Heavy Backpacks May Damage Nerves, Muscles and Skeleton, Study Suggests

Trudging from place to place with heavy weights on our backs is an everyday reality, from schoolchildren toting textbooks in backpacks to firefighters and soldiers carrying occupational gear. Muscle and skeletal damage are very real concerns. Now Tel Aviv University researchers say that nerve damage, specifically to the nerves that travel through the neck and shoulders to animate our hands and fingers, is also a serious risk.

The pressure of heavy loads carried on the back have the potential to damage the soft tissues of the shoulder, causing microstructural damage to the nerves.

The result could be anything from simple irritation to diminished nerve capacity, ultimately limiting the muscles’ ability to respond to the brain’s signals, inhibiting movement of the hand and the dexterity of the fingers. In practice, this could impact functionality, reducing a worker’s ability to operate machinery, or limiting a child’s writing or drawing capacity.

These results apply to people from all walks of life, says Prof. Gefen. Many professions and leisure activities, such as hiking or traveling, involve carrying heavy equipment on the back.

Best to wear a backpack on both shoulders, and should wear no more than 10% of your body weight.

Full Study

Cooking oil is a basic and almost indispensable ingredient in every kitchen. But nowadays, there are so many different types of cooking oil that you can literally take an hour or more just to go through all the options in a well-stocked supermarket.

From the ubiquitous refined soybean and corn oils that seem to be in every manufactured food, to exotic and premium oils such as extra virgin avocado and coconut oils.

Which one should you use?

To answer this question, let us put these cooking oils side-by-side and look at their vital statistics. We’ll also discuss what are the things to look for in an edible oil and lastly, go through some oils that fit the bill.

Here is the full article.

Here is a great video showing how to set up the correct posture while sitting at your desk.

When the flu season hits, many parents will be reaching for the cold compresses and medication to cool their feverish child.

But it seems a high temperature could actually help children battle an illness.

An American pediatrician has revealed the high fevers typical of many childhood illnesses can help force a child to slow down, rest and sleep more – all vital in recovering.

‘Fevers can actually help your child recover more quickly, especially if he or she is battling a viral illness.

Parents are advised to seek medical help if a child’s temperature reaches 104F (40C) or above. Fortunately most fevers are caused by a viral infection, and clear up on their own within a few days.

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Pretty much every NFL team has their own Chiropractor. Having a Chiropractor on their support team will ensure the healthiest possible players during the intense game.

You can read about the 49ers’ Chiropractor here and the Ravens’ Chiropractor here.

Good luck to both teams this weekend!

Teenagers and young children who eat fast food could be increasing their risk of developing asthma, eczema and hay fever, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal’s respiratory journal Thorax.

“We found clear associations between certain foods and severe asthma, hay fever (or allergic rhinoconjunctivitis) and eczema in the largest study of allergies in children (aged 6-7 years) and adolescents (13-14 years) to date,” said study author Hywel Williams of the Centre for Evidence Based Dermatology, Queen’s Medical Centre, University Hospital, Nottingham, UK.  According to Williams, the associations between allergic diseases and fast food were “only really convincing for severe disease.”

Researchers saw a protective effect against severe asthma for those who ate fruit at least three times a week.  Those consuming fast food three or more times a week had about a 30% increased risk of severe asthma, hay fever and eczema, a chronic skin condition that causes scaly, itchy rashes.  The results were consistent in both age groups.  Affluence and gender did not change or affect the outcome.

Either way, Williams said, there is a take-home message for parents.  He says you don’t have to stop eating fast food entires, ” but to eat a balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruit and maybe less fast food – one or two times per week rather than three or more.

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The nervous system and immune system are hardwired and work together to create optimal responses for the body to adapt and heal appropriately. Neural dysfunctions due to spinal misalignments are stressful to the body and cause abnormal changes that lead to a poorly coordinated immune response. Chiropractic adjustments have been shown to boost the coordinated responses of the nervous system and immune system.

In 1975, Ronald Pero, Ph.D., chief of cancer prevention research at New York’s Preventive Medicine Institute and professor in Environmental Health at New York University, began researching the most scientifically valid ways to estimate individual susceptibility to various chronic diseases. He has conducted a tremendous amount of research in this area that includes over 160 published reports in peer reviewed journals.

Pero was fascinated by the relationship cancer-inducing agents had on the endocrine system. Since the nervous system regulates hormone balance, he hypothesized that the nervous system had to also have a strong influence on one’s susceptibility to cancer.

