by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Chronic Back Pain, Lower Back Pain, Mobility & Flexibility
Kettlebells Strengthen the Spine
Strengthening the spinal muscles is essential for health and fitness. Functional kettlebell training is resistance training that strengthens the spine. Kettlebell training is an extremely effective type of exercise to increase functional strength, ballistic power, endurance, and flexibility in the entire body, especially the spinal and core muscles.
(Exercise shown is Anchor Squats.)
What Exactly Are Kettlebells?
Kettlebells are round cast iron weights with a single handle. Picture a cannonball with a u-shaped handle. Kettlebells are manufactured in a wide range of weights, for all strength levels.
Muscles Used in Kettlebell Training
Kettlebell training incorporates large functional movements. Multiple muscle groups work in synergy to complete the exercises. The spinal muscles function as either the primary mover or assist the primary mover in every kettlebell exercise. The spinal muscles also stabilize the body during functional kettlebell training, thus developing the smaller supporting structures.
(Exercise shown is Push Press.)
High Reps Of High Importance In Kettlebell Training
Kettlebell training employs high repetitions, momentum, and centrifugal force. Momentum works the spinal muscles as the weight is raised and lowered. High repetitions combined with momentum and full body movement build strength and endurance in the entire musculoskeletal and cardio-vascular systems. Kettlebell training delivers aerobic and anaerobic benefits.
(Exercise shown is High Pulls.)
Always Learn From A Qualified Kettlebell Instructor
Perfect technique is mandatory during exercise. Correct exercise technique maximizes benefit and lowers injury risk. Poor exercise form increases the possibility of injury and diminishes results. Kettlebell exercises are learned motions, so you should learn proper training technique from a qualified kettlebell trainer. The trainer should demonstrate, instruct, and supervise your training and develop your routine.
(Exercise shown is Turkish Get-up.)
So Many Possibilities
The kettlebell�s shape allows for a wide variety of exercises. This resourceful exercise tool is used for basic exercises like squats (shown in slide 1), cleans, swings, high pulls (shown in slide 4), snatches and push presses (shown in slide 3). The versatility of the kettlebell is demonstrated with exercises such as renegade rows (a combination of push-ups and rows�shown in slide 6), suitcase swings, woodchoppers (a combination of lunges and oblique twists), windmills, and Turkish get-ups (shown in slide 5)
(Exercise shown is Renegade Rows.)
Kettlebell’s Benefits For The Spine
Functional kettlebell training is a rare type of exercises that increases aerobic and anaerobic health simultaneously. The benefits to the spine include increased strength, power, endurance, flexibility, function and mobility.
(Exercise shown is Suitcase Swings.)
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by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | UTEP (Local) RSS
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The UTEP softball team will travel to Ruston to take on Conference USA West Division foe LA Tech April 14-15. Friday�s doubleheader will start at 2 p.m. CT/ 1 MT, while Saturday�s series finale will start at noon CT/ 11 a.m. MT.
The Miners (11-28, 5-10 C-USA) are currently tied with Southern Miss (5-10), while standing one game behind UTSA (6-9) in the West Division. The Lady Techsters (26-14, 9-3 C-USA West) are in first place and currently the no. 2 seed behind Marshall (14-1 East). FIU (8-4 East), Florida Atlantic (7-5 East), North Texas (8-7 West), Charlotte (5-7 East), WKU (6-9 East) and UTSA round out the standings. Middle Tennessee sits in last place (3-9 East).
The top eight schools, out of 12, will advance to the C-USA Tournament in Hattiesburg, Miss, May 10-13. The top three teams from each division, while the next two schools with the best records will advance to the four-day championship. Seeds three and four will receive a bye, while the top two seeds earn a double-bye to advance to the second day.
UTEP won game one against WKU, 10-2 (6), while recording 30 hits during the weekend series. The Miners and Hilltoppers game two scoring fest ranks most runs (26) between both teams in C-USA. The Miners are ranked second in C-USA in team batting average (.307), while their 329 hits rank second. Lindsey Sokoloski is ranked no. 1 in the nation in toughest to strikeout after a K-less weekend and Taylor Sargent is ranked 17th in the C-USA with a .349 batting average. Sargent was hitting .250 after March 26.
In the 2015, LA Tech took care of UTEP in three games, while the Miners returned the favor by sweeping the Lady Techsters in El Paso last season. In 2014, during Tobin Echo-Hawk�s first season, her squad swept LA Tech in Ruston as it was the first ever sweep of a conference opponent in program history.
