“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” Marcus Aurelius
-
-
Acupuncture Reduces High Blood Pressure
A few months ago Terenteva et al. published their research findings on the effect of acupuncture in a group of middle-aged individuals with hypertension. Forty five adults with hypertension were randomly assigned to either an acupuncture group or a control group. The acupuncture group received 3 sessions of acupuncture per week for 8 weeks. The…
-
Mechanisms of Intermittent Fasting Unveiled
Intermittent fasting (IF) is proven to have beneficial effects on aging, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and neurodegenerative diseases. However, it isn’t known whether the benefits of IF are due to caloric restriction (CR), as with fasting, or whether they’re due to changes in eating pattern. Recent studies have discovered that the browning of white fat can…
-
Acupuncture Benefits Patients With Tennis Elbow
Earlier this year Ural et al, from Yildirim Beyazit University Medical School in Ankara, studied the effects of acupuncture on patients with lateral epicondylitis/epicondylopathy (LE). Lateral epicondylitis or tennis elbow, as it’s more commonly known, is an overuse injury that leads to pain on the lateral aspect of the elbow and/or forearm. It usually affects people…
-
Effects Of Stretching On Fascia
Helene Langevin is a professor at Harvard Medical School and at The University of Vermont College of Medicine. She is also the director for the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. Her lab has conducted a lot of interesting research on connective tissue. I’ve summarised some of the findings that relate to the effects of stretching…
-
Acupuncture Benefits Patients With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
A few months ago Ural et al, from Yildirim Beyazit University Medical School in Ankara, published an interesting paper looking into the effects of acupuncture on carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Their work was published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. CTS affects more women than men and has a prevalence of 1-5%. Causes include overuse…
-
Suzy
“Having never had a serious injury that prevented much movement ( a serious knee dislocation ) OR physio before, I was hopeful and apprehensive in equal measure. Gauthier was immediately supportive, efficient, practical and personalised in his approach. As much as the physical nature of the injury, Gauthier enabled me to work on the mental…
-
Yoga Beneficial For Longstanding Low Back Pain
Last month Groessl et al., from the San Diego School of Medicine, published the results of their study examining the benefits of yoga on military veterans with chronic low back pain. Of the 150 participants in the study, 35% were unemployed or disabled and the mean back pain duration was 15 years. The mean age…
-
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Helpful for Chronic Pain
Yu et al recently published the results their study on the effects of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in people with chronic pain. The article appeared in last month’s issue of Journal of Pain. ACT “is an empirically-based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies mixed in different ways with commitment and behavior-change strategies,…
-
Chronic Pain Linked to Memory Decline and Dementia
A study by Whitlock et al from the University of California, published in this month’s Jama Internal Medicine, looked into the relationship between persistent pain, memory decline and dementia. Over 10,000 senior citizens (median age of 73 years) from the Health and Retirement Study were followed for 12 years. At baseline, persistent pain affected 11%…