Professor Apkarian has studied chronic pain for over 20 years. In a recent study looking into people with recent back pain, he was able to predict with 85% accuracy those that would go on to develop chronic back pain! How? By noticing an increased level of cross-talk between two specific parts of the brain…suggesting that…
Jens Bangsbo and Thomas Gunnarsson from the University of Copenhagen have published the results (Journal of Applied Physiology) of a fascinating study comparing the effects of interval training to regular endurance training. A group of moderately trained runners was split into 2 groups: over a 7-week period the control group continued their normal runs and…
A study by Luis Buenaver and colleagues published in the June edition of Pain has shown some fascinating links between pain, thinking and sleep. It’s already known that about 80% of people with chronic pain experience troubled sleep and that poor sleep increases pain sensitivity. It is also known that pain catastrophizing is a contributor…
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…
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…
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.
A few days ago the Archives of Internal Medicine published the timely results of the effects of sitting on mortality rates. van der Ploeg and her colleagues followed over 220,000 Australians over a 3 year period. The subjects were 45 years or older and sadly 5405 people passed away during the course of the study….
New research published in the journal Diabetes Care has concluded that after meals, regular short bouts of light or moderate walking lower glucose and insulin levels. The subjects were asked to walk around for 2 mins every 20 mins. The effects of these short bouts of walking assist glucose metabolism and may reduce cardiovascular risk….