Vitamins at their most basic level are organic compounds that are required as nutrients by most organisms. Generally when people speak of vitamin consumption they are referring to the role that they play in a normal diet; being the necessary components for healthy, balanced nutrition.

There is a wide range of vitamins that are classified by their biological and chemical activity, not necessarily their structure. Vitamin K is a vitamin found primarily in vegetables such as spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and brussel sprouts, as well as fruits such as avocados and kiwis. The FDA recommends that an average healthy male should consume 120 micrograms of vitamin K a day, while an average healthy woman should consume 90 micrograms a day. As a frame of reference, two tablespoons of parsley contain 153% of the recommended daily amount. It is important to understand that vitamin K in these fruits and vegetables is found primarily in the raw form, cooking destroys many of the natural enzymes and vitamins within these fruits and vegetables.

It is estimated that over half of the individuals between the ages of 18 and 44 do not have a healthy level of vitamin K in their diet. Vitamin K has been proven to help protect against osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and many other degenerative diseases. It also plays a vital role in promoting blood clotting after tissue injuries, with a severe deficiency of the vitamin resulting in fatal hemorrhaging. Vitamin K is currently one of the most researched vitamins regarding the various benefits of the vitamin as a whole, with many people considering it to be a ‘super’ vitamin.

The Benefits

Research into vitamin K began in the early 20th century and its precise functions were discovered in 1974. Since then research has continued into the vitamin, and scientists have found a variety of benefits from a daily intake of vitamin K. The most recent research shows that the vitamin can increase bone mass, with studies showing that supplemental vitamin K can help promote osteotrophic processes and slow the osteoclastic processes through calcium bonding, with a form of vitamin K2 being recognized in Japan as a bona fide treatment for osteoporosis. Basically vitamin K can be described as a type of glue that binds calcium to the bone matrix. Still, the long-term effects are unknown at this point in time, as well as the benefits, and research continues. In addition, vitamin K has been shown to inhibit cell death, which has led to the theoretical concept that vitamin K could have an effect on neuronal damage and that regular supplementation could help treat Alzheimer’s, although this is hypothetical at present, with ongoing research hoping to prove the theory.

Some research studies have shown that supplementing vitamin K intake can help ward off the hardening of the arteries that occurs with age, with this being one of the main reasons the vitamin is promoted as a way to combat degenerative heart diseases, strokes, and thrombosis associated with atherosclerosis. The International Journal of Experimental Pathology published findings in 2000 by the Hematology/Oncology Clinics of North America showing that vitamin K has a double action due to its chemical configuration that allows it to pick up calcium and carry it to where it is most needed in the body. This allows it to alleviate atherosclerosis by taking the calcium deposits that build up on the artery walls and breaking them down so that the arteries can function efficiently for longer periods of time. Meanwhile, the Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition published findings in 2001 that showed vitamin K helping an activator protein in the body called osteo-calcin, which is responsible for the development and maintenance of strong bone tissue that can help fight osteoporosis. Considering that women suffering from osteoporosis generally have only 25% of the vitamin K levels in their bodies that a normal, healthy woman should have, the importance of this vitamin seem not to be overstated.

The International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics published research in 1997 that details vitamin K as being a preventative for autoimmune diseases, in particular its potential to slow down the aging process. It does so by preventing excessive elevation of interleukin-6, which is a known chemical component in your immune system that can cause toxic reactions throughout your body, and is generally considered to be a leading factor in causing autoimmune diseases, as well as inflammation of the joints and tissues of the brain. Since Alzheimer’s patients have high concentrations of this chemical in their brains, it is believed that vitamin K can help prevent this condition by reducing one of the chemicals associated with the disease.

What about Vitamin K Deficiency?

Vitamin K deficiency is a quite serious issue. Regular intake of vitamin K has a wide variety of known benefits, from helping the pancreas to regulate blood sugar levels – which shows potential for assisting in the treatment of diabetes – to helping maintain calcium levels in teeth, thus protecting against cavities.

One surprising cause of vitamin K deficiency is the use of antibiotics. Most people agree that antibiotics should only be used to cure serious infections; and indeed recognize that overuse of antibiotics may, in addition to disruption of intestinal flora, create an immunity which leaves the body vulnerable to the so-called ‘superbugs’ which have evolved to withstand the effects of traditional antibiotics. Individuals with low levels of vitamin K may also experience defective blood coagulation and hemorrhaging. In addition, a recent study conducted by the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute published in the October 2009 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that vitamin K may prevent a wide range of age-related disease such as kidney calcification, cancer, weakening of the bones, and cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Bruce Ames, one of the leaders of the study believes that even modest vitamin and mineral deficiencies has the potential to result in age-related illnesses. It is hoped that his theory will highlight the issue and prompt scientists to conduct more studies into the benefits of vitamins, especially vitamin K.

Random Posts

• Are Whole Grains Right for Me? (0)
• Delaying Dementia – Why Exercise Can Help Alzheimer’s Patients (0)
• The Link between Creativity and Color (0)
• Cross Training for Cyclists (0)
• A Closer Look at Endurance Training (0)
• Unexpected Gifts (0)

The spine – along with the heart and brain – is one of the most important components of a human being’s body. It is the vertebral column which houses and protects the spinal cord and spinal canal, which carries the various synapses from the brain to the other parts of the body. It is made up of 33 different vertebrae, and literally spans an individual’s body from the cervical region in the head to the pelvic region in the waist. Each section of the spine is a delicate balance of bones, nerves, ligaments, muscles, and various other components that make our lives possible. The various bones in the spine, known as vertebrae, coalesce to form a unique S shaped curve that provides the vital mechanical balance of our bodies, with the natural curve of the spine putting the least amount of stress and strain on the various joints, ligaments, and discs that comprise the spine. Each vertebrae communicates with the others via small joints on either side that only allow small movements within adjacent vertebrae, but when moved together allow large spinal movements, such bending forward to tie shoelaces. Each vertebra has its own unique system of cartilage that lubricates and absorbs shock. The inter-vertebral discs actually sit between each one of the vertebrae to separate them, acting as a cushion, with each disc composed of an outer wall of thousands of layers of fibers woven together in an intricate pattern and an inner wall that is composed of proteins which are over 80% water-based, meaning that they are very resilient to shock and compression.

