Healthoughts

Healthoughts

Pain on the Run
For road runners and joggers, shin splints is a shorthand term for nagging pain in the lower inner area of the front of the tibia, the long bone of the lower leg, just under the skin. According to C. Thomas Vangsness, Jr., M.D., chief of sports medicine at the Keck School and co-director of the Center for Athletic Medicine at USC University Hospital, shin splints involve no broken bones or torn ligaments, but instead, inflammation of an area of muscle and tendon from repetitive overloading.
Usually, shin splints happen while athletes are starting to get in shape and train (as they do at the beginning of high school track season, for example). Running on concrete, having weak ankle muscles, using bad shoes or bad running form and increasing training difficulty too fast might bring on the problem.
Although “running through the pain” is not a good idea, Vangsness says, neither is completely stopping all activity. Rest and icing of the area, leg muscle stretching, anti-inflammatory medicines and new shoes or orthotics may help.
If pain continues, though, a visit to the doctor may be in order. Exams can determine if the pain comes from other causes, such as a stress fracture or periostitis (inflammation of the connective tissue that covers bone, often related to the feet over-pronating). Vangsness points to another possible cause: compartment syndrome, pain that arises from the compression of muscles and their obstructed blood flow during exercise.
Performing other sports and activities can help a shin-splint sufferer stay in shape while inflammation and pain in the shin diminishes, which may take hours or days. Of course, fixing the triggers of the inflammation can help keep shin splints from recurring.

Cry Like Baby

For infants whose eyes always seem to be watering or appear bloodshot or infected, the culprit may simply be underdeveloped tear ducts—a condition that almost always clears up on its own by a baby’s first birthday, according to Angela N. Buffenn, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Keck School and a pediatric ophthalmologist at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
Blocked tear ducts are a common problem in infants; it is usually best treated with a gentle daily massage around the eyes to drain the tear glands, Buffenn says. The blockage is caused by a developmental delay in which the ducts that drain the eyes’ moistening fluid fail to open sufficiently.
As a result, tears back up and the eyes water and can, in some cases, become more vulnerable to infection, Buffenn explains.
The condition is generally invisible in the first month or two of life, because infants produce only small amounts of tears. But when the condition does become apparent, many parents become alarmed.
“Parents want to get the problem solved, but generally, it is best for the child to just wait and let it fix itself on its own rather than have it treated surgically,” she says.
Surgical intervention, which calls for a metal probe that resembles a toothpick to be inserted into the duct, can be used when the problem fails to resolve, but it requires general anesthesia and is not without risk.
That treatment, which was once commonly performed by physicians on children as young as three months to correct the problem, is now seen as medically necessary only if the problem persists past the first birthday.
“Even then, it’s common that we’ll schedule a surgery, and the week before the operation, the tear ducts open up on their own,” Buffenn adds.

Got Yogurt

Yogurt has become increasingly popular in foods from fruit blends to frozen desserts to health shakes. Not only is yogurt a good source of nutrition, but it also may be beneficial in health maintenance and disease prevention.
“Typical yogurt contains live and active cultures of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococus thermophilus bacteria, as well as calcium and protein, which help protect against osteoporosis and maintain
muscle,” says Roger Clemens, Dr.P.H., director of the Laboratory for Analytical Research and Services in Complementary Therapeutics at USC School of Pharmacy. “Studies show that these live and active cultures may help
to modulate our body’s immune system in order to ward off potential infections.”
Common problems such as diarrhea, bacterial vaginosis and even constipation may be associated with an imbalance of bacterial strains in the body. According to research, ingesting selected strains of bacteria may decrease the duration and severity of these illnesses just as well as some traditional drug therapies.
Adults can get 25 percent of their daily protein needs from yogurt—and it is a great source of B vitamins, phosphorus and calcium.
Yogurt is also easier to digest than milk, which can be a benefit for many adults who are lactose intolerant. Lactose, the natural sugar found in yogurt, is broken down by the bacteria strains, thus aiding in the normal digestion process.
“Eating a serving of yogurt every day could be helpful in increasing the levels of friendly bacteria in the GI tract,” Clemens says. “Look for a brand that has the official seal of the National Yogurt Association, which guarantees that the product contains at least 10 billion live and active cultures per eight- ounce serving.”

Slim Sleep

Body Solutions™ and several other products now being advertised suggest you can lose weight while you sleep, but a USC researcher says the only thing you are guaranteed to lose by trying these products is your hard-earned cash.
James Adams, Ph.D., associate professor of molecular pharmacology and toxicology, says that these products are essentially just concoctions of vitamins and minerals—usually nothing harmful, but also nothing that will help a person lose weight.
Because these products are not advertised as food or medicine, they skirt approval by the Food and Drug Administration and remain entirely unregulated. Therefore, they can be legally promoted as aiding weight loss, even if there is no proof that they do so, Adams says.
“The directions on the night-time weight loss products say to take it after dinner and then to refrain from eating again
before bedtime, so it can work simply by making a person cut down on their after-dinner snacking. If you don’t eat between dinner and bedtime, you could very well lose weight,” he says.
Adams also warns that some supplements include natural ingredients, such as ephedra-related compounds or aloe vera, that can be potentially harmful.
“Ephedra is no longer approved by the FDA for weight loss because it only works in the short term and can cause addiction. It’s like an amphetamine and can cause insomnia, tremors and anxiety—it’s not something people should be using,” he says.
Aloe vera, which can be beneficial for the skin, acts as a laxative and diuretic when ingested. Again, this will cause short-term weight loss but is potentially harmful because it can cause a potassium deficiency, which impairs heart and muscle function.
“The simple fact of weight loss is that you have to exercise and get muscle tone and eat less,” Adams says. “This is the best way to lose pounds and keep them off.”

For more information about The Doctors of USC and their specialties, please call 1-800-USC-CARE (1-800-872-2273).

Healthoughts compiled by Alexis Bergen, Alicia Di Rado and Jon Nalick. Illustrations by Kitty Meek.

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