Dr. David Koivuranta covers six health findings: working in heat raises kidney disease risk, omega-3 supplements reduce seizures in epilepsy, pregnant women can safely exercise in heat with proper precautions, chronic pain links to higher dementia risk, smoking causes earlier menopause, and manual therapy plus home exercises treat sacroiliac joint dysfunction.
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Hello everyone, it's Dr. Dave. Hopefully you're all doing well, you're having a nice week, looking forward to the coming weekend, only a couple days away. Coming at you on behalf of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic with your daily health update. It's Thursday, August 19th, 2021. Gonna look at 6 areas of health and wellness news and information somewhere around this video. You can read through all 6 areas if you'd like a copy, DM us on social, send us an email, or even give us a call here at the clinic. We are always willing and happy to help you out. I'm not going to treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure any illness or disease with our time together today. However, hopefully you find some of what we share informative, maybe even entertaining, but nonetheless gets you thinking about your own health and wellness so you can keep making those great choices and action steps for yourself each day and those around you when it comes to your own health and wellness. Integrative and Comparative Physiology, July 2021, looked at heat plus having a strenuous job and how that could pose some health dangers. A recent Investigations suggest that the combination of a physically demanding job and working in high temperatures may elevate an individual's risk for chronic kidney disease, though further research is needed to determine the extent of such a risk and which measures may be taken to counteract it. So of course, doing anything in the heat, you want to be cautious of dehydration, but also ensure that you're always giving your body adequate nutrients so that it can take care of itself, especially those fruits and vegetables. Nutritional Neuroscience, July 2021, looked at omega-3 fatty acids and interestingly how they may reduce seizure frequency in epileptics. A systematic literature review concluded that omega-3 fatty acid supplementation can reduce seizure frequency in both children and adults with epilepsy. So that may be something you may want to talk to your healthcare provider about if it pertains to you or someone you know, and discuss whether or not adding to that Adding that to your nutritional regimen, if you are or know someone who's epileptic, could be of benefit. Sports Medicine, July 2021, talks about pregnancy and how pregnant women can exercise in the heat. In a recent controlled experiment in which expectant mothers and non-pregnant women exercised at moderate intensity for 45 minutes in a state-of-the-art climate chamber at 90°F, which is about 32°C, 45% relative humidity, researchers did not observe differences in core body temperature based on pregnancy status. The findings suggest that pregnant women can exercise safely in the heat provided they take the same precautions as anyone else in such an environment. So, uh, of course, again, hydrated, uh, and be well nourished and healthy, and to monitor your activity in that increased temperature, but can apparently be done safely. In both of those cases, if you are paying attention. Always be alert. Journal of the Aging and Health, August 2021, looked at chronic pain and how that may increase dementia risk. According to a study that reviewed health records of over 160,000 older adults, seniors with non-cancer chronic pain have an elevated risk for developing dementia over the following decade, with an even greater risk among those with multiple chronic pain conditions. Chronic pain has an— some kind of deleterious effect on our cognitive function. Good to make sure that we try to get that chronic pain either reduced or eliminated as best we can. Learn how to maybe improve whatever may be affecting or relating to that chronic pain and/or learning how to manage it so that it doesn't cause these negative side effects on our other systems, including our nervous system and our brain. Journal Menopause, August 2021, looked at smoking and how it could be a trigger to early menopause. Using data from the China Quduri Biobank study, researchers report that women who are smokers are more likely to begin menopause before the age of 44. So some accelerated effects perhaps on aging or some effect on our endocrine system. As we know, smoking, not the best habit or activity or choice, but if you needed or wanted some motivation either for you or someone around you to consider quitting, then this health implication might be something you can add to the list of negative side effects from smoking. Pain Physician, May 2021, looked at joint pain coming from something called your sacroiliac, or SI, joint. A new study found that a combination of manipulative therapy and home-based exercises focused on the sacroiliac joint is an effective approach for managing patients with sacroiliac joint dysfunction. People who practice manual therapy often address musculoskeletal disorders such as sacroiliac joint dysfunction with a multimodal approach that involves manual therapies and specific exercises. Of course, in combination even with other therapies, uh, outside of manual therapy, something like acupuncture, uh, as well as just self-care with programs like Pilates or other workout routines. And depending on what you're doing in terms of your activities, you can keep those sacroiliac joints moving well. It's a very common affliction in runners creating some dysfunction in the low back and pelvis that then affects the function, especially in the legs, including the hips and the knees and down into the ankles and feet. So good if you're a runner especially to get those sacroiliac joints checked out. But nonetheless, some low back pelvic pain, hip pain, is actually a sacroiliac joint problem, or it could be related to, and sometimes more than one thing is going on. So good to get assessed and some proper treatment wherever that pain may be coming from in that low, pelvis, and hip area. Alright, so there's your daily health update for Thursday, heading into the weekend. Tomorrow we'll have a written format. Enjoy yourselves, get out there, enjoy some of the remaining weekends of summer, and have a nice time. Take care of yourself and those around you, and we'll see you next week, start of the week on Monday. All the best, take care.
