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June 27, 2006 [Volume 7, Issue 14]
In this issue of To Your Health:
- Chiropractic, From Your Head to
Your Feet
- Another Reason to Eat Your
Veggies!
- Exercise Can Reverse Effects of
Inactivity
Recommended Reading: Keeping
you aware of the latest resources that will provide the
information you need to make wise decisions about your health.
This month's featured title is
Weight Training by Design by Dale Greenwald, CSCS, and Erik
Miller, CPT
No fads, no gimmicks, no false
promises, Weight Training by Design gives you a sound,
easy-to-follow, fully customizable program to help you take your
workouts to the next level. The all-new BAM (Balanced Antagonisitc
Muscle) Superset is not your traditional superset. Flexible,
dynamic, and totally customizable, BAM helps you accomplish
greater gains at your own pace and level.
Developed by experienced trainers,
the BAM Superset combines exercises for opposing muscle groups.
This speeds up your workout, reduces soreness and injury risk, and
helps you build muscle mass in no time.
Chiropractic, From Your Head to
Your Feet
 Some
people mistakenly believe that while chiropractors do an excellent
job of treating back pain, they may not always be the best choice
for relieving pain affecting other parts of the body. Yes, back
pain is the leading reason people visit a chiropractor, but it's
certainly not the only reason. A new study has shown that for
people experiencing a certain type of foot pain, chiropractic is
not only effective, but also can relieve the pain where other
methods have failed.
In the study, researchers treated
15 patients who had developed foot pain after undergoing a
surgical procedure called plantar fasciotomy. Other therapies,
such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), shoe
padding and rest, had been ineffective in relieving the pain. All
of the patients were treated with manual therapy (consisting of
joint mobilization and/or chiropractic manipulation to the joints
in the foot and ankle) and home-based exercises, and then were
asked to describe whether the pain had improved or remained the
same.
Eleven patients in the group
reported experiencing "significant improvement" in their foot pain
as a result of chiropractic care; another three patients
experienced "moderate" improvement. The treatment was not only
effective, but quite safe, with no long-lasting complications
associated with any of the procedures. The lesson here? If you
suffer from pain and you're looking for a safe, natural
alternative to drugs and surgery, schedule an appointment with
your local doctor of chiropractic!
Wyatt LH. Conservative chiropractic
management of recalcitrant foot pain after fasciotomy: a
retrospective case review. Journal of Manipulative &
Physiological Therapeutics June 2006;29(5):398-402.
Another Reason to Eat Your
Veggies!
 Remember
when your mother used to tell you to eat your vegetables because
they were good for you? You might not have liked it, but
increasing research shows just how right she was. The latest
example: A study suggests that eating a healthy dose of vegetables
each day is good for you by helping to prevent atherosclerosis,
which in turn can reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke and
other disorders.
In this study, researchers looked
at the relationship between vegetables and atherosclerosis in a
group of genetically altered mice. For 16 weeks, half of the mice
were fed a diet in which 30 percent of the calories came from a
mixture of broccoli, green beans, peas, corn and carrots. The rest
of the mice consumed a diet free of vegetables. At the end of the
study period, researchers found that, compared to the mice that
didn't eat any vegetables, the buildup of atherosclerosis was 38
percent less in the group of mice that ate the vegetable diet. In
addition, blood cholesterol levels were 32 percent lower, and the
mice in the vegetable diet group weighed an average of 7 percent
less.
If you're at risk of developing
atherosclerosis, now might be the time to consider changing your
diet to include more vegetables like the ones included in this
study. Doctors of chiropractic are also well-versed in nutrition
and can help create a diet program that increases your consumption
of vegetables, fruits and other foods that are good for you.
Adams MR, Golden DL, Chen H, et al.
A diet rich in green and yellow vegetables inhibits
atherosclerosis in mice. Journal of Nutrition July
2006;136:1886-1889.
Exercise Can Reverse Effects of
Inactivity
Few things can be as hazardous to a
person's health as physical inactivity, which has been linked to
numerous diseases and can reduce one's lifespan by several years.
A recent study shows that even for people who have been inactive
for prolonged amounts of time, a few months of regular exercise
can reverse many of the negative effects of inactivity.
In the study, 53 overweight,
middle-aged people who had been sedentary for the previous six
months were asked to participate in a six-month exercise program.
At the start of the trial, at the end of the sedentary period and
again at the end of the exercise program, the researchers measured
17 different factors that can increase the risk of cardiovascular
disease, including waist size, body mass index, cholesterol
levels, the presence of visceral fat, and sensitivity to insulin.
As could be expected, waist sizes expanded, visceral fat levels
increased considerably, and more signs of metabolic syndrome
appeared during the six months the people were inactive. In the
six months of exercise that followed, however, a dramatic
turnaround ensued, as 13 of the 17 factors measured at the start
of the study either reverted completely to baseline or improved
beyond their baseline levels.
So, what are you waiting for? It's
time to get off the couch, get on your feet, and start exercising
- today!
Robbins JL, Slentz CA, Houmard JA,
et al. Exercise training to reverse the detrimental effects of
physical inactivity on cardiovascular risk. Abstract #2348.
Presented at the 53rd annual meeting of the American College of
Sports Medicine, Denver, Colo., June 2, 2006.
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