Since ligaments attach to the vertebrae on all sides of the spinal column to provide a support for the spine and allow the muscles cells to attach directly, it is important that spinal ligaments be viewed in the same manner as are other ligaments in any joint; they are essential to movements, but can be strained or sprained just as any other muscle or ligament, with sudden or prolonged awkward positions causing damage. Since the muscles surrounding the spine comprise the trunk of our bodies, they help move the spine to different functional positions, but it is important to understand that they also have a stabilizing effect, with the muscles in the core of the body acting as a sort of girdle to support the spine and allow it to have a stable platform allowing for high-level activities to be performed with the outer extremities: the arms and legs. The stabilizing function of our muscles is the fundamental aspect of a healthy spine. The spine itself attaches to muscles and ligaments via various peripheral nerves that communicate with the muscles.

Pain in the Spine

There are a variety of disc problems that can arise in the back, and all of them are unique to the spine. A prolapsed disc occurs when the hole in the middle of the disc is herniated outward, thus pressing against a spinal nerve and creating pain. This is also known as a slipped or ruptured disc. If the spinal nerve happens to be compressed, it can send pain shooting down the entire length of the nerve, or just to the nerve endings. If the impact is simply to the nerve ending, an individual might feel a shooting pain in their back along the spinal column and affected disc, but if it is running down the entire length of the nerve, one would feel pain throughout the leg, hands, elbow, or other extremities, and certain positions can increase the chances of a disc slipping and rupturing.

Almost all types of spinal pain will resolve themselves within six to eight weeks provided that the individual in question allows their body sufficient time for rest, with minimal activity. Normal, daily activities can be maintained provided that the pain is not debilitating. Any extreme movements and sustained postures should be strictly avoided because they can cause subsequent episodes of spinal pain to occur, and in some cases aggravate the injury to the point where it becomes permanent or long-term.

Protecting your Spine

It is crucial that each individual care for his or her spine, in much the same way as one would the heart. Core strengthening has become one of the primary methods of rehabilitating athletes in recent years because of the fact that it develops the muscular control required by the spine for functional stability, and if any of those muscles are out of sync it can create spinal injuries. Various researches have shown that if the core muscles are sufficiently stable, it can improve the function and activity of the individual in question, with a serious reduction in risk as it refers to spinal damage. If an individual begins to experience pain in the back and simply pushes through the pain, other muscles are likely to compensate to the point where further damage is caused, which is why is why rest is so strongly recommended as soon as one suspects a spinal injury.

One of the most common causes of back pain occurs when an individual bends over and lifts an object with their back muscles, rather than their leg muscles, which directly results in the core muscles being overstrained, which in turn induces pain. One of the easiest ways to protect your spine is by ensuring that objects are always lifted with the legs, bending fully at the knees to pick up the object. In addition, since the abdominal muscles stabilize movement of the back by providing a force in the opposite direction, having a strong abdominal section can go far towards creating a more stable trunk, which can help avoid injuries in the long run. Protecting the spine is essential to the overall strength of the body, so it is important to take all necessary precautions, engage in core strengthening exercises and check in periodically with a chiropractor to ensure proper alignment.

Read More on This Topic

• Understanding the ACL Injury (0)
• Tai Chi and Pain Reduction: Some Tentative Suggestions (0)
• Should You Exercise While You Are Sick? (0)
• Periodization Training (0)
• Active Recovery Explained (0)
• Exercising with Your Pet (0)

There are many reasons why a physical fitness regimen is good for you and not a single reason why it is bad, if performed to a sensible degree. Yet for one reason or another millions of individuals around the world continually find excuses as to why they cannot exercise. They are too busy; they are too old, they do not want to do it by themselves, it is boring, they do not have time because of the children, their back/neck/knee/ankle/or whatever hurts. Do you fit this description? Perhaps you consider that you are too obese to be seen in public when exercising? Or you may feel that you are going to look absurd in a workout outfit, or that you will sweat more than anyone else? You may already have a thin body, so naturally you think that your body just does not require exercise. You may dislike the gym environment, or perhaps feel that you cannot afford the fees. Most individuals can think of an excuse for not partaking of some form regular exercise, but in reality, apart from appearance, consistent exercise is vital to our overall physical and mental well being.

All of the above reasons for not exercising are really nothing more than poor excuses. They are not valid reasons why you should not or cannot include a healthy physical regimen into your daily life. There may be a hundred reasons why not but there are even more reasons why you must exercise consistently. The benefits are innumerable, including:

* Sensible rates of exercise can contribute to a longer lifespan and a reduced risk of developing cardiovascular disease or stroke.
* Regular exercise can reduce hypertension – a major cause of stroke and heart attacks. It has also proven to be a positive factor in reducing high levels of cholesterol.
* A higher metabolic rate, which is a direct effect of exercise on the body, means that you will burn calories and process food more quickly, thus reducing your risks of becoming overweight or obese.
* Stronger joints, muscle mass, additional limb flexibility.
* Enhanced quality of life due to the additional endorphins and hormones your body produces as a side effect of physical exercise.
* Working out increases self-esteem, providing endorphins, lowering cortisol levels and enhancing appearance. Even the appearance of the skin will benefit from increased circulation, and one cannot help but be justly proud of the increased strength and speed of his or her body.
* Working out promotes higher levels of energy as a result of a higher metabolic rate, which means that (provided one does not over-train), you will fall asleep more quickly and enter into a deeper phase of sleep, providing a better quality of revitalizing, rejuvenating sleep, which in turn reduces fatigue levels and increases cognitive abilities.

