What I’m going to look at in this posting relates to how quickly one should start addressing a complaint of low back pain. Historically, people suffering from low back pain have been told to rest, sometimes for very long periods. It’s time to right this wrong.
I have treated plenty of people who 20 years ago were given a neck collar for a minor car crash and wore it for 3 months despite no evidence of any tissue damage, “just because that was what they did back then”. And plenty of …

Falling is a very common cause of severe injury and even death in older people. A 2010 study estimated that 30% of adults older than 65 will experience a fall each year and even minor falls can have serious consequences; “elderly patients are 3 times as likely to die following a ground-level fall”. This can be something as simple as slipping on a wet tile floor. From 1993-2005 the rate of fatal falls increased by 55% so the risk of falling is certainly something that should be addressed.
A 2008 study reviewed …

In this study the authors measured the Vitamin D levels in people suffering chronic pain to see if it may be a contributing factor. Vitamin D does play a role in pain perception and neuromuscular functioning, and so dysfunctions related to Vitamin D levels may present as abnormal (in this case elevated) pain states.
The researchers measured the Vitamin D levels in 267 people and compared it with other parameters “such as the amount and duration of narcotic pain medication used, self-reported levels of pain, emotional distress, physical functioning, health perception”.
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Now, if you know me, you would know that I would have jumped at the chance to review an article like this, particularly when the findings were so positive. I must sound like a broken record at work giving out advice to do some warming up prior to exercising, and this kind of validation is so sweet.
A warm-up program was developed and taught to 1055 teenage soccer playing girls. The warm-up consisted of 8 minutes of slow jogging, stretching, and some strength and balance exercises, then 2 minutes of faster …

In my last post I wrote about how much better off you are getting treatment for low back pain rather than just waiting for it to get better, and in this post I’m going to follow on from that by discussing the results of a study which has found that you are better off staying active than resting.
Now, it may not seem terribly important, I mean, how bad could a couple of days on the couch be? Well, here are the stats: “more than three quarters of individuals will have …

So, we’re looking at Osteoporosis and which type of exercise is best for it. This study looked at how weight bearing exercise (that is, exercise where you bear your own weight, like running, as opposed to swimming, where your weight is supported by the water) compares with resistance exercise (that is, weights). Hope I haven’t used the word weight too much yet…
Now we all know that weight bearing exercise is better than non weight bearing for increasing bone mineral density. There had been some studies in recent years where it …

So the theory goes something like this: Osteoporosis develops as your bone mineral density decreases, which happens with age (after menopause it can really accelerate). Your peak levels are in your mid 30’s. The higher you can get your bone mineral density at that point, the longer you will be able to stave off osteoporosis.
Two really important factors for increasing your bone mineral density (BMD) are diet/nutrition, and exercise (traditonally weight bearing exercise such as walking has been championed, but also resistance exercise, that is, weights, have been shown to …