July 3rd, 2011 by admin in Health Tips
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What do slouching, back pain, and a middling forehand or weak shot off the tee have in common? Often it’s a weak core—the girdle of muscles, bones, and joints that links your upper and lower body. Your core gives you stability and helps power the moves you make every day. Whether it’s bending to pick up a laundry basket, swinging a golf club, paddling a kayak, or reaching to pull a vase from the top shelf of a cabinet, a strong and flexible core makes the move more fluid, efficient, and robust. Strong, well-balanced core muscles can also improve your posture and help prevent back injuries. And if back pain does strike, core exercises are usually part of the rehab regimen.
Core Muscles
Click image to enlarge.
Your core is composed of many different muscles in the abdomen, back, sides, pelvis, and buttocks. These muscles work together to allow you to bend, twist, rotate, and stand upright. |
For all these reasons, more and more people are incorporating core exercises into their fitness routines. If you’re among them, or planning to be, it’s critical to pay attention to proper form. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Harvard Health Blog*
June 30th, 2011 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Health Tips
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My 86 year-old mother, who is generally in good health, slipped and fell recently and suffered a fractured femur. She was unfortunate to have suffered the accident, but had the good fortune to be discovered quickly, treated promptly and well by the paramedics who responded to her, and then to have a swift and skillful operation by an orthopedic surgeon to repair the fracture. Almost miraculously, she was standing upright (with a considerable amount of pain) the next day and had begun the rehabilitation process.
At her age—indeed at any age—a fractured femur is a very significant injury. This past year, I have learned of friends and others who have suffered falls and broken their legs, ankles, or backs, as well as others who suffered “pathological fractures.” The latter group had the bones break from normal daily stresses, without a traumatic incident, because the bones were weak and/or osteoporotic. More than a few of these injuries occurred outdoors, associated with stumbles on the trail or falls.
All of this highlights features of an excellent review article that was published this past year in the New England Journal of Medicine. Authored by Murray Favus, MD, it is entitled “Biphosphonates for Osteoporosis” (New England Journal of Medicine 2010;363:2027-35). Anyone who is contemplating taking or administering this therapy would benefit from reading this article. Read more »
This post, Osteoporosis Treatment With Bisphosphonates: Is Exercise Good Or Dangerous?, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..
June 9th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in News
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Active, healthy medical students are more likely to prescribe physical activity to patients, according to research presented at a meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine.
A research team assessed objective markers of cardiometabolic health, including cardiorespiratory fitness and attitudes on physical activity counseling, in 577 freshman medical students in Colombia from 2005 to 2010. Students’ health and fitness were measured by waist circumference, body mass index, fasting glucose levels and lipid profiles, in addition to the 20-meter shuttle run test.
Attitudes toward physical activity counseling were gauged through students’ answers to “How relevant do you think it will be in your future medical practice to counsel your patients on physical activity?” and “I will have the ability to counsel my patients more credibly and effectively if I am physically active.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
June 3rd, 2011 by KerriSparling in True Stories
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The Dexcom said 177 mg/dl and dropping, but after a full 60 minutes of cardio, I expected the graph to show a lower trend.
“Whatever,” I said, a little confused because my pre-workout blood sugar was 143 mg/dl. Felt foggy, but I was a little dehydrated so I figured I needed to get home and relax. Ignoring the cotton-ball haze I felt encased by, I grabbed my keys and gym backpack from the locker room and walked out into the parking lot. After trying to get into someone else’s black Honda Civic (forgetting, in my fog, that we replaced my old car for the Mom Car), I put the key in my car’s ignition and sat there for a few seconds.
And then a few seconds more.
It wasn’t until I was out there for about two full minutes that I thought “Hey, might want to double-check that Dexcom reading” with my meter. The receiver was now showing some double-down arrows. And my glucose meter confirmed with a bright, shiny 35 mg/dl.
“Oh, you suck,” I said directly to my diabetes. And like a fast, hot breeze, all the symptoms of the low hit in full force, as though seeing the number made it actually real. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
May 15th, 2011 by Berci in Health Tips, News
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Tweet_Fit is an amazing idea that is similar in nature to Kickbee. Here are the details:
Developed by a UK design student, the connected gym accessory attaches to the end of a standard dumbbell and sends updates to your Twitter account when you start and stop your workout. Take it offline and it guides you through the perfect curl. Tweet_Fit’s designer points out that it offers a novel way for trainers to keep track of their clients, and can be used to spur healthy competition between friends.
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
