Clinic Wellness Team. A key factor to spine or back pain conditions is staying healthy. Overall wellness involves a balanced diet, appropriate exercise, physical activity, restful sleep, and a healthy lifestyle. The term has been applied in many ways. But overall, the definition is as follows.
It is a conscious, self-directed, and evolving process of achieving full potential. It is multidimensional, bringing together lifestyles both mental/spiritual and the environment in which one lives. It is positive and affirms that what we do is, in fact, correct.
It is an active process where people become aware and make choices towards a more successful lifestyle. This includes how a person contributes to their environment/community. They aim to build healthier living spaces and social networks. It helps in creating a person’s belief systems, values, and a positive world perspective.
Along with this comes the benefits of regular exercise, a healthy diet, personal self-care, and knowing when to seek medical attention. Dr. Jimenez’s message is to work towards being fit, being healthy, and staying aware of our collection of articles, blogs, and videos.
A coffee, a caffeinated and an energy soda proved a deadly combination for a South Carolina teenager who died within two hours of consuming them, triggering warnings about the risks of caffeine overdose.
Davis Allen Cripe died on April 26 from a “caffeine-induced cardiac event causing a probable arrhythmia,” the Richland County coroner’s office in the southern US state wrote in a statement.
Two hours before he collapsed, Cripe drank a cafe latte, large Diet Mountain Dew and an energy drink.
Richland County Coroner Gary Watts noted Tueday that such occurrences are “highly unusual.”
“It was mainly due to the time period that he ingested a rapid amount of caffeine that affected his heart,” Watts told The Post and Courier, adding that Cripe had collapsed just 15 minutes after taking the energy drink.
The US Food and Drug Administration recommends that adults consume no more than 400 mg of caffeine per day, which is equivalent to four or five cups of coffee.
“While adults should be mindful of their caffeine consumption, it’s important for parents to know the risks of children and adolescents consuming caffeine,” Jill Michels of the Palmetto Poison Center said in a statement.
“Take the time to talk with your children about the dangers of caffeinated drinks.”
At a news conference on Monday, the boy’s father said his son was very careful about drugs and alcohol.
However, “it wasn’t a car crash that took his life. Instead, it was an energy drink,” Sean Cripe said.
While energy drinks account for just a small segment of the non-alcoholic beverages industry, they are very popular with young people.
Health experts have expressed concern about the drinks’ high caffeine content, which can cause arrhythmia and raise blood pressure in young people.
Energy drinks can contain up to 240 mg of caffeine, according to a 2012 Consumer Reports study.
There is a belief among many that if you want to lose weight, you should do cardio. If you want to put it on, you need to pick up a barbell.
There is some truth to this � cardio will burn fat, resistance training will build muscle. However, weights will also burn fat. And fix your posture. And increase your power. Running? Not so much. So take a trip to the other side of the gym. It�s time to embrace the appeal of steel.
You�ll Burn More Fat In Less Time
The more muscle you use, the more calories you burn. And some of the bigger lifts call on almost every muscle in your body, says Dylan Jones, founder of P4 Body. �Due to the higher neurological demand and multi-joint involvement in some of the more complex lifts, the body works twice as hard compared to when sitting on a stationary bike or fixed path rowing machine.�
Even if tight for a time, weights mean you can still work the entire body. �Combine a dumbbell curl with a lunge, finished with an overhead press,� says Jones. Do 15 reps on each side, for three rounds total. �This uses the large muscles in the legs, shoulder, back and core to stabilise you. All of which requires a demand for oxygen to perform every rep.�
You�ll Burn More Fat Sitting Down
To oversimplify things a little, cardio burns calories while you�re moving. Strength training torches fat even when back at home. �It helps build muscle, and muscle is �active� tissue,� says Rob Aitken, a senior trainer at Matt Roberts gyms. Unlike fat, which is inactive, active tissue constantly uses energy: the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. Even in bed.
�Try circuits using dumbbells or kettlebells,� says Jones. Pick five exercises then perform 40 seconds of work, 20 seconds of rest. Repeat for three rounds total in your normal cardio slot. �You are likely to burn more body fat at the same time as holding on to muscle.�
You�ll Power Up
Cardio is good for endurance, less so for brawn. �Choosing the weights room over a steady paced run wins hands down in the delivery of building performance and power into your game,� says Jones. This can have knock-on effects on your performance back in the park � the better you can put your strength through the ground, the faster you�ll move.
