I read an interesting article in BBC News Health a couple of weeks ago. It reviewed 2 recent studies on pain. The first was published in The Journal of Pain by Atsuo Yoshino et al. Subjects were shocked with an electric current whilst they were shown pictures of sad, happy or neutral faces. Photos of…
A study by Akiko Onda et al. published in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications has concluded that “acupuncture can partially prevent skeletal muscle atrophy”. It helps recover skeletal muscle mass and cross-sectional area possibly by increasing protein synthesis and decreasing protein degradation. Although the experiment was performed on mice, it was hypothesised that acupuncture could be used…
Exciting new research by Burd and colleagues shatters currently held beliefs about the type of resistance training required for muscle growth. Their article entitled “Bigger weights may not beget bigger muscles: evidence from acute muscle protein synthetic responses after resistance exercise” has been published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. They found that performing…
“Act when the idea is hot and the emotion is strong“ Jim Rohn
A recent randomised trial published in Annals of Internal Medicine by Cohen and his colleagues shows that steroid epidurals can help relieve sciatica. They found that “75% of patients treated with epidural steroids reported 50% or greater leg pain relief and a positive global perceived effect at 1 month”. Of course, an epidural is an…
An article in Medical News Today reviews a study in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine on the treatment of low back pain. A combined program of complementary and conventional therapies was found to be more helpful than the usual care provided by the primary care physician. The benefits of the program were a…
It’s common knowledge that smoking is bad for health. In the UK, according to the NHS, 114,000 people die each year of smoking related illnesses. In the US, the figure is 443,000 and as reported by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking is the cause of one out of every five deaths. Smoking damages…
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms… to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Viktor Frankl
A study by Suezie Kim et al. published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine has shown that injury rates in snowboarders are slightly higher than injury rates in alpine skiers. Snowboarders more commonly injure their wrists, shoulders and ankles while skiers tend to injure their knees. In skiers the knee accounts for a third…
An article in today’s BBC News Health discusses recent research published in Science Translational Medicine. Dr Orfeu Buxton et al. have shown that “prolonged sleep restriction with concurrent circadian disruption alters metabolism and could increase the risk of obesity and diabetes”. This has implications to people performing shift work.