Combating the Excuses

Everyone procrastinates at some point or another, but it is important to remember that procrastinating about some important things could lead to unfortunate results. There is an old saying, “why put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” Be positive and never put off doing anything that might contribute to your good health and well being. Regular exercise certainly falls under that category.

Overcoming the lack of will that prevents you from exercising really comes down to one thing: taking control of your life. Everyone wants to be in control, but many people fear change, or fear the hard work required to become the individual that they really want to be. As a result of this they come up with a variety of excuses as to why they cannot do something, when in reality it is not that they cannot…it’s just that they lack the desire to truly succeed.

Taking Control

Taking control of your life sounds simple, and it is, provided that you are willing to truly take control. If you are fed up with being constantly fatigued and overweight it’s time to step up and take charge of your life and put things back on track. One of the first ways to do so is by being focused upon what you wish to achieve.

Let us take a look at the most frequently used excuse on the list that most individuals offer as to why they are not including an exercise regimen in their lives. “I don’t have time.” It is not a matter of ‘having’ the time; rather it is a matter of ‘making’ the time. If you can find time to watch an episode of your favorite TV program, then you have time to schedule a 30-minute cardio session into your daily routine. Jumping jacks, running in place, jumping rope, or circuit training including squats, pushups, crunches and jumping jacks combined together are all things that do not require the expenditure of even the time to travel to and from a health club.

In your everyday life always take the stairs instead of the elevator whenever possible. Walk everywhere briskly. If age is not a valid excuse; most physicians agree that a healthy physical regimen is vitally important to your health, especially as you get older. As long as you take care of your body you can continue jogging well into your 80s. If you are younger and have children (then, when age-appropriate), have them participate in a run with you, or have join you in a workout routine with you while you watch your favorite shows together. Or form a ‘buddy system’; many people find that working out with a partner either helps with motivation or to spark a competitive streak.

Remember that a healthy exercise regimen, coupled with a healthy diet and no smoking, is paramount if you wish to live a healthy and a long life. It will reward you in a myriad of ways, on cognitive, psychological and physiological levels. There are few things in life that can make such a claim.

Read More on This Topic

• Are Whole Grains Right for Me? (0)
• Caffeine: Fact versus Fiction (0)
• Are Energy Drinks Worth Consuming? (0)
• Obesity and Intramuscular Injections: A Serious Health Problem? (0)
• Putting a Stop to Emotional Eating (0)
• Permanent Weight Loss: Fact or Fiction? (0)

Naturally I joined in the community grumble, feeling quite self-righteous about our unalienable right to work out in a comfortable environment. After gritting my teeth and moving forward with my workout regime, I happened to glance to my left. What I saw quite literally took my breath away.

A blind gentleman was diligently going through his paces with the careful assistance of a personal trainer. A moment when the world shifts back into its proper perspective…how on earth could I have been complaining just seconds before when my largest complaint in the current moment was the temperature of the room. This is yet another reminder of the importance of viewing every moment with the conscious decision to focus on the positive. It takes work; much as one would exercise a muscle, but the result is a sense of gratitude for all that we do have and too often take for granted. I choose to think of this as a gentle reminder from the universe to treasure the moment and continually and gently shift my perspective to the positive…and in nearly every circumstance, there is a positive element. I left the gym with a lighter heart for having experienced this timely reminder, and I share it with my readers as we all need to be reminded of this from time to time.

Random Posts

• Alternate Remedies for Allergy Sufferers (0)
• Welcome! (0)
• Dan Gilbert On Our Natural Drift Towards Happiness (0)
• The Critical Role Played by Folic Acid (1)
• A Closer Look at Endurance Training (0)
• H1N1: The Swine Flu Controversy (0)

In determining future public health priorities, statistics concerning the worldwide prevalence of cardiovascular disease are compelling. Cardiovascular disease emerges as the largest single killer of human beings in the world; no less than one in three people will die from it. The World Health Organization has estimated that it kills 17.5 million people worldwide every year. In the USA alone, 80 million Americans have some form of cardiovascular illness, and 2,400 people die every day (cancer, by comparison, kills less than half this number). Responsible for half of all deaths in the United States as well as in other developed countries, it kills more women than tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS and all cancers combined. It is also the leading cause of death in many developing countries – since the 1990s, for example, it has become the leading cause of death in China.

Beyond the incalculable healthcare costs of this disease, there are the equally inestimable emotional costs of helplessly watching loved ones suffer, and ultimately, of bereavement on a truly mass scale. It is an insidious form of disease, silently and invisibly developing over time and betraying little obvious sign of its presence; too often, the first indication comes in the form of a fatal heart attack or catastrophic stroke.

In the midst of this statistical gloom, however, there are some promising research discoveries to examine, not least in the form of preventable risk factors – conditions and habits which increase the likelihood of cardiovascular disease. Risk factors can be placed in two categories: ‘major’ (those which are known to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease) and ‘contributory’ (those which physicians believe are likely to, although the precise pathogenic mechanism has yet to be clearly defined). The more risk factors a patient has, the more probable it is that disease will arise. Taking steps to diminish, or preferably, abolish these risk factors can literally save lives.

Major Risk

One of the principal major risk factors is hypertension: high blood pressure is strongly associated with increased risk of both heart attack and stroke. Blood pressure is composed of two measures – the ‘systolic’ pressure (arising as the heart contracts, pushing blood through the vessels) and the ‘diastolic’ pressure (arising when the heart muscles relax between contractions). An ideal reading for a healthy adult at rest is a systolic pressure of 120mm of mercury and a diastolic pressure of 80; the crucial reading is the lower one. If persistently high, damage will inevitably occur. Blood pressure can be adversely affected by poor diet, high total cholesterol reading, obesity, and smoking, although it can also be influenced by genetic predisposition. Having it checked as part of regular, routine medical assessment is exceptionally important.