To hit everywhere that matters, all you need is a barbell and some serious weight. Deadlifts in sets of six reps will hit your glutes and posterior chain as well as fire up your metabolism. �You�ll be surprised by the additional power you create focusing on the non-favoured muscle groups,� says Jones.
You�ll Stop Feeling The Burn
Trying to squat too much weight does nothing good for your back. But lifting right can help ease the fire in your spine. �One of the main causes of bad posture and injury is from muscle imbalance,� says Jones. �This is developed by repetitive actions of everyday life, like sitting at a desk, using the telephone, operating a mouse, or commuting for hours a day. Adding to this with repetitive cardio is not going to help.�
Instead, strengthen what your day job has weakened by getting a qualified trainer to assess where you�re lacking. �A balanced weight training programme, which is designed specifically for you and your imbalances, will allow the body to move the way it was originally designed. This improves your posture and reverses some of the nasties that modern life has imposed.�
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: Weight Loss Eases Back Pain
Back pain and symptoms of sciatica can affect a majority of the population throughout their lifetime. Research studies have demonstrated that people who are overweight or obese experience more back complications than people with a healthy weight. A proper nutrition along with regular physical fitness can help with weight loss as well as help maintain a healthy weight to eliminate symptoms of back pain and sciatica. Chiropractic care is also another natural form of treatment which treats back pain and sciatica utilizing manual spinal adjustments and manipulations.
In ballet training, the barre is the horizontal handrail dancers grip while perfecting their technique. Barre-style workouts take those classic ballet warm-up exercises and reimagine them for a much wider audience.
While it may seem like a recent phenomenon, barre strength and flexibility training have been in vogue since the times of Louis XVI, says Ginny Wilmerding, a research professor at the University of New Mexico. The modern-day version is primarily a leg-and-butt workout; from your ankles and calves up through your knees, hips and glutes, barre movements are all about improving range of motion, strength and flexibility in your lower half by forcing one of your legs to perform graceful and precise movements while the other supports and stabilizes you, she says.
The sales pitch for all of that excruciating precision is that if you want a dancer�s body, you should train like a dancer. �I mean, who doesn�t want to look like a prima ballerina?� says Michele Olson, a professor of exercise physiology at Auburn University, Montgomery. �You�re talking about nice, lean muscle tone and perfect posture.�
But just as going to football practice won�t make you look like a linebacker, barre training is more likely to help you achieve a ballerina�s muscle endurance and balance than her body shape.
Those are valuable assets that do not come with every workout. Unlike muscle strength, endurance determines your muscle�s ability to work for long periods of time. (Strength may allow you to lift a weight, but muscle endurance dictates how many times you can lift it.) Barre is also effective at targeting the �support and steady� muscles that run close to your bones and tie into your core and spine�the ones most of us neglect when we spend a lot of time sitting or engaged in forward and backward activities like running, says Olson. �Real 360-degree balance involves a lot of those side-to-side muscles a lot of us don�t use much, and so they become weak,� she says.
Barre is also low impact and has a built-in handhold, making it a relatively safe form of exercise. Especially for older people at risk for falls, barre may be a good way to improve stability and avoid accidents.
But the workout is not without risks, especially for the back and knees. One example: �Ballerinas are taught to tuck the pelvis so that the low back that normally curves inward loses its curve and looks straight,� Olson says. While dancers do that for their art, tucking the pelvis can lead to back pain and injuries for the average exerciser.
Most barre classes have abandoned that sort of strict pelvis-tucking, but Olson says some classes still include extreme pli� knee bends that can increase a person�s risk for knee injury. Especially if you decide to go for a run right after your barre class, the �excessive� amount of pressure that some barre moves place on your knees could lead to sprains or strains.
