Alternate Treatments, Cardiovascular, Lifestyle, Neurology, Obesity, Pain, Psychiatry, Sports
Get Fit in Virtual Reality
Lao Tsu, the ancient Chinese philosopher, said, “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” Unfortunately, a lot of people are speeding to the wrong destination, each year putting on extra pounds and becoming more sedentary. But people do have choices. Make a change now to be more active, one way or another, or anticipate the inevitable earlier than necessary. What’s a new way to get active that may seem unappealing to those who haven’t tried it yet? New research suggests that virtual reality (VR) might be the ticket, including for older adults. Strapping on a bulky headset and learning to use the technology are the first obstacles, but the benefits for those who get...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Cardiovascular, Lifestyle, Obesity, Sports
An Active Lifestyle is the Right Resolution
One week into the New Year, and how are you doing on your resolutions? Most people make ambitious plans at the end of December and by this point can’t remember what they were. A few people overdo it, like those who commit to running a marathon before they’ve had success with a daily walk. If you are constantly worrying about how to strike the perfect balance, that’s also a waste of your time and no help for your heart. The best habits for health are regular moderate exercise, a healthy diet, good sleep, and an upbeat outlook. First thing in the morning, every morning, is a natural time to check in with yourself. Step on a scale and make sure the...Read More
Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Sports
Sarcopenia, Not Cancer, But a Deadly Word
Can you improve muscle mass even as you age? As Mickey Mantle, star player of the New York Yankees, remarked, “If I knew I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.” Such is my worry in my 99th year. I was recently having more difficulty getting up from chairs and recalling patients who admitted they could no longer stand up from the toilet seat. They had slowly developed “sarcopenia”, weakened muscles from aging that robs one’s independence. Sarcopenia begins at about age 45 and causes skeletal muscle mass and strength decline at a rate of about one percent a year. By age 65, people who spend most of their time inactive on the sofa watching television...Read More
Cardiovascular, Miscellaneous, Neurology, Sports
Ring in the New Year with Your Inner Mountaineer
It’s not what we were hoping for at this time of year. The doom and gloom of Omicron has many people feeling down. But casting your gaze upwards might be just the right move. For a New Year’s Resolution, this might be a good time to channel your inner mountaineer. Christmas and New Years should be the season for celebration, not hibernation. Families should be together, not torn apart by differing views on vaccination. Charitable giving should be the theme, not clamouring for rapid test kits. Yet so it goes. Even among those getting out for a would-be joyous wintertime walk, you can see, in the narrow space between their toques and their masks, the melancholy in their eyes. So, what’s the...Read More
Lifestyle, Obesity, Sports
Weightlifting, Not Just for a Medal
When asked how they exercise, people often report jogging, bicycling or walking. But what about weightlifting? Authorities say that picking up weights is not about winning a medal. Rather, as we age, strength exercises can help circumvent medical problems. Take if from Arnold Schwarzenegger, who famously remarked, “The best activities for your health are pumping and humping.” Let’s leave the humping part aside for now. When it comes to pumping weights, there are a lot of myths. First, lifting dumbbells is not just for building muscles. In fact, it helps to fight one of the problems that can change your life in a split second. Getting older is invariably fatal. But long before the final event, we begin to lose bone density,...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Nutrition, Sports, Vitamins
Can Athletes Escape Covid Virus?
Professional sporting events have never been entirely about the game. Team owners, player sponsorships, media contracts, ticket sales, and merchandising licenses are the playgrounds of big business. But the tiniest of offensive players, the novel coronavirus, has upended the sporting world. It has become a matter of great debate whether your grandmother or your favourite sports star should have priority for a vaccine. Take NHL hockey as an example. A delayed season has started. Only a handful of arenas are allowing limited spectators to attend the games. The league is working hard to keep players safe from COVID-19, but games have been delayed and postponed due to positive tests among players, coaches and staff. As one wise sage remarked, “It’s hard...Read More
Lifestyle, Sports
What Are the Benefits of Walking?