Cholesterol is a lipoprotein found in all healthy cell membranes and in many hormones: the liver produces precisely the right quantity for these purposes. Any excess comes from diet – and the most dangerous form is ‘LDL’ (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol, found in abundance in many food products high in unsaturated fats. This is the substance which gets deposited in the inner lining of blood vessels as inflexible platelets, which collectively cause hardening of the arteries or atherosclerosis. In the vessels supplying the heart, this condition can be fatal, contributing significantly to the likelihood of a heart attack.

Obesity frequently leads to higher cholesterol, atherosclerosis and higher blood pressure in and of itself and is also associated with high rates of type 2 diabetes, itself a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (the American Heart Association has estimated that as many as 65% of type 2 diabetic patients will die of cardiovascular illness).

The association between smoking and lung cancer is widely understood; less widely appreciated is its correlation with cardiovascular disease. The chemicals ingested during smoking have multiple effects: increasing heart rate, constricting major arteries, raising blood pressure (especially dangerous in individuals who already have hypertension), and increasing the deposits of inflexible plaques of fatty material in artery walls. Moreover, they increase the concentration of the blood-clotting agent, fibrinogen, leading to an amplified risk of potentially fatal thrombosis.

Other major risk factors include increasing age (less easy to prevent), physical inactivity (regular exercise removes many toxins from the blood, lowers blood pressure, reduces blood cholesterol and strengthens the heart muscle) and heredity (anyone with a parent who developed significant cardiovascular disease before the age of 55 is at increased risk of being affected).

Contributory Risk

While excess alcohol consumption and even sex hormones play a contributory role, a significant contributory factor is, undoubtedly, stress. It is known to increase heart rate and elevate blood pressure, both of which raise the heart’s need for oxygen. Individuals who already have coronary disease are likely to suffer chest pain – angina pectoris – as a result of this increased demand on the heart.

When blood pressure is persistently raised through high cortisol levels, the walls of the blood vessels are damaged and the subsequent healing leaves rigid scar tissue in its wake. Stress also predisposes individuals to seek transient respites through smoking, comfort-eating and alcohol consumption, all of which can contribute to hypertension and high blood cholesterol.

Reducing Risk

Despite the gloomy statistics, sound measures can be taken to prevent serious cardiovascular disease. Medically approved increases in physical exercise can play a major part in reducing blood cholesterol and high blood pressure. 30 minutes of daily cardiovascular exercise, even if it is split into three 10 minute segments, can be sufficient to have a positive effect. Individuals who know that they have a significant family trait are strongly advised to take strenuous measures to avoid additional risk factors, such as smoking, eating saturated fats, or over consumption of alcohol. Regular screening by a physician will also help.

Shifting dietary preferences will assist prevention – eating a high fiber diet (6 – 11 servings of fruit and vegetables daily), as well as whole grains and fish, will help reverse damage and prevent further harm. Learning to relax and ‘de-stress’ on a regular basis will also diminish the harmful effects of high blood cortisol levels. And reducing weight by as little as 10% can significantly lower glucose and cholesterol levels as well as blood pressure.

Finally, patients should be encouraged to pay attention to any ‘minor’ symptoms such as fatigue, breathlessness on minor exertion and certainly any form of chest pain – early detection can quite literally save lives and prevent irreversible damage.

Read More on This Topic

• Older Mothers: The New Norm? (0)
• Alternate Remedies for Allergy Sufferers (0)
• Progress in Eye Care (0)
• Buddhist Paths to Happiness (0)
• Inspiration for Heart Transplant Patients (0)
• Five Flavors of Personality (0)

In 2006 the University of Western Australia undertook a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial test led by Professor Susan Prescott in conjunction with the King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, and the Centre for Child Health Research Australia. The goal of the test was to examine the use of fish oil supplements during the last four months of pregnancy and determine the effects, if any. The control group consisted of 98 women, all of whom were non-smokers and did not regularly consume more than two portions of fish per week. Of the original group, 83 women completed the study.

During the course of the trial half of the women were given four grams of fish oil supplements on a daily basis, combining eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The remainder of the women were given placebos consisting of four grams of olive oil. The follow-up research included developmental checks on 72 of the babies after they had reached the age of 2 1/2 years. The findings, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood in 2006, showed that the children of mothers who had received fish oil on a daily basis registered a significantly higher score for hand eye coordination in comparison to those children whose mothers had been given placebos. Growth rates for both groups were similar, as were the overall vocabulary, receptive language, and phrase length.

How and Why?

Omega-3 fatty acids and their effect on the brain have been well documented over the years by various research groups. Researchers have shown that fish oil can alleviate or even prevent the onset of many depressive disorders, including postnatal depression in mothers. EPA in particular is believed to prevent or slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, and to improve concentration, memory and cognitive function. By administering EPA to mothers during the last few months of pregnancy, researchers tapped into the rapid development of the brain of the baby during the last three months of pregnancy. The study attempted to show that the administration of high levels of fatty acids from fish during this gestation period could help structure the development of the brain inside the womb, leading to higher levels of function on a daily basis.

In addition to the findings shown as a result of the study, the University Of Arizona College Of Medicine conducted a study on the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on postpartum depression (PPD) and found there to be “a promising reduction in PPD symptoms when the new mothers boost omega-3 consumption on a daily basis”. Their studies looked at an eight week program with ½ a gram of omega-3 introduced into the diet on a daily basis and saw significant results. These genesis for these studies arose when British scientists first noticed that countries with the highest levels of fish consumption had the lowest rates of depression, and observed that mothers in England who ate very little fish doubled their risk of developing PPD, according to Dr. David Mischoulon of Massachusetts General Hospital.

