Health Insights Today
May/June 2012, Volume 5, Number 3
EDITOR'S LOG
Which Procedures are Needed?
When health care providers generate more income from increasing the number of procedures they perform, they are likely to perform more procedures. Much like everything else in the economy, volume has its rewards. But in an era when high-tech diagnostic and treatment procedures proliferate with no end in sight, eventually the ever-broadening use of expensive procedures approaches a tipping point where the finances of the health care system become unsustainable. There is little question among health policy experts that we will soon reach this point, if we have not already lurched past it. The key question is: what can be done to ratchet back the trend?
Also in this issue:
Developing Collaboration Among CAM Professions, Forging Integration with Conventional Health Professions: Interview with John Weeks
John Weeks is the executive director of the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC), the only organization in the United States with full participation of the councils of colleges and accrediting agencies from all the licensed professions defined as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by the National Institutes of Health—chiropractic, naturopathic medicine, acupuncture and Oriental medicine, and massage therapy. As such, ACCAHC comes closer than any other group to being the official voice of CAM in the United States.
Health Promotion: An Emerging Wellness Profession Rising to Meet Many Needs: Interview with Karen Doyle, PhD
Karen Doyle is Director of the Master of Science in Health Promotion program at Cleveland Chiropractic College, which prepares graduates to improve the health of individuals and communities. Students gain the knowledge and skills to effectively advocate for healthier lifestyles in educational, clinical, occupational and community settings. This emerging profession is an excellent fit for people seeking work that draws on their interest in health and offers the satisfaction of being part of a helping profession.
Outdoor Activities with Baby
From biking and hiking to walking and jogging, today’s parents are keeping fit and bonding with their babies in the process. With an array of products unheard of a generation ago—like baby carriers, joggers and trailers—even the tiniest among us are enjoying the great outdoors. But while these items can make life easier and more enjoyable for both parent and child, they can cause injury if not used properly.
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Nutrition Update
In recent nutrition research, curcumin (a component of the curry spice turmeric) yields greater improvement than diclofenac sodium for active rheumatoid arthritis, without adverse side effects; red clover isoflavone supplementation for menopausal women is more effective than placebo in reducing daily vasomotor symptom frequency; optimal vitamin D levels are associated with lower cardiovascular disease mortality in patients with metabolic syndrome; and a single 2-gram dose of vitamin C lowers morphine use after gall bladder surgery.
CAM in Review
Electroacupuncture decreases pain of dysmenorrhea in randomized trial; review of meditative movement trials for fibromyalgia shows improvement on sleep, fatigue and depression; yoga outperforms physiotherapy exercise in knee arthritis care; and Johrei, a Japanese energy healing method, increases death of cancer cells in test tubes.
Chiropractic and Manual Therapies Research
A new review finds spinal manipulation cost-effective for back and neck pain; increased pressure pain threshold is identified as a mechanism for pain-related benefits of spinal manipulation; osteopathic manipulation enhances effects of pulmonary rehabilitation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and a dose-response study on massage for knee osteoarthritis finds once-a-week treatments best.
Exercise and Fitness Report
Researchers in Poland find that tai chi improves body balance in the elderly and may minimize risk of falls; a study finds that exercising while experiencing knee pain may yield greater muscle strength improvements than exercising in the absence of pain; and another shows mixed results on whether exercise during pregnancy lowers the risk of postnatal depression.
Mind-Body News
Adding to a flood of recent research on mindfulness-
based stress reduction (MBSR), a workplace stress study shows that yoga and MBSR improve perceived stress, sleep quality, and heart rhythm coherence. In other studies, MBSR helps alleviate long-term emotional and physical adverse effects of breast cancer treatments; in diabetes patients, MBSR yields prolonged reduction in psychosocial stress; and tai chi attenuates improves several measures of stress reactivity.