I just read an interesting article published in the New York Times on September 4 2011 about whether there is enough “good” evidence to support common procedures currently being used by sports medicine doctors. These include steroid injections, platelet rich plasma (PRP) injections, taping, and surgery. It’s an interesting article and it mirrors what I hear people tell me after undergoing these procedures – sure, it works for some, but for others it doesn’t help at all, and for some it has made their injuries worse. One woman I treated …

Why is Osteopathy so effective at treating sports injuries?
Osteopaths are ideally suited to the management of sports injuries. Anyone with a sports injury wants to get back on track as soon as possible, and the approach of an Osteopath is designed to promote the most rapid healing response possible. Osteopaths look at the interrelationship between the soft tissues (muscles, tendons, ligaments) as well as the bones and joints they attach to.
By first removing the muscle spasm that comes with an injury and then mobilising the nearby joint, the flexibility, nerve …

You’ve all probably heard a million times about how you need to strengthen your “core” to support your lower back. And it’s true. The “core” abdominal muscles, such as transverse abdominus and multifidus, play an active role in the strength and stability of your lower back, and there have been countless studies to support the idea that improving their strength helps your lower back.
Which makes me slightly loathe to write this, because this article might give one or two of you an excuse to slacken off. Don’t get me wrong, …

No, sadly this is not about that classic sitcome starring the great Alan Thicke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growing_Pains). I’ve been seeing a bit of this lately and in my opinion it’s pretty basic to take care of so I thought I’d do a little summary to outline what it is and what you can do about it.
As the name would suggest, it is a pain associated with growth, usually rapid growth, like you would see in a growth spurt. In a nutshell what we are talking about is a pain that develops when …

Some would say they never went out.
FYI I have found a place selling decent pool noodles so I have a new batch, if you want to come grab one to lay on and stretch your upper back, you know where they are…
Mmmmm, Yellow, so hot right now.

Headline: “A firm handshake and brisk walk could be indicators of a longer life expectancy, researchers claim.”
Story: Researchers think they have identified the 4 physical tasks that seem to correlate with longer life. They found people who performed better at 1) gripping, 2) walking, 3) rising from a chair, and 4) balancing on one leg “tended to live to a riper age”. In theory then, an exercise program that involves getting up out of your chair repeatedly while squeezing is the ultimate exercise regime for those seeking to live a …

I had to come up with something to replace that ridiculous Tiramisu story, here are some of the stories I’ve been reading online (in the medical/health genre):
Headline: “Exercise can treat cardiovascular disease as well as prevent it”
Story: A number of studies have recently found that as well as being good for preventing the possible onset of heart disease, people who have coronary artery disease can reduce the risk of having a heart attack, and/or the severity of their heart disease.
One author concluded: “”I would be happy if I could convince …

Admit it – you’ve all thought about it. Can you give up exercise for winter (or forever?) and just stay fit by playing video games? Okay, maybe it’s just me that wonders if that’s possible. But if you are one of the many people using a Wii for fun or for fitness, you’ve probably wondered just how much of a workout you get from it. A recent study has given us the data.
William R. Yates, MD, has summarised the findings of a Japanese study which showed that showed some games …

Breaking News – Meditation is good for you. Well, that statement is not that revolutionary really, there’s been plenty on this before, but this latest research helps us understand HOW it works.
The Australian of a new study which found that “Zen meditation helps lower sensitivity to pain by thickening a part of the brain that regulates emotion and painful sensations“. The researchers measured the thickness of grey matter of meditators compared to people who don’t meditate and found the meditators had increased thickness in areas related to pain sensitivity. The …

Following on from previous articles where we looked at ability to perform normal everyday functions as being an important predictor of having a fall for older people, new research has shown the amount of pain someone is in will also be a key predictor. Which makes sense when you think about it – if you’re in pain, you’re probably not going to be walking properly, you might have a limp, favour one side, and thus be a bit off balance.
Basically what they found was that the more sites of pain …