18 Wheels, 23 Discs

Truckers and others who drive for a living report more back problems than those working in any other occupation. Scientists have theorized that constant, long-term "whole-body vibration" caused by driving accelerates degeneration and herniation of the body's 23 spinal discs, leading to lower-back pain and disability.

Researchers compared 45 pairs of identical male twins who had distinctly different driving patterns throughout their lives, in which one twin had spent a lot of time driving occupationally, and the other had not. The amount of spinal disc degeneration each man suffered was determined based on readings from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Twins were studied because in the absence of outside factors that affect spinal degeneration, a set of twins' spines should appear fairly similar at any given point in time.

Driving time did not appear to affect spinal disc degeneration; men who drove multiple hours daily for many years were no more likely to have significant disc degeneration than their twins who did not. No other spinal disorders appeared more common in professional drivers, either, in this study appearing in The Lancet.

This is good news if you drive an 18-wheeler: Your spine may not suffer permanent damage from long hours on the road. Yet the fact remains that back pain is common in drivers. Whether the pain is caused by muscle fatigue or damage, nerve changes at the cellular level or some other factor, your doctor of chiropractic can help prevent it.

Reference: Battié MC, Videman T, et al. Occupational driving and lumbar disc degeneration: A case-control study. The Lancet 2002:360(9343), pp. 1369-1374.

To see more studies on back pain click here.

A Labor of Love

Mothers often point out to their children how much pain they had to endure giving birth (so their children will have sympathy and obey them!). This tactic may not be so common in the future, however. Women are increasingly opting to deliver through more convenient Caesarean sections, despite no medical necessity for surgery in many cases.

A recent study released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) evaluated the success of its recent goal to reduce the number of C-sections in favor of natural births. Twenty-three percent of births were Caesarean in 2000, but the CDC would like to see only 15% of first-time mothers delivering by C-section. To follow current trends, the CDC examined California's rates of vaginal births after Caesarean births (VBACs) from 1996-2000 birth certificates.

The report indicated that VBACs actually decreased by 35% in the four-year period. In other words, merely 15% of women who had previously undergone C-sections chose to have a vaginal birth in a subsequent pregnancy in 2000. Women appear to be opting for more C-sections, rather than fewer, in a reverse from trends in the '80s and '90s.

Countless studies show that vaginal births are safer for both mother and infant than Caesarean births. So why don't women choose this natural form of birth? If you are pregnant, give birth naturally unless your doctor advises you otherwise. It may be a more painful, longer labor than if you have a C-section, but at least you can use it for "guilt-trip" material when your kids get older!

Reference: Chavez GF, Takahashi E, et al. Vaginal birth after cesarean birth - California, 1996-2000. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC) 2002:51(44), pp. 996-998.

For more information about women's health, click here.

Bifocals: Focus on the Risks

In 1784, Benjamin Franklin created bifocal glasses so he could see clearly up close and far away using the same lenses. He suffered from presbyopia, or loss of flexibility in the eye lenses, as do virtually all people by their 50s. Despite their obvious convenience, bifocal glasses may be dangerous for the elderly, based on a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Falls in seniors are common and can have severe consequences, such as hip fractures and even death. Researchers examined a possible link between multifocal glasses (bifocals, trifocals or progressive lenses) and risk of falling in more than 150 people ages 63-90. Subjects also were examined to assess different visual abilities while wearing the lenses.

Seniors who wore multifocal glasses (nearly all wore bifocals) were more than twice as likely to fall over one year as those who did not, and even more likely to fall due to tripping, when negotiating a staircase or when away from home. These individuals also performed significantly poorer on tests of depth perception and edge-contrast sensitivity.

As you get older, consider owning two separate pairs of glasses if you have presbyopia - one pair for near vision, the other for distance. Although keeping two pairs may be less convenient, it may save you from a dangerous fall. If you insist on wearing multifocal lenses, remember to be especially careful when traveling outside of your home and on uneven surfaces.

