to drain downhill to the heart.
Over-the-counter pain medication is an option. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is helpful for pain, but ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) or naproxen (Aleve) might be better because these medications relieve both pain and inflammation. Remember to follow the guidelines on the bottle for appropriate dose of the medicine, especially for children and teens. Underlying medical conditions or use of other prescription medicines may limit the use of over the counter pain medications.
What is the treatment for sprains and strains?
Sprains and strains can usually be treated with home therapy using the RICE interventions. However, if the injury is more severe, your care provider may suggest splinting or casting to rest the injured joint. In some cases, operations are required to fix complete tears of muscles or tendons to allow complete return of function and to allow those muscles to do their job of moving the body. Significant tears of ligaments that stabilize joints also may need repair, but again, most are treated with short-term immobilization and early return to activity. Sometimes, resting the injury requires some help. Slings for arm injuries or crutches for leg injuries can be used, in addition to a variety of removable splints to protect the injured area from further damage and movement. Resting also helps relieve some of the muscle spasm associated with the injury.
Occasionally, if the injury is especially severe, the physician may want to use a nonremovable splint made of plaster or fiberglass. Although the splint may look like a cast, it doesn’t have plaster or fiberglass completely encircling the injured area. Instead, by only going partially around an injury, there is some room to allow for swelling that may occur during the next few days.
For more information, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
Preventing Sports Injuries
Many athletes largely depend on chiropractic care to enhance their physical performance. New research studies have determined that aside from maintaining overall health and wellness, chiropractic can also help prevent sports injuries. Chiropractic is an alternative treatment option utilized by athletes to improve their strength, mobility and flexibility. Spinal adjustments and manual manipulations performed by a chiropractor can also help correct spinal issues, speeding up an athlete’s recovery process to help them return-to-play as soon as possible.
Fitbits and other wrist-worn fitness devices promise to keep track of your heart rate, but new research suggests they are less accurate than thought during certain exercises.
“If you need to know your heart rate with accuracy when exercising — either because you are training for a marathon or have safe heart rate limits set by your doctor, perhaps due to coronary artery disease, heart failure or other heart conditions — wrist-worn monitors are less accurate than the standard chest strap,” study author Dr. Marc Gillinov said in an American College of Cardiology news release.
The heart rates on the wrist-worn devices were compared to those from a continuous 4-lead electrocardiogram (EKG) and a chest strap monitor. Like an EKG, the chest strap measures electrical activity of the heart.
Functioning Errors in Heart Rate Trackers
Depending on the type of activity, the wrist devices were up to 34 beats a minute off. The wrist trackers could either overestimate or underestimate heart rate, Gillinov said. He’s a heart valve research, thoracic and cardiovascular surgery expert at the Cleveland Clinic.
The study included 50 volunteers. Their average age was 38. They tested popular wrist-worn fitness trackers, including the Apple Watch, Fitbit Blaze, Garmin Forerunner 235, and TomTom Spark Cardio.
The volunteers’ heart rates were recorded at rest and after light, moderate and vigorous exercise on a treadmill, stationary bike and elliptical trainer. All of them exercised for 18 minutes.
The chest strap monitor closely matched the readings from the EKG, which is the gold standard for measuring heart rate. And the wrist-worn devices were fairly accurate when a person was at rest. Most wrist devices gave acceptable readings during treadmill activity, but were fairly inaccurate while bicycling or using the elliptical, the study revealed.
Fitbit’s maker took issue with the findings.
“We stand behind our heart-tracking technology. Fitbit trackers are not intended to be medical devices,” Fitbit said in a statement. “Unlike chest straps, wrist-based trackers fit conveniently and comfortably into everyday life, providing continuous heart rate for up to several days without recharging [the device’s batteries].”
The San Francisco-based company added that internal studies involving 60 volunteers showed the device has an average error of 6 percent or less for measuring a person’s heart beat. And the Fitbit was tested against devices like the chest strap during walking, running, biking, using the elliptical and more, the company added.
Of all the wrist devices tested, the Apple watch seemed to fare the best. It performed well during bicycling and on elliptical machines without arm levels. The Apple watch’s heart rate monitor was only noticeably inaccurate compared to the chest strap when used on an elliptical machine with arm levers, the researchers said.
Why Are There Heart Rate Tracker Inaccuracies?
Wrist-worn devices use optical sensing, or light, to measure blood flow, the researchers said.
“It’s not measuring what the heart does, but rather blood flow — basically the volume of blood in the tissue,” Gillinov explained.
Wrist-worn devices also introduce many more variables that can result in incorrect readings, including insufficient contact with the skin due to sweating, poor fit or skin color, he said.
“Even though all these wrist-worn monitors work by the same general principles, there is considerable variation among them,” he said. “Overall, they were most accurate when someone was using the treadmill at low intensity and worst when exercising on the elliptical at high intensity,” Gillinov added.
The study is to be presented at the upcoming annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, in Washington, D.C. Findings presented at meetings are typically viewed as preliminary until they’ve been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
SOURCE: American College of Cardiology, news release, March 8, 2017
For more information, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900 .
Preventing Sports Injuries
Many athletes largely depend on chiropractic care to enhance their physical performance. New research studies have determined that aside from maintaining overall health and wellness, chiropractic can also help prevent sports injuries. Chiropractic is an alternative treatment option utilized by athletes to improve their strength, mobility and flexibility. Spinal adjustments and manual manipulations performed by a chiropractor can also help correct spinal issues, speeding up an athlete’s recovery process to help them return-to-play as soon as possible.
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