Neuropathy Patients Hate Exercise But They Mustnt Avoid It

Today's short post from journals.lww.com (see link below) is a response from a doctor to a question most of us with neuropathy hope the answer to, will be a resounding "No". Unfortunately, the answer is yes to the question as to whether exercise helps with neuropathy. So we need to be prepared to put our bodies through yet more pain and discomfort for their benefit in the long run. The key is, making exercise something that is so obviously valuable that we can't ignore it and making it as pleasurable as possible. You can groan all you want (I do too) but the fact is that neuropathy weakens our muscles and joints to such an extent that it makes the pain considerably worse, never mind the fact that we can't do simple tasks any more. Read the article and think about your best strategy but don't overdo it and listen to your body when it tells you that you're doing just that.

Departments: Ask the Experts
You Ask. We Answer: 
Is exercise helpful for peripheral neuropathy?
Ensrud, Erik MD Neurology Now: October/November 2016 - Volume 12 - Issue 5 - p 31 doi: 10.1097/01.NNN.0000503487.82934.2d
 
Q Is exercise helpful for PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY?

ERIK ENSRUD, MD, RESPONDS:

Answer: Yes, as long as you aren't overdoing it. The same benefits that anyone gets from exercise—improved cardiovascular function, increased mobility, a boost in mood—are realized by people with peripheral neuropathy, regardless of its cause. People with neuropathy may also experience an improvement in function and quality of life, as well as a decrease in pain.

PICK AN APPROPRIATE EXERCISE

Peripheral neuropathy is a general term for a group of diseases that affects motor and sensory nerves outside the brain and spinal cord. There are different types of neuropathy, and each has different causes and effects. Focal neuropathy, for instance, usually affects just one nerve or group of nerves. A common example is carpal tunnel syndrome, which involves nerve damage in the wrist. Any exercise that involves repetitive motion directly on the joint, such as playing tennis or texting or typing for hours on end, could aggravate the condition. Proximal neuropathy can reduce muscle strength in the legs and hips, so patients with this type of neuropathy might try riding a recumbent bike to avoid putting too much force on a compromised leg or hip joint.

STAY WITHIN YOUR LIMITS

When people think of exercise, they often think of the intense workout regimens of Olympic athletes like Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky. But for most people, intense exercise is counterproductive. For people with neuropathy in particular, overstressed muscles may not recover as well because of existing nerve problems. A good rule of thumb during exercise is the talk test: If you can maintain a conversation without becoming breathless while exercising, you are likely at the right exertion level.

MAKE EXERCISE ENJOYABLE

If physical activity feels like a chore or is inconvenient, you'll eventually stop doing it. Decide what you like to do—swimming, biking, walking, dancing, yoga, tai chi—and how you like to do it—with friends, at home, in nature, as part of a class—and you're more likely to stick with it. The goal is to create a positive association with exercise so you do it more often. Consider an activity tracker, which logs your steps every day; seeing the steps add up can be very motivating for some people.

START SLOWLY AND BUILD

Before beginning any exercise program, talk to your doctor. You want to be sure you don't have any conditions that may affect the type of exercise you can do or how long you can safely do it. Once you get the all-clear, start out with five to 20 minutes of exercise three times a week. As your fitness improves, gradually add minutes, distance, or intensity. A good way to start is by walking around a large indoor shopping mall or store. The surface is level, the temperature is comfortable, you can use a shopping cart for stability, and it's free—unless, of course, you buy things.

Dr. Ensrud is director of neuromuscular disease rehabilitation at St. Luke's Rehabilitation Institute in Spokane, WA. He is also a member of the American Academy of Neurology.

© 2016 American Academy of Neurology

http://journals.lww.com/neurologynow/Pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2016&issue=12050&article=00019&type=Fulltext

BABIES REMEMBER NOTHING BUT A GOOD TIME

Parents who spend their time playing with and talking to their five-month-old baby may wonder whether their child remembers any of it a day later

Thanks to a new BYU study, we now know that they at least remember the good times.

The study, published in Infant Behavior and Development, shows that babies are more likely to remember something if there is a positive emotion, or affect, that accompanies it.

"People study memory in infants, they study discrimination in emotional affect, but we are the first ones to study how these emotions influence memory," said BYU psychology professor Ross Flom, lead author of the study.

Although the five-month-olds can't talk, there are a number of different ways that researchers can analyze how the babies respond to testing treatments. In this particular study, they monitored the infants' eye movements and how long they look at a test image.