Reference: Lord SR, Dayhew J, Howland A. Multifocal glasses impair edge-contrast sensitivity and depth perception and increase the risk of falls in older people. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2002:50(11), pp. 1760-1766.

For more senior health studies, click here.

How Do You Snack Up?

As a chiropractic patient, you probably lead a healthier life than your peers. After all, your chiropractor has taught you to prevent illnesses before they happen, through a healthy diet, exercise and avoidance of bad habits. Yet a recent Australian study indicated that not all chiropractic patients eat healthier than the rest of the population.

To evaluate fruit and vegetable consumption, almost 800 Australian chiropractic patients at 24 practices completed questionnaires on diet and lifestyle. Overall, the patients in this study in the Chiropractic Journal of Australia reported many healthy behaviors, such as exercising (approximately 90% exercised three times per week) and not smoking.

However, only half of the patients ate the minimal recommended five or more servings of vegetables and fruits daily. Also, only 19% of the patients reported consuming the recently established Australian dietary recommendations to eat two fruits and five vegetable servings daily.

Patients with unhealthy lifestyles, such as smokers, heavy drinkers and sedentary individuals, are most likely to consume fewer servings of fruits and vegetables. But even if you lead an otherwise healthy lifestyle, a good diet is still essential. Fruits and vegetables provide necessary vitamins, antioxidants, fiber and other nutrients that can't be found in other foods. Your chiropractor can arm you with comprehensive diet information.

Reference: Jamison JR. Fruit and vegetable consumption by chiropractic patients: An Australian case study. Chiropractic Journal of Australia 2002:32(1), pp. 2-6.

For more on good nutrition, click here.

Neck pain afflicts almost three-quarters of adults at some point; for nearly one in six, pain is chronic. If you suffer from neck pain, many different forms of therapy are available, including spinal manipulation, drug regimens and exercises - but which form is best?

To compare the effectiveness of three forms of neck pain therapy, researchers followed approximately 200 people suffering from chronic neck pain over 11 weeks of treatment, and recorded their progress over the next two years. The patients were randomly divided to receive 20 one-hour treatments, in one of the methods listed below:

spinal manipulation and light soft-tissue massage from experienced chiropractic clinicians; chiropractic spinal manipulation plus rehabilitative exercise from trained exercise therapists, including stretching and dynamic neck exercises; or rehabilitative neck exercises using a variable resistance, neck extension and rotation machine. Patient-rated pain was lower for both exercise groups than for manipulation alone, and the exercise groups benefited more regarding pain, disability, improvement and health status. Spinal manipulation plus exercise provided greater satisfaction than manipulation alone or rehabilitative exercises, however. The advantage of both manipulation plus exercise and machine exercises over manipulation alone continued over the two-year follow-up period.

If you suffer from chronic neck pain and don't know where to turn, your local chiropractor is the best place to start. Cervical manipulations along with regular neck exercises can help end the pain and get you headed in the right direction.

You can read more about neck pain at click here.

Reference: Evans R, Bronfort G, et al. Two-year follow-up of a randomized clinical trial of spinal manipulation and two types of exercise for patients with chronic neck pain. Spine 2002:27(21), pp. 2383-2389.

The potential for dangerous drug side-effects in infants and young children exceeds that for adults because their bodies detoxify chemicals less effectively than adults, and their body sizes range widely in these years - making correct dosages more difficult to administer. Prescribing drugs to infants or children is additionally dangerous due to a lack of testing in this age group.

In a recent study in the journal Pediatrics, researchers examined over 7,000 adverse drug reactions in infants under age 2, all submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 1997 and 2000. The authors also determined whether the suspected drugs were transmitted from mother to infant during pregnancy, or if the infant was administered the drug directly.