To support this argument he found a substantial amount of literature linking various kinds of spinal cord injuries and cancer. Pero found that these injuries led to a very high rate of lymphomas and lymphatic leukemias. This understanding led Pero to consider Chiropractic care as a means of reducing the risk of immune breakdown and disease.

Pero’s team measured 107 individuals who had received long-term Chiropractic care. The chiropractic patients were shown to have a 200% greater immune competence than people who had not received chiropractic care, and a 400% greater immune competence than people with cancer or serious diseases. Interestingly, Pero found no decline with the various age groups in the study demonstrating that the DNA repairing enzymes were just as present in long-term chiropractic senior groups as they were in the younger groups.

Pero concluded, ‘Chiropractic may optimize whatever genetic abilities you have so that you can fully resist serious disease…I have never seen a group other than this show a 200% increase over normal patients.’

Kent, Christopher. Models of Vertebral Subluxation: A Review. Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research. August 1996, Vol 1:1. Pg 4-5

Sternberg EM, Chrousos GP, Wilder RL, Gold PW. The stress response and the regulation of inflammatory disease. Ann Intern Med 1992; 117 (10):854

Brennan PC, Triano JJ, McGregor M, et al. Enhanced neutrophil respiratory burst as a biological marker for manipulation forces: duration of the effect and association with substance P and tumor necrosis factor. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1992; 15(2):83

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Do the Brain Benefits of Exercise Last?

It is well established that exercise bolsters the structure and function of the brain. Multiple animal and human studies have shown that a few months of moderate exercise can create new neurons, lift mood and hone memory and thinking.

But few studies have gone on to examine what happens next. Are these desirable brain changes permanent? Or, if someone begins exercising but then stops, does the brain revert to its former state, much like unused muscles slacken?

Researchers studied the effects of stopping exercise on rats by putting them through a maze after a period of in-activity. The longer the rats went without exercising, the greater the time needed to complete the maze.

The animals inactive for three or six weeks also performed far worse on the water maze test than the animals that had been inactive for only a single week. In fact, their memories were about as porous of those of the control animals, “indicating,” the authors write, “that the exercise-induced benefits may be transient.”

In other words, the brain benefits “wear off quickly,” said Dr. Michael Mazurek, a professor of neurology at McMaster, who oversaw the study. “This is analogous to what happens to muscle bulk or heart rate following exercise withdrawal.”

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So have some fun and pick an activity that you love to do. By choosing an activity you love, you will experience the benefits for a very long time. 

Low-back pain is frequently the source of missed playing time and disability in athletes. While a wide-range of treatment options exist,  it can be difficult to discern which therapies will enable you to return to play as safely and as quickly as possible.

A recent study determined which treatment option was the best for athletes with back pain. The researchers analyzed previous studies of low-back pain treatments, including application of cold or heat, ultrasound or laser treatments, traction therapy, electrical nerve stimulation, and lumbar supports or back braces. Acupuncture, massage, exercise therapy, physical therapy, and chiropractic care were also evaluated. The medications studied included steroid medications, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxants, opioids, antidepressants, and injection therapy.

Very few of the studied treatment modalities had clear evidence of effectiveness for athletes. Among the most effective treatments were superficial heat, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, and skeletal muscle relaxants. Chiropractic spinal adjustments were found to have the strongest evidence of benefit, along with the lowest risk of side effects.

The researchers point out that back pain is a symptom with many causes, including ligament sprains, muscle strains, and soft-tissue contusions. Diagnosis of the cause of the pain must be reached before an appropriate treatment can be selected.

Whether you’re recovering from an injury or suffering from non-specific pain, a Chiropractor can help identify and treat the root of your back pain. Studies suggest that Chiropractors can also help with the management of other sports injuries like hernias, shoulder impingement, and neck pain.

Study

Infantile colic is a distressing problem, characterised by excessive crying of infants and it is the most common complaint seen by physicians in the first 16 weeks of a child’s life.

The systematic review, which is published December 12, 2012 in the Cochrane Library, assessed six randomised trials involving a total of 325 infants who received Chiropractic treatment or had been part of a control group.

Five of the six studies measured the number of hours colicky babies cried each day and their results suggest that crying was reduced by an average of one hour and 12 minutes per day by this treatment, which was statistically significant.

Professor George Lewith, Professor of Health Research at the University of Southampton, comments: “The majority of the included trials indicate that the parents of infants receiving Chiropractic therapies reported fewer hours crying per day than parents whose infants did not. This difference is statistically significant and important for those families who experience this condition. These studies show that in this small sample there were no adverse effects from using these treatments.

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