Dr. Paul Dudley White, former Professor of Cardiology at the Harvard Medical School, used to ride his bike to class even in his later years. He remarked, “If you want to see how good your brain is, feel your leg muscles!” Biking may not be for everyone, but research shows the simple act of walking is tremendously good for you. Stronger brain and leg muscles are just the beginning. If COVID has got you hunkered down, you’d do well to get out in fresh air for a daily walk. Metabolic benefits A study in Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology reports that a brisk walk can decrease the risk of hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease just as much as running....Read More
Orthopedics, Sports, Women's Health
What Medical Advice Would I Give Bianca Andreescu?
What an historic moment for Canada as we all watched Bianca Andreescu defeat Serena Williams at the U.S. Tennis Open and capture her first major tennis championship. I’m sure that this talented teenager will win more trophies in the future. So is there any medical advice to help her avoid injury and end a promising career? One thing quickly caught my eye when the cities of both Mississauga and Toronto gave her a hero’s welcome. Her appearance in civilian attire gave us a chance to see her style off the court. But it was her shoes that shocked me. I wondered why a high performance athlete had not been warned of the hazards of high heels. One unfortunate misstep could cause...Read More
Sports
How Does Our Longevity Compare with MLB Players?
Today, what’s the best message that parents can give their children about sports? I’d be particularly concerned if a child wanted to get involved in football or hockey. I’d try to convince him or her it’s safer to play baseball. Now, a report in Men’s Health Resources, reveals this is prudent advice. Marc Weisskopf is professor of environmental epidemiology and physiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. His 10-year study compares mortality rates and health of 10,500 major league baseball (MLB) players with those involved in other major league sports. First, Weisskopf has bad news for the rest of us mortals. His research reveals that MLB players tend to live 24% longer than the average American male....Read More
Lifestyle, Sports
Exercise Can Kill You
The Earl of Darby once remarked that “Those who don’t take time for wellness, will eventually have to make time for sickness.” Like many doctors, I too have advised patients and readers to exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle. Now, Dr. Maureen Brogan, Associate Professor of Medicine at New York Medical College, reports that intense, repetitive, motion exercise can cause rhabdomyolysis. And in rare cases it can kill. Brogan explains that when muscle is damaged, it dumps myoglobin, an iron and oxygen-binding muscle protein, into blood circulation. Excessive amounts of myoglobin can obstruct the kidney’s filtration system and cause serious damage. I have mentioned in previous columns that, in rare cases, prolonged use of high doses of cholesterol-lowering drugs can cause...Read More
Orthopedics, Sports
Taking Arsenic Would be the Safer Option
Today, there’s almost a crusade taking place to decrease the risk of concussion in hockey, football and other sports. But what is the risk of other injuries? A study, published in the issue of JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, says you do not have to participate in high octane sports to be injured. The report shows that facial fractures among older adults are on the rise. And taking arsenic in some activities would seem to be a safer option for some seniors. Researchers, at Wayne State University in Detroit, evaluated national emergency room statistics and discovered an interesting trend. During a five year period 20,500 adults ages 55 and older suffered facial fractures. In fact, the number of these injuries had increased...Read More
Sports
LILT, A New RX for Concussions
If my children wanted to play a sport that involved head contact, would I be concerned? You bet I would. And I’d encourage them to think twice about their decision. But concussions can also occur after a car accident and in unusual circumstances. To date, taking time off to smell the roses for months, has been the usual medical treatment. Now, a study shows that Low Intensity Laser Therapy (LILT), is producing amazing results. To learn more about this procedure I interviewed Dr. Fred Kahn, an international authority on LILT, in Toronto. Dr. Kahn’s clinic has been using LILT for years to treat arthritis, sport injuries, wounds and dermatological diseases. This year he will also treat 500 cases of acute and...Read More
Lifestyle, Sports, Vitamins
Fight Infection like an Olympic Athlete
