Chiropractic OnLine Today's
HealthBeat

    Welcome to COT's HealthBeat Podcast
        Chiropractic OnLine Today is pleased to present a
    Chiropractic "Radio" Segment to the Health Community.
               Return to HealthBeat main page

Please Vote for HealthBeat!
 

HEALTHBEAT SHOW NOTES .... Episode #58 - Recorded August 18, 2006

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of HealthBeat, Chiropractic OnLine Today’s Health, News and informational Podcast.

In this week’s news:  We’ll Look At –  

• Home Knee Rehabilitation

• Spinal Adjustments and Adhesions

• Rebound Effect from Dieting

• High Fat Diet and Cholesterol

• Sugared Drinks and Obesity

• Mom's Dieting Affects Kids

For HealthBeat, This is Dr. Todd Eglow.

Welcome to HealthBeat Podcast #58, recorded August 18, 2006.  HealthBeat is Chiropractic OnLine Today’s radio program, providing current news and commentary about Chiropractic and Health.

This week’s Episode is sponsored by DaVinci Laboratories.  Please surf to our web site at ChiropracticRadio.com and click on the DaVinci link for your Health and Nutritional needs.

If you are interested in creating personalized Healthbeat podcasts for your office or website, to help attract new patients, please surf to our web site and send us an Email ….

…. or Skype us by typing in “healthbeat”, all in small letters.

Finally, Chiropractic OnLine Today has always provided our news and education content for free and plan on continuing this policy.  However, we do request that if you are enjoying these podcasts, that you surf to ChiropracticRadio.com and consider clicking on our PayPal link to make a donation to keep these Podcasts airing.  We thank everyone for their continued support.

And Now for some news ….

Home Knee Rehabilitation

According to the web site, Ortho Supersite, Home-based rehabilitation for ACL reconstruction patients leads to outcomes as good or better than standard physical therapy-supervised programs.

That view comes from Stephen M. Howell, MD, who thinks ACL reconstruction patients can rehabilitate most effectively at home with a simple exercise program.

Supporting his views, Howell cited an American Journal of Sports Medicine study last year by John A. Grant, MD, PhD, and colleagues, who showed in a randomized, clinical trial with 129 patients that 98.8% of home-based physical therapy patients gained an acceptable range of motion in extension vs. 83.3% of those in supervised physical therapy rehab programs (P=.02). In flexion, 66.7% of the home-based patients reached an acceptable ROM vs. 47% for therapy-based patients (P=.03).

Of course, it is imperative that you discuss this and any rehab questions with your Doctor of Chiropractic or other Rehab specialist.

For more information, surf to our Show Notes - http://www.orthosupersite.com/default.asp?page=view&rid=17625

Spinal Adjustments and Adhesions

According to a study being conducted by Palmer College of Chiropractic and the National University of Health Sciences -

One of the beneficial effects of spinal adjusting is thought to be the break-up of adhesions that form in the zygapophysial (Z) joints following hypomobility of these joints (Janse, 1976; Triano, 1992).

Although hypomobility has been associated with increased degenerative changes of the articular processes and articular facets (Cramer et al., 2004), a description of adhesion development within these joints has not been reported in the peer reviewed literature.

Using a small animal model (rat) previously developed in a collaborative study between investigators at the Palmer College of Chiropractic and the National University of Health Sciences (Henderson et al., 2000), adhesion formation was evaluated in the Z joints of rats following vertebral fixation for either 8 weeks or 16 weeks. These changes were then compared to the Z joints of 3 types of control animals. This study was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees of the participating institutions.

This study, reported by the FCER found that small Adhesions were not uncommon in the Z joints of control and fixation rats; however, medium and large Adhesions seemed to be closely related to the duration of hypomobility (spinal fixation) with significant differences found between 16 week control and fixation animals for all sizes of adhesions.

These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that joint hypomobility leads to increased Adhesions development. This is also consistent with previously reported findings that osteophyte formation and degenerative changes of the articular facets increase with induced hypomobility (fixation) (Cramer et al., 2004).

These findings have potential clinical relevance to the practice of chiropractic, since chiropractic adjusting has been shown to gap the Z joints (Cramer et al., 2002) and gapping could potentially break-up adhesions in these joints. However, additional research is needed to determine the clinical significance of both Adhesions size and the effects of chiropractic adjustments on the break-up of Z joint Adhesions. Experiments assessing the effects of standardized high velocity low amplitude thrusts on degenerative changes of the Z joints in this animal model are currently underway.

For more information, surf to www.fcer.org

Rebound Effect from Dieting

Ask U.S. adults if they're trying to lose weight, and three out of four say "yes," polls show. Weight loss is a major industry, from support programs to diet books to special foods. Yet more than 60 percent of Americans are overweight, and the numbers are getting higher.