The babies were set in front of a flat paneled monitor in a closed off partition and then exposed to a person on screen speaking to them with either a happy, neutral or angry voice. Immediately following the emotional exposure, they were shown a geometric shape.

To test their memory, the researchers did follow-up tests 5 minutes later and again one day later. In the follow-up test, babies were shown two side-by-side geometric shapes: a brand new one, and the original one from the study.

The researchers then were able to record how many times the baby looked from one image to the next and how long they spent looking at each image. Babies' memories didn't improve if the shape had been paired with a negative voice, but they performed significantly better at remembering shapes attached to positive voices.

"We think what happens is that the positive affect heightens the babies' attentional system and arousal," Flom said. "By heightening those systems, we heighten their ability to process and perhaps remember this geometric pattern."

This paper was co-authored with Professor Brock Kirwan as well undergraduate and masters students Rebecca B. Janis and Darren J. Garcia. It follows a string of Flom's significant research on infants' ability to understand each others' moods, the moods of dogs, monkeys, and classical music.

Negative Pregnancy Test But No Period

Negative Pregnancy Test Results

AskMen's Dating channel offers you all the advice you need to become a Better Man in romance and relationships..What's in a Name? What Every Consumer Should Know About Foods and Flavors; 4 Medication Safety Tips for Older Adults; FDA: Cutting-Edge Technology Sheds Light on .Explanation of human blood group classification based on antigens and why Rh negative does not indicate any alien or ancient astronaut or reptilian origins..An estimated 3.2 million children were living with HIV at the end of 2013, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Majority of them acquire HIV from their HIV-infected mothers .

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Positive Pregnancy Test Results

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PROSTATE CANCER RISK REDUCED BY SLEEPING WITH MANY WOMEN BUT NOT INCREASED WITH MANY MEN

Compared to men who have had only one partner during their lifetime, having sex with more than 20 women is associated with a 28% lower risk of one day being diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to researchers at the University of Montreal and INRS -- Institut Armand-Frappier. However, having more than 20 male partners in one's lifetime is associated with a twofold higher risk of getting prostate cancer compared to those who have never slept with a man

Marie-Elise Parent and Marie-Claude Rousseau, professors at university's School of Public Health, and their colleague Andrea Spence, published their findings in the journal Cancer Epidemiology. The results were obtained as part of the Montreal study PROtEuS (Prostate Cancer & Environment Study), in which 3,208 men responded to a questionnaire on, amongst other things, their sex lives. Of these men, 1,590 were diagnosed with prostate cancer between September 2005 and August 2009, while 1,618 men were part of the control group.

Risk associated with number of partners 

Overall, men with prostate cancer were twice as likely as others to have a relative with cancer. However, evidence suggests that the number of sexual partners affects the development of the cancer.

Consequently, men who said they had never had sexual intercourse were almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as those who said they had. When a man has slept with more than 20 women during his lifetime there is a 28% reduction in the risk of having prostate cancer (all types), and a 19% reduction for aggressive types of cancer. "It is possible that having many female sexual partners results in a higher frequency of ejaculations, whose protective effect against prostate cancer has been previously observed in cohort studies," Parent explained.

According to some studies, the underlying mechanism of this protective effect is in reducing the concentration of cancer-causing substances in prostatic fluid or lowering the production of intraluminal crystalloids. It should be noted that for all participants, the age at which they first had sexual intercourse or the number of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) they had contracted did not affect the risk of prostate cancer. Moreover, only 12% of all participants reported having had at least one STI in their lifetime, which is few.

Male partners and increased risk 

The data indicate that having only one male partner does not affect the risk of prostate cancer compared to those who have never had sexual intercourse with a man. On the other hand, those who have slept with more than 20 men are twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer of all types compared to those who have never slept with a man. And their risk of having a less aggressive prostate cancer increases by 500% compared to those who have had only one male partner.

Parent and her team can only formulate "highly speculative" hypotheses to explain this association. "It could come from greater exposure to STIs, or it could be that anal intercourse produces physical trauma to the prostate," Parent said.

Avenues for further research 

Parent, Rousseau, and Spence are specialists in prostate cancer and are the first research team to suggest that the number of female partners is inversely associated with the risk of developing cancer.

"We were fortunate to have participants from Montreal who were comfortable talking about their sexuality, no matter what sexual experiences they have had, and this openness would probably not have been the same 20 or 30 years ago," Parent explained. "Indeed, thanks to them, we now know that the number and type of partners must be taken into account to better understand the causes of prostate cancer." Does this mean public health authorities will soon be recommending men to sleep with many women in their lives? "We're not there yet," Parent said.