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| HEALTH & FITNESS |
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Tips to tackle low back pain
You can delay the ageing process, but how?
Ayurveda & you
Health Notes
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Tips to tackle low back pain Sprain or strain of ligaments or muscles of the lower back could result from a sudden or improper movement or due to over-use. This could cause the disc to bulge and press against a nerve. The pain may be restricted to the lower back or may be referred to the buttocks or to the legs — sciatica. The resulting acute pain could last less than six weeks. Sub-acute pain may last six to 12 weeks while chronic pain may linger on for more than 12 weeks. Here are some important tips to decrease acute low back pain: Low back pain could be relieved within a week but at times take a month. Therefore, one should not panic and treatment should be taken with a positive mind. Bed rest can help relieve back pain but it does not accelerate the healing process. Bed rest from one to three days is adequate as a longer duration of rest causes weakness of the muscles and bones of the spine. The following postures reduce back pain:
An expert in this field can treat pain through manipulation and mobilisation of the lower back. Medicines like Paracetamol can be taken. The following precautions are suggested:
Important tips: Avoid staying in one position for too long — standing, sitting, etc. Avoid sitting up in bed and soft couches. Avoid bending from the waist. Stop any activity/ treatment that aggravates pain. Stay active/stay at work. Warning signals for consulting a doctor immediately: Pain getting worse. Increase in numbness, loss of power, etc. Pain following a violent injury such as road accident. Developing an obvious structural deformity of the spine. Increasing the strength and flexibility of the back muscles helps weight to be uniformly distributed, thus reducing force on the spine. A gradual return to normal activity, including exercise, is recommended that helps alleviate pain faster and prevent further back pain. The writer is a former doctor/ physiotherapist, Indian cricket team.
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You can delay the ageing process, but how? Who doesn’t wish to stay youthful and healthy forever? An older person also wishes to put the clock back and become young again. But is it possible? Anti-ageing physicians flaunt remedies like human growth hormone (HGH), but are these safe and effective? One should be prepared for a healthy ageing. With a healthy lifestyle, we can slow the ageing process and thus enjoy putting life into years. This is a well-developed science by now and there is an American academy of anti-ageing medicine, where over 11,000 physicians from 65 countries are registered. Use of HGH and antioxidants is being recommended. However, the safety and efficacy is yet be established beyond doubt.
Main culprit
Insulin has been labelled as the main culprit to invite ageing early. Eating too much of carbohydrates results in high insulin levels. Increased insulin levels tell the body to store carbohydrates as fat. They also tell it not to release any stored fat. It makes sure that you stay fat. Even worse, high insulin levels also suppress the growth hormone that is responsible for remaining young. High levels of insulin can cause major health problems like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, high levels of cholesterol, heart disease, kidney disease, female infertility and neuro-degeneration. Greasy fast-food, nutrient-deprived processed foods and over-cooked vegetables are the junk food. Polished grains, sweets, soft drinks, and high-starch foods like potatoes, burgers and pizzas lead to overweight, and give you the looks and feeling of being older. If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms, chances are that the excess carbohydrates in your body are, in part or whole, to blame:
One of the most important things you can do for preventing old age and its diseases is to decrease the intake of carbohydrates, especially those drawn from foods grown below the surface of earth. What can you do? 1. Avoid smoking. 2. Keep a healthy weight. 3. Avoid sun exposure: When you are in the sun for prolonged periods of time without a sunscreen, the inflammation process is heightened. Sunlight is a major cause of the skin changes we think of as ageing — changes such as wrinkles, dryness and age spots. 4. Exercise regularly. 5. Learn to live with stress as it is unavoidable. 6. Maintain strong social relationships : Ageing successfully is best achieved with another person. Whether your social connections are with your spouse, offspring, siblings, bridge partners, and/or fellow worshippers, they’re crucial to good health while growing older. People with social connections also have stronger disease-fighting immune systems. 7. Laugh: Humour is one of the best medicines. 8. Pursuing education: Individuals who always learn something new about the world, maintain a playful spirit, and find younger friends as they lose older ones also can fight the aging process. 9. Sex: Sex keeps one young. Making love with a regular partner causes your body to produce certain chemicals (including HGH) that can repair cells and ensure youthfulness. 10. Avoiding excessive calories with a weekly fasting regimen can lead to a longer life. 11. Seek prompt medical care when you’re ill or injured. Also get screened for diseases such as cancer and heart problem. 12. Do not resort to self-medication. The writer, a senior eye specialist, has a number of medical books to his credit.
