First Down and Chiropractic to Go

When you witness a crushing tackle during a game of Monday Night Football, you probably wonder how these guys can continue to go out and play again the following week. Besides simply being big and tough, one way players in the National Football League (NFL) get back on their feet is through chiropractic treatment. Sports chiropractors focus on treating injuries of the muscles and bones. With back pain alone appearing in as many as 75% of professional athletes every year, and possibly even a greater percentage of football players, NFL players are requiring chiropractic care for their aches and pains.

To determine the use of chiropractic in the NFL, a questionnaire was sent to the head athletic trainers of every team in the league. The questions related to frequency and type of treatment used to treat injured players. Of the two-thirds of all trainers who responded, the results indicate a strong use of chiropractic:

• 45% of the NFL trainers had personally seen a chiropractor;
• 77% of trainers had referred players to a chiropractor; and
• 31% of NFL teams had an official chiropractor on their staff.

The trainers surveyed in this study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics predominantly referred players to chiropractors for low back pain, neck injury, and headaches. With professional sports organizations beginning to embrace chiropractic, perhaps more of the general public will seek out this natural, safe alternative to drugs and surgery.

Reference: Stump JL, Redwood D. The use and role of sport chiropractors in the National Football League: A short report. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2002:25(3), p. e2.

Why do football players seek chiropractic? click here.

Crazy for Nuts

Hopefully, sometimes you feel like a nut, even if at other times you don't - at least according to a recent study that shows that even small amounts of nuts are good for your heart. Eating nuts has been linked to a decreased risk for death from heart disease, although scientists don't know exactly how they protect us.

To evaluate how eating nuts affects risk of death from heart attacks and heart disease, the authors of a recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine followed over 21,000 men for 17 years. The men, who were 40 to 84 years old at the start of the study, had initially indicated how many one-ounce servings of nuts they ate per week.

Men who ate nuts twice or more per week were 47% less likely to suffer a heart attack than men who ate them rarely or not at all. Also, men consuming two or more servings weekly were 30% less likely to die of heart disease overall. Sadly, 20% of the men in this study fell into the "rarely or never" category regarding nut consumption.

The protective effects of nuts may be due to the presence of high levels of alpha-linolenic acid, which is primarily concentrated in walnuts, and appears to prevent abnormal heart rhythms. Nuts also contain high amounts of "healthy" unsaturated fats, magnesium, and potassium, as well as vitamin E and flavonoids - two powerful antioxidants. Don't go too crazy for nuts, though. Although the fat in them is healthy, they are still dense in calories. If you are allergic to nuts, talk to your doctor of chiropractic about alternative foods providing similar nutrition.

Reference: Albert CM, Gaziano JM, Willett WC, et al. Nut consumption and decreased risk of sudden cardiac death in the Physicians' Health Study. Archives of Internal Medicine 2002:162(12), pp. 1382-1387.

For more information about good nutrition, click here.

Safety Gear No Substitute for Supervision

Parents today seem to do a great job preparing their kids for risky activities, thanks to recent advances in safety equipment designed to prevent injuries. Most kids use bicycle helmets, wrist guards, knee pads, safety mats, or life jackets, depending on what they're doing. Yet unintentional injuries remain the principal cause of disability and death in children over age one.

Safety gear often does work; for example, helmet usage has clearly been proven to reduce a child's chances for head injury. But there is a potential drawback to safety equipment, according to a recent study in Injury Prevention.

A telephone survey of 54 mothers of 7- to 9-year-old children in Ontario, Canada, revealed that the parents allowed their children to take significantly greater risks when safety gear was used. Parents also allowed their children to participate in riskier endeavors if they thought their kids were more experienced at the activity, regardless of safety gear use. (Evidence, however, suggests that boys with more experience at something are just as likely to be injured as those with less experience.) This was true in all seven activities studied: bicycling, swimming, skating, sledding, climbing, running, and jumping on a trampoline.

Safety gear may moderate injury risk, but it certainly doesn't eliminate it. By allowing your children to take greater risks when safety gear is used, you make them no safer than if they took normal risks without gear. Don't just tell your children to wear their helmets. Monitor their activities to prevent them from taking additional risks under the false assumption that they can't be hurt while wearing protective gear.

Reference: Morrongiello BA, Major K. Influence of safety gear on parental perceptions of injury risk and tolerance for children's risk taking. Injury Prevention 2002:8, pp. 27-31.

To learn more about pediatric health, click here.

Better Late than Never

As we reach middle age, our muscles and bones gradually and progressively weaken. Performing strength exercises can counteract these effects, although how long the positive effects last is uncertain. A recent study in the journal Bone investigated the long-term protective effects of stronger back muscles on bone mineral density (BMD) in the spine, which is a measure of bone strength.

Fifty postmenopausal women, ages 58-75, were divided into two groups: roughly half completed progressive back-strengthening exercises for two years; the other half did not and were used for comparison. To strengthen their back muscles, the women performed back-arching exercises while wearing a weighted backpack. At the end of the study and again eight years later, the women were examined for BMD, back muscle strength, and physical activity levels.

At the eight-year follow-up, women who had not strengthened their back muscles were almost three times more likely to have fractures in their spine, compared to women who had performed the exercises. At the end of the two-year exercise program, back strength was significantly higher in the exercise group, but BMD was similar to that of the no-exercise group. Both BMD and back strength were significantly higher in the exercise group at the eight-year follow-up, however.

The benefits of back exercises apparently continue up to eight years after cessation, and perhaps even longer. Increasing back strength may reduce your risk for vertebral fractures later in life. Talk to your doctor of chiropractic about ways to safely and effectively strengthen your back muscles.

