Acupuncture Best for Low Back Pain?

Last Thursday's post discussed back pain and how it can be alleviated through yoga. Today we consider acupuncture.

According to a new study from a group of Seattle researchers, it even works when toothpicks are used instead of needles and the effects seem to be long-lasting. The investigators compared four different treatments on 638 adults with chronic low back pain. Over seven weeks 157 of the adults received 10 individually prescribed acupuncture treatments. A second group of 158 had a standardized course of acupuncture treatments considered effective by experts on low back pain. A third group of 162 patients had 10 sessions of simulated acupuncture - here, the patients didn’t know that toothpicks were used instead of needles. The fourth group of 161 patients received usual medical care. In telephone follow-ups, the patients reported on how they were doing at eight, 26 and 52 weeks after treatment. After a year, 59 to 65 percent of the patients in the acupuncture groups reported less pain and improved functioning compared to 50 percent of the usual care group. The study was published in the May 11, 2009 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Veterinary Acupuncture

Veterinary acupuncture is the veterinary medicine for the pets like cat, dog and horses. Acupuncture is the part of Chinese medicine to diagnosis and treatment. This treatment is known as the traditional Chinese medicine. This treatment is the holistic approach to cure the chronic diseases of patients. This treatment considers the patient as an organism having unified energetic parts rather than considering individual part for the treatment. In the veterinary acupuncture, animals are also considered as whole-unit consisting of body, mind, diet, spirit, and environment.

Generally, holistic approach of the medicine helps to explain this ancient medical approach. In the conventional medicine treatments, it tends to analyze the symptoms and according to the diagnosis, the physician addresses the problem by trying to cure the symptoms. On the contrary, holistic or acupuncture therapy looks at the symptoms and tries to find out the causes of the symptoms that are present.

Vegetarian Diet and Digestive Disease

New evidence from Britain suggests that vegetarians are one-third less likely to develop diverticular disease than are meat eaters. This disorder, affects the colon and has been associated with diets that are low in fiber. Symptoms include painful abdominal cramps, bloating, flatulence, constipation and diarrhea. A research team from the University of Oxford looked at more than 47,000 British adults participating in a European study of cancer and nutrition; more than 15,000 of them reported that they were vegetarians. After more than 11 years of follow up and adjusting for such factors as alcohol consumption, smoking and body mass index (BMI), the investigators found that the rate of diverticular disease among the vegetarians was one-third lower than that of other study participants. They also found that those whose consumption of dietary fiber was about 25 grams a day were at lower risk of being hospitalized or dying from diverticular disease than study participants who consumed less than 14 grams of fiber daily. Diverticular disease may also worsen into a condition known as diverticulitis. The findings were published online on July 19th on the British Medical Journal's website.

Minor Ailments Boost Dementia Risk

As the old song goes, little things mean a lot. New research from Canada suggests that a combination of relatively minor ailments such as skin, stomach or bladder problems, dentures that don't fit, arthritis, or trouble hearing can raise the risk of age-related dementia. (Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia.) Published in the July 13, 2011 issue of Neurology, the analysis of data gathered from more than 7,200 people age 65 or older showed that a collection of minor ailments may have a cumulative effect on the risk of dementia. The study suggested that each extra health problem increased the risk of dementia by three percent compared to the risk of other seniors in the study with no minor health problems. All told, the healthy participants with no complaints had an 18 percent risk of developing dementia over the next decade while those with a dozen small problems had a 40 percent risk. The study author said that the findings seem to suggest that paying attention to general health and dealing with small problems may reduce the risk of dementia.

3 Healthy Aging Tips for Men

Following a healthy lifestyle is important for all of us, and the general advice for healthy living applies to both men and women equally. As we age, however, gender may play a larger role in the health issues we experience, and how we address them. If you are a man, consider this information or pass it on to a male loved one!

Lose the extra pounds. Research shows that, among men who are overweight to any degree, losing 5-10% of your body weight can significantly improve your health. Stored body fat acts as an endocrine-system organ, producing hormones that can promote inflammation, diabetes, osteoarthritis and heart-related health issues. Reduce your daily calories by 25% per day; start exercising regularly; eat an anti-inflammatory diet; and practice stress-management techniques.