The Miners will have their bye week following the LA Tech series and will continue play at UAB April 29-30, while the regular season will conclude in El Paso against Florida Atlantic May 6-7 (Senior Weekend).
by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | UTEP (Local) RSS
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IRVING, Texas- For his efforts toward a share of eighth place at the prestigious 71st Annual Western Intercollegiate, UTEP men�s golfer Charles Corner was named the Conference USA Golfer of the Week for the first time on Wednesday.
�He�s [Corner] been playing great all spring, I�m very happy for him,� head coach Scott Lieberwirth said. �To get a top-10 [finish] in an event that strong, that�s a huge confidence boost to continue on through the rest of the season. His game is right there and I�m convinced he�s got all the capability to breakthrough and even win the conference individually. The state of his game is in a great spot, as good as it�s been in the three years he�s been here.�
Climbing three spots after the final round, Corner spearheaded the Miners� charge at the Intercollegiate, firing a two-over-par 212 (72-69-71) to top his team�s scorecard and help the Miners to a seventh-place finish. The team bested No. 17 Texas, No. 25 Arizona State and No. 32 San Diego State after shooting 1,084 (361-356-367) in the 15-team field, which included eight nationally-ranked teams.
�A third of the way through the final round I heard I was in fourth place at one point and I just stuck to my game plan and kept doing my thing,� Corner said. �It came down to a pretty good score on the final day. It�s good to get those results, especially this time of the year when we need to finish off strong before conference, so its defiantly really positive and good for the team.�
Of the 96 players in the tournament, only three shot under par. Corner�s score was better than 19 players ranked in the Golfstat Top 100, including six of the top-10 players.
A junior from Cayuga, Ontario, Canada has recorded a 72.5 scoring average, third-best on the UTEP squad. He has tallied three top-10 finishes this year in 10 tournaments, with his work at the Western Intercollegiate marking the first time he was the top finisher for UTEP this year.
Corner is the third Miner to earn the C-USA Golfer of the Week honor this season. Andreas Sorensen earned his first recognition the week of September 14 and Frederik Dreier got the nod on October 19.
�It gives me and the team a lot of momentum,� Corner said. �We finished pretty well [at the Western Intercollegiate], we beat a lot of good schools that are ranked better than us so that�s always nice.�
Corner and the rest of the UTEP squad will head to the Conference USA Championships April 23-26 in Texarkana, Ark.
�I think everyone is pretty pumped up that we beat Texas and some high ranked teams, that�s only going to carry over and do good things for us. Those are some big wins, so its good for us to know we can compete against those [ranked] schools going into conference play.�
by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Chiropractic, Sciatica
Several lumbar spine (lower back) disorders may cause sciatica. Sciatica is usually referred to as light to severe pain in the left or right leg. Occasionally doctors call a radiculopathy that is sciatica. Radiculopathy is a medical term used to spell out pain, numbness, tingling, and weakness in legs or the arms caused by a nerve root issue. It’s known as a cervical radiculopathy, in the event the nerve difficulty is in the neck. But since sciatica influences the low back, it is called a lumbar.
Pathways To Sciatic Nerve Pain
Five sets of matched nerve roots in the lumbar spine combine to generate the sciatic nerve. Beginning at the rear of the pelvis (sacrum), the sciatic nerve runs in the trunk, under the buttock, and down through the hip region into each leg. Nerve roots aren’t “solitary” structures but are part of the entire body’s entire nervous system capable of transmitting pain and sensation to different parts of the body. Radiculopathy happens when compression of a nerve root from a disc rupture (herniated disc) or bone spur (osteophyte) happens in the lumbar spine prior to it joining the sciatic nerve.
What Causes Sciatic Nerve Compression?
Several spinal ailments can cause spinal nerve compression and sciatica or lumbar radiculopathy.
- spondylolisthesis
- Injury
- piriformis syndrome
- spinal tumors
Common Sciatica Cause #1: Lumbar Bulging Disc or Herniated Disc
A bulging disk is also called a contained disc illness. What this means is the gel-like center (nucleus pulposus) remains “included” within the tire-like outer wall (annulus fibrosus) of the disk.
A herniated disc happens when the nucleus breaks through the annulus fibrosus. It is called a “non-controlled” disk disorder. Whether a disc bulges or herniates, disk stuff compress delicate nerve tissue and cause sciatica and can press against an adjacent nerve root.
The effects of a herniated disc are worse. In both instances, nerve compression and irritation cause inflammation and pain, muscle weakness, tingling, and often ultimately causing extremity numbness.