�There are some things dancers do that others have no need for,� says Wilmerding, who advises to take the training slowly and to focus on form, rather than trying to get an intense muscle or cardio workout from the practice. Like tai chi, �you�re working on stability and flexibility and strength, but you have this higher goal of control and aesthetics.�
Another point to keep in mind is that even though barre class brings a good core workout, you may be torching fewer calories than you think. One of the few published studies that has looked at barre�s cardiovascular and metabolic demands found that the activity�at least in its traditional form�doesn�t burn many calories and more closely resembles walking than running in terms of its intensity.
�Like any form of exercise, I think you need some variety,� Olson says. �Do it three to five days a week if you want to get the most out of it, but do something different with a cardiovascular component on the other days.�
Male shift workers listen up: Two new studies link sleep disorders common in these men to urinary problems and erectile dysfunction.
And a third report links the repercussions of shift work to lower-quality semen, which could make it harder for men to father children.
The research doesn’t prove that shift work and its accompanying sleep issues cause these problems. However, “men who work shifts, particularly night shifts, should be aware they may be at risk for many health issues, and should be sure to seek care from a physician to help prevent and treat these conditions,” said Dr. Alex Pastuszak, co-author of the three studies.
Pastuszak is an assistant professor with the Center for Reproductive Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
For the studies, researchers sought to better understand the role of “shift work,” which requires workers to be on the job outside of traditional daytime hours.
“We know that shift work can disrupt circadian rhythms and disrupt normal hormonal function,” Pastuszak said. “Shift work can also put people at risk for shift-work sleep disorder, which causes insomnia or excessive sleepiness and a reduction of total sleep time due to a work schedule.”
In one of the three studies, researchers examined 75 infertile men who were shift workers, 96 other infertile men and 27 fertile men who’d recently fathered children.
“We found that in men who are seen for infertility, those who work night shifts have significantly lower sperm counts than those who do not,” Pastuszak said. “We think that too much or too little sleep alters circadian rhythms and thus changes hormone levels and the expression of genes that are important for producing sperm.”
The other studies examined responses from almost 2,500 men who went to a men’s clinic and answered questionnaires about urinary issues.
“We found that men with shift-work sleep disorder had worse urinary issues, worse erectile function, and worse symptoms of low testosterone as well as lower testosterone levels,” Pastuszak said.
The urinary issues included problems such as frequent urination, urgent urination, urinary hesitation and nighttime urination. “They’re most often caused by either bladder dysfunction or prostate enlargement,” Pastuszak said.
As for other potential explanations for the urinary problems, “we also asked the men about their use of tobacco and alcohol, symptoms of depression, exercise and other medical conditions they had,” he said. “We found that shift work most significantly impacted urinary symptoms, sperm counts and low testosterone symptoms.”
Sleep specialist Dr. Dennis Auckley, an associate professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, cautioned that the new research should be considered preliminary.
It’s difficult to study the effects of shift work since it can vary widely with different schedules of hours and days off, Auckley said, and another study found no connection between shift work and measurements of semen quality.
If shift workers do have urological problems, Auckley added, “there’s a long list of causes for these problems that should be evaluated before one could attribute their symptoms to shift work.”
What can shift workers do to protect themselves?
According to Pastuszak, “these men can take the following steps to improve sleep quality: Go to bed at regular times; sleep in a dark room; avoid alcohol and caffeine prior to going to bed; and limit use of computers, tablets, phones, televisions and other bright artificial lighting for at least 30 minutes before going to bed.”
The studies were presented May 13 at the American Urological Association’s annual meeting, in Boston. Research presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Actor Antonio Sabato, Jr., was suffering from depression, mood swings, and just feeling a tremendous loss of energy until he discovered hormone therapy that he says changed his life around.
Sabato, a staunch Republican who recently announced that he is running for Congress, was a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign. The actor has long been interested in politics and public policy, but he tells Newsmax Health his health woes prevented him from performing his best.
The Italian-born heart throb best known for his role as Jagger Cates in the soap opera “General Hospital” and his work as a Calvin Klein model, discovered that his debilitating symptoms stemmed from hormone depletion, a condition that strikes one in four men over the age of 30.
The symptoms may also include low sex drive, sleep disturbances, depressed mood, lethargy, and diminished physical performance.
