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, because “that was what they did back then”. Researchers have compared the …

I pity the fool that volunteered for this study. 153 healthy, that’s right, HEALTHY, men and women VOLUNTEERED, if you can believe it, to be given the virus that develops into the common cold. Imagine doing that to yourself. I think they had a cotton bud with the flu virus inserted into their nostril or something. Good times!
Anyway, I am loving their work, for we all get to benefit from the results. Prior to being given the virus, their sleep habits were measured for 14 nights, both in terms of …

A new study has found that men who had higher cardiorespiratory fitness (endurance) had significantly lower rates of certain types of cancer compared to less fit men. The differences were pretty huge for both Lung Cancer and ColoRectal Cancer, and seriously, none of us want that.
The benefits get larger the fitter you become. Compared to the least fit, the fittest people had a 55% less risk of developing Lung Cancer, and a 44% less risk of ColoRectal Cancer.
Each level of fitness provides a little more benefit – even moving up …

New research suggests it could be very simple to add up to 8 years to your life. 8 more times you get to celebrate Christmas with your family, 8 more years of travelling to enjoy, 8 more years watching your grandchildren grow up. Or if you’re my Nanna Joyce (pictured), 8 more years of Singapore Slings!
The research, which followed 17,000 people for 30 years, identified the components that make up the unhealthiest lifestyle. These were physical inactivity, smoking, poor diet and alcohol use.
For a 65 year old who doesn’t …

Seasons Greetings one and all! How good is the Pacman Christmas Tree! I certainly get the impression from talking to many of you that it has been a full on year, so I hope you get to enjoy a well deserved break and take some time to recover and prepare for 2016.
Just to let you know I will be working all the way up to and including Christmas Eve, then back on Monday the 4th of January.
Hope you have a great Christmas and a happy and HEALTHY New Year!
 

I just read an article on the Medical Observer website which said that the Therapeutic Goods Administrator (TGA) “will ramp up warnings on NSAID packages after a safety review found over-the-counter diclofenac was associated with liver damage and that NSAIDs in general were linked to adverse cardiovascular effects”.
The TGA has now suggested that these medications come with the following warning: “Warning: In rare cases, diclofenac has been associated with serious liver injury”.
A couple of choice quotes from the article:

Doctors have also been warned to avoid using prescription NSAIDs in patients with previous …

Last week 60 Minutes ran a story on the perils of prolonged sitting. For a long time I’ve been a firm believer that the length of time you spend sitting is a lot more important then the position you sit in. This is true for musculoskeletal conditions like back pain, neck pain and headaches, but now we’re seeing that this is true for general health conditions like cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes. This only takes 12 minutes and is well worth your time. Get up and move Australia!
To watch the story click here.

I guess a lot of you saw the recent articles (such as this one in The Australian) questioning the effectiveness of Paracetamol for back pain. This is newsworthy because it is probably the first thing a doctor would recommend for back pain, so we want to know if it actually works. It has very few side effects, if any, so it’s almost certainly not going to be dangerous to take, but according to this new research, there may not be much point.
The study in question looked at 1,600 people with …

Thanks to the internet, we have access to more information that ever before. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to figure out whether something we read on the internet is true or not. Wikipedia is a site that always comes up very high on search engines, so if you’re ever looking to come up with a diagnosis or learn more about why your shoulder/knee/hip/head hurts, it’s a common place to end up. Sadly, a recent study has shown that the site is “riddled with errors”.
An article titled “Is Wikipedia Dangerous To …

Pictured is the Astronaut Position, which is a great way to relieve back pain. In this post I’m going to discuss the results of a study which has found that when you suffer a back injury 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 a recurrence of their symptoms within a year from the initial onset, and up …