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June 9, 2003 Research Update |
James Bogash, D.C. Mesa, AZ
info@lifecarechiro.com
www.lifecarechiro.com
Therapeutic Exercise and Orthopedic Manual Therapy for Impingement Syndrome
Since I treat alot of shoulders in my practice this one strikes home. Sometimes common sense ain't so common in medicine. Almost every shoulder patient I have seen in my office at some point had been given exercises to do. So long as they did them religiously, the problem stayed at bay. As soon as the exercises stopped the symptoms returned. It seems quite obvious to me that this is not fixing the problem--it is just compensating for it. Soft tissue techniques aimed at reducing scar tissue and restoring normal biomechanics is essential. I remember one patient with a complete tear of the supraspinatous tendon. With careful attention to the biceps tendon, this patient has full pain-free use of his shoulder despite the full tear.
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Physical Activity, CHD, and Inflammatory Response
I thought this article was a very interesting one. This study actually compared work-related physical activity to leisure time physical activity. The result showed that only leisure time activity was associated with beneficial responses. I have had many patients who would check the exercise box on an intake form and state that they were active at work. Now we get an idea that this may not be enough.
Arch Intern Med -- Abstracts: Rothenbacher et al. 163 (10): 1200
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Relationship Between Periodontal Disease and C-Reactive Protein
This relationship has actually been developing over the past few years and is further supported with each study. Basically, good oral hygeine may actually prolong your life. However, we do need to consider the possibilty that poor lifestyle choices, such as high intakes of sugar, may actually be the indirect link and there may not be a direct link.
Arch Intern Med -- Abstracts: Slade et al. 163 (10): 1172
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Celiac neuropathy
With the virtual avoidance of the fact that food allergies exist and are major contributors to chronic disease, this study has the potential to change the way many doctors view allergies. Unfortunately, they would have to read the article first.... This article reminds me of a patient I had awhile back that had been diagnosed with dermatitis herpatiforms--a skin condition closely linked to celiac disease--10 yrs prior. When he asked his doctor if he should avoid wheat, the doctor said that would be too hard and put him on a drug used for leprosy. Forget the long term damage that a food allergy like this could cause on other organ systems.
Neurology -- Abstracts: Chin et al. 60 (10): 1581
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Consumption of Cherries Lowers Plasma Urate in Healthy Women
Cherry juice is one of those age old remedies for gout and here we see a recent study supporting this approach. Of course, avoidance of red meat and alcohol will help with gout as well.
nutrition.org -- Abstracts: Jacob et al. 133 (6): 1826
Chlorogenic Acid Bioavailability Depends on Metabolism by Gut Microflora
Although this is a rat study, the potential implications really are astounding. Antibiotics may have the potential to increase risk of certain types of cancer by killing off normal bacterial flora that both detoxify toxic substances and activate anti-cancer compounds from foods. Although this is an A=B, B=C so A=C type of assumption, I believe their are enough studies and physiologic plausability to support this statement.
nutrition.org -- Abstracts: Gonthier et al. 133 (6): 1853
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Probiotics and prevention of atopic disease: 4-year follow-up
This really isn't "beat up on antibiotics" week, it just turns out this way. Eventually, we will all shake hands and agree that normal, healthy GI flora is essential to good health and that prescriptions such as antibiotics will destroy this beneficial player. However, probiotics, much like insulin resistance, have hoards of research behind them and yet are relatively unknown to the mainstream medical providers.
The Journal : Back Issues
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Immunomodulation during sublingual therapy in allergic children
There's a doctor in the area that I know is using sublingual therapy and has been for decades and almost always gets excellent results. While this article appears unsure of the mechanism by which this works, I believe that oral tolerance is involved. Give a patient with a sensitivity to some substance a small amount of that substacne and the GI tract will sample this small amount and send a signal out to the rest of the body not to worry beause there are no "invaders" here.
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Asthma prevalence in schoolchildren: associations w/ indoor pools
One thing I always remember about vacations as a child was the smell of chlorine that meant that the hotel had an indoor pool. How was I supposed to know that I was endangering my health playing in those pools? Sometimes I look back and can't quite figured out how we survived out childhoods..
Occup Environ Med -- Abstracts: Bernard et al. 60 (6): 385
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Infant nutrition and blood pressure in early adulthood
There have been numerous stories lately about the impact the begining of our lives have on our long term health. This article finds a relationship between dried milk consumption and elevated BP in adults. Personally, being strongly against dairy, this article doesn't exactly disappoint me. Nursing is still the absolute best way to go. If this isn't an option, I usually recommend a hydrolyzed formula that has been enzymatically pre-digested so there are no intact proteins for the body to react to.
AJCN -- Abstracts: Martin et al. 77 (6): 1489
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