GetFit.com.au

There are many different causes of heel pain, but the most common cause is plantar fasciitis. If you experience a sharp pain in your heel when you first step down in the morning, it is most likely due to plantar fasciitis. This problem is a result of excess stress through a long ligament type structure (the plantar fascia) in the bottom of the foot. The excess stress causes tearing and results in inflammation and pain. The classic symptoms are pain in the heel at the first step in the morning, or upon rising after long periods of rest. Many will complain of a sharp pain in the heel when they step out of their car or after finishing their lunch break. Other individuals only experience heel pain at the end of the day or during certain types of activity like running, soccer or tennis. The pain may extend into the arch and feel achy at the end of the day.

Individuals develop plantar fasciitis for a variety of reasons. One of the most common reasons for the development of plantar fasciitis is wearing poor quality or worn out shoes. Another common reason is starting a new activity, such as walking or running, after a period of inactivity. Many active individuals develop plantar fasciitis after incorporating hills, stairs or uneven terrain into their training routine. A new job that requires standing all day or switching to a job with a harder surface, like cement floors, may contribute to it's development. Individuals with flatfeet or excess pronation (rolling in of the feet) may have a natural predisposition for plantar fasciitis. Regardless of how the problem started, the treatment is aimed at decreasing the stress on the arch and decreasing the inflammation.

1. Identify the cause: There is usually a reason for the development of plantar fasciitis, but since the condition is not typically associated with an acute injury it may be hard to remember. The pain may have gradually developed after starting a new training routine, changing the routine, running or walking on a new surface, switching shoes, wearing worn out shoes or starting a new job. Once the cause is identified, stop the activity or modify it.

2. Avoid aggravating activities: Going up and down stairs, walking or running on hills, squating, lifting heavy items and walking on uneven terrain all aggravate this condition. Try to decrease these by limiting the number of times you go up and down the stairs and avoiding hills. If you must squat down, keep the affected foot in front and flat on the ground. Do not lift orcarry heavy items including your kids. Use a stroller or have your spouse, significant other or friend carry them.

3. Stop running or walking: Aerobic activity is important to maintain and cross training can help. Try biking or swimming. Most walkers hate the stationary bike at the gym, but remember this isn't forever. Don't drop your heel when you bike and try to avoid standing and hills if you cycle outdoors. If you participate in spin classes, you may need to modify the class to avoid further injury to the foot. The recumbent stationary bike may place excess stress through the arch because of the position. The classic stationary bike is more appropriate.

4. Use an ice massage: Freeze a sports water bottle or a juice can and place it on the floor. Roll your foot over the water bottle for at least 20 minutes twice a day. This helps decrease the inflammation in the foot while stretching out the arch.

5. Use a contrast bath: Icing helps decrease inflammation occurring within a 48-72 hour period. To help decrease chronic inflammation, try contrasting between ice and heat. Start with an ice pack on the heel and/or arch for 5 minutes. Switch to a heating pack or a hot water bath for 5 minutes. Alternate between the two for 20- 30 minutes 3-4 times a week. This may be more time consuming than the ice pack alone, but can bring considerable relief.

6. Roll a ball under your foot: Take a tennis ball, soft ball or even a rolling pin and roll your foot over it to help stretch out theplantar fascia. This can be done while watching TV or reading the paper. Rolling the foot over the tennis ball can also be done at work if you have a desk job or during a lunch break. (This should not cause pain. Don't continue if you have pain).

7. Stretch your calf in the morning: If you have pain in the morning upon waking, place a towel or a belt on your dresser. Before you get out of bed, wrap the towel or belt around the ball of your foot. By pulling the foot towards you and keeping your leg straight, you should feel a stretch in the back of the calf. This will also stretch the bottom of the foot. This is not time consuming or difficult to do, but it does require adjusting to a new routine.

8. Stretch your calf throughout the day: Spend about 5-10 minutes each evening stretching the calf as described above or with the runner's stretch. To really help keep the calf and the bottom of the foot stretched out, try and stretch for 30 seconds, 10 times a day.

9. Take anti-inflammatory medications: Anti-inflammatory medications, like naproxen or ibuprofen, will help decrease the inflammation that occurs in the fascia as a result of the tearing. You don't want to mask the pain with these medications. If you decrease the pain with the anti-inflammatory medications but continue to participate in an activity which causes tearing and inflammation of the plantar fascia, you are not healing. Continue resting, icing and stretching while you take the medications. Take the medication with food and stop taking the medication if you experience stomach discomfort.