But What About Mercury Poisoning?

Mercury poisoning is a common fear among those who consume high quantities of fish. High levels of toxins may pose a potential risk of poisoning. The current recommendation for pregnant women and females who may conceive in the future is to consume no more than two portions of fish in a given week, including one portion of oily fish. The general population should limit their portions to four per week, limiting oily fish to two portions.

Scientists are currently working on pharmaceutical grade fish oil as a way of providing omega-3 fatty acids to users without the risk of high level toxins sometimes present in fresh fish. The product remains experimental at this point. Its efficacy has not yet been proven.

Genius Babies?

In a study conducted by James A. Greenberg, MD, based upon evidence related to the Inuit of Quebec, he found that the beneficial effects of polyunsaturated fatty acid on infant development was significant. The first trial studied 109 infants and mothers and found that higher levels of DHA led to higher levels of visual, cognitive, and motor development in the infants during their first year. The second study observed a placebo controlled test that measured visual acuity and found that a fairly low dose of fish oil during pregnancy resulted in better infant vision.

The evidence of the Australian study suggests that there are no adverse effects for the mother or the child from taking relatively high doses of fish oil during the last few months of pregnancy, but it can have significant beneficial effects on the child’s cognitive development and motor skills. In addition, as previously noted, the various studies have shown that the risk of PPD is drastically reduced when consuming daily recommended levels of omega-3 fatty acids. When considering the option of taking fish oil supplements during pregnancy, or in preparation for a future pregnancy, discuss the implications and proper dosage with your doctor or health care provider in advance.

Read More on This Topic

• Are There Any Benefits to Meal Replacements Products? (0)
• Caffeine: Fact versus Fiction (0)
• Are Energy Drinks Worth Consuming? (0)
• Being a Healthy Vegetarian (0)
• Baking Soda as a Performance Drug (0)
• Green Tea as a Treatment for Prostate Cancer (0)

Injuring the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) is one of the most dreaded injuries that an athlete can sustain in the course of their lifetime. It is a debilitating injury that can literally sideline an athlete for months and in addition to excruciating pain, it is also a fairly difficult injury to recover from. Since the ACL is one of the four major ligaments in the knee, it is crucial to the overall movement of the leg. It is the most common injury among athletes, usually torn during sudden dislocation, torsion, or hyperextension, and is often accompanied by a loud popping sound as well as moderate to severe pain and severe swelling. The most common sports in which this injury occurs include skiing, gymnastics, basketball, and football.

The ACL is a relatively unique ligament because of its position within the knee, joining the upper leg bone with the lower leg bone and maintaining stability in a normal environment. Injuries can be mild, such as a slight tear or sprain, to sufficiently severe that the ligament completely tears away from the bone, or separates in half. The worst part about an ACL injury is that if it is not treated properly the individual is likely to lose control of the knee, resulting in reduced movement and the potential for bone on bone friction, which is otherwise known as chronic ACL deficiency. Since abnormal bone movement can damage the surrounding tissues and cartilage that covers the ends of the bones, it can directly lead to development of osteoarthritis, sometimes at a frighteningly young age.

Causes

There are three common causes of ACL rupture that doctors associate with the injury: environmental causes, anatomical causes, and hormonal causes. Environmental causes are those which specifically involve sports where running and jumping pose the greatest potential for injury to the athlete, and contrary to popular belief the risk for rupture does not increase with contact sports. It simply depends upon whether or not the individual is running or jumping. The ACL can be torn if the knee joint is bent backwards, twisted, or dislocated in any manner.

Meanwhile, anatomical causes of ACL injuries are most commonly prevalent in female athletes, primarily because they land on their feet in a more straight-legged manner as compared to men, which results in significantly greater shock placed upon the knee because a woman is less reliant upon her quadriceps to absorb the impact. If the knee cannot withstand the shock, it literally bends sideways instantaneously. In addition, estrogen is one of many hormones which have been associated with an increased risk of ACL rupture, which is yet another reason why women are at a higher risk for the injury than men.

Why Women More than Men?

In addition to the reasons noted above, there are a variety of studies that detail women’s greater susceptibility to ACL injuries due to hormones, ligament dominance, quadriceps dominance, as well as the biomechanics, anatomy, asymmetry, and physiological differences between men and women. One of the primary reasons that women are more susceptible is due to the angle formed by a woman’s hips and knees, which in and of itself places greater pressure on the ACL. This phenomenon does not occur until puberty, the time at which the hips begin to widen.

The shape of woman’s body requires that the ligaments be used with greater frequency than the muscles, while the direct opposite occurs in a man’s body. Since ligaments often compensate for muscles in the female form, it can make the muscles more susceptible to damage. For example, male athletes use their hamstrings instead of ligaments for stability, while women use their quadriceps, which compresses the joint and pulls the tibia forward, placing stress upon the ACL. This is why strengthening of the quadriceps muscles is so crucial for most women..

In addition, the biomechanics of a woman’s body are such that their knees are likely to bend inward during any form of jumping, pivoting, or landing, which distributes weight unevenly throughout the body. Scientists have shown that the femoral notch, which is the space at the bottom of the femur where the ACL runs, is narrower in women than in men.

Diagnosis and Treatment

The best way to avoid an ACL injury is to regularly engage in strength training to prevent the injury from occurring in the first place. However, accidents can happen, and it is important to properly diagnose and treat the injury as quickly as possible. As a general rule, a clinician will diagnose an ACL injury by applying anterior force to determine the flexibility of the knee, with any abnormal motion suggesting a tear. In addition, an MRI is usually taken to confirm the diagnosis.

Treatment will depend entirely upon the extent of the injury. A doctor may simply recommend physical therapy and a knee brace. Physical therapy is used to strengthen the muscles around the knee to help compensate for the absence of a healthy ACL, specifically focusing on the hamstring, quadriceps, calf, hip and ankle, with an overall goal of establishing a full range of motion for the knee.

