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Exercise might help people who are battling addiction stay on the straight and narrow, a new research review finds. Investigators who analyzed 43 studies from around the world found a link between physical activity and reduced substance use among people in treatment for alcohol and drug abuse. The idea for the study review “came to me when I was working as a kinesiologist in a therapy house for people with substance use disorders, and realized that physical health was not considered at all in these treatments, although the need was enormous,” explained study lead author Florence Piché. She is a doctoral candidate in sciences and physical activity at the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières and the University of Montreal, in Canada. “We can assume that the mechanisms are multiple and multifactorial,” Piché said of the findings. The amount of exercise involved wasn’t overwhelming. Most of the studies focused on the potential benefit of “moderately intense” activity, conducted for about an hour three times a week over the course of approximately three months. Would more exercise confer greater benefits? Piché noted that none of the studies assessed that. Collectively, the studies included just over 3,100 participants. They looked at the relationship between exercise and the risk of using heroin, opioids, cocaine and crack cocaine, methadone, marijuana, alcohol or methamphetamines. None involved cigarette smoking. Half of the… read on > read on >

Walking your dog gets you moving and out in the fresh air, but head injuries and fractures are very real possibilities, especially for older dog owners, researchers say. The most common injury from walking a leashed dog that sends folks to the ER is fractured fingers, a new study from Johns Hopkins University found. But traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are the second-most common injury adults suffer while walking a leashed dog. The third most common injury is shoulder sprain or strain. “According to a 2021-2022 national pet ownership survey, nearly 53% of U.S. households own at least one dog,” said study co-author Ridge Maxson, a third-year medical student. “Dog ownership also increased significantly in recent years during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although dog walking is a common daily activity for many adults, few studies have characterized its injury burden. We saw a need for more comprehensive information about these kinds of incidents,” Maxson said in a university news release. Women and all adults age 65 and older are more likely than others to sustain serious injuries, the research team found. Researchers hope doctors will discuss these potential threats with their dog-loving patients. “Clinicians should be aware of these risks and convey them to patients, especially women and older adults,” said co-author Dr. Edward McFarland, director of the division of shoulder and elbow surgery at Johns Hopkins… read on > read on >

Could golfing be good medicine for arthritis? Yes, according to researchers who found that for people with osteoarthritis, golfing lowered psychological distress and improved general health when compared with the general population. “Golf is a health-enhancing source of physical activity, particularly for older adults,” said lead researcher Brad Stenner, an occupational therapist at the Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity at the University of South Australia, in Adelaide. “Golf is fun, affordable and a sport for life, with clear physical and mental health benefits.” For people with osteoarthritis (often called the “wear and tear” form of arthritis), golf helps maintain joint range of motion, strength and endurance, and contributes to mental health and well-being. Playing golf is also associated with lower levels of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease, Stenner said. “We found that golfers both with and without osteoarthritis had higher quality of life and, significantly, lower levels of psychological distress, which is an indicator of anxiety and depression,” he noted. “Golf appears to help improve well-being via a number of factors, including exercise, community, friendship and a sense of belonging.” Many people with arthritis stop playing sports altogether, but the impact of arthritis on playing golf is unknown, Stenner said. “Our study looked at benefits for those with arthritis, not factors that may be barriers. It would appear… read on > read on >

When exercise studies are led by men, female participants are often in short supply. While this underrepresentation of female research subjects has been documented in everything from clinical trials to cell cultures, a new study links researchers’ gender and women’s participation. “Our findings provide direct evidence of the link between gender of authors and gender of research participants,” said lead study author Jessica Linde, a doctoral candidate at Marquette University in Milwaukee. Having too few women participating results in gaps in understanding how certain interventions work in females. For this study, researchers analyzed 971 original research articles in three major journals that focus on exercise physiology, zeroing in on studies published in 1991 and in 2021. They found that in 1991, 51% of the papers were written by all-male teams. That was also true of about 18% of papers in 2021. All female-research teams also declined over the period, from 1.8% in 1991 to 1.1% in 2021. While the number of women participating in exercise studies rose over the years, they represented just one-third of study participants in 2021. The number of female participants was lower in both years when the study leader (or last author) was a man. In 2021, Linde said, when studies were led by a woman, they included equal numbers of men and women as participants. More women in other leadership… read on > read on >

Need to get your shut-eye on time? What you eat could make a difference, according to a new study. Researchers found that college athletes who ate more carbohydrates and vitamins B12 and C tended to go to sleep and wake up earlier. It’s possible that these nutrients might increase synthesis of vital hormones that regulate sleep, including serotonin and melatonin, the authors said. “For athletes, success is measured not only by readiness to perform but also resiliency on and off the field,” said first author Lauren Rentz, a doctoral student at West Virginia University. “We know that sleep helps the body heal from daily physical and mental stress and influences future physical and mental performance,” she said. “The relationship between sleep and nutrient intake hasn’t been researched as thoroughly in high-performing athletes, who consistently experience large amounts of stress.” For the study, researchers evaluated sleep and nutritional patterns of 23 women who play college soccer. Each of the athletes wore a smart ring that tracked their sleep for 31 straight nights during the season. They also recorded their food intake during the final three days. The study found links between nutrient consumption and sleep timing but not duration. Most of the athletes averaged seven to eight hours of sleep a night. They also met recommended intake for many vitamins, but not for all their nutritional… read on > read on >

