Tuesday 19 August 2014

Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Influenced By Genetics


medwireNews: Children of parents with chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) are at increased risk of also suffering from such pain as adults, a large family-linkage study shows.

The association was particularly strong if both parents had CMP, and was not restricted to CMP that interfered with work ability and leisure activities, note the researchers, led by Ragnhild Lier (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway).

“Thus, one may speculate that the occurrence of CMP in the adult offspring is strongly influenced by genetic factors”, they comment in BMC Public Health.

The researchers found a high prevalence of CMP among 11,248 parents participating in the HUNT study in 1995–97, with 56.7% of mothers and 51.4% of fathers reporting muscle or joint pain or stiffness in the past year that lasted for at least 3 consecutive months. The rate of activity-interfering CMP was somewhat lower, at 51.4% and 45.5%, respectively.

The prevalence of CMP was also high among these parent’s sons (39.3%) and daughters (47.3%) who were assessed in HUNT3 in 2006–08 when aged an average of 41 and 43 years, respectively. The corresponding rates for activity-interfering CMP were 32.2% and 25.5%.

The high prevalence of CMP in both parents and offspring, also for activity interfering CMP, suggests that not all cases are clinically relevant”, Lier and co-workers note.

They report that daughters had a 40% increased risk of having CMP if their mother had CMP and a 20% increased risk if their father had CMP, while for sons the risk was increased 40% and 30%, respectively. The risk was increased 60% for both daughters and sons if both parents had CMP. This was after adjusting for parental age, body mass index, psychological wellbeing and number of years spent in education.

Further analysis showed that CMP in the offspring was as likely to occur in those aged younger than 40 years as it was in older individuals, and the risk was similar irrespective of whether it was the mother or father who had CMP.

The researchers conclude that, although they were unable to determine the relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors, their findings “clearly demonstrate family clustering that is in agreement with a heritable component of CMP.”

medwireNews (www.medwirenews.com) is an independent clinical news service provided by Springer Healthcare Limited. © Springer Healthcare Ltd; 2014

Source: http://www.medwirenews.com/1711/105817/Pain_medicine/Chronic_musculoskeletal_pain_influenced_by_genetics.html

Thursday 14 August 2014

Joint Pain & The Weather

People come in and they're achy and stiff. Those are the issues that keep them wanting to sit on their couch or not do anything because they hurt too much to move," says Kirk Canada, physical therapist at Hendrick Medical Center.

If Canada's description sounds familiar, you could be encountering some joint inflammation. But could the weather be exacerbating that pain?

 "A lot of the time people think just because it's when it rain that is why they're hurting, or that it's the cold that actually hurts their joints, and it's not. It's just a change in the pressure that causes the joints to hurt," Canada tells us.

He says it's not the temperature, sun or rain that's tampering with your joints, but rather it's what you can't see outside.

"Pressure from the atmosphere pushes in on that joint. When the pressure drops or the barometric pressure drops, the joints will start to push out and that's going to cause some pain in the nerves, and that's why you have more pain when that pressure drops," Canada says.

So what can you do? For starters, pay attention to your local forecast. Here on KRBC we tell you exactly what the pressure in the atmosphere is going to do.

And there's your part in staying healthy, "Keep moving, stay active, let your muscles get some movement. Help the nutrition get to the joints, stay flexible and keep active," says Canada.

Friday 8 August 2014

MRI May be Helpful in Predicting Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity

The more you and your doctor know about your RA, the better you can manage it. Doctors regularly monitor RA patient disease activity, which is the term used to refer to ongoing inflammation, symptoms, and/or joint damage in order to better manage the condition.  Information about the level of disease activity allows doctors to monitor an individual’s response to treatment and to adjust treatment as needed.

Commonly used measures of disease activity are the DAS28 (Disease Activity Score with 28 joint counts), and the Vectra DA test, which is an innovative blood test that allows doctors to test for several biological markers (or biomarkers) of RA simultaneously. Now the results of a clinical study in Europe suggest that MRI may also be a useful adjunct to monitor RA disease activity.