Reference: Sinaki M, Itoi E, Wahner HW, et al. Stronger back muscles reduce the incidence of vertebral fractures: A prospective 10-year follow-up of postmenopausal women. Bone 2002:30(6), pp. 836-841.

To read more on women's health, click here.

Another Benefit of Breastfeeding

Despite the wealth of evidence suggesting that breastfeeding is beneficial for children and their mothers, the length of time spent breastfeeding each child is decreasing in the United States. At the same time, breast cancer rates are rising, especially in younger women.

Utilizing information from nearly 50 studies from 30 countries all over the world, the authors of a recent study in The Lancet compared the number of children and months spent breastfeeding between 50,000 women with invasive breast cancer and 100,000 cancer-free women.

The risk for breast cancer dropped almost 5% for each year a mother spent breastfeeding her children. Additionally, each childbirth reduced her risk for breast cancer by 7%. Thus, a woman with three children, all of whom were breastfed for a year, would be about 35% less likely to have breast cancer than a woman who had not had children or breastfed.

If you plan on having kids, consider breastfeeding instead of using infant formula. In addition to preventing breast cancer, breastfeeding may protect your baby against infection, high cholesterol, allergies, obesity, and developmental problems. Evidence suggests that women who breastfeed also return to their prepregnancy weight faster than other mothers.

Reference: Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer. Breast cancer and breastfeeding: Collaborative reanalysis of individual data from 47 epidemiological studies in 30 countries, including 50,302 women with breast cancer and 96,973 women without the disease. The Lancet 2002:360, pp. 187-195.

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

Less Colds Following Warm-Ups

Exercise can't cure the common cold. In fact, intensely vigorous exercise, such as running a marathon, lowers the body's ability to fight germs. But moderately active adults may suffer fewer colds than their more sedentary counterparts, according to a recent study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

The study investigated the number of common colds in more than 500 people of varying activity levels. For one year, researchers tracked these individuals for the number of upper-respiratory tract infections and total moderate-vigorous levels of activity.

The most active individuals in the study suffered an average of 23% fewer colds per year than the least active people. In the fall, the difference was the most noticeable, with 32% less risk for a cold in the most active group. Forty percent of all colds in this study were reported in the fall.

Regular physical activity appears to stimulate our immune systems to help fight off germs, which may reduce risk for future colds. Be sure to exercise regularly, not only for fewer colds, but to boost self-esteem and overall health. Talk to your doctor of chiropractic about the workout that's right for you.

Reference: Matthews CE, Ockene IS, Freedson PS, et al. Moderate to vigorous physical activity and risk of upper-respiratory tract infection. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2002:34(8), pp. 1242-1248.

For more about the benefits of exercise, click here.

Which Foods Improve Memory?

Had any "senior moments" lately? The odds are that as you get older, you'll lose some of your short-term memory. Good nutrition is known to affect memory; studies have shown that eating carbohydrates can improve recollection. A recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition evaluated whether eating protein and fat similarly affect cognitive performance.

Twenty-two elderly men and women, ages 61-79, completed three verbal memory tests following the consumption of one of four drinks, containing either no nutrients or carbohydrates, fat, or protein only. Each person was tested after consumption of each of the four drinks on four separate days (one drink per day). The verbal memory tests involved word/paragraph recall immediately after ingestion or one hour later.

All three nutrient drinks improved delayed and immediate memory on one test, with the most significant improvements an hour after consumption. Only protein reduced forgetfulness on a separate test immediately after ingestion. The no-calorie drink had no effect on cognitive performance, adding proof that the nutrients, not the liquid, offered the benefits.

Try to eat small, regular meals for constant energy and a good memory. The foods you eat may provide your brain with the boost it needs to function at its best. Also, to avoid long-term memory problems, be sure to eat a balanced diet and take a daily multivitamin supplement.

Reference: Kaplan RJ, Greenwood CE, Winocur G, et al. Dietary protein, carbohydrate, and fat enhance memory performance in the healthy elderly. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2001:74, pp. 687-693.

To read more studies on good nutrition, click here.

Dog-Gone Allergies!

Your pet may fetch the morning paper for you, or may just be a great lap companion and good friend. Did you know that your pet might also help reduce the likelihood your children will develop allergies?

Pets have been said to raise or lower a child's risk for allergies, depending on whom you talk with. To investigate the relationship between infants' exposure to pets and allergies later in life, close to 500 babies were followed from birth until 6-7 years of age in a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The children were tested for both indoor (dog, cat, dust mite) and outdoor (blue grass, ragweed) allergies using a skin prick and a blood test.

Any exposure to two or more cats or dogs before age 1 significantly reduced risk for allergies at age 6-7. For both the skin prick and blood tests, more than twice as many children with no dog or cat exposure as an infant tested positive for an allergy than kids who had been around two or more pets. After considering other factors like parental smoking and bedroom allergen levels, two or more pets reduced the odds for allergies about 75% based on the skin prick and 67% based on the blood test.

By introducing your babies to dogs and cats early on, you may lower their chances for developing annoying allergies down the road. Children with allergies are also more prone to develop asthma - a more serious respiratory condition. So simply preventing allergies may in turn ward off asthma.

Reference: Ownby DR, Johnson CC, Peterson EL. Exposure to dogs and cats in the first year of life and risk of allergic sensitization at 6 to 7 years of age. Journal of the American Medical Association 2002:288(8), pp. 963-972.

To find out more pediatric health facts, click here.