A Physical Therapist, Inc.

Joggers Live Longer

lhilton — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:59:16 +0000

People who jog a total of one hour a week or more, live an average six years longer and are more likely to report an overall sense of well-being than non-joggers, according to a new study.

Danish researchers reported jogging was associated with a 44% reduction in the risk of death over 35 years, compared to no jogging. This translates to an average survival benefit of 6.2 years in men and 5.6 years among women, according the study presented at the EuroPRevent 2012 meeting, May 3 to May 5, 2012, in Dublin, Ireland.

People of all ages, including the elderly, benefit, the authors report in a May 4, 2012 MedPage Today article.

In general, those who realized the biggest benefit were people who jogged between an hour and 2.5 hours a week (total); breaking that up into two to three weekly jogs, at a slow-to-average pace.

Physical therapists are the exercise experts. For more information about how a physical therapist can guide you safely and effectively through jogging and other exercise programs, contact A Physical Therapist, Inc.

A Physical Therapist, Inc., is a one-on-one physical therapy clinic in Delray Beach, Fla., and Harrisburg, Penn. For patients in Palm Beach County, A Physical Therapist, Inc., is easily accessible from Boca Raton or Boynton Beach. For patients in Dauphin County, A Physical Therapist, Inc., is easily accessible from Hershey and Marysville.

Exercise Helps People with Heart Failure, Regardless of Age

lhilton — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:27:31 +0000

Exercise counteracts muscle breakdown, increases strength and reduces inflammation caused by aging and heart failure, according to new research in Circulation, an American Heart Association journal.

Results from exercise for people with heart failure are much like the benefits gained by all exercisers: there’s less muscle wasting, and people become fitter, improving their exercise capacity, according to a May 7, 2012 American Heart Association press release.

This study not only helps to establish the value of exercise among heart failure patients, but also shows patient age doesn’t matter. Heart failure patients benefit from exercise well into old age, according to the researchers.

The study’s authors recruited 60 heart failure patients and 60 healthy volunteers. Half of each group was 55 years and younger and the other half, 65 years and older, resulting in an average age difference of 20 years between the groups. People from each age group were randomly assigned to four weeks of supervised aerobic training or no exercise. The exercisers participated in four training sessions of 20 minutes of aerobic exercise each day, five days a week, plus one 60-minute group exercise session.

By studying samples of the participants’ muscle tissue before and after the study, they found patients in both exercise groups (younger and older) experienced increased muscle force endurance and oxygen uptake. Heart failure patients 55 and under increased their peak oxygen uptake by 25 percent, while those 65 and over increased it by 27 percent.

They found levels of a muscle protein associated with muscle breakdown were higher in people with heart failure than in their healthier counterparts. However, exercise reduced this protein, as well as reduced muscle inflammation.

Exercisers also increased the strength of their leg muscles.

These findings offer a possible treatment to the muscle breakdown and wasting associated with heart failure and suggest that exercise is therapeutic even in elderly heart failure patients.

According to the American Heart Association, about 5,700,000 Americans age 20 and older have heart failure.

Physical therapists are the exercise experts. For more about what physical therapists do to help people engage in safe and effective exercise programs, contact A Physical Therapist, Inc.

A Physical Therapist, Inc., is a one-on-one physical therapy clinic in Delray Beach, Fla., and Harrisburg, Penn. For patients in Palm Beach County, A Physical Therapist, Inc., is easily accessible from Boca Raton or Boynton Beach. For patients in Dauphin County, A Physical Therapist, Inc., is easily accessible from Hershey and Marysville.

Older People Urged to Take Advantage of Government’s Annual Wellness Visit

lhilton — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:04:20 +0000

A new national poll suggests many older Americans experience big gaps in their primary care and miss opportunities for healthy aging. One solution for improving care for 65 and older patients is more widespread use of Medicare’s new “Annual Wellness Visit,” according to an April 24, 2012 press release by the John A. Harford Foundation, which conducted the survey.

The poll asked Americans age 65 and older whether they had received these proven medical services to support healthy aging in the past 12 months:

• an annual medication review,

• a falls risk assessment and history,

• depression screening,

• referral to community-based health resources, and

• discussion of their ability to perform routine daily tasks and activities without help.

