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By Annette M. Zaharoff, MD

Scientific reports are in fairly unanimous agreement that regular exercise will help prolong your life. In fact many of the symptoms of aging are now believed to be related more to disuse rather than the aging process itself, which means you have some control over your aging process.

What happens
The most dramatic declines due to aging occur in muscle strength. You will lose six pounds of muscle each decade unless you do some type of resistance exercise to strengthen your muscles. Strength training may include the use of weights, exercise machines, elastic bands or any form of calisthenics that allows the muscles to get resistive training.

The loss of muscle mass not only changes our body composition and general strength, but it also lowers our metabolism and exposes us to greater risk of age-related disease. Typically, with the loss of muscle there is an increase in body fat. This combination adds extra strain on the heart, alters our body's ability to metabolize sugar (increasing the risk for diabetes) and can elevate the bad cholesterol and reduce the good cholesterol, leading to heart attack and stroke.

Building muscle is easier than you may think.
Strength training just 20 minutes a day, two or three times a week, for 10 to 12 weeks can rebuild three pounds of muscle and increase your metabolism by 7 percent. Boosting your metabolism will give you more energy; make you feel more alert, more focused and more alive! Many other systems of the body will benefit from increasing your muscle mass; reducing blood pressure, improving your ability to use glucose from the blood by 25 percent, increasing your bone mass by one to three percent and improving gastrointestinal efficiency by 55 percent.

Living longer
A regular exercise program consisting of 30 minutes of physical activity at least three days a week can reduce your risk of dying in the next eight years by 49 percent, improve brain function, cut your risk of Alzheimer's disease by up to 60 percent and decrease the symptoms of depression. Given that 80 percent of the population over 65 suffers from at least one chronic condition, and half have two or more, according to a report from the Census Bureau and the National Institute on Aging, exercise is a powerful medicine!
 
Scientists are learning more about how the aging process works. Aerobic and strength training impact every cell in the body, helping reduce inflammation, increase blood flow and even improving oxygen efficiency. Improvement in a tiny energy-producing factory called mitochondria function in our cells to take glucose, protein, and fat from the food we eat and turn them into energy. Exercise can be traced to improving the function of mitochondria which naturally declines with age.

Exercise also combats damage from free radicals created as a by product of using oxygen. Regular exercise over time can slow your resting heart rate, thereby decreasing the amount of oxygen you need overall and reducing the rate at which you create harmful free radicals.
No matter when you start, the evidence is clear: Daily physical activity can transform and prolong your life. If you need help getting started on a program or have had orthopedic injuries in the past, contact your sports medicine physician to help you get started on a safe program. Get started! Get healthy! Live longer!

Dr. Annette Zaharoff is a sports medicine physician specializing in the non-surgical evaluation and treatment of injuries. She maintains a private practice in San Antonio and may be reached by calling her office at (210) 616-0646 or visiting her Web site www.drZmd.com

By Annette. M. Zaharoff, M.D.

There are many types of treatments used in sports medicine to help injuries heal. Taping is one such treatment that has been used by athletes for many years. Recently, advances in taping techniques and materials have allowed even more effective treatment options to become available. Kinesio taping is one such method. Kinesio tape is used to facilitate healing and support areas that have been injured to allow athletes as well as weekend warriors to return to activity as soon as possible.

If you watched any of the 2009 Olympics, you may have noticed athletes from around the world sporting multi-colored tape like a badge of courage or a newly born tattoo. The tape which is intertwined around joints and ligaments as if to keep them from falling apart actually has a specific purpose and technique.

Kinesio tape is an elastic tape placed on the body to relieve tension support muscles and joints to allow them to heal. The Kinesio® Taping Method is applied over muscles to reduce pain and inflammation, relax overused or tired muscles and support muscles in movement on a 24-hour-a-day basis. It is not a restrictive type of taping and allows for full range of motion. In contrast, traditional sports taping is wrapped around a joint strictly for stabilization and support during an athletic event. Kinesio® Tex tape is used to treat anything from headaches to foot problems and everything in-between. Examples include rehabilitation from sports injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, lower back strain/pain (subluxation, herniated disc), knee and shoulder conditions and more.

This taping method requires a tape that is patient and skin-friendly, possesses optimum elastic qualities, is the same thickness and elasticity as the skin and that is durable enough to stay on for multiple days, even through sweating and showers.

Tape application

Without getting too technical, the tape is applied over the affected area with the muscles in a stretched position. Then the tape is applied from one end of the muscle to the other with very little to no stretch on the tape. The tape is applied from the origin to insertion of the muscle for support and from insertion to origin to reduce tension. There are also multiple applications to support joint motion as well.

There are many different colors available for Kinesio tape but there is no physical difference between the colors. Color choice is a matter of individual preference. Kinesio tape will not affect bio-mechanics of the patient. Latex-free, Kinesio® Tex Tape is safe for sensitive skin and for populations ranging from pediatric to geriatric.

If you are injured, talk to your sports medicine physician and find out if Kinesio tape may be helpful in your rehabilitation program. You can also visit my Web site, www.drZmd.com, for more information.

Dr. Annette Zaharoff is a sports medicine physician specializing in the non-surgical evaluation and treatment of injuries. She maintains a private practice in San Antonio and may be reached by calling her office at (210) 616-0646 or visiting her Web site www.drZmd.com

Healing Injuries with Sound Waves

by Annette M. Zaharoff, MD

Various types of heat have been found to have useful roles in treating sports injuries. When sports injuries require deep tissue heating, one of the most effective therapies is the use of ultrasound.
 
Ultrasound works by converting high frequency alternating current into mechanical acoustic vibrations, or sonic waves, that are converted to heat. Ultrasound can penetrate about 7 to 8 cm in fatty tissue where it increases the temperature 4 to 5 degrees centigrade.

