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The neck vs. the shoulder

  

Dr Mary Wyatt | Why we should look carefully.
The neck and shoulder are linked and influence one another. Sometimes it can be difficult to sort out the primary problem. Why does this matter? Because treatment for one won’t help if the problem is being caused by the other. Treatment can include surgery. Unnecessary surgery is obviously unnecessary, but can results in delays in appropriate treatment and complications from the surgery itself. more >>

The sciatica of the neck - another version of radiculopathy.

  

Dr Mary Wyatt | A closer look at one cause of neck pain.
Pressure on the nerves as they exit the neck causes pain in the arm. This is known by a number of terms such as brachial neuralgia or cervical radiculopathy. In everyday terms, this is pinched nerves. Many people are familiar with a lumbar spine disc prolapse causing sciatica. This is pressure on the nerves leaving the low back pinching the sciatic nerve. The same process can occur in the neck. more >>

Recorded Webinar: A Case Management Discussion

  

RTWMatters team | Frank Imbesi & Dr Mary Wyatt discuss a case put forward by RTWMatters member Meagan Moravcova.
Once again we asked our members to put forward suggestions from real life cases. Joining Dr Mary Wyatt to discuss the case and respond to your questions and comments will be Frank Imbesi, physiotherapist and managing director of AMS Consulting. Frank has extensive experience in the field of occupational rehabilitation and RTW. He has worked in multiple jurisdictions and consulted to employers, compensation regulators and universities. more >>

Multidisciplinary rehab costs $$. Is it worth it?

   

Hannah Bourne | A comparison of the effectiveness of multidisciplinary rehabilitation and standard care in the treatment of neck and shoulder pain.
Take Home Messages: Multidisciplinary rehabilitation for neck and shoulder pain should be carried out by a team, including a psychologist to provide psychological treatment, a social worker, occupational nurse or occupational therapist to address the social aspects, and an occupational nurse or physical therapist to address the work-related issues. Multidisciplinary rehabilitation for neck and shoulder pain is significantly more expensive than usual care. more >>

 

Take an 'email vacation' for your health

Taking a break from emailing while you're still at work may reduce your stress levels, improve your health and help you focus better, US News reports. A new study found that workers who were cut off from email for five days experienced more natural, variable heart rates and switched between computer windows only half as much. Study co-author Gloria Mark said the findings could help boost productivity by encouraging offices to implement email vacations - by controlling login times, batching messages or through other strategies. "We were surprised by the results, because they didn't have to turn out this way," said Mark. "It's possible that people might have been even more stressed not to have email, to feel like they were missing out on something, so we didn't expect that people would become significantly less stressed." Workers who didn't take the email vacation switched screens an average of 37 times per hour, compared with 18 for the email vacationers. Non-vacationers were also in a steady 'high-alert' state, with more constant heart rates. "(The study) really got at some important issues such as multitasking, focus and being present at what we do on a day-to-day basis," said David Ballard, head of the American Psychological Association's Psychologically Healthy Workplace Program.

 

Meditation improves health

A University of Sydney study has linked the experience of "mental silence" with better health outcomes and greater wellbeing. "We found that the health and wellbeing profile of people who had meditated for at least two years was significantly higher in the majority of health and wellbeing categories when compared to the Australian population," said lead researcher Dr Ramesh Manocha. Mental health of participants was the area of greatest difference, with long-term meditators being 10 per cent better-off than the general population. The study is a world-first health quality of life survey of long-term meditators, and has been published in the journal of Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The study focused on Sahaja Yoga meditation, aimed at achieving a state of mental silence, as opposed to relaxation or mindfulness meditation techniques. "While we did expect that there would be some differences between the meditators and the general population we didn't expect the findings to be so pronounced. We repeated large components of the survey several times to confirm our results and got the same outcomes...[The results make] a strong case for the use of meditation as a primary prevention strategy, especially in mental health."

 

Controlling obesity will save over $500 billion

Controlling the rise in obesity and promoting wellbeing is arguably the most important public health priority since the anti-tobacco campaign, and could save over $500 billion in treatment costs, Medical News Today reports. Researchers from Duke University, RTI International and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that an additional 32 million more obese people are likely to become a burden on the healthcare system through to the year 2030. "Keeping obesity rates level," said lead author Eric Finkelstein, PhD, "could yield a savings of nearly $550 billion in medical expenditures over the next two decades." The study, which was released at the Centre for Disease Control's Weight of the Nation conference in Washington, D.C., suggest that nearly half of the US population will be obese by 2030. "Should these forecasts prove accurate, the adverse health and cost consequences of obesity are likely to continue to escalate without a significant intervention...We know more than ever about the most successful strategies that will help Americans live healthier, more active lives and reduce obesity rates and medical costs...People need to make healthy choices, but the healthy choices must first be available and accessible in order to make them."

 

How someone 'ranks' their depression may impede them seeking help

Someone's judgment about whether they are depressed or not - and whether or not they should seek help - hinges on how they believe their suffering "ranks" in comparison to the suffering experienced by other people, Medical News Today reports. New research says the danger of this ranking is that people often make inaccurate judgments about their own depression and anxiety symptoms, which may lead to missed diagnoses or false positive diagnoses of mental health conditions. "It is the patient that initiates most GP consultations about depression and anxiety, so that personal decision to see a doctor is a vital factor in determining a diagnosis," said researchers. "Worryingly, people who could be the most vulnerable to mental health disorders - for example those from certain geographical areas of the country or demographic groups where depression and anxiety are high - could be the very ones who are at highest risk of missed diagnoses." Vulnerable individuals who are surrounded by people who feel depressed may not seek help because comparatively, they perceive their suffering as less than those around them. Conversely, those suffering from depression very rarely may incorrectly believe that their suffering is abnormal, simply by comparing themselves to others. "Given that fact, our study may explain why there are such high rates of under and over-detection of depression and anxiety," said researchers.

 

Use of pedometers improves health

The wellbeing of over previously 750 sedentary office workers substantially improved when they were given pedometers and a daily goal of 10,000 steps, Sky News reports. Researchers followed the workers over a four-month period, sending them weekly encouragement emails and tallying the number of steps walked. Around 50 per cent of those considered to have poor wellbeing at the beginning of the study transitioned to positive wellbeing after the four months. This improvement was sustained, with positive results remaining present one year later. "These results suggest that a health program such as this which incorporates both physical activity and team collegial involvement has the potential to improve wellbeing," said the study's authors.

 

Long commutes hazardous to health?

While more people are living further away from urban centers, the risks to health of commuting are becoming apparent, Science Daily reports. A new study has found that greater commuting distances are associated with decreased cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), increased weight and other indicators of metabolic risk. Researchers said the study provides more information about the way in which commuting contributes to the mortality risk of sedentary behavior. The study found that people who drove longer distances to work reported less frequent participation in moderate to vigorous physical activity. Those who commuted more than 15 miles to work were less likely to meet recommendations for moderate to vigorous physical activity, while those who commuted greater than 10 miles were associated with high blood pressure.