For example, falling is highly preventable but has serious consequences for older adults. Falls cause more injury and injury-related death in older people than any other event and cause 90 percent of all hip fractures, which greatly increase odds of nursing home placement, according to the press release. Studies have shown older people can reduce their fall risk by about 30 percent by addressing key risk factors.

Still, doctors rarely discuss the potential for falls and reducing fall risk with elderly patients. In this poll, 75% of adults older than 80 reported their doctors had not discussed how to avoid falling, as did 71 percent of people taking 5 or more medications. Advanced age and use of multiple medications put people at significant risk for falls.

These specific low-cost health care services have been shown to lower elderly patients’ risks of many preventable health problems; yet, only seven percent of the adults surveyed received all the services in the last year. Just over half of those surveyed reported receiving none or only one, and about three quarters received fewer than half.

“Preserving people’s ability to do the things that are important to them is the gold standard of geriatric care,” said Rosanne Leipzig, MD, PhD, professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. “Helping people learn how to avoid falling, screening for depression, and closely tracking their medications can affect older patients’ quality of life just as much as any test we order or prescription we write.”

According to Christopher Langston, PhD, program director of the John A. Hartford Foundation, “One of the central truths of geriatrics is that older adults are not just older 40 year olds, any more than children are just small 40 year olds. Older people need different care, and when they don’t receive these kinds of evidence-based interventions, as many don’t, the result is a lot of preventable disability and suffering.”

Among the solutions to better care for the elderly: Medicare’s Annual Wellness Visit. Medicare has offered the service since January 2011. The Annual Wellness Visit is free for patients, with no co-pays or deductibles, and pays doctors nearly three times as much as an average office visit.

Unfortunately, 68% of older adults surveyed had not heard of the benefit or were not sure if they had heard of it.

“The Annual Wellness Visit represents a wonderful chance for doctors and patients to work together to make these proven preventive services an important part of their care plan,” Langston said. “We urge all older people and their health care providers to take advantage of it and to have these important conversations.”

For more about what physical therapists do to help people prevent falls, as well as recover from injuries from falls, contact A Physical Therapist, Inc.

A Physical Therapist, Inc., is a one-on-one physical therapy clinic in Delray Beach, Fla., and Harrisburg, Penn. For patients in Palm Beach County, A Physical Therapist, Inc., is easily accessible from Boca Raton or Boynton Beach. For patients in Dauphin County, A Physical Therapist, Inc., is easily accessible from Hershey and Marysville.

Obesity Linked to Rheumatoid Arthritis

lhilton — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:59:05 +0000

Obesity has long been a risk factor for heart disease and diabetes. New research suggests obesity might also be linked to rheumatoid arthritis among women.

Mayo Clinic researchers wrote in a study published April 18, 2012 online in the scientific journal Arthritis Care and Research: “Obesity is associated with a modest risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis. Given the rapidly increasing prevalence of obesity, this has had a significant impact on rheumatoid arthritis incidence and accounts for much of the recent increase in incidence of rheumatoid arthritis.”

Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease in which the immune system attacks tissues. People who have it often suffer with inflamed joints, fever and fatigue. Joint pain and inflammation tend to start in the hands and feet; then, spread to the knees, ankles, hips and shoulders, according to a Mayo Clinic press release.

Researchers studied 813 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 813 without the autoimmune disease. They noted such things as participants’ height, weight and smoking status and found about 30 percent of the patients in each group were obese and 68 percent were women.

From 1985 to 2007, they reported that rheumatoid arthritis incidence rose by an increment of 9.2 for each 100,000 women. Obesity accounted for 52 percent of that increase. Smoking also is an important risk factor for developing rheumatoid arthritis, but smoking’s prevalence remained constant over the years studied, ruling it out as an explanation for the rise in rheumatoid arthritis, according to Mayo Clinic news.

While more research is needed to determine how obesity may lead to rheumatoid arthritis, this finding is yet another reason to reduce and prevent obesity in the general population.

For the study’s abstract, click here.

For more about how physical therapists can help people get fit, gain muscle strength, improve balance and flexibility, contact, A Physical Therapist, Inc.

A Physical Therapist, Inc., is a one-on-one physical therapy clinic in Delray Beach, Fla., and Harrisburg, Penn. For patients in Palm Beach County, A Physical Therapist, Inc., is easily accessible from Boca Raton or Boynton Beach. For patients in Dauphin County, A Physical Therapist, Inc., is easily accessible from Hershey and Marysville.