How hard would be the disappointment? You’ve trained for years to acquire a medal at the Rio Olympics. And then the unthinkable happens. You develop a respiratory or intestinal infection just before the event. It’s an unmitigated disaster of unparalleled proportions, never to be forgotten. So, how do Olympic athletes avoid this catastrophe? An article published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine stresses it’s not just luck that prevents infection. Rather, according to Ida Svendsen, physiologist with the Norwegian Olympic Committee, it’s attention to detail. As Leonardo Da Vinci wrote centuries ago, “Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle”. Svendsen reports that a study of 37 elite Norwegian skiers, over a nine year period, showed that those who had won...Read More
Lifestyle, Nutrition, Sports, Women's Health
Sarcopenia: A Needless Path to a Wheelchair
What’s the worst health problem that can happen to you? I’m sure many readers would say cancer, stroke or Alzheimer’s Disease. I agree these are all frightful diseases. But there’s another one that occurs gradually as we age. It’s called Sarcopenia ( the loss of muscle mass), and this creeping frailty forces many elderly into nursing homes because their muscles are so weak they can no longer get off the toilet. A recent report from Tufts University in Boston says, sarcopenia robs people of their independence and often leads to the risk of falls, resulting in serious injury. Visit any nursing home and you’ll see multiple examples of sarcopenia. Studies show that sarcopenia begins around age 45 and increases at the rate...Read More
Neurology, Sports
What You Should Know about a Hit on the Head
Who doesn't remember Sidney Crosby's head concussion that kept him out of hockey for months? But how many know about the hazards of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI)? A report from Johns Hopkins University says it doesn't always take a hockey blow to trigger a brain concussion. The skull normally provides protection against brain injury. But there's a limit to this protection and at times just a bump or a jolt to the head can cause severe damage to brain nerve cells, called neurons. TBIs can be mild, moderate or severe depending on the degree of injury. It's estimated that 1.7 million occur each year in the U.S. and 75 percent are mild concussions. But there's a disturbing trend. The number of cases...Read More
Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Sports
Momentary Lapses Resulting in Injury or Death This Summer
There's an old song, "Summer Time and the Living is Easy". But it's theme can be a prelude to disaster. Every summer what's supposed to be fun turns into a lifetime of existence as a quadriplegic, or with other severe injuries. And it happens to all ages. Shriners Hospitals say that 300,000 people are treated every year in emergency rooms due to lawnmower and other garden tool accidents. 35,000 of these injuries involve children under 15 years of age who lose hands, legs or their lives. These accidents are waiting to happen when parents allow children to use power mowers. The kinetic energy imparted by the rotating blades of a mower is three times the muzzle energy of a 357 Magnum...Read More
Alcohol, Gastroenterology, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Sports
The Perfect Pass, Self Destruction, then Recovery
What would it be like to be the highest paid athlete in the world, the toast of Boston, the winner of two Stanley Cups, the rich devil-may-care playboy? Then to find yourself broke, alcoholic, drug addicted and sleeping under bridges? In the space of 12 years this all happened to Derek "Turk" Sanderson. I recently interviewed Derek Sanderson, the NHL hockey player, in Toronto during a dinner sponsored by Healthy Minds Canada. I was interested in his story as I had attended the same school, lived on the same street and watched Sanderson as he started his hockey career with the Niagara Falls Flyers. I knew his loving parents, who tried to instill the right virtues in their son. Multiple...Read More
Alternate Treatments, Sports
A Tough Marine Engineer Was Screaming From Pain
Do you remember the headlines in September, 2000, when the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys in the 100 degree Texas heat? Rick Burkholder, the Eagles head trainer, said his players remained cramp-free because of his secret weapon, pickle juice! The benefit of pickles goes back to antiquity. For instance, cucumbers are mentioned twice in the Bible and history records their use in Asia, Egypt and Greece. Cucumbers were brought to the New World by Christopher Columbus and were grown on the island of Haiti. And U.S presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, were pickle enthusiasts. What triggered my interest in pickle juice was a report published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Researchers at Brigham Young University asked volunteer...Read More
Lifestyle, Sports
MRSA Infections: Razor Blades on the Floor
