Physical therapy is boring -- play a game instead

You’ve just been injured, and you’re on the way home from an hour of physical therapy. The last thing you want to do on your own is confusing exercises that take too long to show results. TED Fellow Cosmin Mihaiu demos a fun, cheap solution that turns boring physical therapy exercises into a video game with crystal-clear instructions.

http://www.mirarehab.com/

Educational tool: Medbullets.com

Medbullets.com is an educational resource for medical students designed to evolve and improve over time through the communal efforts of those who use it as a learning resource. It is a simple but powerful concept.

Our Beliefs

Medbullets.com is built on the following core beliefs:

• Medical education can be improved and made more efficient.
• With proper incentives and guidance, medical students and recent medical graduates can and will produce high-quality USMLE review content that benefits themselves and their peers.
• Physicians and physicians-in-training should be rewarded fairly for their publishing contribution.

Wheelchair rugby - athletes testing

Last Saturday we tested the physical and sport specific skills of our athletes in the Dutch Wheelchair Rugby Talent Selection Team with Tom Paulson. Great experience and nice results.

Posted by Testcentrum CASA Reade on Tuesday, 19 May 2015

Last Saturday we tested the physical and sport specific skills of our athletes in the Dutch Wheelchair Rugby Talent Selection Team with Tom Paulson. Great experience and nice results.

Posted by Testcentrum CASA Reade on Tuesday, 19 May 2015

BMI calculator wrongly labelling thousands as obese, research shows, plus BMI and Spinal Cord Injuries

The BMI calculator used in the public health system to measure obesity rates is highly flawed and could be slapping a false fat label on thousands of Australians, new research has highlighted.

A study into the size and shape of women aged 18-44 has found that almost one-third of participants were miscalculated as obese using the BMI calculator alone, highlighting the need for body measurements, percentage body fat and muscle mass to be introduced into testing.

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Your waist measurement compares closely with your body mass index (BMI), and is often seen as a better way of checking your risk of developing a chronic disease.

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Measuring the waist circumference in people with a SCI should be done in supine position.

Being overweight is a common problem for people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Some research shows that two out of three people with SCI are overweight. Excess weight gained after SCI is difficult to lose, and it is hard to maintain weight over time and avoid putting on extra pounds. In part this is due to a reduced ability to move freely. The higher the injury, the more difficult it is to move, stay active, and exercise. A person with a cervical SCI will have more difficulty moving compared to someone with SCI in the lower spine. The same is true for the completeness of an injury. A person with an incomplete injury who is able to walk will likely burn more calories than a person who has a complete injury and uses a wheelchair full time.

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A review of body mass index and waist circumference as markers of obesity and coronary heart disease risk in persons with chronic spinal cord injury.

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Waist circumference is the best index for obesity-related cardiovascular disease risk in individuals with spinal cord injury.

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Dietary Animal and Plant Protein and Human Bone Health: A Whole Foods Approach

Dietary Animal and Plant Protein and Human Bone Health: A Whole Foods Approach

Linda K. Massey

Urinary calcium excretion is strongly related to net renal acid excretion. The catabolism of dietary protein generates ammonium ion and sulfates from sulfur-containing amino acids. Bone citrate and carbonate are mobilized to neutralize these acids, so urinary calcium increases when dietary protein increases. Common plant proteins such as soy, corn, wheat and rice have similar total S per g of protein as eggs, milk and muscle from meat, poultry and fish. Therefore increasing intake of purified proteins from either animal or plant sources similarly increases urinary calcium. The effects of a protein on urinary calcium and bone metabolism are modified by other nutrients found in that protein food source.

For example, the high amount of calcium in milk compensates for urinary calcium losses generated by milk protein. Similarly, the high potassium levels of plant protein foods, such as legumes and grains, will decrease urinary calcium. The hypocalciuric effect of the high phosphate associated with the amino acids of meat at least partially offsets the hypercalciuric effect of the protein. Other food and dietary constituents such as vitamin D, isoflavones in soy, caffeine and added salt also have effects on bone health. Many of these other components are considered in the potential renal acid load of a food or diet, which predicts its effect on urinary acid and thus calcium. “Excess” dietary protein from either animal or plant proteins may be detrimental to bone health, but its effect will be modified by other nutrients in the food and total diet.

The Journal of Nutrition source.