December 15th, 2011 by HarvardHealth in Research
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Do your neck and shoulders ache? Not long ago, you would have been told to rest, maybe use a neck brace, and wait until the pain had ebbed away. Doctors have changed their song about the best treatment for neck and shoulder pain. They now recommend movement instead of rest.
As described in Neck and Shoulder Pain, a newly updated Special Health Report from Harvard Health Publications, there is mounting scientific evidence for the role of stretching and muscle strengthening in treating people with neck and shoulder pain. After a whiplash injury, for example, people heal sooner and are less likely to develop chronic pain if they start gentle exercise as soon as possible. For those with long-term pain (called chronic pain), results from controlled studies show that exercise provides some relief.
One review of the research found that Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Harvard Health Blog*
November 28th, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in Research
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This article (full reference below) on the additional benefits an individual gains from having a reduction mammoplasty (RM) has been published online ahead of print. The authors performed a systemic review of the literature focusing on functional outcomes after RM with regard to physical and psychological symptom improvement.
The authors performed a systematic review of the English literature using PUBMED for the period between 1977 to 2010. Studies were chosen that addressed the physical and psychological benefits of RM using a validated questionnaire.
The authors note that nearly eighty thousand breast reductions were performed in 2009. For insurance coverage in the United States a woman seeking breast reduction must have complaints of physical symptoms (i.e., Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
July 17th, 2011 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Research
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The Group Health Research Institute of Seattle, Washington has published a study in Annals of Internal Medicine that showed massage therapy may effectively reduce or relieve chronic back pain. I am a big believer and supporter of massage therapy and have wondered why it is not a covered benefit for treating back and neck pain. Even medical benefits savings plans offered by employers (where you put aside your own pre-tax dollars to be used for medical care) do not allow massage. Patients who get massage for musculoskeletal conditions do better and utilize less pain meds, yet is is seldom prescribed and rarely covered by any insurance plan.
This study confirmed what I have known for a long time. They looked at relaxation massage and structural massage, which focuses on correcting soft-tissue abnormalities. At 10 weeks they found Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