Most patients will be able to resume normal activities within a month after the injury. More severe treatments require surgery, with the most extreme cases requiring reconstructive surgery, both of which will involve subsequent daily physical therapy for several months. Fortunately, with proper rehabilitation, full range of motion is generally restored.

Read More on This Topic

• The Importance of Protecting Your Spine (0)
• Tai Chi and Pain Reduction: Some Tentative Suggestions (0)
• Should You Exercise While You Are Sick? (0)
• Periodization Training (0)
• Active Recovery Explained (0)
• Exercising with Your Pet (0)

During 2009, two major statistical surveys in the United States and Canada highlighted a significant shift in the age of first-time mothers. The National Center for Health Statistics is part of a US Federal agency called the ‘Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’, or CDC, which aims to protect public health and safety by providing information to enhance health decision making. It produces regular reports – the NCHS Data Brief – containing up-to-date information. In the August 2009 edition, some significant trends in maternal age at first pregnancy emerged. In 1970, the average age of women giving birth to their first child was 21.4 years; by 2006, this had grown by 3.6 years to 25 years.

While this may not at first sight appear to be a massive shift, average numbers can be a little misleading. On closer inspection, the figures show that the 3.6 year increase was accounted for in large part by a massive eight-fold rise in the number of mothers having their first babies at the age of 35 years and above. The report’s authors, T. J. Mathews (MS) and Brady E. Hamilton (PhD) drew attention to the significance of this age rise: such a trend has implications for a population’s future growth because it sets additional limits on the number of children a woman can have.

In Japan, the average age of mothers at first birth has risen over a comparable period to 29.2 years and in Switzerland to 29.4 years. This is clearly a growing phenomenon in the developed world. A similar report released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information in January 2009 showed that the number of women over 35 giving birth to first babies since 1982 had more than trebled, rising from 5% to 18% of the total. This represents 44.9 first births to women over 35 for every 1000 (the figures are 47.3 per 1000 for the United States and an even higher 53.5 per 1000 for the United Kingdom). They also noted that older first time mothers are more inclined to face difficulties with birth defects and low birth weight than their younger counterparts.

Risk

The message for women that technological advances and better general health is enabling older women to have babies is somewhat mixed. While these advances undoubtedly enhance choice for women, enabling them to develop careers and ‘find the right partner’ as never before, they also face insurmountable health risks, both to themselves and to their babies. Commenting on the Canadian report, Dr. Jeffrey Roberts, an infertility specialist and reproductive endocrinologist at the Pacific Center for Reproductive Medicine in Vancouver explained that women approaching the age of 45 are known to face a 75% increased risk of miscarriage. Furthermore, the risk of Down’s syndrome rises from one in every 800 to 1000 pregnancies to over one in 100. Additionally, women over 40 are more prone to producing more eggs at once, increasing the chance of having pre-term twins; premature babies are also likely to have an array of complicated health problems and risks.

Even so, increasing numbers of women appear to be willing to face these risks. It is a trend, in other words, which is becoming increasingly normal. While the deluge of publicity surrounding Ranjit Hayer, the 60 year-old first time mother who gave birth to twin boys in February of 2009, may strike some as a little extreme, many more women are now considering – and having – later pregnancies. Since Hayer, who received the help of reproductive technology in India, had tried for decades to have children – and has a large extended family network and supportive husband to help her raise her boys – she can hardly be accused of being either rash or impulsive.

Opportunity

While not disputing Dr. Roberts’ evaluation of the additional risks faced by older mothers and their newborns, Associate Professor of Communication and Culture at the University of Calgary, Aradhana Parmar, brings out some other dimensions of the phenomenon. Parmar, who also teaches Women’s Studies and Development Studies, believes passionately that women can benefit considerably from the ability to have later pregnancies. She emphasizes that the new technology has emerged at a time when there are far more women professionals in the workplace than at any time in history; by the time they have built their careers and furthered their education, many are in their 30s before they are able to ‘settle down’ to family life. Parmar believes that if a healthy woman of fifty, who can provide superb facilities and enormous love and affection to a child, chooses to have a baby, this should not be faulted, but rather supported. She has a point; large numbers of children are the result of unplanned and even worse, unwanted pregnancies; no matter how well and young their mothers may be, these children and their parents may face far more of a struggle than Parmar’s enthusiastic fifty year old first time mother.

In September, Statistics Canada revealed data which lend support to Parmar’s views. Exploring the growing trend in later first-time pregnancies, it found that children born to mothers over 35 years of age were no less healthy in general than children born to younger mothers. While they are at greater risk of birth defects, as Dr. Roberts indicated, babies who are born healthy to mothers over 35 go on being healthy post-partum, with health, behavioral and cognitive outcomes up to the age of five virtually identical to children born to younger mothers aged 25 – 29.

Older women who keep themselves healthy before, during and after pregnancy are physically and emotionally well able to carry a child to term and subsequently proceed with the business of parenting. Health and nutrition can be crucial – a diet enriched by probiotics, multivitamin supplements and antioxidants will help guard against the wear and tear of a pregnancy. There may be some increased risks at the outset, but the new possibilities for later pregnancies also bring greater opportunities for women, as well.

Read More on This Topic

• Decrease Your Risk of Heart Disease (0)
• Alternate Remedies for Allergy Sufferers (0)
• Progress in Eye Care (0)
• Buddhist Paths to Happiness (0)
• Inspiration for Heart Transplant Patients (0)
• Five Flavors of Personality (0)

Jonathan Harris is an artist and a computer scientist. But the (justifiably) high regard in which he is held is not due to his achievements in either field so much as the amazing and moving ways in which he has melded both. Interface design is his muse, and his inspiration has been to take the explosion of personal data coursing in massive cataracts throughout the web, and put them into a visually beautiful, easy-to-access form. The beauty is at times astonishing; the implications, ominous.

