This year I have been reading a lot about barefoot running - running form seems to be important more so than the actual footwear, so this article is helpful in terms of drills and trying to change some of how I land on my feet when I run.  Although I have managed to stay uninjured, most runners do get hurt - up to 80% of runners every year have some sort of injury, so correct form (not necessarily running the way I am used to) is important.  Having said that, the book 'Born to Run' by Christopher MacDougall was a pretty inspirational read - I'll even do my first ultra marathon later this year (2012).

This is another great blog post on Chronic pain - this site is becoming my 'interesting pages' repository!!

I am using this as a good place to put the links I like for further reading.  There are a lot of posts on this 'Better Movement' blog.  This one on Back pain myths, and this one on managing chronic pain.  

Another article on sitting vs standing, based on the previous articles.  But I think the point here is that it is important to have the ability to move and to have choices about movement, rather than standing being better than sitting, or vice versa.

I love this article this week about exercise and the brain.  I must be getting very very smart by now :)  And another about exercise, bones and insulin that wasn't expected.  So all this must be good for me!

And although this one is not an article, this forum is giving me a lot of inspiration at the moment.  It is a guide to all the marathons around the world, but it is the reviews of the NY marathon that I am mainly reading, although the other posts give many ideas for future runs!  It gives a great sense of community, as well as helping me with my expectations for the bits that are most unkonwn to me - the start procedure, then finish.

Another story on cancer in the news, this one about red wine and the myths surrounding it.  Ties in the previous articles on alcohol and cancer.

This article I found interesting mainly as a physio.  Professionally, my line with symmetry is really that so long as everything moves well and undue load is not being felt dispoportionately at a single level, it is ok.   A scoliosis does not need treatment in and of itself.  You can function very well with one, and indeed, most ofus have a scoliosis to some degree by virtue of being 1 hand dominant.  Good stuff here.  The auther, Todd Hargreave, writes pretty prolifically, some I agree with, some not so much, but there is certainly much food for thought in his writing.

And some running drills. :)

This is a great graphic page about how sitting is killing us - simple take home messages, in line with some of the other articles I have posted.

More articles in the news this week about bowel cancer - the first, about alcohol and it's links to cancer which are now thought to be absolutely causative (like smoking and asbestos), and then about bowel cancer rates amongst younger adults increasing.  The worrying thing about that trend is that the scientists don't know why yet.   It could be that generally, we eat more meat, are fatter and drink more alcohol.  That makes sense, but it is not proven yet.  Just to put another one in the mix - science, skeptism and medicine.  I have these links up on my Vital Core Physiotherapy facebook page as well, if you would like to check that out.

The Cancer Council came out this week and announced that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption, and that alcohol should be considered to be as carcinogenic as smoking and asbestos are.  As well as being highly associated with throat and mouth cancers, it is now found to correlate highly with breast and bowel cancers.  Perhaps it should not be so surprising that a substance that can so alter mood and ability, even at very mild levels should turn out to be in fact, not good for us.  Then again, it is one of the risk factors to be taken into account, like BMI, smoking, family history and so on.  Thus if you are at increased risk and you consume alcohol, your risk increases further.

This story, an editorial from the British Journal of Sports Medicine earlier this year has some amazing targets - it ties in with our look at sitting and health, and is about developing healthcare systems that support exercise - recognise it as being as vital a measure of our health as is blood sugar levels or blood pressure.  It recommends 150 minutes of physical activity per week for adults as a minimum.  30 mins on 5 days.  For children, it is 420 mins / week - 60 minutes every day.  How close are you?

This is another article on inactivity / obesity and health from Sports Medicine Australia, highlighting the link between an inactive childhood and a lifetime of battling depression.  It is food for thought (!) these days where there seems to be much paranoia about safety of children away from their parents watchful eyes, and therefore a tendency to want to keep them closely under watch instead of encouraging more activity and indeed risk taking behaviours.  The ability to judge situations for risk and to be able to take appropriate risks builds self esteem and resilience.  Not much to do with bowel cancer awareness, but close to my heart as well.

Another article on sitting

This one is in really simple terms - if you walk 30 mins (as recommended) and sleep 8 hours, most of us still have 15.5 hours per day not moving.  You cannot sit all day behind a screen, then drive your car and sit and watch tv with out it being bad for you.  A good read.

'Pelvic Floor First' is live!

This is a new initiative of the Continence Foundation of Australia aimed to develop stronger links between the Fitness Industry and Continence Professionals.  This is especially important for the areas I work in - pregnant and postnatal women and perimenopausal women.  Most of whom are wanting to exercise to counteract the toll the hormones or change in hormones have taken on them.  Required reading for all those in the fitness industry!!!

The Lethal Effects of Sitting

I have found a really good article talking about the ill effects of sitting.  It is something I have been very aware of through my membership of Sports Medicine Australia as there are some researchers around Australia and the rest of the world who are not exercise physiologists so much as they are 'inactivity physiologists'.  Inactivity is much worse for you than simply not exercising much.  Whenever I read articles like this one from the NY Times, I get all excited about spreading the word - you must move, you must move.  It is not a choice.  You are not too busy.  You can't be.  Take the stairs, walk down the street, pop up and down at work.  Do not be chained like a bunny to your desk.  Move.

Here are some great opinion pieces on the same topic, from the same paper, debating how we actually make the changes, and if indeed we should....

Bowel Cancer rates predicted to soar

The scary part here to motivate us to get tested now is that 20% of the bowel cancers getting picked up now are at stage 4 on diagnosis, which usually gives a very poor prognosis.  Get tested, do it now, don't wait for the government to send you a kit, depending on the funding levels.

clickhere to read the article

Pelvic Floor First

This is the topic close to my professional heart, and I expect I'll post plenty more up like this one.  But this is just a teaser - World Continence Week in June this year will have a pelvic floor and exercise focus, so I'll be doing lots to tie in with this.

click here

15 years of screening
A debate piece published in the Medical Journal of Australia last year, reflecting on 15 years of bowel cancer screening in Australia.  It highlights the decisions that get made on political grounds, rather than determining public policy on what will achieve the greatest good.  As usual, money is the sticking point.  This one is from a couple of years ago.


Benefits of screening
A recent article (Feb 2011) on the Australian Medical Association website, discussing the benefits of Bowel Cancer screening programs and urging their expansion to all Australian aged 50 - 75.  It especially talks about how cost effective government run programs are.

Chronic Pain

I did see another web page I liked.  It talks about chronic pain and management of that in pain clinics, which I am interested in professionally, but I like a lot of what he talks about here, about expectations and the need to work out what you can do, not just what you can do comfortably.  Food for thought.

Bowel Cancer

This press release from the Cancer Council has plenty of scary statistics about the growth in Bowel cancer rates – but we can protect ourselves and our loved ones.   Awareness is all we need.  Get a kit if you are around 40 or older.  Do a poo.  Send it off to be tested.  A bit gross, but easy.  

With some reinforcement from the Continence Foundation of Australia (of which I am a member)

Screening
For the sake of paying $40 at the chemist, we can take responsibility for our own health.  We just need to know we can do it, and where to get them.