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HEALTHBEAT SHOW NOTES .... Episode #9 - Recorded September 9, 2005

Welcome to HealthBeat Podcast #9, recorded September 9, 2005.  HealthBeat is Chiropractic OnLine Today’s radio program, providing current news and commentary about Chiropractic and Health. 

Let’s begin with some In-House items… A big shout out to Andrew from WorkingPodcast.com…. Surf to their web site and take a listen to episode #28…. I make a guest appearance, discussing Ergonomic factors related to the work-place.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Conference on Manual Therapies

In June of 2005, the National Institutes of Health, the NIH, held a 2nd Conference on Manual Therapies.  The first conference on Manual Therapies was held 30 years ago, in 1975, and put together by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.  The participants reviewed existing research on the biology and therapy of back pan and other Neuromuscular and visceral disorders.

While the 1975 research symposium showed that chiropractors were at a staring point, research-wise, the June 2005 conference boasted research advances.  According to Dr. John Triano, a Chiropractor with a PhD and research professor in the department of engineering at the University of Texas , the Conference went extraordinarily well.  The recommendations of t e clinicians will give researchers a specific direction for future research proposals.  Dr. Triano felt that the future would see a stronger emphasis on the basic scientific understanding of manual therapies.

The NIH is expected to publish the conference report with a summary of the recommendations in the next few months.  For more information, surf to: http://nccam.nih.gov

Insurer Reveals What Doctors Really Charge

According to the Wall Street Journal, The growing effort to enlist consumers in reducing health-care costs has been stymied by the fact that most people just don't know what medical care costs.

Private and government health coverage has helped shield them from bills. And even with newer consumer-driven plans that employ Health Savings Accounts, which give people more of a financial stake in the issue, pricing information can be hard to come by.

Now, a major national health insurer is making an effort to change that.  According to the article,  Aetna Inc. plans to make available online the exact prices it has negotiated with Cincinnati-area doctors for hundreds of medical procedures and tests. The initiative, which Aetna hopes to take eventually to other parts of the country, aims to give patients the tools to comparison shop and make savvier decisions with their health-care dollars.

Aetna is the first major health insurer to publicly disclose the fees it negotiates with physicians. Some in the health-care industry say the move is likely to push more insurers to follow suit, which in turn would give a significant boost to consumer-driven health plans.

Competition may be one reason Aetna is moving aggressively. As consumer-driven plans rise in popularity, health insurers will compete less on premiums and more on the financial and information services consumers will need to use them effectively.

For more information, surf to www.WSJ.com and click on the Personal Journal link.

Exercise Boosts Brain Function

An August 30th Wall Street Journal article reports that Exercise provides a short-term boost to the ability to process data, among other functions. Acute bouts of exercise have also been found to reduce depression and anxiety, illnesses that can dampen mental functioning. Over time, exercise has been shown to help ward off the mental effects of aging, perhaps even Alzheimer's.

For some exercisers, the cognitive benefits often arrive even before the workout is over.  The evidence is even stronger for the long-term benefits of exercise.

A study published last September in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that, among more than 18,000 older women studied, those who were most physically active had a 20% lower risk of cognitive impairment. "Long-term regular physical activity, including walking, is associated with significantly better cognitive function and less cognitive decline in older women,"

The next step is for researchers to try to determine just how much and what type of exercise produces the greatest cognitive benefits.  Stay Tuned!

For more information, surf to www.WSJ.com

Depression and Heart Disease

According to a report in the WebMD web site reporting on an August 16 article from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Depression worsens the readings on a barometer of death risk for heart patients.

That barometer is a test that measures vascular endothelial function. That is, it measures how well one's blood vessels are working.   Heart patients who aren't depressed do better on this test than those who report many depressive symptoms.

The findings suggest that [doctors] should evaluate patients with [heart] disease for depressive symptoms -- and give tentative support for referring those patients for therapy.

The results of this and similar studies suggest that this risk may be reduced if depression is recognized and treated.

For more information, surf to www.webmd.com and do a search for the article entitled - Depression Worsens Heart Disease.

Work and Health

People who work long hours or overtime may face an increased risk of sickness and injury.

The risk exists regardless of job type, according to researchers of a new study, appearing in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Their conclusion supports growing evidence that long working hours negatively affect workers' health and well-being.

Those who routinely put in overtime or work a long day are thought to be at heightened risk for a variety of ailments, including high blood pressure, heart disease, depression, diabetes, chronic infections, general health complaints and even death, write the researchers.

Compared with those who worked fewer hours, they also found:

• Working at least 12 hours a day was associated with a 37 percent increased risk of injury or illness.

• Working at least 60 hours a week was associated with a 23 percent increased risk.

For more information, surf to www.CBSNews.com

Exercise and Stroke

According to the HeartCenter Online newsletter, Exercise therapy has been reported to speed recovery from a stroke.  However, the results can vary.

Stroke (also called cerebrovascular accident or CVA) is a life-threatening event in which part of the brain is deprived of oxygen. It can be caused by a blood clot (ischemic stroke) or bleeding around the brain (hemorrhagic stroke).

Researchers, reporting in the August 2005 issue of the journal Stroke, found that the exercise group had greater immediate improvements in measures including social function, physical function, social participation and emotion.

However, the effects diminished six months after treatment ended. The authors of the study concluded that continued participation in exercise rehabilitation programs may be necessary to keep benefiting stroke patients.

For more information, surf to http://heart.healthcentersonline.com

Drugs for Parkinson’s Disease and Sleep

According to DrKoop’s online newsletter, HealthSmart, Popular Parkinson's drugs called dopamine agonists are associated with a threefold increased risk of causing uncontrollable sleepiness compared with other drugs for the disease, Harvard researchers report.

This side effect can be particularly dangerous if it occurs while driving or operating machinery, according to the report, which appears in the August issue of the Archives of Neurology.

Parkinson's disease is a disorder of the brain characterized by shaking (tremor) and difficulty with walking, movement, and coordination. The disease is associated with damage to a part of the brain that is involved with movement.

Patients who experience this side effect, reported to be about 1 in 5 patients, fall asleep without warning. These episodes can last from a few minutes to several hours.

As always, HealthBeat always recommends discussing any changes to a treatment regimen with a qualified healthcare professional.

For more information, surf to www.DrKoop.com or The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke can tell you more about Parkinson’s disease.  The NINDS is located at (www.ninds.nih.gov)

Nutrition Corner

HealthBeat is pleased to introduce a new segment, entitled Nutrition Corner.   In this episode, we will be joined by Dr. Howard Benedikt, an NYC Chiropractor who holds a Masters degree in Clinical Nutrition and is also a member of the Post-Grad department of nutrition at New York Chiropractic College .

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

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