Common Sciatica Cause #2: Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
Spinal stenosis is a nerve compression illness most frequently affecting older adults. Leg pain similar to sciatica may happen as an effect of lumbar spinal stenosis. The pain is generally positional, frequently brought on by actions like standing or walking and relieved by sitting down.
Spinal nerve roots branch outward through passageways in the spinal cord called neural foramina comprised of bone and ligaments. Between each group of vertebral bodies, located on the left and right sides, is a foramen. Nerve roots pass through these openings and extend outward to innervate other portions of the body. The term foraminal stenosis can be used when these passageways become clogged causing nerve compression or narrow.
Common Sciatica Cause #3: Spondylolisthesis
Spondylolisthesis is a disorder that almost all commonly influences the lumbar spine. It’s distinguished by one vertebra slipping forwards over an adjacent vertebra. When a vertebra slips and is displaced, spinal nerve root compression happens and frequently causes sciatic leg pain. Spondylolisthesis is categorized as developmental (located at birth, grows during childhood) or got from spinal degeneration, trauma or physical stress (eg, lifting weights).
Common Sciatica Cause #4: Trauma
Examples include motor vehicle accidents, falling down, football and other sports. The impact may injure the nerves or, sometimes, the nerves may compress.
Piriformis syndrome is named after the piriformis muscle and the pain caused when the sciatic nerve is irritated by the muscle. The piriformis muscle and the thighbone is found in the lower part of the spine, connect, and aids in hip rotation. The sciatic nerve runs beneath the piriformis muscle. Piriformis syndrome grows when muscle spasms develop in the piriformis muscle thereby compressing the sciatic nerve. It may be challenging to diagnose and treat because of the shortage of x ray or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings.
Common Sciatica Cause #5: Piriformis Syndrome
Piriformis syndrome is named after the piriformis muscle when the muscle irritates the sciatic nerve and the pain caused. The piriformis muscle and the thighbone is located in the low part of the backbone, connect, and aids in hip rotation. When muscle spasms develop in the piriformis muscle thus compressing the sciatic nerve, piriformis syndrome develops. It can be hard to diagnose and treat due to the lack of x-ray or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings.
Common Sciatica Cause #6: Spinal Tumours
Spinal tumors are abnormal growths which are either benign or cancerous (malignant). Fortunately, spinal tumors are uncommon. But when a spinal tumor develops in the lumbar region, there’s a risk for sciatica to grow as a result of nerve compression.
Call your doctor should you imagine you have sciatica. The very first step toward relieving pain is a proper diagnosis.
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by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Fitness
(HealthDay News) — Healthy aging of the brain relies on the health of your heart and blood vessels when you’re younger, a new study reports.
People with risk factors for heart disease and stroke in middle age are more likely to have elevated levels of amyloid, a sticky protein known to clump together and form plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease, the researchers said.
Amyloid In The Brain
MRI scans revealed larger deposits of amyloid in the brains of seniors who smoked, had high blood pressure, were obese, diabetic or had elevated cholesterol levels when they were middle-aged, said lead researcher Dr. Rebecca Gottesman. She’s an assistant professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
All of these risk factors can affect the health of a person’s blood vessels, otherwise known as vascular health, leading to hardening of the arteries and other disorders.
“Amyloid is what we think, by leading hypotheses, accumulates to cause Alzheimer’s disease. So this suggests that vascular risk in middle age may play a direct role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease,” Gottesman said.
Two or more risk factors nearly tripled a person’s risk of large amyloid deposits. One risk factor alone increased the likelihood of amyloid deposits by 88 percent, the study found.
Obesity
Obesity in particular stood out as a strong risk factor, on its own doubling a person’s risk of elevated amyloid later in life, said Steven Austad, chair of biology of aging and the evolution of life histories at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.
“In terms of one risk factor by itself, that turned out to be the most important one, which is interesting,” Austad said. “Twenty years ago obesity was not the problem that it is now, suggesting that 20 years from now things might be considerably worse.”
Gottesman and her colleagues examined data from nearly 350 people whose heart health has been tracked since 1987 as part of an ongoing study. The average age of the study participants was 52 at the start of the study. Sixty percent were women, and 43 percent were black. The average follow-up time was almost 24 years.
When the participants entered the study, none of them had dementia. About two decades later, they were asked to come back and undergo brain scans to check for signs of amyloid.
The researchers discovered a link between heart risk factors and brain amyloid. The relationship did not vary based either on race or known genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s.