Physicians at the Leiden Early Arthritis Clinic have previously demonstrated that inflammation could be detected with MRI in joints without any apparent clinical inflammation in patients with early arthritis, but whether these non-swollen inflamed joints would show radiographic damage had not been explored.(1)

In the current study the doctors obtained MRIs of wrists and metacarpophalangeal and metatarsophalangeal joints in 179 patients and then took radiographs of the same joints after a year.(2) They found that arthritic joints that showed no clinical inflammation (swelling) but had evidence of subclinical inflammation on MRI had more than three times the risk of radiographic progression by 1 year.  When compared with joints having no detectable inflammation, non-swollen joints with any signs of inflammation on MRI were more likely to have evidence of joint damage as measured by radiographic progression.  The cumulative amount of MRI inflammation in non-swollen joints was comparable with that in swollen joint.

The study findings suggest that MRI could be useful for identifying joints that may show early damage even before clinical inflammation is apparent. The DAS28 score and Vectra DA test are established, fairly cost effective ways of assessing and measuring disease activity in patients with RA. It appears that MRI may also play a useful role in measuring disease activity to help doctors and patients arrive at good therapeutic choices in the overall management of RA.

Reference

Krabben A1, Stomp W, Huizinga TW, van der Heijde D, et al. Concordance between inflammation at physical examination and on MRI in patients with early arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2013 Dec 12. [Epub ahead of print]
Krabben A, Stomp W, van Nies JAB, et al. MRI-detected subclinical joint inflammation is associated with radiographic progression. Ann Rheum Dis. doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-205208

Source: http://awomanshealth.com/mri-may-be-helpful-in-predicting-rheumatoid-arthritis-disease-activity/

Wednesday 6 August 2014

Matt Argall Is Excited About the Success of the New Joint Pain Formula MultiFlex Excel

MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Aug 5, 2014) - 

With the increasing costs for doctor visits and treatment options, remedies that can be applied by patients themselves become increasingly attractive. Developing such remedies has turned into a multi-billion dollar business with major pharmacology companies spending years of research and tons of money in inventing new medications. As a result the newly developed pills or ointments are often not much cheaper than getting treatment directly from a physician. There are some exceptions to this development though, namely when a product stems from the creative mind of a doctor who is not lead by commercial success, but who rather is searching for a cure to his own ailment.

This is what happened in the case of the new joint pain formula MultiFlex Excel, an all-natural joint supplement. Dr. Rick Argall, a seasoned chiropractor from Florida, had been suffering from knee pain for many years, trying to find a remedy to relieve the symptoms. He tried everything, from icing his joints to painkillers and anti-inflammatory creams. Frustrated by the results that were temporary at best and hesitant to undergo surgery, he consulted his wife, a chiropractor herself, to help him come up with a better approach. Upon her suggestion Dr. Argall started taking a collagen and anti-oxidant formula. Within a matter of hours he started to feel a difference, within a few days he observed a significant improvement of his symptoms and after only 10 days he was pain free. The idea for a new product was born. For the marketing, however, he would need an expert, so he turned to his son, Matt Argall, a knowledgeable and highly successful entrepreneur.

Matt Argall has extensive experience launching, managing, and marketing companies and was thrilled to help his father with the development and promotion of this new product. The result: MultiFlex Excel. The innovative joint support combines a variety of powerful and age-defying herbs that contain scientifically proven modern nutrients. MultiFlex Excel comes in three formulations - capsules, a drink, and in form of a cream. Taking only two capsules per day can stop the effects of wear and tear, which are the cause for discomfort and pain in the joints. The Joint Repair Excel powder, which needs to be mixed with water, helps to replenish the body with nutrients and the MultiFlex Excel cream is extremely effective for relieving strained muscles. Thanks to Matt, all products are now being sold online and are receiving raving reviews by satisfied customers.

Despite his many years of experience as an entrepreneur, Matt Argall was especially happy about the success of the MultiFlex project, since it gave him a chance to cooperate with his father. Born in Los Angeles, Matt and his family moved to Canada when he was five years old. The transition from one country to another brought Matt and his parents even closer together, so it was only a matter of time until they would expand this great relationship to do business together. After a few years in Canada, where his parents owned a successful chiropractic office, they moved back to the United States and have settled in Florida where Matt lives to date. Meanwhile, he has founded his own family and is a proud husband and father to a son. Nevertheless, he continues to work as an investor and consultant, always supported by his wife, Maya, whom Matt calls "his greatest inspiration".

To learn more about Matt Argall, visit: http://www.MattArgallNews.com

Source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2100578