“For me, I couldn’t understand why I was feeling so low,” Sabato tells Newsmax Health. “I’ve always worked out to keep myself in top shape for my demanding roles in movies and on television and I just wasn’t bouncing back the way I used to. I suffered from terrible mood swings and insomnia. The doctors I went to wanted to give me pills, which I took at the beginning but then I felt trapped.
“I didn’t want to take sleeping pills and antidepressants. I just want to feel like myself again.”
Rather than throwing in the towel and chalking up his lethargy to aging, Sabato was determined to find an effective treatment for his condition.
After a great deal of searching he met Dr. Christopher Asandra, who is board-certified by the American Board of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine and a leading anti-aging expert.
His program includes custom-tailored replacement therapy for both men and women to replace hormone levels diminished by the aging process, menopause and andropause, stress, diabetes, obesity, certain medications, and alcohol use.
“By careful testing and evaluating each patient’s blood work, I prescribe a formula that restores optimum hormone levels which soon translates into optimum health,” Asandra tells Newsmax Health.
After following Asandra’s protocol Sabato, 45, says he feels decades younger.
“I should have started his program in my 30s,” he laughs. “I have amazing energy and vitality and my mood swings are gone. I sleep like a baby and as an added benefit the brain fog disappeared and I have incredible mental clarity which is an asset when I need to memorize scripts.”
The therapy consists of inserting two tic-tac sized time-release pellets containing bio-identical testosterone hormones that slowly regulate the body over a 5-6 month period. Sabato also uses Asandra’s growth hormone called Sermorelin, a sequence of 29 vital amino acids taken daily at night to stimulate growth hormone production.
“This treatment helps improve bone density, strengthen the cardiovascular system, increase muscle mass and improve cognitive and memory function,” says Asandra.
But patients must also do their part, the expert insists.
“I can jump start their systems but they have to change their lifestyles to get off the couch, start exercising and eating right,” he says.”It’s like the old expression, I can lead the horse to water but I can’t make him drink!”
Sabato changed his diet to include 80 percent vegetables, fish, and chicken.
“I eat red meat once in a while but I usually stick to a huge salad with fish,” he says. “I eat no dairy, eggs or bread.”
Sabato, a self-professed workout enthusiast works out strenuously six days a week.
“I do resistance training, cardio and Jiu Jitsu, a form of martial arts,” he says. “Thanks to the hormone therapy I have far more energy than ever before.”
Asandra says that the secret to successful anti-aging therapy is to be judicious in replacing lost hormones.
“Some of my patients only need to have hormone therapy for a year to get back their energy, get off the couch and stay motivated to keep their bodies and minds healthy,” he says. “We customize all our therapies to ensure optimum levels which are carefully monitored by regular blood tests.”
“My patients say it is life changing not only for them, but also for the people around them,” he says, noting his treatment is generally not covered by insurance. “When you are on an even keel mentally, in top shape physically and can enjoy intimacy once again, a price tag similar to buying a Starbuck coffee daily is so worth it!”
Asandra says it is important to find the right doctor who will listen to your needs and treat the cause of your symptoms rather than use a Band-Aid approach.
Having a pet dog can offer valuable social support to children when they’re stressed according to new US research.
Carried out by the University of Florida, the common belief that pet dogs provide social support for children was tested by the team using a randomized controlled study.
“Many people think pet dogs are great for kids but scientists aren’t sure if that’s true or how it happens,” explained one of the study’s authors Darlene Kertes.
For their study the team looked at 101 children aged 7-12 years who all had a pet dog.
To look at the children’s stress, the researchers asked participants to complete a public speaking task and mental arithmetic task, both of which simulate real-life stress in children’s lives and are known to evoke feelings of anxiety and raise the stress hormone cortisol.
To measure the levels of cortisol samples of saliva were collected before and after the stressing experience.
The children were also randomly assigned to one of three groups, and either had to complete the stressful tasks with their dog present for social support, with their parent present, or with no social support at all.
The results showed that children who completed the stressful tasks with their pet dog had lower levels of cortisol and reported a lower level of stress compared to those who completed the task with a parent for social support or who had no social support at all.
However, the level of cortisol also depended on how the child and the dog interacted.