So you’ve decided to get into shape and join the local health club? No one can fault that idea. But remember, there are pluses and minuses to most things in life, including health clubs, that result in unintended consequences. Health clubs by necessity have a large number of hot, perspiring, less than clean bodies. So you don’t need to be an infectious disease specialist to know there’s potential infection everywhere. This means that precautionary measures must be taken seriously by the health club, its clients and, particularly, you. It’s hard to decipher the brains of some people. For instance, a female patient of mine stopped going to a fitness center in downtown Toronto. She was tired of repeatedly finding used...Read More
Sports
How a Bra Killed Two Young Women
What measures one inch in diameter and kills more people than hurricanes and tornadoes combined in the U.S.? Is 50,000 times hotter than the sun and strikes this planet 3.6 million times every year? No doubt you have the answer, "lightning". But you may not know there's less chance of dying from this underrated killer if you remember "the 30 second rule". And how could a bra kill two English women? Lightning packs a huge punch when it strikes. If you're unlucky to be the victim 100,000,000 to 300,000,000 volts will pass through your body with instant and deadly consequences. On July 10, 1926, lightning exploded a navy ammunition depot in Mount Hope, New Jersey, killing 19 people. The cost to rebuild...Read More
Sports
How To Prevent Summer Hazards
"Thank God, it will soon be summer!" a patient recently exclaimed to me. I agreed, but I know as sure as night follows day that many people this summer will do dumb things. Dr. David Janda, director of The Institute for Preventive Sports Medicine, Ann Arbour, Michigan, recently addressed the 37th Annual Sport Medicine Symposium in Toronto. He told delegates that injuries kill over 142,000 North Americans each year and 62 million require medical attention. Death may be better than some injuries. Janda reported that every summer in Michigan 60 people are paralyzed from diving into a shallow lake. They forget the golden rule when plunging into unknown waters, "First time feet first." One moment, they're mobile. A split second later, they're...Read More
Sports
How To Avoid The Hazards of Summer
A West African Proverb says, "There is only one kind of common sense and 40 varieties of lunacy". Every summer proves the Africans are right. Needless injuries and deaths occur primarily because people have momentary relapses of good old-fashioned horse sense. Dr. David Bishai at Johns Hopkins reports in Annals of Emergency Medicine that an 11 year old ballet student who lost her foot. She had fallen off a power lawn mower while having fun cutting the grass. Shriners Hospitals say that 275,000 people every year are treated in emergency rooms due to lawn mower and garden tools accidents. 35,000 of these injuries involve children under 15 years of age who lose hands, legs or their lives. These are accidents waiting to...Read More
Sex, Sports
Do The Toronto Maple Leafs Need More Sex?
What's wrong with the Toronto Maple leafs? They haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1967. This year they're again floundering and may once again miss the playoffs. Their coach has shifted lines without any effect. Hockey analysts have suggested other solutions. But I've got a prescription for their coach Paul Maurice. The problem may be a lack of a little nookie before games. "Nothing after Wednesday if you're playing on Saturday" was the gospel preached to British soccer players in the 1970s. Even today many coaches tell their players to avoid sex the night before a game. And some famous sport personalities have agreed to the big "No" to pre-game sex. Mohammed Ali remarked, "When you don't get sex for awhile it...Read More
Sports
Sudden Sports Death in Young People
"How could this possibly happen?" is the usual soul-searching response. A young healthy athlete leaves home to play in a sporting event. Then in a matter of seconds, collapses and dies before anything can be done to save his or her life. The big question is why these premature deaths occur, and can they be prevented? Dr. Michael Ackerman, is head of the Mayo Clinic's Sudden Death Genomics Laboratory. He says that news of these unexpected deaths saddens parents and shocks the community. But when such sudden fatalities strike apparently invincible star athletes parents worry it could happen to a child involved in any recreational sports. Luckily these shocking deaths are rare in this case. Dr. Ackerman says that there are 300,000...Read More
Orthopedics, Pain, Sports
It Was A Pain From Hell
Have you ever had to crawl on your hands and knees because of severe back pain? It's not a dignified position. But it recently happened to me. What caused this problem and how did I finally get relief? We all love our mothers and I dearly loved mine. But unfortunately she had scoliosis of the spine and passed this genetic problem along to me. Then in my final year at The Harvard Medical School I awakened one morning with the worst headache of my life. A lumbar puncture revealed poliomyelitis. Scoliosis and poliomyelitis is not a good combination to maintain a healthy spine. As a result over the years I've suffered from occasional attacks of sciatica, usually appearing for no apparent reason. But...Read More