Acupuncture Eases Menopause

Acupuncture can help ease menstrual pain, pregnancy-related back pain, and now, a small new study suggests, it can also reduce the severity of hot flashes. Of the 53 menopausal women who took part in the study, about half received acupuncture treatments twice a week for 10 weeks while the others received "sham" acupuncture (in which needles are placed randomly rather than traditional therapeutic locations). Results showed that in addition to easing the hot flashes, true acupuncture also elicited a beneficial effect on mood swings among the women treated. No such changes took place among those who received the sham acupuncture. Treatment didn’t affect vaginal dryness or the number of urinary tract infections among the women in the study, which was published in the March issue of the journal Acupuncture and Medicine. Elsewhere, mindfulness classes, including instruction on meditation and stretching, improved the quality of life among women experiencing severe hot flashes. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester randomly assigned 110 women either to attend mindfulness classes for eight weeks or to sign up on a waiting list for the classes. Afterwards, the women in the mindfulness classes reported being less bothered by their hot flashes, less stressed and anxious and better able to sleep. This study was published online on Feb. 26 by Menopause

2 Steps to an Anti-Inflammatory Fridge

Is your refrigerator packed with less-than-healthy foods? If so, make a clean sweep and replace them with healthier, anti-inflammatory diet-based choices:

Get rid of:

Creamers with artificial additives or sugars, regular margarines or spreads that contain "partially hydrogenated oil," yogurt with added sugary fruit or artificial sweeteners, and American or processed cheeses, "cheese food" and cream cheese.

Replace with:

Organic, hormone-free milk, organic soy, almond, rice or oat beverages (look for organic soy products that do not contain the thickening agent carrageenan, and that are calcium-fortified), low-fat, organic yogurt (plain or a lower-sugar vanilla - add your own organically grown fruit), and small amounts of natural, hard cheeses or varieties of soft cheese that are naturally lower in fat.

3 Fish to Avoid

I have long recommended fish as part of a healthy, anti-inflammatory diet. Monday's post covered my first choices for healthy fish - those rich in omega-3 fatty acids. However, not all fish provide the same benefits, and some species should be limited or avoided altogether. I suggest minimizing your consumption of the following:

Large predatory fish. Shark, swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel, and white (albacore) tuna may have high levels of mercury. Pregnant women and children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of contaminants, and should avoid these species. (Small-catch tuna is OK, as it has high levels of omega-3s.)

Mindful Meditation for IBS

Dealing with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) isn't easy, but the stress (and the symptoms) involved may be lessened with mindfulness meditation. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have presented a study showing that women with irritable bowel syndrome were able to reduce their symptoms by 38 percent with mindfulness meditation compared to only a 12 percent reduction for women who took part in a support group. The study involved 75 women between the ages of 19 and 71 (average age about 43) who were randomly divided into two groups. For eight weeks, one group took part in mindfulness meditation training sessions while the others attended meetings of a traditional support group. After eight weeks, the severity of symptoms had dropped by 26.4 percent in the mindfulness meditation group and by only 6.2 percent in the women in the support group. At the three month mark, the reduction of symptoms had improved to 38.2 percent in the mindfulness meditation group and to 11.8 percent in women in the support group. The findings were presented on May 7, 2011 during Digestive Disease Week.

Mind/Body Treatment for IBS

Researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo report that even patients with severe symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) were able to get better (and stayed better) if they were motivated and believed they could control their symptoms by changing their behavior. Nearly one-third of the 71 patients participating in a 10-week cognitive behavioral study indicated they felt significant relief after only four weeks, regardless of the amount of time they spent with the therapists treating them. Some had four one-hour sessions with a therapist over the 10 weeks; others had 10 one-hour sessions over the 10 weeks; those in a third "control" group attended no sessions. Conventional wisdom holds that benefit from behavioral treatment is tied to the amount of treatment a patient receives, said lead researcher Jeffrey Lackner, Psy.D., director of the Behavioral Medicine Clinic at the UB School of Medicine. But that didn’t hold true in this study - some patients improved rapidly regardless of how many sessions they had. In addition, the investigators reported that 92.5 percent of these "rapid responders" maintained their improvement for well over three months with little evidence of deterioration. The study was published in the May issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.