10. Lose Weight: This is probably the last thing you wanted to hear. In fact, there is a good chance that you have gained some weight since the onset of your heel pain due to a decrease in activity. But, there is no way around the fact that increased weight on the body transmits to the feet. Increasing the stress on the plantar fascia can worsen plantar fasciitis, making it more difficult to treat. Eat smart and try to incorporate aerobic activity which decreases the impact on the feet.

11. Wear supportive shoes: This step may seem logical, but most individuals don't realize how many shoes lack support. A supportive shoe will only bend at the toes. Test all of your shoes and don't assume your running shoe is a supportive shoe. Take your shoe and flip it over. Grab the toe area and the heel and try to fold the shoe. If the shoe bends in half, then the shoe is not supportive. Don't go barefoot. Get up in the morning, do your stretch and then slip your feet in a supportive slipper or clog. See the American Podiatric Medical Association's (APMA) list of approved shoes at www.apma.org/ seal/sealaccategory.html.

12. Try anti-fatigue mats: These mats help to decrease the stress through the heel and add some shock absorption to the floor. The mats can be a great asset for employees who work on a hard surface. You may want to consider them for home if you spend many hours standing in a workshop or in the kitchen. See the APMA's list of approved anti-fatigue mats at www.apma.org/seal/sealaccategory.html.

13. Strengthen the muscles in your feet: Place a thin towel on your kitchen floor. Place your foot over the base of the towel closest to you. Bring the towel towards you by curling the toes and gripping the towel as it slides under your foot. Place marbles on the floor and pick them up one by one with your toes and place them in a bowl.

14. Wear orthotics: Prefabricated orthotics are semi-rigid inserts that fit into the shoe to help control motion in your feet. Controlling abnormal motion in the feet can decrease the stress in the plantar fascia. Soft inserts available at the drug store may be comfortable, but they will not help control abnormal motion.

15. Try a night splint: A night splint holds the foot at 90 degrees while you sleep. This keeps the foot and the calf stretched out all night long. Night splints are an effective treatment, but can be quite uncomfortable. Some individuals have more luck with the sock night splints than with the rigid splints. These devices are available online, but may be covered by your insurance when dispensed by your doctor.

If your symptoms persist, see a podiatrist.

_______________________

Christine Dobrowolski is a podiatrist and the author of Those Aching Feet: Your Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Foot Problems

Posted by Dean at 12:15 PM | Permalink

FIFTY per cent of British children have a pack-a-day crisp habit and are consuming the equivalent of five litres of cooking oil a year, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has warned.

The foundation released the figures as part of a campaign to educate the public about the amount of "hidden" salt, fat and sugar in common foods.

"I am concerned we are a nation drowning in excess oil, salt and sugar as we and our children continue to ignore the warnings and consume excessive amounts of unhealthy foods. Crisps (potato chips) are just the tip of the iceberg," said Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director of the charity.

A typical 35 gram packet of chips contains 12.5 teaspoons of oil.

In a BHF survey of 1153 children aged between eight and 15, an average 49 per cent of youngsters ate at least one pack of crisps a day. The figures ranged from a high of 60 per cent in Scotland to a low of 30 per cent in London. In Wales the figure was 50 per cent.

One in five of the children questioned said they ate crisps twice a day or more.

Britons' taste for them is so strong that as a nation they consume a tonne of crisps every three minutes, enough to fill an Olympic size swimming pool every 14 hours, the BHF said, referring to a Mintel report.

"The BHF believes having a daily dose of such a high-fat, nutritionally poor product is a threat to children's long-term health," said Professor Weissberg.

"Daily unhealthy snacking is a worrying habit," he added. "Rising rates of childhood obesity and cases of type 2 diabetes paint a particularly grim picture for the future."

Posted by Dean at 12:07 PM | Permalink

In a diet-obsessed world, we all have our own dream of the perfect weight-loss solution: a potato-chip diet, a pill that trims belly fat or, best of all, an exercise that builds lots of muscle with little work. The Power Plate, a new workout machine that looks like a doctor’s office scale on steroids, claims to do just that.

According to Power Plate’s manufacturers, if you stand on the machine’s vibrating plates for 10 minutes a day three times a week, you will lose weight, increase bone density and improve your overall health. But is that really possible?

It might be. Unlike the old-fashioned belt exercisers that just shifted skin around, the Power Plate uses whole-body vibration, or WBV, to contract muscles 30 to 50 times per second. While you stand on the moving plates in the bent-knee position recommended for beginners, the continual vibration causes you to tense and relax your muscles to keep your balance. Even without the vibration, you would involuntarily tense and release just to hold the pose. But the WBV forces you to do so up to 50 times more. That’s quite a workout for so little effort.