A good sports bra provides more than sturdy support alone for female runners. The increased breast support affects biomechanics in other parts of the body — and, a new study shows, the right sports bra could actually boost a woman’s running performance by 7%. “Our study represents one of a series of research studies on the topic of breast support and whole body biomechanics,” said Douglas Powell, of the Breast Biomechanics Research Center at the University of Memphis. “We wanted to identify strategies to reduce activity-induced breast pain for females, a group that makes up approximately 50% of the population.” For the study, published April 21 in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, the researchers looked at the influence of breast support on knee joint stiffness during treadmill running. Knee joint stiffness is a measure of the knee’s resistance to movement when force is applied. It has been linked to lower oxygen consumption, improved running performance and running-related injury. There were 12 recreational runners between 18 and 35 years of age professionally fitted with two sports bras. One had high support; the other, low support. The women had self-reported cup sizes of B, C or D. As a control, participants were also asked to perform the experiment bare-chested. Each runner did three-minute running bouts in each of the three randomized breast support conditions: high, low… read on > read on >

(HealthDay News) – Damar Hamlin has returned to practice with the Buffalo Bills after recovering from his sudden cardiac arrest during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals in January. Hamlin, 25, said commotio cordis was the cause of his cardiac arrest. “I died on national TV in front of the whole world,” Hamlin told reporters Tuesday. “I lost a bunch of people in my life. I know a bunch of people who lost people in their lives. I know that feeling. That right there is the biggest blessing of it all – for me to still have my people and my people to still have me.” With commotio cordis, severe trauma to the chest can disrupt the heart’s electrical charge and cause dangerous fibrillations. For Hamlin, this happened after making a tackle. He appeared to be hit with a helmet in his chest. Bills General Manager Brandon Beane said Hamlin has seen three separate specialists during the offseason. He “is clear to resume full activities just like anyone else who was coming back from an injury,” Beane said. Hamlin has been participating in offseason workouts this week. “He is fully cleared,” Beane said. “He’s here.” “[Hamlin’s] in a great headspace to come back and make his return,” Beane added. Hamlin said he was blessed by a medical team who “treat me with the care of… read on > read on >

Spring brings with it the joy of baseball, but too much of a good thing can lead to elbow injuries in young pitchers. An expert from UT Southwestern in Dallas offers some tips for youth baseball players, their parents and coaches about avoiding and being aware of injuries, including tears or ruptures of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). “Athletes 18 and younger should not pitch more than 100 innings in games during a calendar year,” said Dr. Nathan Boes, an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and director of sports medicine for Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. “And they should take four months a year with no competitive pitching.” UCL injuries are the most common elbow injury among baseball players of all ages, from youth to major leagues. When the injury is severe, it can require reconstructive surgery, sometimes called Tommy John surgery, named after the pitcher who was the first to have the procedure in 1974 while with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The UCL runs along the inside of the elbow, with three bands that connect the upper arm bone to the largest of the forearm bones. What happens is that pitching’s repetitive motion causes microtraumas in the UCL. Symptoms include a popping sensation, swelling or irritation on the inside of the elbow, pain while throwing and numbness… read on > read on >

For those who want to get active but feel that joining a gym or exercising on a daily basis is a bridge too far, new research may have found the sweet spot: walking. After stacking the walking habits of 3,100 adults up against a decade’s worth of health outcomes, investigators concluded that those who logged roughly 8,000 steps in a single day — even if only just one day a week — reduced their risk for premature death. An 8,000-step jaunt is hardly a quick stroll around the block. It’s equivalent to about 4 miles a day. But the study team counted all steps taken — including while doing chores or shopping for groceries — not just dedicated walks. And in the end, logging one or two 4-mile days per week lowered the risk for premature death by roughly 15%. An even greater benefit was seen among those who logged 4-mile walks three days a week. They lowered their risk by nearly 17%, though the benefit appeared to max out at three days per week; no additional protection was seen among those who walked 4 miles on four or more days. “Our findings should not discourage walking as many days as possible,” said study author Dr. Kosuke Inoue, a physician-scientist in chronic disease epidemiology at Kyoto University in Japan. “The more, the better. But they… read on > read on >

It can be downright discouraging to work hard to lose 10 pounds, only to regain a few later. But don’t be downhearted — a new evidence review says the important heart health benefits of weight loss are sustained even if some of the weight comes back. People who drop some pounds still have lower blood pressure and better cholesterol and blood sugar numbers even if they regain a little, British researchers reported March 28 in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. “It should serve as encouragement for people to try to lose weight, and do so in the most effective way by joining a behavioral weight loss program,” said senior researcher Paul Aveyard, a professor of behavioral medicine at the University of Oxford. “Even if weight is regained, which most people do, the health benefits persist.” For this review, Aveyard’s team analyzed the combined results of 124 weight loss clinical trials involving more than 50,000 people and with an average follow-up of more than two years. The participants’ average age was 51, and their average body mass index (BMI) was 33, which is considered obese. BMI is an estimate of body fat based on height and weight. On average, people assigned to a weight loss program shed 5 to 10 pounds as a result of the initial experiment, which typically lasted around seven months.… read on > read on >