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Ayurveda & you Sprouts are the germinated seeds of grains or legumes having acquired the property of preserving and growing life of a particular plant. Sprouts are natural, fresh and completely living food made of some of the edible seeds. As the amount and availability of various nutritional factors of the seed increase after sprouting, they become an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. Apart from their great dietary value, sprouts are palatable, light and easily digestible forms of food. Naturopaths prescribe the use of various types of sprouts in different diseases. Every seed can be sprouted, but for dietary purposes seeds of sunflower, moth, moong, lobia, methi, gram, soyabean and wheat are favoured. For this purpose these should be washed adequately in clean water and their broken pieces removed. Thereafter, they should be put in a jar filled with a double amount of water. After soaking overnight, the seeds should be again washed to be kept in a bag of wet and clean cotton cloth. In summer, the moisture of the cloth should be maintained by sprinkling cold water several times. Next day small sprouts come out. Generally sprouts appear early in summer whereas they take a day more in winter. Sprouts should be washed again thoroughly before eating. Keeping them for a longer period is not advisable. Stale, stinking and dull sprouts should never be consumed. Though fresh sprouts can be used by anybody, it is imperative that in the beginning they should be eaten in a small quantity and properly chewed. Adding coriander, mint leaves, tomato and lemon enhances their taste and digestibility. Sprouts of moong and moth have very good protein value. Gram sprouts are believed to enhance vigour and vitality whereas those of fenugreek (methi) are slightly bitter in taste but make a good adjunct for persons suffering from chronic backache, excessive urination, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. Modern life, especially in big cities, has become synonymous with wrong eating habits and all types of acidic, spicy, fried and junk foods have become part of our daily diet. Many of the serious health disorders like ischemic heart disease, hypertension, lipid anomalies and diabetes are directly linked with our faulty food habits. Sprouts can be a good and healthy substitute for a heavy breakfast or fried evening snacks. Recent reports about toxic effects of a certain variety of “lauki” remind us that we should be cautious while using even simple food items. Unclean, inadequately washed and improperly prepared sprouts can be a source of fungus and salmonella infection. It is better to use organically grown seeds for sprouting because they not only minimise the chance of infection but also rule out the possibility of consumption of chemical additives. The writer is a Ludhiana-based senior ayurvedic physician.
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Health Notes
Washington: Here’s another reason for parents to pry their kids away from the TV and computer and send them out to play, for a new research has found that running and jumping during childhood provides lifelong benefits for future bone health and appears to reduce the risk of fractures later in life. The research, conducted on a mouse model by boffins at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), is reported in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. As a part of the study the researchers exercised the right forearms of five-week-old female rats for a few minutes three times a week for seven weeks. The left forearms were not exercised.
— ANI
Tea helps heal damaged skin after cancer radiation therapy London: Tea extracts work as an effective treatment for patients who suffer from damaged skin following radiation treatment for cancer. Researchers show that this might partly be due to the anti-inflammatory properties of tea. In a study published in the open access journal BMC Medicine, researchers show that tea acts at the cellular level, by inhibiting inflammatory pathways, to reduce inflammation. — ANI Own stem cells can rid you of your lower back pain Washington: There is good news for those of you suffering from those excruciating back aches, a University of Manchester researcher has developed a treatment for lower back pain, using the patient’s own stem cells, which could replace the use of strong painkillers or surgery that can cause debilitation. Dr Stephen Richardson, of the University’s Division of Regenerative Medicine in the School of Medicine (FMHS), has developed the treatment; and in collaboration with German biotechnology company Arthrokinetics and internationally-renowned spinal surgeons Spinal Foundation are hoping to enter pre-clinical trials next year. — ANI Illicit cosmetic silicone injections dangerous Washington: A new study on liquid silicone, which is often used for breast augmentation and other cosmetic procedures, has boffins sending out a warning that, if injected improperly, can cause death due to respiratory failure. The study, by a team of researchers led by Carlos S. Restrepo, director of chest radiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, was presented recently at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America
(RSNA).
— ANI
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