Emotional Footprints

Harris begins his talk by pointing out, rightly, how the Internet has transformed self-expression by making self-expression potentially global. Prior to the net, one might say how one felt by putting it into a diary entry or a letter to the editor or even in a book, but there was no reason to believe that anyone would publish that letter or that book or ever be aware of that diary. The Internet makes any comment one posts globally available 24/7, archived in databases potentially forever, and accessible in ways that allow search engines and algorithms to find, sort and re-assemble them by various criteria, and present them in various ways. So a world full of people have been leaving behind emotional notes – “footprints that tell stories of their moments of self-expression,” as Harris puts it – and Harris’ unique vocation has been to access, sort, and re-package them in ways yielding unexpected ranges of insight and beauty.

The premiere example is his piece, We Feel Fine. Every two or three minutes the We Feel Fine program scans the world for new blog entries in which the phrases “I feel” or “I am feeling” appear. When it does so, it pulls out the sentence in which the phrase appears, instantly pinpoints the time of the post and the geographical location, gender, and age of the writer, and even the weather conditions pertaining when the entry was posted.

We Feel Fine

The We Feel Fine program collects roughly twenty thousand such recorded feelings a day – it has collected about seven-and-a-half million human feelings at the time of Harris’ talk – and puts it into a database. Harris’ program presents the data onto browser screens in the form of a swirling mass of particles, like a bloodstream or a vivid swarm of electrons, each dot of which represents a single expression of a feeling. Harris’ representation of feelings is conservative: “happy, positive feelings” are presented in bright colors, “sad, negative” ones in dark. The size of the dot corresponds to the length of the sentence referenced: large dots stem from large posts, and small dots from smaller posts.

Click on a dot, however, and the sentence opens up, and we encounter that feeling, almost in real-time: “I feel so much of my dad alive in me that there isn’t even room for me,” “I feel invisible to you,” “I wouldn’t hide it if society didn’t make me feel like I needed to,” “I feel so naughty!” And there is something about clicking on dot after dot, peering into heart after human heart and seeing one happy, sad, serene, angry, bittersweet, anguished, ironic, joyous human moment blossoming one after another that becomes entrancing, and deeply moving.

Harris the computer scientist assembles those swirls in six different metrics: Murmurs, Montage, Mobs, Metrics, Mounds, and Madness. The swirl of dot sentences that vary by positivity and sentence length are Madness. Murmurs drives all the feelings to the top of the screen, where they drop down sentence after sentence in a scroll. Montage pulls up all of the feelings that included photographs in the post and displays the sentence over the photo and the mass of most recent photos in a grid. Click on the picture and one zooms in on faces, scenes, art, as well as words. Mobs breaks down the past few hours’ collected feelings of the world statistically. Women, Harris notes, were more prolific (at that moment) talking about their emotions hours than men, people in their twenties were by age the most prolific reporters of feelings, followed by teens, and next people in their thirties (“and it dies out very quickly from there,” says Harris, without irony). Metrics places the feelings on a world map, showing the geographical distribution of blog-reported emotions in the world. “We see that the world is feeling used at 3.3 times the normal level right now,” says Harris, to audience laughter. Mounds serves to visualize the entire dataset as large, gelatinous blobs which hold thousands of feelings: thousands of streaming feelings of people experiencing disgust, abandonment, serenity, rage – every feeling for which there is a word.

Disturbing Implications?

We Feel Fine, he says, merely passively observes people as they live their lives. But those recording their feelings aren’t aware they’re being watched or that their views are being correlated and re-packaged. Harris feels that the result is “very honest, candid, sincere responses that are often very moving.” All true. But are Harris’ blizzard of one-line snippets statistically meaningful or accurate, indeed is there something to potentially fear in Harris’ beautifully crafted search engines of emotional exposure?

The inaccuracy lies, of course, in the fact that the people who spend a great deal of time describing their feelings on blogs are generally well-fed, well-off, well-educated Westerners, leading to a radically skewed mass portrait. In one truly grueling moment, his program shows that the vast majority of the “light” of the world’s emotions is gleaming from the sensitive heart of the United States. I expect that the emotion most Americans feel at the implication that America emotes more deeply than all other nations is likely to be deep embarrassment. Statements like “the world is feeling used at 3.3 times the normal level right now” are entertaining enough, the audience was right to laugh; they’re simply not true. Bloggers may well be posting 3.3 times as many sentences with those words at any given moment. But what most of the world is feeling at any given moment is probably hunger. That particular state is not easy to locate in great abundance or with much demographic accuracy on the blogosphere; dieting and anorexia are more likely to generate posts.

Accuracy aside – and Harris’ work may well portray with some degree of correctness the near real-time emotion states of sub-categories like the blogosphere – the uses to which such emotional profiling will certainly not be confined to artists. Maybe the bloggers should feel as though they’re being used: they are. Marketing groups are surely striving to apply Harris’ approaches, as may be public relations firms in putting a positive spin on corporate scandals, and propaganda departments justifying tyrants and supporting unwinnable wars. Harris has turned these global emotional choruses into things of beauty, but others are assuredly adapting the technology to less aesthetic ends.

The Time Capsule

Another project Harris presents is the Yahoo! Time Capsule. Essentially a questionnaire, it took ten themes — love, anger, sadness, etcetera – and turned each into a single simple question: “What do you love? What makes you angry? What makes you sad?” Harris transformed the results into a digital representation of a spinning globe made of words and pictures. Again, one can click on and zoom into each discrete item, or see the data in the forms of film strips. In the desert outside Albuquerque, New Mexico for three consecutive nights the contents were projected onto the sides of the two hundred foot tall ancient Red Rock Canyon walls at the Jemez Pueblo.

