Category: Physio

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By nhcuser 0 Comments Injury, Physio, Physio, Studies, Therapy, Therapy

THE INFLUENCE OF SMARTPHONE USE ON SPINAL POSTURE

  • Smart phones have become increasingly more popular and complicated tasks can be performed with these devices. However, the increasing use is associated with shoulder and neck pain, as well as with psycho-logical addiction.
  • Over the last years smart phones have gotten increasingly popular, since they can perform complicated tasks such as internet access, social networking, and Smartphone applications.
  • According to the study currently 45.12 % of the world’s population has a smart-phone.
  • Smartphone users spend more than 20 h per week on texting, emailing, and using social networks, which represents a significant dependence on smart phones for connecting and communicating with others
  • The high use of smart phones has increase negative influences on safety and health, including mental and musculoskeletal health. In particular, using smart phones for daily tasks by a combination of internet use and mobile calls can lead to Smartphone addiction. The overuse of smartphone affects the upper extremity pain, anxiety, depression, and interpersonal relationships. They found that anxiety and depression were more common. Increased smartphone use can also lead to an increased non-neutral posture and sustained muscle loading. Increased smartphone use can lead to musculoskeletal pain, which can be found in 1–67.8 % of all smartphone users, with neck pain being the most prevalent.
  • The prevalence of Smartphone addiction is reported to be around 8.4–24.9 % in adolescents. Adults between the ages of 18–24 years use their smartphones for 980 call minutes and for 1200 text messages per month.
  • The human spine is linked in a kinematic chain of joints, meaning that changes in other body segments, such as increased head flexion during texting with a smartphone, can have significant effects on the whole spine. Smartphone use leads to a significant increase in the head flexion angle, and that this increase may depend on the respective smartphone task. An increased head flexion angle requires higher contraction forces of the neck extensor muscles in order to support the head in a more flexed position, which has been identified as a risk factor for head and neck pain.
  • Smartphones are a detrimental part of our daily lives, however overuse can be associated with physical and psychological problems. smartphone tasks lead to significant changes in the spinal posture such as increased thoracic kyphosis and trunk inclination during standing and while walking. It was demonstrated that smartphone use can also lead to significant changes in the lumbar lordosis and in the rotation of the spine, as measured by the surface rotation.
By nhcuser 0 Comments Clinic, Physio, Work Injury

DOES VITAMIN D BENEFIT ONLY THOSE WHO ARE DEFICIENT?

Vitamin   D   is   an   essential   nutrient   obtained   from   sunlight, dietary intake, and supplementation.  Obser­vational   epidemiological   studies   have   consistently   found that low concentrations of circulating 25­hydro x y­      vitamin  D  (25[OH]D),  a  metabolite  used  as  a  clinical  indicator  of  vitamin  D  status,  are  associated  with  an  increased  risk  of  cardiovascular  disease  and  all­cause  mortality,  as  well  as  other  chronic  diseases.

The randomised trials of vitamin D supplementation for cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality have generally reported null findings.  However,  generalisability  of  results  to  individuals  with  low  vitamin  D  status  is  unclear.   The study is to  characterize   dose-response   relationships   between   25-hydroxy vitamin   D   (25[OH]D)   concentrations  and  risk  of  coronary  heart  disease,  stroke,  and  all-cause  mortality  in  observational  and  Mendelian  randomisation frameworks.

  • There is a significant inverse relationship between concentrations of circulating 25­-hydroxy­-vitamin D (25[OH]D) and all-cause mortality, but only in people with vitamin D35 studies showed that, overall, there is no significant relationship between 25(OH)D concentrations, a clinical indicator of vitamin D status, and the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, or all-cause death.
  • In vitamin D deficient individuals, each 10 nmol/L increase in 25(OH)D concentrations reduced the risk of all-cause mortality by 31%.(Stephen Burgess, PhD)
  • There was a non-significant link between 25(OH)D concentrations and stroke and CHD, but again, only in vitamin D deficient individuals. (Research, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology)
  • The result of the study an accompanying editorial, Guillaume Butler-LaPorte, MD, and J. Brent Richards, MD, “could have important public health and clinical consequences” and will “allow clinicians to better weigh the potential benefits of supplementation against its risk,” such as financial cost, “for better patient care — particularly among those with frank vitamin D deficiency.”
  • “Given that vitamin D deficiency is relatively common and vitamin D supplementation is safe, the rationale exists to test the effect of vitamin D supplementation in those with deficiency in large-scale randomized controlled trials.”
  • The team gathered data from the UK Biobank, the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition Cardiovascular Disease (EPIC-­CVD) study, 31 studies from the Vitamin D Studies Collaboration (VitDSC), and two Copenhagen population­-based studies.
  • They first performed an observational study that included 384,721 individuals from the UK Biobank and 26,336 from EPIC-­CVD who had a valid 25(OH)D measurement and no previously known cardio­vascular disease at baseline.
  • Researchers also included 67,992 participants from the VitDSC studies who did not have previously known cardiovascular disease. They analyzed 25(OH)D concentrations, conventional cardiovascular risk factors, and major incident cardiovascular morbidity and mortality using individual participant data.
  • The results showed that, at low 25(OH)D concentrations, there was an inverse association between 25(OH)D and incident CHD, stroke, and all-cause mortality.

Up to 7% of Study Participants Were Vitamin D Deficient

  • The 25(OH)D analysis indicated that 3.9% of UK Biobank and 3.7% of Copenhagen study participants were deficient, compared with 6.9% in EPIC-CVD.
  • Across the full range of 25(OH)D concentrations, there was no significant association between genetically­ predicted 25(OH)D levels and CHD, stroke, or all­-cause mortality.
  • The genetic variants may affect 25(OH)D concentrations in a different way from “dietary supplementation or other clinical interventions.”