“Children who actively solicited their dogs to come and be pet or stroked had lower cortisol levels compared to children who engaged their dogs less,” said Kertes, “When dogs hovered around or approached children on their own, however, children’s cortisol tended to be higher.”
Commenting on the significance of the results Kertes explained that, “Middle childhood is a time when children’s social support figures are expanding beyond their parents, but their emotional and biological capacities to deal with stress are still maturing.”
“Because we know that learning to deal with stress in childhood has lifelong consequences for emotional health and well-being, we need to better understand what works to buffer those stress responses early in life.”
The results can be found online published in the journal Social Development.
Chronic pain is a way of life for millions of Americans, and many risk addiction by resorting to dangerous opioids to ease their suffering. Even those who are willing to risk addiction are finding painkillers harder to get as doctors cut down on the amounts of opioids they prescribe. Other desperate victims of chronic pain opt for over-the-counter relief, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Advil). But in addition to often being less effective, taking just slightly more than the recommended amount can have devastating consequences.
A recent study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found that common non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) raised the risk of a heart attack as soon as one week after beginning their use, especially in higher doses. The medications include ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), diclofenac (Voltaren, Cambia), celecoxib (Celebrex), and naproxen (Midol, Aleve).
A Scottish study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology found that taking large doses of Tylenol over a period of time, even at recommended levels, can build up in the system and cause life-threatening liver damage. In addition to liver damage, ibuprofen can also cause gastrointestinal bleeding.
The answer to chronic pain, especially lower back pain and pulled muscles and ligaments, may be comfrey, an herb that’s been used for thousands of years in topical ointments to ease pain.
“Comfrey is an effective pain killer that can be used to treat any kind of pain,” says nationally recognized pain expert Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, author of Pain Free 1-2-3! “Comfrey cream can be rubbed on wherever you hurt, and it works immediately � within seconds.”
Comfrey contains two compounds, allantoin and rosmarinic acid (also found in rosemary) that reduce pain and inflammation.
Comfrey’s power isn’t anecdotal. Many studies confirm its effectiveness in helping several painful conditions. They include:
�� Upper and lower back pain. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine studied volunteers between the ages of 18 and 60 who had acute lower or upper back pain. Those who used an ointment containing comfrey root extract three times daily for five days had significant reduction in pain. Patients using the comfrey ointment reported a 95 percent reduction in pain compared to only 38 percent in those who used a placebo ointment. “Comfrey root extract shows a remarkably potent and clinically relevant effect in reducing acute back pain,” wrote the researchers.
� Sprains. A randomized study published in the Journal of the Australian Traditional-Medicine Society found that comfrey relieved the pain of sprains better than a prescription medication. Participants with acute ankle sprains received either topical comfrey root extract cream or the prescription diclofenac (Voltaren) gel. After seven days, swelling was down 70.5 percent in the comfrey groups compared to 69.4 percent in the diclofenac groups. Pressure pain was reduced by 80.6 percent with comfrey compared to 74.7 percent for diclofenac.
� Arthritis. In a study published in Phytomedicine, volunteers with painful osteoarthritis of the knee who used a comfrey cream three times a day for three weeks reported a 55 percent reduction in pain both when moving and when at rest. The randomized, double-blind study found that patients who used a placebo cream reported an 11 percent improvement.
� Wounds. A randomized, double-blind study used comfrey creams to heal wounds. Volunteers used two different strengths of comfrey creams. One contained 10 percent active ingredients and a second cream contained 1 percent. After two to three days, wounds treated with the 10 percent preparation were 49 percent smaller than those wounds not treated with comfrey, and wounds were 29 percent smaller in volunteers treated with the 1 percent cream. Comfrey’s healing power is attributed to a component called allantoin that’s believed to spur the growth of new cells.
Although comfrey can heal, it can also harm due to pyrroloxidine alkaloids (PA), which can be toxic to the liver. Experts warn to limit comfrey’s use to no more than 10 days at a time, and to never put it on an open wound.
Some PA-free comfrey products are available which have no detectible PAs. PA-free ointments can also be used on cuts and abrasions, since there are no toxins to get into the bloodstream.
Comfrey salves are inexpensive, and can be found in health food stores or ordered over the internet.
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