According to various experts in the field, even in the best medically supervised programs, nearly two-thirds of participants are back where they started within three years and 80 to 90 percent within five years.

Some of the reasons for this so-called "Rebounding" effect including the following:

1) Biology - The body's metabolism, programmed for survival in times of food shortage, works against dieters;

2) Environment - It's tougher to lose weight and keep weight off now than it was 20 years ago because there are so many incentives to eat more and move less. "The cheapest foods are often the unhealthiest." Activity is reduced by labor-saving devices, sit-down entertainment such as television, and the growing number of people in desk jobs;

3) Life pressures

Some of the areas that research is focusing on for future recommendations include:

• Exercise

• Self Monitoring

• A Sustainable, Healthy Eating Pattern

• Eating a healthy Breakfast

• Having a strong Support System

COT's HealthBeat Always recommends discussing any Dietary, Exercise or Life Style changes with a qualified healthcare professional prior to beginning any new dieting regimen.

For more information, surf to our Show Notes - http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC277/24479/51517/328226.html?d=dmtContent

High Fat Diet and Cholesterol

According to the AP - One indulgence in unhealthy eating could affect your health. A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that eating one meal high in saturated fat could increase inflammation in the arteries and reduce the effects of good cholesterol.

The study involved 14 Australians ages 18 to 40. The participants were given two meals to eat one month apart -- one of the meals was high in saturated fat, while the other contained polyunsaturated fat. Three hours after they ate the saturated-fat meal, the participants' arteries were less able to expand to increase blood flow, and six hours after the meal, the anti-inflammatory qualities of good cholesterol in their blood vessels was reduced, the researchers found. On the other hand, the polyunsaturated-fat meal appeared to reduce inflammation in the participants' arteries and enhance the beneficial effects of good cholesterol.

The researchers say their findings reinforce the importance of eating the right types of foods -- and aggressively reducing saturated fat in the diet.

Sugared Drinks and Obesity

Americans may be drinking themselves into obesity.

A Harvard study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that sugary beverages have been a major contributor to the rising obesity rates in the United States .

In the study, researchers reviewed 40 years' worth of nutritional research, and found strong evidence of a causal relationship between highly sweetened drinks and expanding waistlines in the United States . Not only do these drinks contribute a significant amount of the carbohydrate calories in the American diet, but the high-fructose corn syrup often used to sweeten them does not trigger production of insulin or appetite-regulating hormones that would lead people to moderate their intake.

The researchers say their findings suggest that sugary drinks should be strongly discouraged.

Mom's Dieting Affects Kids

Children can pick up unhealthy attitudes about eating and weight from their mothers.

 Recent studies suggest that kids learn about diet and self-image from observing adults -- including obsessive calorie counting, fad dieting, and poor body image.

A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that 5-year-old girls whose mothers dieted were twice as likely to be aware of weight-loss strategies as girls whose mothers didn't diet. Another study by Harvard researchers found that adolescent girls whose mothers dieted frequently were more likely to diet frequently themselves, and girls whose mothers worried about weight were more likely to be insecure about their own bodies.

Surf to our Show Notes for links about these Nutritional stories - http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC277/333/9254/490965.html?d=dmtICNNews

As always, please surf to our Podcast Show Notes at ChiropractiRadio.com for a full listing of web references mentioned in today’s show.

And remember - COT’s Healthbeat always recommends discussing any nutritional or exercise lifestyle modifications with a qualified healthcare professional.

Thank you for listening…. As always, We Want to hear from you.  Please send us emails…. Simply surf to our Web Site at ChiropracticRadio.com and click on the Email link.

You can also leave us Voice Mail…. Simply open up your Skype and type in “healthbeat”, all in small letters.

If you have an idea for a future Health Segment, please feel free to contact me directly via email …. The address is: healthbeat@chiropracticradio.com

We also would appreciate your vote at Podcastalley.com.  If you are enjoying these podcasts, please surf to our HealthBeat homepage and click on the Podcast Alley link.

If you have a Web Site for your practice and you would like to add content to help attract more patients, please consider adding a personalized HealthBeat segments to your site. Many listeners are finding this a useful content addition to an Office’s Web Site.  For more information, please send me an Email at healthbeat@chiropracticradio.com

While at our Web Site, please remember to consider making a donation to help keep these Podcasts airing.  Listener support such as yours, via our PayPal link, does help in allowing us to bring these Podcasts to you weekly.

Finally, I leave you with the following quote:

"Relationships of trust depend on our willingness to look not only to our own interests, but also the interests of others."
-- Peter Farquharson

For Chiropractic OnLine Today’s HealthBeat, This is Dr. Todd Eglow.

Please Vote for HealthBeat on Podcast Alley!