Uses

Ultrasound is the most effective deep heating modality for rehabilitation of many soft tissue problems. It is helpful in treating conditions like tendonitis, bursitis, tenosynovitis, muscle spasms, and soft tissue trauma.

Applying heat helps the elasticity of collagen in tendons, joint capsules, and scars. Ultrasound is useful to apply to areas to warm them up before stretching. Chronic conditions such adhesive capsulitis and post-surgical scarring also respond to the heat of ultrasound.

When a soft tissue is injured many by products are released by the damaged tissue. Ultrasound can be useful to increase the resorption of these by products and promote healing.
 
Another use of ultrasound is for the delivery of pharmaceuticals for treating inflammation through phonophoresis. This is a treatment whereby the sound waves are used to drive large molecules of hydrocortisone through the skin into soft tissue to reduce inflammation. Phonophoresis has also been reported to enhance the effects of a hydrocortisone injection and in fact, may be considered an alternate delivery system for patients who fear needles when superficial inflammation is present.

As with any prescription therapy or treatment, the use of ultrasound should only be performed under the supervision of a physician or by a licensed physical therapist. It is most effective and safe when a physician prescribes it for the appropriate reasons and a qualified therapist delivers the treatment for musculoskeletal injuries. If you have specific question, ask you sport medicine physician for more information.

Dr. Annette Zaharoff is a sports medicine physician specializing in the non-surgical evaluation and treatment of injuries. She maintains a private practice in San Antonio and may be reached by calling her office at (210) 616-0646 or visiting her Web site www.drZmd.com

Foot-pain in athletes

By Annette M. Zaharoff, MD

In athletes, foot pain may occur for many reasons. One of the more common problems seen among people active in sports is from a condition known as plantar fasciitis or heel spur syndrome. It generally starts as a dull intermittent ache, in the heel or arch, which may progress to a sharp persistent pain. Often times, the pain is worse in the morning with the first few steps, after sitting, after standing or walking and at the beginning of physical activity. As it progresses, it may become a sharp, persistent pain with all weight-bearing activities.

The plantar fascia is a thick fibrous material on the bottom of the foot. It attaches to the heel bone and fans out toward the toes to act like a bowstring to maintain the arch of the foot. A problem may occur when part of this fascia is tight and placed under tension.

Runners are more likely to experience plantar fasciitis due to the high impact or from improper shoe wear. Inflammation is produced causing pain at the attachment to the heel bone. Other contributing factors to overloading the fascia include: flat (pronated) feet; high arched, rigid feet; poor shoe support; toe or heel running; running on soft surfaces; sudden increases in weight or activity level; familial tendency.

Improvement may be slow if the condition has existed for along time. During recovery, loss of excess weight, good shoes and low- or no-impact activities should help the healing process. Ice should be applied 10 to 15 minutes several times per day. If the pain persists after two to three weeks, further evaluation by your sports medicine physician may be needed. More aggressive anti-inflammatory treatments, therapeutic exercise for stretching and strengthening the arch and foot along with padding, night splints, taping or inserts (orthotics) to ease pressure may be needed.

Surgery is rarely required.

In chronic cases, prolotherapy injections to regenerate the plantar fascia ligament may be used.

During recovery from plantar fasciitis, return to sport activities should be gradual. If you have pain during the activity or the following morning you are doing too much.

Remember to check your shoes for good support and cushioning to help prevent foot problems. If your symptoms are not improving, check with your sports medicine physician for additional help.

Dr. Annette Zaharoff is a sports medicine physician specializing in the non-surgical evaluation and treatment of injuries. She maintains a private practice in San Antonio and may be reached by calling her office at (210) 616-0646 or visiting her Web site www.drZmd.com

Not All Swings Are Created Equal
By Annette M. Zaharoff, M.D.

As Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) star Lorena Ochoa said she would consider playing against men this summer, the issue of gender and golf is a hot topic. Current research seems to suggest that, biomechanically speaking, male and female golfers are not created equal.

 A recent study from the University of North Carolina found significant differences between the swing kinematics of male and female professional golfers. These differences may affect performance and the types of golf-related injuries seen.

What's the Difference?
At the top of the backswing, female golfers had less forward trunk tilt and more pelvic rotation than the males. Females also had more pelvic rotation at ball impact. Male golfers were found to have more velocity of the club shaft that females. Women were found to be more flexible than men. They had more twist in the shoulders and pelvis. Despite the greater rotation generated by women, their club velocity and, therefore, distance was less.

The fact that men are less flexible, however, may put them at greater risk for low back injuries than women. Women appear to have stiffer wrists during the swing, which may account for more wrist injuries in female golfers.

There is not a good sense of gender-related differences in golf injuries, which may be because the vast majority of golfers are male. Recent PGA statistics show, however, that more than half of all new golfers are women, and the total number of women players in the U.S. had increased by 8 percent since 2002. A recent study by Bloomburg found that shoulder injuries were the most common injuries in females followed by elbow and arm injuries.

Prevention
Learning proper golf swing mechanics from your pro will help prevent injuries as well as improve your game. To further help avoid injuries, pay attention to stretching and strengthening the areas of the body stressed in golf. Work with a trained health care professional, such as a sports medicine physician or therapist who can assess where you may be inflexible or have weak muscles that may increase your risk of injury. Get on a program of stretching and strengthening that will address those areas.     

Visit www.drZmd.com for some general tips. If you have an injury or specific questions, talk to your sports medicine physician.

Dr. Annette Zaharoff is a sports medicine physician specializing in the non-surgical evaluation and treatment of injuries. She maintains a private practice in San Antonio in The Non-Surgical Center of Texas and may be reached by calling her office at (210) 616-0646 or visiting her Web site www.drZmd.com.