In this 10‑minute YouTube monologue, Dr. Dave of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic delivers a concise health briefing covering six recent research findings. He explains how wildfire smoke can trigger eczema, cites a review suggesting daily mushroom intake may cut cancer risk by up to 45%, promotes burpees as an efficient full‑body strength‑and‑cardio move, warns that post‑heart‑attack anxiety raises short‑term complications by 23% and major cardiac events by 54%, highlights vitamin D supplementation’s ability to improve asthma symptoms and lung function, and describes how manual therapies can boost static and dynamic stability in people with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Throughout, he encourages viewers to monitor environmental exposures, diversify diet, stay active, manage stress, check vitamin D levels, and consider manual therapy for joint health, while offering clinic contact options for further questions.
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Hello everyone, it's Dr. Dave. Hopefully you're all doing well, you enjoyed your weekend, and you're looking forward to a great week and a healthy one at that. Coming at you on behalf of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic with your daily health update for Monday, June 7th, 2021. I'm going to look at 6 areas of health and wellness today. Somewhere around this video you can read through all 6 of those areas. If you'd like a copy or you have any questions, you can DM us on social, send send us an email here at the clinic or even give us a call, and we'll be happy to help you out. Not going to treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure any illness or disease with our time together today. However, we will equip you with some neat information from the latest research and literature when it comes to various aspects of your health and wellness. It will continue encouraging you to take great care of yourself and those around you, to have those wonderful experiences you're looking for every day in your life. The Journal of the American Medical Association Dermatology, April 2021, has an interesting perspective on our skin being the largest, uh, one of the largest filters in the body, one of the largest glands or organs, sorry, overall. And they say that wildfire smoke can trigger eczema. According to that study, they analyze data from a dermatology clinic in San Francisco, and visits for atopic dermatitis or eczema and general itching increased following a major wildfire 175 miles away. The author says that the skin is the largest organ of the human body, and it's in constant interaction with the external environment. So it makes sense that changes in the external environment, such as increases or decreases in air pollution, could affect our skin health. And it just goes to show you, if we extrapolate a little bit, what we expose ourselves to, whether consciously or unknowingly, can have an impact on all our various parts and their functions. So even in this case, from far away, a change in the air quality had an effect on the health and nature of the skin, especially in those predisposed to some dermatitis or eczema and making things at least a bit itchy, if not noticeably, um, poor quality in the skin because of that. So very interesting. Good to take care of yourself and watch what you expose yourself to. Advances in Nutrition, April 2021, has an interesting perspective on mushrooms. They say that if you eat your mushrooms, it could help lower the risk of cancer. They looked at a review of data from 17 cancer studies, and they estimate that consuming 18 grams of mushroom per day can reduce one's risk for cancer by up to 45%. I don't know if 18 grams is a lot, but just trying to eat mushrooms every day is a bit of a challenge. And it does speak to, however, adding variety to your diet so that not only are you getting your vitamins and minerals, but certain foods have certain compounds that we know interact with the body and help support its function, including your immune function. And in this case, apparently— and some mushrooms may be better than others, so that might be worth researching or Googling if you're interested and you like mushrooms. Healthline, April 2021, has a little piece of information for you regarding burpees. If you remember those from either your elementary or high school fitness or phys ed classes, a burpee is a calisthenics exercise that involves performing a push-up followed by a jump squat that serves as an excellent way to build strength and endurance in both the upper and lower body. When performing multiple reps and sets, it can also serve as a cardiovascular exercise. So add those burpees to your routine, get a little bit of strength, a little bit of endurance, and it's a full-body kind of effort coupled with a few other maneuvers. And it doesn't take much to actually keep your body fit each, uh, every week by incorporating some different parts or different exercises into your routine. So get those burpees back into your life. The Clinical Cardiology report from May 2021 says that anxiety for people can worsen after they've had a heart attack prognosis, a poor heart attack— post-heart attack prognosis. Pooling data from 16 published studies, researchers report that post-heart attack anxiety can increase the risk of short-term complications by 23% and major adverse cardio— cardiac events by 54%. So when we've had a bit of a challenging health situation, it can definitely affect our mood and our mental health and wellness, and that can coincide then with poorer outcomes. So it's good when we are trying to work on some challenges that we face with our health that we of course approach them in as positive a fashion as possible to help support a better outcome. Low vitamin D and asthma are talked about in TNAFOS, December 2020. Among a group of 132 asthma patients with insufficient or deficient vitamin D levels, researchers found that improving the vitamin D status via supplementation also led to improvements in asthma symptoms and lung function. So we like vitamin D on the daily health update. Not really a vitamin per se, kind of a misnomer, more perhaps like a hormone hormone and has a lot of different roles or benefits in the body, and one of them helps support a good lung function. So that's good to know, and you may want to, next time you're getting your blood tests, urine tests, uh, yearly physical, uh, to have those vitamin D levels checked to see where you're at. Finally, Chiropractic and Manual Therapies, February 2021, looks at manual therapies and the benefit they provide for stability. Individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain often experience balance impairments and increased risk for falls. A systematic review found that manual therapies can improve static and dynamic stability in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. If you assess your joints to see how well they're sitting and moving, and some of them aren't sitting and moving well, and you remind and teach and encourage them to sit and move better, which is often done through manual therapy like a manipulation or mobilization, then with that improved function can come improved, stability, but also strength, coordination, and function can also all improve. Then when you're doing your own self-care and engaged in activities, uh, or fitness and/or rehab, you get more parts participating the way they should, and typically an increase or more likely to have better outcome in those efforts by addressing the individual joint function down on a segmental or part-by-part basis. So good to have that assessed, especially if you're looking to improve your stability and also to avoid those fall risks. So a great daily health update to start your week on a Monday today. Hope you enjoy your week. Hope you're enjoying the nice weather wherever you may be, and we'll be back tomorrow with your next video daily health update. We'll look forward to chatting with you then. Stay healthy, stay well, be well.
