How prevalent is it among chiropractic patients to seek care for shoulder pain? To find out researchers in Australia mailed 1037 surveys to New South Wales-based chiropractors. A total of 192 surveys were returned completed.Results revealed that “the prevalence of shoulder pain symptoms as reported by the practitioners was 12% of the total weekly patients, with the major cause of symptoms related to overuse (32%). The most prevalent working diagnosis of shoulder pain was shoulder impingement syndrome (13%), followed by impingement syndrome with rotator cuff tendinosis (17%), impingement syndrome without rotator cuff tendinosis (14%), and chiropractic shoulder subluxation (12%). Shoulder pain is managed with a combination of manipulation, mainly diversified technique (81%), peripheral joint manipulation (82%), and various soft tissue strategies used by 92% of practitioners. Rehabilitation strategies were also used by 89% of practitioners with a main emphasis placed on rotator cuff strengthening.”

JMPT – February 2009;23:107-17.

www.mosby.com/jmpt

A new study shows that higher temperatures and lower barometric air pressure may lead to a higher, short-term risk of headaches, but air pollution may not have a significant effect on headache. The research is published in today’s issue of Neurology.

For the study, researchers looked at 7,054 people who were diagnosed with headache in a Boston emergency department over seven years. Scientists then compared temperature levels, barometric pressure, humidity and other air pollutant or weather factors during one to three days leading up to the hospital visit.  

The study found that higher temperatures increased the risk of headache. The risk went up by 7.5 percent for every five degree Celsius increase in temperature. Lower barometric air pressure within the two or three days leading up to a person’s hospital visit also increased the risk of non-migraine headaches. Air pollution levels had no affect on the risk of headache in the study.

“Air temperature and pressure have been widely cited as a possible trigger for headaches, particularly migraines, but the potential connection hasn’t been well-documented,” says study author Kenneth Mukamal, MD.

“There is growing interest in exploring whether there is any link between air pollution and headaches. While our study did not find an association, other studies have shown that air pollution has possible links to other health problems like heart disease and stroke,” adds Dr. Mukamal.

Neurology – March 2009;72:922-927.

www.neurology.org

Mental fatigue may negatively influence exercise performance, according to a report in the Journal of Applied Physiology.As part of the study 16 participants rode a stationary bicycle to exhaustion under two conditions: once when they were mentally fatigued and once when they were mentally rested. The mental fatigue sessions began with a challenging 90-minute mental task that required close attention, memory, quick reaction and an ability to inhibit a response. The trials took place in the laboratory on different days. The participants got the same amount of sleep, drank the same amount and had the same meal before each of the sessions.

Throughout both exercise sessions, the researchers tracked a variety of physiological measures, such as oxygen consumption, heart rate, cardiac output, blood pressure, ventilation, and blood lactate levels.

Results revealed that the volunteers stopped exercising an average of 15% earlier when they were mentally fatigued. However, the study also found that mental fatigue did not cause the heart or muscles to perform any differently. So the difference in performance was due to “perceived effort.”

Journal of Applied Physiology – March 2009;106:857-64.

jap.physiology.org

Drinking at least three cups of green or black tea a day can significantly reduce the risk of stroke, according to a UCLA review of nine studies.”By drinking three cups of tea a day, the risk of a stroke was reduced by 21%. It didn’t matter if it was green or black tea,” explains lead study author Lenore Arab, PhD.

And extrapolating from the data, the effect appears to be linear, Dr. Arab adds. For instance, if one drinks three cups a day, the risk falls by 21 percent; follow that with another three cups and the risk drops another 21 percent.

This effect was found in tea made from the plant Camellia sinensis, not from herbal teas.

Stroke – February 19, 2009;Epub.

stroke.ahajournals.org