Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

“Move it or lose it” the saying goes, but too much exercise or playing sports can lead to overuse injuries. These injuries include damage to bones, ligaments, tendons and muscles due to repetitive actions, such running, throwing, biking, lifting and swimming, to name a few. An overuse injury can be the result of poor training techniques such as doing too much too fast; not warming up or cooling down; failing to take enough time to recover after exercise; or not doing the proper cross training to support the activity. Shoulder impingement Shoulder impingement is an overuse injury in the rotator cuff — the muscles and tendons that surround the shoulder joint. It is caused by “repetitive overhead activities while the shoulder joint is in a forward rotated position,” said Jessica Moyer, owner of Viva Stretch in Jacksonville, Fla., and a sport rehabilitation specialist for nearly 20 years. According to the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, pain is usually felt when lifting overhead, and is most common in active adults in their 30s and 40s. In a hospital release, Dr. Lawrence Gulotta, head of the shoulder and elbow division at the hospital’s Sports Medicine Institute, says this type of injury often stems from poor technique and rushing when lifting weights. How to prevent it: Moyer recommends strengthening the scapular, or shoulder blade, muscles.… read on > read on >

When it comes to tobacco control, some states do a far better job than others of preventing and reducing smoking. A new report from the American Lung Association (ALA) notes that California, Maine, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., are doing the best job of putting proven tobacco control policies in place. Conversely, those who have the most need to enact policies are Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas. Policies vary widely from state to state. Some states still allow workplace smoking, including in restaurants and bars. Others have had smoke-free laws in place for decades. “The policies examined in our report have a direct impact on the health of state residents,” said Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the American Lung Association. “Since no state received all ‘A’ grades, every state has the opportunity to improve their tobacco control policies and improve public health. This is also why federal tobacco control action is so important. Every person in America deserves the same protections.” The report grades states on the strength of their smoke-free workplace laws, ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products, funding for state tobacco prevention programs, the level of state tobacco taxes, and coverage and access to services to quit tobacco. Grades varied, with 23 states and Washington, D.C., getting A grades for strength of their smoke-free workplace laws and 45 states receiving… read on > read on >

Many people who have surgery for chronic pancreatitis continue to have health struggles in the years afterward — with some dying at a young age, a new study finds. The study, done at one U.S. medical center, is the largest to look at overall survival in the years after people have surgery for chronic pancreatitis — a condition in which the pancreas becomes permanently damaged by inflammation. And it found that while short-term survival was high, more than one-third of patients died within 10 years of surgery, often at a young age. Among patients who died, the median age at death was about 50. That means half were younger than that. Experts said the findings underscore how serious chronic pancreatitis can be, and how important it is for patients to have long-term care after surgery. “It can’t just be go to your primary care provider once a year,” said lead researcher Dr. Gregory Wilson, an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, in Ohio. Instead, he said, patients need continuing care for physical health conditions like diabetes, and in many cases, psychological counseling and care for addiction — whether to alcohol, smoking or the opioids many patients are prescribed to manage their pain. The pancreas is a vital organ that produces enzymes that aid digestion and hormones that regulate blood… read on > read on >

A cosmetic laser treatment that promises to erase wrinkles, scars, age spots and sun damage may also prevent the return of some skin cancers, a new, small study suggests. Researchers found that in patients who had basal or squamous cell skin cancers, nonablative fractional laser treatment lowered the chances of the cancer recurrence by about half. “We actually don’t know why this procedure has this result,” said senior researcher Dr. Mathew Avram, director of the Dermatology Laser and Cosmetic Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “We have to go to the lab and try to figure out why this is the case. There are theories about whether or not the treatment causes your immune function and skin to change, but we have no evidence of that,” he said. “Fractional lasers treat a fraction of the skin and leave the majority of the skin untreated,” Avram said. “But even though we’re only treating a part of the skin, the entire skin benefits from it.” Basal and squamous cell skin cancers are the most common type of skin cancer and are usually curable when caught early. For the study, Avram’s team reviewed the records of patients who had basal or squamous cell cancer. These patients typically have a 35% risk of developing new cancer within three years and a 50% risk of recurrence within five years.… read on > read on >

Even short bouts of light exercise can help the millions of people with knee osteoarthritis reduce pain and improve their range of motion. Knee osteoarthritis, the wear-and-tear form of the disease, occurs when the cartilage between your bones breaks down, causing pain, stiffness and swelling. Researchers in a new study compared high-dose and low-dose exercise in 189 people with knee osteoarthritis. Everyone exercised three times a week for 12 weeks. Exercises included indoor cycling and various lower body exercises such as de-loaded squats and knee extensions. De-loaded exercises use bands or pulleys to take weight off the knee joint and minimize pain. Folks in the high-dose group performed 11 exercises in 60- to 90-minute sessions. Folks in the low-dose exercise group performed five exercises during 20- to 30-minute sessions. The result? Everyone showed improvements on a standard scale measuring knee osteoarthrosis pain and function at three, six and 12 months. People in the high-dose group did show greater improvements in knee function during sports and recreation at six months, suggesting that a high-dose program may be better for athletes and weekend warriors. The study, led by Wilhelmus Johannes Andreas Grooten, a physiotherapist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, was published Jan. 24 online in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Outside experts are quick to point out that the best exercise plan for someone with knee… read on > read on >