The contents of the time capsule were next sent into outer space by laser as binary code. Harris shows an orange line leaving the desert floor at about a forty-five degree angle. One wonders what distant extraterrestrials translating the beam on the Andromedan equivalents of the Mac would think of these million-fold expressions of boredom at the movies, delight at the rain, anger at the boss, irritation with the spouse, anguished romantic break-ups, woe over belly fat. Whether they view humanity as extraordinary or mad, they will surely assume us to be a species obsessed with garnering attention and with self-exhibition. Perhaps they would be right.

Universe

Harris’ latest project, the Univers,e is similarly cosmic, using the metaphor of an interactive night sky. Essentially, Harris assumes that each notable individual or idea has a unique “universe,” which is to say, a unique network of related people or ideas. Harris’ Universe program assembles all references to that person or that idea or concept — a quote from someone on the person or subject, a related image, a news story on the topic, a blog comment, and so on — and represents same in terms of a shifting constellation in the night sky, sometimes as an image and at other times as a word. These “are the constellations of today,” says Harris. As with We Feel Fine, one can zoom out and see the big – literally stellar – picture, or zoom in and open up individual items and comments. One can choose one’s topic of choice–enter and click “President Bill Clinton” and Bill becomes the center of the universe, and all Internet mentions of Bill Clinton arranges itself around the term in a celestial orbit.

“In Universe, there’s kind of no end. It just goes infinitely,” says Harris, and that’s the downside. One can sift the data to a degree, but not to very much of a degree. The tide of information is overwhelming, and as with physical tides, one easily drifts farther and farther along, ultimately sinking under the sheer weight.

But is it Relevant or Useful?

Relevance too is an issue. Quantity can be easily measured; quality cannot. Harris’ Universe is in many ways the universe of People Magazine. George Bush and Barack Obama, Madonna and Marilyn and Elvis — these people have “mythologies,” a term Harris uses to denote an extended network of relevant related commentary. Possibly so, but does one learn a great deal by means of such freeform exploration? Does one even want to? Harris’ work is a strange sort of neo-impression, an informational stream that is dazzling to experience but difficult to evaluate. Just because a lot of people blog or write about something on the net doesn’t mean that everything they write is relevant or even true. Quantifying commentaries, and presenting them in the form of even the most visually beautiful visualizations, is simply not the same thing as filtering them usefully. That involves assessing meaning – using judgment, in short.

That isn’t to say that Harris doesn’t excel at presenting his wealth of material beautifully. He certainly does. It is difficult to understate how very moving some of his images can be. To view Harris’ work is to begin to appreciate the perspective of an angel or even a God: one seems to stand outside and above humanity for a brief moment, looking below at a vast unending river of millions upon millions of rising and falling tides of love and hate and feeling. One can drop time and again into particular lives, note the ecstatic or ironic or rending incident that inspired the person to send it out into the world, and then pull away, back in front of one’s browser screen, watching again as snowflakes of emotion by the million appear on the screen, coming somewhere into being and falling away again. Only a stone could fail to empathize; or to be moved.

http://www.number27.com

http://www.wefeelfine.org/

http://universe.daylife.com/

http://www.slate.com/id/2197749/

Random Posts

• Vitamin K and How It Helps You (0)
• Agoraphobia (0)
• Shingles Sufferers at a Higher Risk for Stroke (0)
• Claustrophobia (0)
• Caffeine for Weight Loss and Enhanced Athletic Performance (2)
• An Alternative Method of Obtaining the Antioxidant Value of Red Wine (0)

The team made a systematic review of studies involving patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain who had also taken up Tai Chi as part of their pain management strategy. The study focused on seven randomized controlled trials – a total of 321 patients were included. One of the studies investigated patients with chronic tension headaches, the others on patients with chronic arthritis.

Although the study was small and of limited methodological rigor, some tentative if modest trends emerged from the Sydney team’s meta-analysis results. Pooling the effects of Tai Chi using a scale ranging from 0 -100, the study found a collective score of 10.1 for pain reduction and 9.6 for disability diminution.

The researchers are aware of the small scoring, but emphasize that there is no consensus on just what constitutes a clinically worthwhile outcome. Some researchers suggest that the results are slightly below the ‘worthwhile’ threshold for pain and disability reduction, but other benefits may also accrue. As the team points out, Tai Chi is convenient, enjoyable and inexpensive; and furthermore reportedly enhances mental well-being, Thus, Tai Chi becomes more significant as one of the tools used to ameliorate pain.

More significant results emerged when the effects of Tai Chi on levels of tension and general health in arthritis patients were explored, and the patients with chronic tension headaches showed significantly improved mental health.

The improvements were measured directly after the Tai Chi ‘treatment’ and so provide only a snapshot of the short-term effects – longer term data from follow-ups were not available to the researchers. Even so, the team believes that Tai Chi emerges as a method which produces small but discernible pain and disability reduction effects, although it was not possible with the data examined to draw any inferences about its possible impact on other painful musculoskeletal conditions.

Future studies with higher sample sizes and better, more consistent methodologies will, the Sydney team believes, give much more accurate estimates on the possible positive effects of Tai Chi on pain management.

As a relatively gentle exercise which involves toning and strengthening muscle groups, Tai Chi is most unlikely to cause any damage to arthritis sufferers and may well be of noticeable benefit. Every method which contributes in some small way to the reduction of pain is likely to be welcomed by sufferers. While the results of the Sydney team’s tests are in no way conclusive, they do contribute to the growing belief within the medical community that exercise may hold significant benefits for arthritis pain sufferers.

Read More on This Topic

• Should You Exercise While You Are Sick? (0)
• Exercising with Your Pet (0)
• Exercise: New Hope for Alzheimer’s Sufferers? (0)
• The Importance of Protecting Your Spine (0)
• Understanding the ACL Injury (0)
• Delaying Dementia – Why Exercise Can Help Alzheimer’s Patients (0)