Poor Blood Vessel Upkeep
Heart risk factors that cropped up late in life were not associated with brain amyloid deposits. What a person does in their middle age is what apparently contributes to their later risk of elevated amyloid, not what happens later, Gottesman said.
The study did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship, but there are several theories why the health of a person’s blood vessels might be linked to Alzheimer’s.
Blood and spinal fluid contain amyloid, and some think that unhealthy blood vessels might allow amyloid to leak out of the bloodstream and into brain tissue, said Austad, a spokesman for the American Federation for Aging Research.
“The idea that the first injury to the brain is really an injury to the blood vessels of the brain has been around for a while, and this would support that, generally,” Austad said. “The amyloid plaques, you’re not seeing them inside the vessels. You’re seeing them outside the vessels, in the brain.”
Blood vessels also play a role in flushing out broken-down amyloid particles that naturally occur in a person’s brain, said Keith Fargo, director of scientific programs and outreach for the Alzheimer’s Association.
“You can imagine if there’s something wrong with your brain’s circulation, it could affect the clearance of this amyloid in some way,” Fargo said.
Hardened arteries also can lead to strokes or mini-strokes that affect the ability to think and remember in some people as they age, which contributes to dementia and Alzheimer’s, Gottesman said.
Based on these findings, people who want to protect their brain health should protect their heart health, and the sooner the better, Fargo said.
“You don’t want to wait until your 60s to start taking care of yourself. It has to be a lifetime commitment,” Fargo said.
The findings were published April 11 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
SOURCES: Rebecca Gottesman, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore; Steven Austad, Ph.D., chair of biology of aging and the evolution of life histories, University of Alabama, Birmingham, and scientific director, American Federation for Aging Research; Keith Fargo, Ph.D., director of scientific programs and outreach, Alzheimer’s Association; April 11, 2017, Journal of the American Medical Association
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.
by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Health News El Paso
(HealthDay News) — Wrist-worn activity trackers such as Fitbit don’t reliably assess heart rate, a new study finds.
While the devices may have some legitimate benefits, they shouldn’t be used for medical purposes, researchers suggest.
Evaluating four wearable activity trackers from Fitbit, Basis and Mio, the investigators compared results to those from an electrocardiograph (EKG). The researchers found results varied among the different models, and were much less accurate during exercise than at rest.
“These devices are probably good enough to inform consumers of general trends in their heart rate — high or low — [but] it’s important to have more accurate information when physicians are relying on this data to make decisions on medications or other tests and treatments,” said Dr. Mitesh Patel.
Patel is an assistant professor of medicine and health care management at the University of Pennsylvania. He wasn’t involved in the study.
However, the study’s lead author cautions against making too much of the discrepancies.
“At any moment, the tracker could be off by a fair bit. But at most moments, it won’t be,” said Lisa Cadmus-Bertram, an assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
“The heart-rate feature performed better at rest,” she said. “They’re not as precise during exercise.”
A 2014 survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers found that 20 percent of American adults owned a wearable activity tracker.
For the new study, 40 healthy adults, aged 30 to 65, were recruited to test the Fitbit Surge, Fitbit Charge, Basis Peak and Mio Fuse.
Generally, when compared with the EKG results, the activity trackers were near the correct mark, Cadmus-Bertram said. But occasionally, their estimates of heart rate could swing too high or too low.
At rest, the Fitbit Surge was most accurate; Basis Peak was least accurate, the study authors said.
During exercise on a treadmill at 65 percent of maximum heart rate — defined as 220 beats per minute minus age — accuracy suffered more.
The monitors could overestimate heart rate by as much as 39 beats per minute (Fitbit Surge), or underestimate it by as much as 41 beats per minute (Fitbit Charge), the study found.
The findings support those of a study released last month at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting. Depending on the type of activity, the wrist devices were up to 34 beats per minute off, those researchers found.
Again, the devices were least accurate during exercise.
Some wrist-worn activity trackers use a light-emitting diode, or LED, that measures heart rate by detecting changes in the amount of blood in the skin.
Patel said accuracy may be a problem because the devices move around on the arm, especially during exercise.
Meanwhile, Fitbit’s maker said its fitness trackers aren’t intended to be medical devices. The company issued a statement in response to the new study.
“We conducted extensive internal studies which show that Fitbit’s PurePulse technology performs to industry standard expectations for optical heart rate on the wrist,” the statement said. Moreover, “Fitbit devices were tested against properly calibrated industry standard devices like an EKG chest strap across the most popular activities performed worldwide — including walking, running, biking, elliptical and more.”
