Sep
5
2023
Women are paying the price for fashion in the form of broken bones and sprained ankles, a doctor has warned.
The warm weather has led to a spate of injuries caused by women falling from their high-heeled sandals.
Rupert Evans, an accident and emergency doctor at University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff said injuries could lead to long-term problems.
Women should stick to shoes with heels less than 4cm (1.5in) if they wanted to avoid a trip to hospital, he advised.
Dr Evans said he has seen an increase in the number of women being admitted to hospital with injuries caused by the fashionable footwear.
Injuries ranged from sprained ankles to broken bones and dislocations – and in some cases caused permanent damage.
He estimated that up to half a dozen women were now being admitted to his department with shoe-related injuries on weekend evenings.
Drinking alcohol added to the problem, he said.
“I suspect it’s something to do with the weather we’ve been having.
“Women are dressing differently and a lot of them are coming in with high-heel shoe injuries.”
Sensible shoes
He added that shoes which did not have a back or a strap could cause particular problems.
“Try to have shoes with a strap and keep the heel height down to 4cm (1.5in),” he said.
He said he was not advising that women should stop wearing high heels altogether, but advocating wearing them in moderation.
“There can be serious consequences, but we are not trying to ban them,” he said.
Martin Shalley, president of the British Association for Emergency Medicine said he had not spotted a recent increase, but he reiterated that high heels could definitely lead to serious injuries.
“That is something we see and I have seen a few breaks over the years. Falling off a high heel can cause much more serious injuries.”
He added that Dr Evans’ advice was very reasonable.
“Of course it could be a problem associated with alcohol. Alcohol and heels are a bad mix,” he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5235630.stm
Sep
5
2023
AUSTRALIAN cancer experts have supported a study by the American Institutes of Health which found massage therapy may have immediate benefits on pain and mood among patients with advanced cancer.
The Cancer Council of New South Wales said scientific research had shown that massage could reduce pain, fatigue, anxiety, depression and nausea as well as improving sleep, quality of life and mental clarity and alertness.
The council’s Professor Jim Bishop said massage therapy could benefit the physical, emotional and mental state of people at all stages of cancer.
“Many people with cancer wonder whether any complementary therapies can help them. Massage and other gentle bodywork techniques that focus on the positive effects of human touch are very popular complementary therapies,” Professor Bishop said.
“Instead of being used to work out knots, detoxify the body, or increase one’s range of motion, massage may become a way to lower anxiety and pain, improve energy, or decrease nausea.
“It is a way to feel more loved and helps to re-establish a connection with oneself and others. It may ease the discomfort of a medical procedure or help pass the time while waiting for a consultation with the doctor.
“Some benefits people have described from receiving massage include feeling whole again, being able to share feelings in an informal setting, re-establishing a positive body image and rebuilding hope.”
Nepean Hospital oncologist Dr Georgette Danyal said different types of massage could be administered to cancer patients.
“There has been a lot of work that has been done on the introduction of massage therapies as part of the service for cancer patients,” Dr Danyal said.
“Just general massage therapy is recommended where appropriate as a relaxation strategy. A lot of cancer patients are quite anxious when they’re undergoing treatment or just after they’ve been diagnosed, so sometimes gentle massage is done to help a lot with relaxation for these patients.
“If patients have had breast cancer and they’ve had their lymph nodes removed they are at risk of developing lymphoedema and if they do develop it then we do a very specialised lymphatic massage.
“Lymphatic massage will basically assist in stimulating lymphatic drainage in the system and that will assist in reduction of a swollen oedema – they will be able to feel relief from their discomfort.
“Another effect of the massage is relaxation too because it is a very gentle type of massage – a lot of the patients that come to see us after lymphatic massage say they feel so calm and relaxed.”
Dr Danyal said frequency of treatment varied from patient to patient.
“Some patients go weekly to have [massage therapy] done and they feel that by doing it weekly it helps and it is frequent enough but it does vary,” she said.
“Cost of course is a big issue with it as well because a lot of the patients that come in are not in a financial position to be able to access this service at a reasonable cost.”
Professor Bishop said while massage therapy had proved beneficial, it was most successful when administered in conjunction with conventional medicines.
http://www.consultmagazine.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=337389
Sep
5
2023
This study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, April 2008. The authors and studies are from Chukyo University, Japan.
WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ON THIS TOPIC
It is generally believed that the massage is effective for recovery of the fatigue after the exercise.
However, the authors believed that the type of massage is an important factor. For example, the authors assumed that effleurage has little effect on blood flow.
WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS
This study shows that petrissage massage had effective for decrease of perceived lower-limb
fatigue and muscle stiffness, and recovery of total power during bicycle ergometer pedaling.
Objective: Petrissage is assumed to influence circulation as well as interstitial drainage of both superficial and deep tissues. To study its effect it was applied between consecutive bouts of supra-maximal exercise performed by the lower leg muscles.
Methods: Subjects were 11 healthy female students actively engaged in sports. Exercise bouts of ergometer cycling at loads determined individually (0.75 kp x body weight [kg]) for 5 sec repeated 8-times at intervals of 20 sec had to be performed twice on an experimental day with 35 min intermittent bed rest. Each subject was investigated on two occasions with a minimum interval of one week, once without (control, CO) and once with 10 min petrissage (massage, MA) of the exercising lower leg during the bed rest phase. Effects of exercise bouts on blood lactate, muscle stiffness and perceived lower-limb fatigue and their recovery before and after the second exercise bout were determined.
Result: For the first exercise bouts total power did not differ between massage and control. Courses of blood lactate did not differ between massage and control. However, recovery from measured muscle stiffness and perceived lower-limb fatigure were more pronounced, and total power during the second exercise bout was enhanced in massage as compared to control subjects.
Conclusion: Petrissage improved cycle ergometer pedaling performance independent of blood lactate, but in correlation with improved recovery from muscle stiffness and perceived lower-limb fatigue.
http://bjsm.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/bjsm.2007.044396v1