But to get the most out of the Power Plate, you can’t just stand. The best approach is to perform the same exercises you would do on the floor—squats, tricep dips, push-ups and the like. Your muscles fatigue quicker, so the exercise routine will be shorter, but you’re still not making the plates do all the work. “This is not a magic bullet that helps people lose weight without doing anything,” says Cedric Bryant, chief exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise. “If you are a healthy individual, wbv training should be a supplement to a sensible diet and exercise program.”

And a session of vibration may be not only good exercise but good therapy as well for people with physical ills like arthritis or osteoporosis. George Waylonis, a clinical professor emeritus of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Ohio State University, conducted a study on the effects of wbv on patients with fibromyalgia, a disease that causes constant full-body pain. Waylonis studied the Power Plate and the Galileo, another vibration exerciser, and was impressed by both. “WBV seems to be a way for people in pain to exercise their muscles and ultimately feel better,” he says.

More such research is certainly needed, but Power Plates can already be found in select gyms, rehabilitation centers and private homes. The machines are expensive: $3,500 for the home unit and $9,250 for the gym model, so some of the private owners are people with names like Madonna. (Soloflex has a simpler version of the Power Plate that sells for just $395.) But if you can’t afford the cost—or the space—for such a bulky bit of hardware, look for the units to show up at a gym near you soon
www.time.com

Posted by Dean at 04:51 PM | Permalink

AM - Wednesday, 13 September , 2006 08:26:00
Reporter: Alison Caldwell
TONY EASTLEY: Some of you may be about to take it. You won't be alone, it's certainly one of the more popular anti-inflammatory drugs used in Australia today.

More than 800,000 Australians used the drug last year, but a new study has shown that Voltaren could increase the risk of heart attack by as much as 40 per cent.

Australia's medicine watchdog, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, is now reviewing Voltaren's safety, amid fears it poses the same risks as Vioxx, which was recalled in 2004.

AM's Alison Caldwell reports.

ALISON CALDWELL: They're called non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and they're the frontline treatment of chronic painful conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.

Diclofenac is one of them. Under the brand name Voltaren, it's sold over the counter to hundreds of thousands of Australians each year.

Researchers at the University of Newcastle analysed 23 separate studies on the safety of these anti-inflammatories, and concluded that there are serious questions over the safety of Diclofenac in particular.

Professor of Clinical Pharmacology David Henry co-authored the study.

DAVID HENRY: Two came through as having an increased risk of heart attack, and they are Diclofenac, many brand names, and Indomethacin, a common brand name.

They both increased the relative risk of heart attack by about 50 per cent. But it's important to put that into context. It sounds a lot, but it depends on your background risk.

ALISON CALDWELL: Professor David Henry says Diclofenac stands out as having a risk equivalent to Vioxx.

Vioxx was recalled in 2004 after it was shown to double the risk of heart attack.

That helped increase the sales of the older alternative anti-inflammatories and painkillers, including Voltaren.

Professor Henry says people with a history of heart problems should avoid the drug.

DAVID HENRY: If you're an older person who has cholesterol, diabetes or a personal history of heart attack, you might have a background risk of four to six per cent per year, and increasing that by a relative 50 per cent means a two to three per cent absolute risk increase per year, meaning that around for every 50 people who took the drug in the long-term, one additional person would have a heart attack. Again not a huge number, but when you look at the number of people on the drug, it translates into quite a large number for the community.

ALISON CALDWELL: Now, when Vioxx was banned two years ago, people went back to these older, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and said ah, here we've got something to rely on. Now, if we can't rely on those, doesn't that just leave Paracetamol, and Paracetamol really doesn't touch the surface when you're talking about chronic pain.

DAVID HENRY: Well, for some people Paracetamol actually works quite well, but it doesn't work well for everybody, and some people do definitely need an anti-inflammatory product.

One drug which has come through as not having an increased risk, and this has been consistent across the studies, our own and others, and that is a drug called Naproxen, and it does not seem to increase the risk of heart attacks.

ALISON CALDWELL: The Therapeutic Goods Administration is conducting its own review of the use of these drugs and is expected to make a recommendation soon.

Professor Henry says pulling the drug off the market voluntarily would be difficult.

DAVID HENRY: Here there are too many manufacturers for that to happen, so it really falls to the regulatory system to deal with it, but also prescribers, pharmacists and consumers, because once the information's out there, these drugs are not disease limiting or disease modifying, they're symptom relieving.

There are other choices, and they can make up their own minds based on the information that's provided.

TONY EASTLEY: Co-author of the study, Professor David Henry, from the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, speaking there with Alison Caldwell.

abc.com.au

Posted by Dean at 04:46 PM | Permalink

Think you think got your diet under control? You may be gulping down hundreds of unwanted calories without even knowing it.

