wellness weekly

Busy Parents: Here is a great way to stay fit, model fitness and spend quality time with your children. In the morning ride your bike to school with your child and then ride home. In the pm, ride back to escort him or her home. I saw a mom doing this today and both she and her son looked happy to be greeting the day in this way.

Medical Devices: Off label use means prescribing medication for an indication outside of the FDA approved use. It is legal and relatively common. However, drug companies are not allowed to market the medicine for other use nor suggest to providers that they use the medicine to treat an “off label” condition. I did not know the same rules and practices apply to medical devices. If drug or medical device companies advertise or in any way try to influence such off label use they can be sanctioned or sued. Currently, Medtronic is being sued for encouraging surgeons to use its spine product for conditions outside of the FDA approved indications.

Knees!: Speaking of unnecessary, a study out recently suggests that too many people are having arthroscopic knee surgery. A couple of research studies that included a large number of subjects, and control and experimental groups who were followed over time , indicate that in many of the cases where it has been used, this surgery, which is done through a very small incision, is NOT more effective than physical therapy and medication. The surgery has risks, surgery always has risks, and it is expensive. This type can cost around 7000$ for an outpatient procedure. The article I read doesn’t say this, but I am pretty sure there would be some medication and rehabilitation post surgery. Meaning that the surgery doesn’t take the place of physical therapy but is don’t in addition. The best results of arthroscopy are for injury (meniscus tears) or mild to moderate arthritis. Advanced osteoarthritis where one may eventually need total knee replacement is not ameliorated by this less invasive procedure.

Bring It On: A small but interesting study offers a new concept with regard to overcoming the temptation to eat unhealthy foods. In this study, Kelly Geyskens Ph.D, had women participate in a fake marketing exercise which also had them exposed to sweets which they did not have the ok to eat. Compared to women who did the same exercise without any do not eat candy in the room, the first group was more likely to resist the temptation to eat sweets when they were available without restrictions. Dr. Geyskins suggests then that will power can be learned through exposure and building on success. This questions the theory of our Mom’s who say, “Don’t keep that stuff in the house!” Because the author of the study says, without practicing how to handle temptation, tempting situations are not handled well. Hmm. Not sure I would try this with people trying to quit smoking, or maybe we should. Oh that would be a cool study!

Plastics: Again there ARE chemicals in them which may or may not cause harm if you heat them, may or may not cause harm if you drink from them, and almost certainly cause problems when they are put in the ground and when companies who make them allow chemical waste to leach into our ground water. Now a study does link one of the plastic chemicals, Bisphenol A or BPA to both cardiovascular disease and diabetes. This chemical is found in many household products including plastic bottles, but also CDs and helmets. Many companies have reformulated their products so as not to use BPA. Past FDA / EPA reports did not find a high enough level of BPA in persons to warrant concern. They are now reviewing this additional data.

Which leads me to this weeks closing thought, how can a product with a multitude of toxic chemicals and cancer causing agents still be legally sold anywhere in this world?

Don’t smoke! Do exercise, do eat right, do rest, do find peace, do get moving……….