In this solo video, Dr. David Koivuranta of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic delivers a daily health update covering six recent research‑based health topics. He first discusses a February 2021 Archives of Disease in Childhood study linking antibiotic use during pregnancy to increased childhood asthma risk, urging expectant parents to consult providers about benefits and risks. Next, he reviews a Journal of Experimental Biology article on how unhealthy childhood diets can permanently alter the gut microbiome, emphasizing the importance of informed feeding choices for infants and toddlers. He then cites a European Journal of Preventive Cardiology meta‑analysis showing regular exercise can boost heart‑attack survival odds by up to 55%, encouraging consistent fitness. The fourth segment offers practical advice on snake‑bite first aid in Canada, noting the rarity of venomous snakes but outlining steps if exposure occurs. The fifth topic references a PLOS ONE study where viewing a virtual self delivering a speech increased public‑speaking confidence, suggesting self‑recording as a rehearsal tool. Finally, he highlights a BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders study demonstrating that improved workstation ergonomics and neck‑specific exercises reduce neck pain for office workers, recommending regular breaks, posture awareness, and complementary activities like yoga or Pilates. Throughout, Dr. Koivuranta invites viewers to request a written copy of the update via DM, phone, or email, and reinforces the clinic’s availability for personalized guidance.
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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 your Thursday today. Coming at you on behalf of the Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic with your daily health update for March 18th, 2021, post-St. Patrick's Day. If you celebrated, I hope you had a good one. I'm going to share with you 6 areas of health and wellness today. Somewhere around this video you can read through all 6 areas, and we encourage you to do so. If you'd like the copy, you can DM us on social Give us a call at the clinic, send us an email, we'll be sure to get that into your hands. Not gonna treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure any illness or disease with our time together today. However, you just never know what that wonderful body of yours can do when you give it a great environment, and sometimes picking up some suggestions, some tips from the latest research and literature can definitely support that process for you and those around you. So, uh, good for you for being here and tuning in as often as you can. We are here Monday through Thursday with that video. Fridays we give you a written format. And the weekends you can go out and enjoy yourself and then plug back in on Mondays. All right. So the Archives of Disease in Childhood, February 2021, looked at antibiotic use during pregnancy and the link to asthma risk in children. And if you are expecting and you require medical intervention or treatment, you do wanna talk to your healthcare provider about the options and any possible side effects Regardless of the situation, you know, no one's gonna look out for you probably as well as you're gonna look out for yourself. Maybe there are some people in your life that you really do trust, and your healthcare provider could definitely be one of those people, but you definitely wanna know what your options are and what some of the side effects could be, especially if you're expecting and carrying a wonderful creation inside you. You wanna make sure that it's good for both of you regardless of what that intervention may be, that the benefits far outweigh any risks. The Journal of Experimental Biology, January 2021, looked at unhealthy food during childhood that can affect the child's microbiome for life. So it's like planting a good foundation and making sure that you follow a good schedule. There's a lot of debate out there as to how that should occur and how long breastfeeding should try to last if possible, as well as what foods to introduce first. And you want to make sure again that you get multiple opinions, do some research. As a parent, it's a heedy task. There's no guidebook, there's no instruction manual that comes. You gotta kind of navigate it, and that's part of the fun and the excitement. And you can actually learn a lot about different aspects of lifestyle, not only for your infant or child, but also for you. And it can be a very positive experience. So you do want to research that and ensure that the proper nutrients are available to that child, that infant, that toddler, whoever it may be, so that they have the best possible lifelong consequences from those choices, um, until they can start making them on their own, which definitely does happen along the way, doesn't it? The European Journal of Preventive Cardiology looked at heart attack survivability, uh, being improved with exercise. That was in February 2021. They looked at 10 different studies, and they estimate that individuals who regularly exercise are up to 55% more likely to survive a heart attack. So of course, heart attacks, heart disease, very predominant in North America especially, but if, even if you do succumb, but you're a regular exerciser, you probably have a greater possibility of a positive outcome from that heart attack. So keep that fitness in your routine. A couple of interesting things in today's daily health update, like what to do after a snake bite. I do believe, I recall hearing there are 1 or 2 areas in Canada, or 1 or 2 types of snakes that could possibly be slightly venomous or poisonous in Canada, and maybe not to the same extent as other parts of the world where it's maybe a bigger concern. But if you want to know what to do following a snakebite, especially if the borders open up and travel becomes easier sometime soon, if you're going to an area where there's snakes, you might find that, find that interesting. And then as well, if you're into public speaking, there's a strategy in the PLOS ONE report February 2021 that talks about public speaking being more scary for people than Death itself. And in a recent experiment, the researchers found that participants had more confidence in their speaking abilities if they watched a virtual version of themselves deliver the speech prior to delivering the speech in person. So maybe if you watch yourself doing something, you feel more confident or comfortable with you doing it than when you see that, hey, you know, I did a pretty good job. There may be a learning process involved there, and it may be a good way to acquire new knowledge or information, even for students that are studying, is to record yourself, video or audio, and then play back and watch that you teach that to yourself, you may better or differently absorb the information in the material. So, something to consider. But while you're doing it, if you're on a telephone, a cell phone, heaven forbid a telephone, but a cell phone, a tablet, or another electronic device, laptop or computer, you do want to watch your ergonomics and maybe engage in some neck exercises, especially if you have any neck pain. So says the BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders journal, January 2021. Neck pain is a common complaint among individuals working in an office or computer environment, and a recent study found that improved workstation ergonomics and neck-specific exercises performed during the workday reduced neck pain in office workers. In addition to treatment provided in the clinical setting, quite often those same paramedical and some medical healthcare providers can provide you tips on modifications to your workstation to ensure that, that neck is less likely to get sore and and also some things to do during the day. So attending a yoga class, Pilates class, doing— going to the gym, playing a sport, and engaging that a number of times throughout the week and on the weekends is very healthy for you. But fitness is not function, and during the day you're training your body into some level of dysfunction if your ergonomics and your habits are not very good. And going out and doing some activity may help offset or create some benefit versus those challenges that are presented with that kind of work throughout the day. However, the research shows that it's much better to actually negate the effects of what you're doing throughout the day if it is challenging in real time. So taking those breaks, doing some stretching, catching yourself, your awareness will save you, especially when your habits and your posture, to catch yourself and realign and make sure you're doing things really, really well. So spend some time looking into what really, really well means when you're on a cell phone, a tablet, or a computer, and then create some awareness around monitoring yourself so that you're better engaged with those tasks because they are challenging even when you're doing them really well. And so even if you did it perfectly, you want to ensure that your lifestyle factors are high because it is a challenging task, sedentary and repetitive. And the more better your sleep, your nutrition, and your fitness or activity levels, the better you can offset some of the stuff that's just inescapable from doing that desk work and computer work. Similar strategy applies regardless to what you're doing through each and every day to help support a healthy outcome. And, um, we can do a lot of things that could be problematic, but doing them well can help make sure they're not problematic, if that makes sense. I hope so. So that's your daily health update for Thursday. If we can help anyway, we're always here for you. Again, whether it's for a copy of the daily health update or just to reach out with any questions, or if you'd like to hear us cover something in the daily health update that's really interesting or concerning to you, DM us on social. Again, you can reach us that way, or call us at the clinic, send us an email. We're here for you, we work for you, and we're here to help keep you well, feeling good, and enjoying your day. So I hope you do that today, and, uh, we'll send you that written format tomorrow, Friday, of the Daily Health Update. Enjoy the coming weekend and, uh, take care of each other out there. Share some smiles. We'll catch up with you on Monday. All the best.
