Tuesday, February 22, 2011
A Podiatrist's View On Running Shoe Selection
Ever wondered what an evidence-based Sports Podiatrist's views are on choosing your next running shoes? This is what Ian Griffins on Ransacker.com wrote.
Mr Griffins did an excellent job on saying what many current heath professionals are still doing now with regards to running shoe selection is flawed. He also discusses how the method of assessing your foot type by your wet foot print came about (and why the wet foot test is "nonsense" to quote him), why controlling pronation is a poor way of choosing a shoe, why aligning runners to the same neutral position makes no sense.
Please have a look if you want to read his post.
I've written on running shoes before, have a look here and here.
* Photo Ian Griffins's webpage
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Acupuncture For Chronic Low Back Pain
Acupuncture is astrological in origin and not evidence-based so writes the author in a review article in yesterday's Straits Times (page A32, 120211). How is it linked to astrology? There is "qi" flowing in the human body's loop of meridians interlinking 361 points on the skin. Since the qi flows in a closed loop, you can insert needles at any point away from the painful site to relieve pain if done well.
Why 361 points? The earth takes just three minutes under 24 hours to rotate 360 degrees on its axis while the sun appears to revolve 361 degrees every 24 hours. Hence the link to astrology.
Previously I have read both articles from the Spine Journal and New England Journal of Medicine quoted by the author in which acupuncture was researched to see its efficacy on low back pain. The conclusion from the systematic review (the highest level in research) was that both real and sham acupuncture were more effective than no treatment. It added that acupuncture may be used as a supplement to other forms of conventional therapy for low back pain.
So here's the deal, real acupuncture does no better than sham acupuncture. It probably is the placebo effect working when patients feel better.
References
Berman BM, Langevin HM et al. (2010). Acupuncture For Chronic Low Back Pain. N Eng J Med. 363: 454-461.
Yuan J, Purepong N et al (2008). Effectiveness Of Acupuncture For Low Back Pain : A Systematic Review. Spine. 33: E887-E900.
Why 361 points? The earth takes just three minutes under 24 hours to rotate 360 degrees on its axis while the sun appears to revolve 361 degrees every 24 hours. Hence the link to astrology.
Previously I have read both articles from the Spine Journal and New England Journal of Medicine quoted by the author in which acupuncture was researched to see its efficacy on low back pain. The conclusion from the systematic review (the highest level in research) was that both real and sham acupuncture were more effective than no treatment. It added that acupuncture may be used as a supplement to other forms of conventional therapy for low back pain.
So here's the deal, real acupuncture does no better than sham acupuncture. It probably is the placebo effect working when patients feel better.
References
Berman BM, Langevin HM et al. (2010). Acupuncture For Chronic Low Back Pain. N Eng J Med. 363: 454-461.
Yuan J, Purepong N et al (2008). Effectiveness Of Acupuncture For Low Back Pain : A Systematic Review. Spine. 33: E887-E900.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Shape Magazine - Aqua Based Rehabilitation
Sports Solutions featured in this month's (January) Shape magazine for our Aqua Based Rehabilitation (Deep Water Running) on pages 102-105. Go take a look.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Loopz Training @ SS with Wong Li Lin
Staff from both Physio & Sports Solutions gathered at SS today for a Loopz training session with founder Wong Li Lin. It can be used for both rehab and strengthening. Contact us if you are keen on finding out more.
A big thank you to Li Lin for her time.
A big thank you to Li Lin for her time.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Food Rules
My son eats really well as my wife insists on buying him all the organic and wholesome food at the shops that sell them. Actually, come to think of it, my childhood meals were pretty decent too, definitely a lot less processed and junk food compared to what I eat now.
Now that I don't train like I used to before, I try to eat less junk food as I don't burn calories like I used to.
And partly because of my wife and son, I've actually bought and read the book "Food Rules" by Michael Pollan (my wife gave me this incredulous look and asked where I got the book). It'll take you less than 30 mins and it will change the way you look at food forever.
The first twelve rules are
1. Eat food.
2. Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
3. Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry.
4. Avoid food products that contain high-fructose corn syrup.
5. Avoid food products that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top 3 ingredients.
6. Avoid food products that contain more than 5 ingredients.
7. Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce.
8. Avoid food products that make health claims.
9. Avoid food products with the word "lite" or the terms "low-fat" or "non-fat" in their names.
10. Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not.
11. Avoid foods that you see advertised on television.
12. Shop at the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.
For more rules, please read the book.
Now that I don't train like I used to before, I try to eat less junk food as I don't burn calories like I used to.
And partly because of my wife and son, I've actually bought and read the book "Food Rules" by Michael Pollan (my wife gave me this incredulous look and asked where I got the book). It'll take you less than 30 mins and it will change the way you look at food forever.
The first twelve rules are
1. Eat food.
2. Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
3. Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry.
4. Avoid food products that contain high-fructose corn syrup.
5. Avoid food products that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top 3 ingredients.
6. Avoid food products that contain more than 5 ingredients.
7. Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce.
8. Avoid food products that make health claims.
9. Avoid food products with the word "lite" or the terms "low-fat" or "non-fat" in their names.
10. Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not.
11. Avoid foods that you see advertised on television.
12. Shop at the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.
For more rules, please read the book.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
LARS
Happy New Year to all, I've been meaning to write on the LARS procedure for ACL for the last few months, but never got down to it until today. One of my patients rang me up this afternoon telling me he tore his ACL on a skiing trip last week and asked for my advice.
So here it is, I posted it in the Physio Solutions blog as a follow up to our current trends in ACL reconstruction management.
Have a look here.
So here it is, I posted it in the Physio Solutions blog as a follow up to our current trends in ACL reconstruction management.
Have a look here.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Running Barefoot ST 271210
Today's topic on "A Runner's Diary" in the Sports section of the Straits Times on page B11 touches on whether running barefoot is a fad.
We have written on this before and there is definitely evidence that running shoes may not prevent injuries http://weloverunning.blogspot.com/2010/08/do-your-running-shoes-prevent-injuries.html and
http://weloverunning.blogspot.com/2009/03/do-high-tech-running-shoes-work.html.
We are not saying you need to be barefoot while running but as written before, please do so progressively if you're giving it a try. Better still, come run with us during our running club and we'll show you how to run pain free.
We have written on this before and there is definitely evidence that running shoes may not prevent injuries http://weloverunning.blogspot.com/2010/08/do-your-running-shoes-prevent-injuries.html and
http://weloverunning.blogspot.com/2009/03/do-high-tech-running-shoes-work.html.
We are not saying you need to be barefoot while running but as written before, please do so progressively if you're giving it a try. Better still, come run with us during our running club and we'll show you how to run pain free.
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