Less than 1% of the nearly 2,000 drugs identified in the study were associated with over half of all serious or fatal side-effects. Deaths linked to side-effects were far more likely in the first few months after birth (41% in the first month). In a full quarter of cases, drugs were administered to the mother, not the infant, and then passed to the child through the womb or through breastfeeding. Included in the list of the drugs most likely to cause dangerous side-effects in children were ibuprofen and acetaminophen (drugs more commonly known by such brand names as Advil and Tylenol).

In many cases, more risky drugs may be needed to avoid even worse health emergencies. However, the authors of this study note that only about 10% of the actual total of deaths and serious complications from drugs may be reported, based on FDA data. Talk to your doctor about which drugs are safe for young children, and always exercise extreme caution when considering any type of medication for them, or administering it to yourself while pregnant - even if your doctor has approved its use.

Reference: Moore TJ, Weiss SR, et al. Reported adverse drug events in infants and children under 2 years of age. Pediatrics 2002:110(5), p. e53.

For more pediatrics studies click here.

To combat the symptoms of menopause, many women have used hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for decades. These hormones were recently linked to chronic health problems, though, prompting women to seek alternatives to HRT. Alternative therapies like herbs, soy products and meditation are now being used to prevent the hot flashes, sleep problems, joint pain, fatigue and forgetfulness of menopause. But which ones actually work?

In a review of 29 studies of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies for menopausal symptoms, the authors of this study in the Annals of Internal Medicine compared the effectiveness of various alternative treatments for menopause symptoms.

Black cohosh, an herb traditionally used by Native Americans to treat gynecological conditions, won out as the most beneficial treatment for mitigating hot flashes in three out of four studies. Black cohosh appears to effectively treat menopausal symptoms, but there is a lack of long-term safety research, so caution is in order if considering long-term use. Also, soy or isoflavone supplementation appeared moderately beneficial for treating hot flashes, but evidence was less conclusive - only three of eight studies involving treatment of at least six weeks resulted in significant improvements.

Disappointingly, nearly all the other alternative menopause treatments in the study - acupuncture; vitamin E; evening primrose oil; wild yams; ginseng; dong quai; and red clover - do not appear to offer any benefits for treating hot flashes, based on existing clinical studies. Now is a good time to talk with a doctor of chiropractic about where you can turn for the best, and safest, options for dealing with the frustrating effects of menopause.

Reference: Kronenberg F, Fugh-Berman A. Complementary and alternative medicine for menopausal symptoms: A review of randomized, controlled trials. Annals of Internal Medicine 2002:137(10), pp. 805-813.

To find additional women's health topics at click here.

Chronic health conditions can lead to significant health problems if left unchecked, and their incidence is rising: By 2020, 157 million Americans (or nearly half the population) are expected to suffer from one or more chronic conditions. The elderly are particularly prone to having multiple chronic health problems.

Utilizing a national sample of over 1 million people age 65 or older and enrolled in Medicare in 1999, data were obtained on chronic conditions including hypertension and diabetes. Data showed that 82% of the Medicare beneficiaries had at least one chronic condition, increasing in prevalence with age to nearly 90% in those 85 and older. On average, there were more than two chronic conditions per person. Over half of the subjects had a circulatory system-based chronic condition. Also, two-thirds of all individuals 65 or older had two or more chronic conditions; 43% had three or more; and 24% had four or more.

This study in the Archives of Internal Medicine additionally found that individuals with four or more chronic conditions were approximately 100 times more likely to have been hospitalized for a condition that could have been averted through proper primary care. Per-person Medicare expenditure increases coincided with the number of chronic conditions, from about $200 for seniors with no chronic conditions to nearly $14,000 for beneficiaries with four or more.

What does all this information mean to you? Heed these numbers to avoid major health problems and big bills as you age, by simply maintaining wellness, through exercise, a good diet and doing nothing to excess.

Reference: Wolff JL, Starfield B, Anderson G. Prevalence, expenditures, and complications of multiple chronic conditions in the elderly. Archives of Internal Medicine 2002:162(20), pp. 2269-2276.

For further information on senior health click here.