I read an article that cited the statistic that 50% of 18-34 year olds regularly suffer from back pain. I know that nearly half of 40-49 year olds have evidence of arthritis in their back so I can understand 50% of 40-60 years olds suffering from back pain on a regular basis, but why are so many young people suffering from it? And is there anything we can do about it?
According to the article it all stems from the increased amount of time young people spend sitting. From school aged …

And the winner is….
Osteopathy! A new article (published January 3, 2012) compared the effectiveness of spinal manipulation with medications and exercises for neck pain. The medications in the study included aspirin, ibuprofen, muscle relaxants and narcotics.
Neck manipulation was proven to be statistically significant to medication at the 2 month follow up, and again at 3, 6, and 12 months, with nearly two thirds of people receiving neck manipulation reporting a 75% reduction in pain. The exercises (basic stretches and neck retractions) were also proven to be more effective than medications, …

So I’ve posted on this before, maybe even a couple of times. Do the findings on a medical scan (CT, MRI) really mean much? Maybe I always post about this because I myself am a bit dubious, but the research is really starting to support the idea. I suppose I started in on this because I didn’t always see people getting fantastic results after surgery and if the surgeon is looking at a scan and telling you your pain is coming from something he sees in the scan, and then …

Hello,
For those of you training for the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (or anyone running in any event for that matter), over the next couple of months I’m going to share my thoughts on common injuries you might run into as you build up your training. I’ve recently written a book on this and before that gets published I’m going to leak a few excerpts. I’ll start with shin splints as it’s a common injury for people who have just taken up running.
Understanding: Shin Splints is the name given to pain …

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 …

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, …

So, I’ve got some good news, I met a girl. Intelligent, beautiful, funny, cool, amazing (first to admit I’m batting well above my average). Rocks my world. Brightens each and every day. Thing is, she lives in Singapore. And so, what’s a guy to do, right?
I’ve resigned from my Bondi Junction Clinic and will be moving to Singapore to start anew. My last day in clinic will be Wednesday May 25th.
I am passing on all of your files to a brilliant young Osteopath, Omar Mograby, who has been working in …

For those of you who didn’t hear, Jill Bruneau had a little “break from work” recently. But anyone who knows her knows there’s no stopping Jill Bruneau. She’s back at work. I have been referring people to Jill for many years after working with her at The Wholistic Medical Centre, she is one of the best massage therapists going round. So if you’ve been a client of hers in the past and been eagerly awaiting her return give her a call 0414 492 326 and be prepared for one hell …

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 …

Following on from my last article on the risks associated with the use of common over the counter anti-inflammatory medications, I wanted to see what the other options were and more importantly, how effective they are. I found an article which compared the results of 47 different studies on the effectiveness of different forms of ‘non tablet’ anti-inflammatories, ie gels, sprays, and creams. The attraction of these options is that there are none of the associated systemic adverse events.
The results of 47 studies were included. In these studies, the gels/creams/sprays …