"Believe it or not, more than 20 percent of our daily calories come from the things that we drink," says Susan Aaronson, M.S., R.D., wellness coordinator for the M-Fit Health Promotion Division at the University of Michigan Health System. "In fact, the World Health Organization recommends that people consume only about 10 percent of their calories from liquids. So those extra calories from liquid beverages are adding to American's obesity epidemic, making it more difficult for people to lose weight

According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, about 136.5 million Americans are overweight. Of these people, about 64 million are obese.

And for the millions of Americans who are trying to lose that extra weight, the solution may not be in what you eat, but what you drink, says Aaronson. To help you make healthier beverage choices - from soda and sports drinks to fruit juice and milk - and cut back on calories, Aaronson offers the following tips.

Soft Drinks
"Soda is full of sugar and empty calories, making it a major contributor to the obesity problem in the United States," says Aaronson. "If you chose to eliminate one can of soda each day, which contains about nine teaspoons of sugar, you can lose about a pound in one month; and over the course of a year, you can lose up to 15 lbs."

And since it has no nutritional value, filling up on soda also prevents you from getting calories from sources that do contain essential vitamin and minerals. But if you absolutely can't live without a soda, Aaronson instead recommends drinking diet soda, or reserving it only for special occasions.

Fruit and vegetable juices
Are you drinking 'fruit juice' or some beverage labeled 'fruit drink?' The difference can mean extra calories and few nutrients, says Aaronson.

"Read the label carefully," cautions Aaronson. "If a juice label says that it's 'made with real fruit juice,' it may actually contain less than 10 percent of 'real' juice and about seven teaspoons of sugar. The best juice drinks to pick are those that say they contain '100 percent juice.'"

Parents should be particularly vigilant about how many juice boxes they allow their kids to drink each day. Just one juice box contains 100 calories, and four of them are equal to about a quarter of the amount of calories a child should consume in one day.

Aaronson recommends limiting yourself to one serving, or five ounces, of juice a day. The rest of your daily servings of fruits and vegetables should come from actual pieces of fruits and vegetables. Real fruits and vegetables contain the daily fiber your body needs that you won't find in fruit drinks.

Milk
Choosing low-fat milks can help you save hundreds of calories each day, says Aaronson.

Milk also contains vital nutrients like calcium, protein, vitamin D, and vitamin A that you won't find in other beverages. Plus, it is recommended that you get three servings of dairy every day.

To get the most from your milk, Aaronson says to choose 1 percent, 1/2 percent, or skim milk. With these options, you will still get all the nutrients your body needs but without the extra calories and fat.

Sports drinks and energy drinks
Although sports drinks replenish your body with electrolytes that help you retain water and stay hydrated, they still contain a lot of calories – one-half to one-third the amount of sugar you will find in soda.

"Sports drinks were actually developed for endurance athletes," explains Aaronson. "So if you plan to exercise for more than one continuous hour, then sports drinks are for you."

And you won't find a lot of nutritional value in energy drinks, either, notes Aaronson.

"Energy drinks are not only loaded with calories, but they will give you a quick high, followed by an extremely-low low afterward," explains Aaronson.

Alcohol
If you are planning an evening of dinner and drinks, remember that you could have the calorie-equivalent to a whole meal in drinks only, before you have eaten anything at all.

The average glass of wine has about 100 calories and a 12 oz. beer contains approximately 150 calories.

According to Aaronson, it's not uncommon for a mixed drink to have about 300 calories and the decadent frozen drinks like daiquiris to have 500 or more calories each. So limiting the number and types of drinks you have before eating will make a major difference for your waistline.

Water
So what is the ideal beverage to quench your thirst? It's the colorless, odorless, and tasteless refresher that makes up over half of our body mass: Water.

"Water is the single most important beverage that we can consume," says Aaronson. "A person could drink only water and be just fine, as long as he supplements his diet with food sources that contain calcium and other nutrients that one may find in other beverages such as milk and juice."

In general, 80 percent of a person's liquid calories should come from water depending on their height, weight, and where they live. That means the average adult should drink between 4 and 6 cups of water a day, which should be supplemented with milk and 100 percent juice to meet total daily liquid requirements.

Another option is flavored water that is fortified with vitamins. But Aaronson says if you are already eating a healthy diet, there's no reason to drink vitamins in the form of water.

The bottom line: "The next time you think about digging into the fridge for a soda, save yourself the money and the calories and reach for the tap instead," says Aaronson.

www.emaxhealth.com

Posted by Dean at 11:47 PM | Permalink