Cadmus-Bertram cautioned that the data for the new study were collected about a year ago.
“Not only have newer models since been released, but the algorithms behind the data are presumably being updated and improved on a regular basis,” she said. “So the results we found might be different if we did the study again now.”
In general, she’s remains a fan.
“On the whole, fitness trackers still provide a tremendous amount of useful information to the average user who just wants some feedback to help them to increase their exercise level,” Cadmus-Bertram said.
The study findings were published online April 11 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
SOURCES: Lisa Cadmus-Bertram, Ph.D., assistant professor, kinesiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Mitesh Patel, M.D., M.B.A., M.S., assistant professor, medicine and health care management, Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Fitbit, statement, April 10, 2017; April 11, 2017, Annals of Internal Medicine, online
by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Health News El Paso
(HealthDay News) — When a bedside alarm goes off in a child’s hospital room, anxious parents expect nurses to respond pronto.
That rarely happens, however, and a new study helps explain why.
Reasons Why Response Time In Question
Researchers found that nurses are usually quick to react when alarms are urgent. But, they’re slower to respond at the end of the workday or when they suffer from “chronic alarm fatigue.”
Also, having parents present doubled the response time on average, the study found.
But, delayed response time didn’t threaten any of the 100 patients evaluated in the study, the researchers said. And just half of 1 percent of more than 11,000 alarms analyzed were deemed “actionable,” or crucial.
“The nurses were overall doing a great job predicting which alarms were going to be important,” said study lead author Dr. Christopher Bonafide, an assistant professor of pediatrics with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “Their intuition was correct.”
The high number of false alarms in U.S. hospitals has led to “alarm fatigue” among nurses. As a result, the Joint Commission — the organization that accredits American hospitals — issued new guidelines for managing alarm monitors.
The beeps and buzzes alert staff to medical problems facing patients such as high heart rates, dips in oxygen levels in the blood and dangerous heartbeat patterns, Bonafide said.
Too Many False Alarms
But, many false alarms are caused simply by babies moving around and disrupting sensors, he said.
“When an alarm goes off and the nurse is already in the patient’s room, they can immediately look up, check on the patient, and make sure everything is OK,” Bonafide said. “When a nurse isn’t in the room, some hospitals like ours have the ability to send them a text message to the phone that they are carrying.”
For this study, researchers analyzed video of 38 nurses caring for 100 patients at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia from 2014-2015.
Almost all of the 11,745 beeps and buzzes that sounded were valid. And 50 were deemed critical, “the important ones we would not want anyone to miss,” Bonafide said. Nurses responded in about a minute, on average, to these alarms.
However, overall, half of the total alarms took 10.4 minutes or more to address, the study found.
Years on the job and caseload accounted for some differences in response time.
“Nurses with under one year of experience responded faster than nurses with one or more years’ experience,” Bonafide said. “Nurses taking care of just one patient responded faster than those caring for more than one patient. And for each hour that passed in a nurse’s shift, their response time got a little bit slower.”
Other factors appeared to contribute, too.
“If family members were absent from the bedside, response time was faster than if parents were there,” he said. The median response time was six minutes when family members weren’t there, and 12 minutes when they were.
Also, “more complex” patients got faster responses, Bonafide said. “And patients who had prior alarms that required interventions to be taken got faster responses than those who had not had those experiences.”
Marjorie Funk, a professor at Yale University School of Nursing, praised the study. She said the findings shouldn’t worry parents about leaving their child’s side at hospitals.
“Alarms for serious events sound different, and nurses respond immediately,” Funk noted. “Other alarms may require their attention, but they can finish what they are doing for another patient before responding or can ask a colleague to respond.”
Bonafide said there are no guidelines that tell nurses how quickly they should response to various alarms. But, he thinks the system needs improvement.
“There’s quite a lot we can do to improve the safety and performance of these systems and make them work for us and provide truly useful information that helps nurses identify patients who are getting into trouble,” he said.
When a child is hospitalized, Bonafide and Funk agreed that it’s appropriate for parents to ask questions. These might include asking physicians and nurses, “Why is my child being continuously monitored? What problems are you looking for?” and “What should I do if an alarm goes off?”
The study appears in the April 10 issue of JAMA Pediatrics.
SOURCES: Christopher Bonafide, M.D., assistant professor, pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Marjorie Funk, Ph.D., RN, professor, nursing, Yale University School of Nursing, New Haven, Conn.; April 10, 2017, JAMA Pediatrics
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.
