September 2004
Ask Dr. Marks: 09/04
Subscribers Only I’m 88 years old and have osteoporosis. Recently I went to a pain clinic for therapy. They took several X-rays, and then told me my bones were so porous that they wouldn’t work with me for fear of breaking a bone. Would water exercises relieve my pain or strengthen my bones? …
Sticking with It
Subscribers Only Beyond a doubt, routine physical exercise is good for everyone, including the millions of American men and women diagnosed with one form of arthritis or another. Indeed, studies have shown that people with swollen, inflamed, and chronically painful joints are likely to reap special benefit from well-wrought exercise plans designed to improve muscle strength, flexibility, and endurance. …
Massage: It Feels Good, But Is It Good For You?
Subscribers Only There’s one thing about which every arthritis patient who has had therapeutic massage—the manual manipulation of soft tissues—agrees. It feels good. “Massage provides a nurturing touch that allows the arthritis patient to feel comforted. It’s a therapy that reduces a person’s level of stress,” says Karen Fink, a massage therapist who serves as Massage Committee chairperson for The Cleveland Clinic Center for Integrative Medicine. …
Dosage: Too Much...Or Too Little?
Subscribers Only The old adage, "Pop two aspirin and call me in the morning," may sound like good advice, but how well any drug actually works depends on you. Your health, your age, even your gender have a profound impact on the effectiveness and safety of many medications. A new brand of science called pharmacogenomics has revealed many variations in how patients respond to drugs. Scientists working in the field are now researching ways to better match drug…
In the News: 09/04
Subscribers Only Rituximab Seen As RA Breakthrough A recent clinical study has revealed that rituximab (marketed as Rituxan), a therapeutic antibody that selectively targets the body’s B-cells, which are thought to play a key role in inflammatory rheumatoid arthritis, may be a significant breakthrough for RA sufferers. The study encompassed 11 countries and included 161 patients with moderate-to-severe, long-standing (average duration 10.4 years) RA who had failed to respond to methotrexate or various disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Two…
Resistance Training Beats Brittle Bones
Subscribers Only People with osteoporosis share something in common with astronauts: Both require weight-bearing exercise to guard against bone loss. For those in space, the problem ends once they get back to earth and regain the pull of gravity upon their bones. But for millions of Americans whose bones are already weakened from osteoporosis, the pull of gravity is not enough to slow or reverse the loss of bone mass. They need a long-term program of resistance…