Omega-3 Fatty Acids Shown To Prevent Or Slow Progression Of Osteoarthritis

New research has shown for the first time that omega-3 in fish oil could "substantially and significantly" reduce the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis. 

According to the University of Bristol study, funded by Arthritis Research UK and published in the journal Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, omega-3-rich diets fed to guinea pigs, which naturally develop osteoarthritis, reduced disease by 50 per cent compared to a standard diet. 

The research is a major step forward in showing that omega-3 fatty acids, either sourced from fish oil or flax oil, may help to slow down the progression of osteoarthritis, or even prevent it occurring, confirming anecdotal reports and "old wives' tales" about the benefits of fish oil for joint health. 
Source:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/236143.php

Measuring Quality Of Life Important In Cancer Survival Research

Cancer survival studies should treat questions about how well people are surviving with the same importance as how long: putting quality of life on an equal footing with survival years, say researchers writing in a scientific journal this month.

Effective and reliable quality of life measures offer increasingly valuable information for cancer patients and their doctors when they discuss treatment options, their potential consequences and the likely rehabilitation needs, write Drs Paul B. Jacobsen and Heather S. Jim, of the Department of Health Outcomes and Behavior at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, in the October issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

Quality of life is often as keenly discussed as cancer survival in years, and has a number of important applications in research on cancer survivorship. 

But just how to measure quality of life for cancer survivors is still being developed, say the authors, who give an overview of how quality of life is defined and constructed as a scientific measure, and the ways it is commonly used in research involving adult cancer survivors.

In conclusion, they offer several priorities for future research, including how quality of life should be measured, in whom, and how such measures should be used by clinicians caring for cancer survivors.
Read full article:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/236810.php

Manual Wheelchair Use, Exercise, And Calorie Burning

A person who uses a manual wheelchair can burn up to 120 calories in half an hour while wheeling at 2 mph on a flat surface, which is three times as much as someone doing the same action in a motorized wheelchair. 

The same person can expend 127 calories while mopping and as much as 258 calories while fencing in a thirty-minute timeframe if the activities are done in a manual wheelchair. 

This is according to a review article written by Professor David R. Bassett Jr. of the Department of Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. It calculates the calorie costs of various physical activities for people who use manual wheelchairs and summarizes them into a single source - a first of its kind. 

The article, which Bassett co-authored with former UT graduate student Scott A. Conger, was published this month in Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, a journal issued by Human Kinetics Inc. 
Read full article:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/236799.php

Palpation: Is It Necessary?

 Palpation is the act of examining by touch to help diagnose illness or disease in people.  Physical therapists often use palpation to help decide on the best treatment strategy for their patients.

Palpation can be used to feel muscles, tendons, bones or ligaments to test for trigger points, hypermobility, or hypomobility.  Sometimes palpating tissue can detect warmth, indicating possible inflammation or infection.    In the evaluation and treatment of low back pain, palpation is often used to assess spinal segmental motion and pain over various structures in the back.

But is the information gathered by palpating a body part reliable?

Most published studies indicate that the answer is "no."

A study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics investigated the inter-rater reliability of spinal palpation for lumbar segmental mobility and pain provocation.  Two clinicians palpated spinal segments and sacroiliac joints of 39 patients and independently assessed pain provocation, segmental mobility, and instability.

The findings: there was poor inter-rater agreement for spinal segmental motion testing.  In fact, the statistical results indicated negative kappa coefficients.  Here's the skinny on kappa: When two people are rating something, a kappa value equal to 1 means they are in agreement and very little chance is involved.  A kappa value equal to 0 means that there is no agreement between the raters other than what is expected by chance.

A negative kappa value pretty much means that you could flip a coin to assess spinal segmental motion and do better than palpation as an assessment.

For those of you keeping score:  in the study, pain provocation kappa values ranged from .21 to .73 and instability testing was .54.  Not great reliability, but not too bad either.

What does this all mean?  It means that if you have low back pain and your physical therapist palpates your back and finds hypermobility, another therapist may find hypomobility.  Palpation is just not a great tool to assess the condition of your back and make clinical decisions.  Any information gathered from palpation should be considered, but considered lightly.  Other tests and measures, like range of motion, repeated motion testing, and strength are more reliable.

Source:http://physicaltherapy.about.com/b/2011/10/27/palpation-is-it-necessary.htm

Meninges Is Source Of Self-Renewing Stem Cells, Potential For Spinal Cord Injury Treatment

In a study published in STEM CELLS, Italian and Spanish scientists have provided the first evidence to show that meninges, the membrane which envelops the central nervous system, is a potential source of self-renewing stem cells. Whilst studying the use of stem cells for treating spinal cord injuries, the researchers learnt to understand cell activation in central nervous system injuries, enabling research to advance into new treatments for spinal injuries and degenerative brain disorders. 
Source:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/236746.php

World OT Day

The World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) launched World Occupational Therapy Day in 2010.  This important day is celebrated annually on October 27, 2011. World OT Day is fast approaching and I encourage you to take this opportunity to get involved.


World Occupational Therapy Day - 24 hour Virtual Exchange - A group of six occupational therapists (Susan Burwash, Merrolee Penman, Angela Hook, Sarah Bodell, Anita Hamilton and Karen Jacobs) who are passionate about using online technology will again host a free 24 hour virtual exchange in celebration of World Occupational Therapy Day. For more information, please visit: http://ot4ot.com/world-ot-day-2011/ or follow them on Twitter: @OTVirtualExchng  or hashtag #OT24vx

Playing Computer Games Helps Parkinson's Patients

More than half of the people with Parkinson's disease who took part in a small pilot study led by the University of California - San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing and Red Hill Studios showed small improvements in walking speed, balance and stride length after three months of playing computer-based physical therapy games.

A UCSF press release dated 19 October describes how the specialized games are not like off-the-shelf computer games. They have been designed to encourage scientifically tested physical movements to help people whose motor skills have been affected, for instance as in Parkinson's disease.
Source:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/236337.php