Vitamin D is widely promoted for better health, but if you’re overweight, you might not reap the benefits. In a new study, researchers found a 30% to 40% reduction in cancer, cancer deaths and autoimmune diseases among people with a lower body mass index (BMI) who took vitamin D supplements, but only a small benefit among those with higher BMIs. “Patients with obesity, despite taking the same amount of supplement, had a lower response,” said lead researcher Deirdre Tobias, an assistant professor in the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston. The cutoff was a BMI of less than 25, which is considered a healthy weight, the study authors noted. It’s not known why being overweight or obese affects levels of the so-called “sunshine vitamin,” but low absorption of vitamin D could be widespread, given that more than 40% of Americans are obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “It’s not clear whether it’s due to their body weight, per se, or maybe some other factor related to an individual’s body weight. It may be due to adiposity itself. Having a lower body weight may lead to a higher internal dose of vitamin D,” Tobias said. Adiposity is having too much fatty tissue in the body. The next step in the research is to try and… read on >

Getting a gel manicure may be less safe than many think. Researchers say the nail polish dryers that use ultraviolet (UV) light to cure the gel polish emit possibly dangerous rays. These rays might lead to cell death and cancer-causing mutations in human cells, they noted. Maria Zhivagui, a researcher at the University of California, San Diego, has sworn off gel manicures after seeing results in the lab. When she was doing her PhD, she was intrigued by gel manicures, which last longer than normal polish. “I started using gel manicures periodically for several years,” Zhivagui said in a university news release. However, “once I saw the effect of radiation emitted by the gel polish drying device on cell death and that it actually mutates cells even after just one 20-minute session, I was surprised. I found this to be very alarming, and decided to stop using it,” Zhivagui added. “To the best of our knowledge, no one has actually studied these devices and how they affect human cells at the molecular and cellular levels until now,” study co-author Ludmil Alexandrov said in the release. He’s a professor of bioengineering as well as cellular and molecular medicine. Alexandrov decided to conduct the study after reading about a young beauty pageant contestant with a rare form of skin cancer on her finger. “We began looking into… read on > read on >

When kids suffer a concussion, an extended period of rest at home is always the best course, right? Perhaps not. In fact, a new study suggests that — despite what many people may presume — getting kids back to school quickly is the best way to boost their chance for a rapid recovery and better outcomes. The finding stems from a look at post-concussion outcomes of more than 1,600 children between the ages of 5 and 18. “There has been minimal research to date that provides guidance to clinicians, parents and schools regarding an appropriate time for youth to return to school after a concussion,” said study leader Christopher Vaughan, a pediatric neuropsychologist at Children’s National Hospital in Rockville, Md. The current guidance, he said, is more general about activities and less specific to returning to schools. Usually, a rest period of 24 to 48 hours is encouraged, with a gradual return to activities, including school, based on symptom tolerance. “We found that [the] typical time away from school ranged from three to five days, but that an earlier return to school — defined as missing two or fewer days of school, excluding weekends — was associated with a lower symptom burden at two weeks post-injury,” Vaughan said. For the study, his team focused on the post-concussion experience of 1,630 children who were treated at… read on > read on >

When it comes to picking the best exercise to lose weight, there is no one right answer. That’s because the right answer is variety, mixing and matching types of exercise to keep the body guessing and improving. “The body adapts to the demands we put on it,” said Dr. Russell Camhi, who works in primary care sports medicine for Northwell Health’s Orthopaedic Institute in East Meadow, N.Y. “If we do the same exercise regimen over and over, results are bound to plateau,” he explained. “Now this doesn’t mean you have to change exercises every day or every week, but a little variety will help the body change and grow.” The key to weight loss is a blend of exercise and nutrition, with the latter responsible for about 80% of the heavy lifting, according to Camhi. It’s important to reduce calories while increasing physical activity, according to the Mayo Clinic, which recommends cutting about 500 to 750 calories a day to lose 1.5 pounds per week.` Though diet plays a bigger role than exercise, physical activity can help with weight maintenance, as well as counter loss of bone density and muscle mass, the Mayo Clinic noted. A high amount of physical activity would be necessary to lose weight unless also adjusting diet, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s not clear exactly… read on > read on >

The key to keeping those New Year’s resolutions from fading out by February: Make sure you’ve set achievable goals. Resolutions are often lifestyle changes and those are best managed when the goal is something attainable, according to an expert at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “Resolutions and lifestyle changes are very similar. When we think about lifestyle changes, it’s normally positive, but when people have unrealistic expectations, they often fail,” Dr. Asim Shah said in a college news release. He is executive vice chair in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor. Common resolutions include weight loss, exercise routines, diet changes, managing finances and quitting smoking. Understand the pros and cons, Shah suggested. This might involve making a list of the advantages and disadvantages to keep yourself motivated. Lifestyle changes aren’t dictated by the calendar or required to start on Jan. 1. Make a plan and track your progress, Shah suggested. Take baby steps. Don’t give up too quickly because it takes time to build a habit. Link your resolution to the end result to help you achieve your goals. “It’s time for people to think about why they fail and why they continue to make resolutions that don’t succeed. Make achievable resolutions to be proud of yourself,” Shah said. More information The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has… read on > read on >