In a new study from Denmark, researchers found a link between back pain and bacterial infection, which they say may be treated effectively with a 100-day course of antibiotics.¹

It’s estimated that up to 85 percent of Americans experience back pain at some point in their lives, while more than 26 million suffer from back pain frequently.²

Back pain is actually the leading cause of disability in Americans under the age of 45,³ but while many seek treatment, spending at least $50 billion annually toward this end,⁴ relief is often only fleeting.

If you’re among those struggling with back pain, and are growing frustrated when common treatments don’t work, this connection with antibiotics may sound like a welcome new option, but it’s one that comes with a hefty downside.

Are Antibiotics a Good Choice for Back Pain Relief?

Previous research suggests that between 7 percent and 53 percent of patients with herniated discs have a type of bacteria that entered the disc when it was herniated. The Danish researchers similarly found bacteria in 46 percent of slipped discs among patients who’d received spinal surgery for back pain.

The researchers then gave a 100-day course of antibiotics to half of a group of patients struggling with low back pain from a slipped disc. One year later, those who’d taken antibiotics reported less low back pain, leg pain and physical disability than the placebo group.

They were also less likely to have missed days of work due to back pain. Researchers estimated that antibiotics could potentially relieve the symptoms of up to 40 percent of people suffering from chronic low back pain.

The results sound promising, particularly for those who feel they’ve tried everything and still have gotten no pain relief. But the use of antibiotics, especially long-term for three-plus months at a time, should not be taken lightly…

WARNING: Antibiotics May Promote Fungal Growth, Weight Gain and Chronic Disease

Conventional antibiotics can save your life if they're necessary, such as if you develop a serious bacterial infection, but it's important to understand that they come with serious risks. These antibiotics, by design, disrupt the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract, often killing off both beneficial and harmful microorganisms without distinction.

We now know, however, that your health is intricately tied to, and in many ways dependent upon, a healthy balance of bacteria in your gut.

When this balance is disrupted, it paves the way for a number of chronic diseases. According to data analyzed by journalist Maryn McKenna for Wired,⁵ the US states with the highest levels of antibiotic overuse are one in the same as those that have the worst health status, including the highest rates of obesity, asthma, heart disease, heart attack, diabetes and stroke.

As Doug Kaufmann wrote in his book The Fungus Link, Volume 2:

“ … every time you swallow antibiotics, you kill the beneficial bacteria within your intestines. When you do so, you upset the delicate balance of your intestinal terrain. Yeasts grow unchecked into large colonies and take over, in a condition called dysbiosis.

Yeasts are opportunistic organisms. This means that, as the intestinal bacteria die, yeasts thrive, especially when their dietary needs are met. They can use their tendrils, or hyphae, to literally poke holes through the lining of your intestinal wall. This results in a syndrome called leaky gut.

… In addition to possibly causing leaky gut syndrome, I believe that parasitic yeasts can also cause you to change what you eat in that they encourage you to binge on carbohydrates including pasta, bread, sugar, potatoes, etc. So, it should come as no surprise that weight gain counts as one of the telltale signs of antibiotic damage and subsequent yeast overgrowth.

By altering the normal terrain of the intestines, antibiotics can also make food allergies more likely. An array of intestinal disorders can ensue, as well. Sadly, most doctors claim ignorance concerning their patients’ intestinal disorders rather than admit that the drugs they themselves prescribed actually caused the disorders to begin with.”

Antibiotic-Resistant Disease Is Already a Major Public Health Threat

Antibiotic overuse has already spurred a vicious cycle. Whenever you use an antibiotic, you're increasing your susceptibility to developing infections with bacteria that are now not only resistant to that antibiotic, but much harder to treat because of it -- and as a result, you can become a carrier of this resistant bug, and can spread it to others.

The rise of antibiotic-resistant disease is actually one of the world's most pressing public health threats. There are already numerous bacteria resistant to many commonly prescribed antibiotics, and this is a direct result of the vast overuse of antibiotics in both the medical system and conventional livestock farming. If increasing numbers of people begin taking even more antibiotics, now to treat back pain, the problem could get even worse.

One of the most beneficial steps you can take to combat infection is to maintain a healthy intestinal system by eating a diet rich in natural probiotics, especially naturally fermented foods, such as those described in Dr. Campbell-McBride’s GAPS Nutritional Program. If bacteria are in fact involved in your back pain, this may be a good place to start, which will help to heal your gut rather than further harm it.

The other benefit of using fermented vegetables and increasing the volume of beneficial bacteria is that it will help your body produce secretory IgA, which is a powerful stimulus for your immune response. So rather than taking antibiotics, which can disrupt your beneficial flora, optimizing your gut flora will help your own body fight the infection that might be contributing to back pain and also help you avoid the antibiotic side effects.

Drug Companies Are Salivating at the Thought of Coming Up With the Next Back Pain Treatment

When drug companies see a condition that impacts many people and has only limited (or ineffective) treatment options available, they see dollar signs. Not surprisingly, back pain has become a major target for Big Pharma disease mongering.⁶ The latest example of this is the emergence of ads for ankylosing spondylitis, a chronic inflammatory disease of the axial skeleton, which includes the spine.

“Do you have back pain? Are you dismissing it as resulting from 'lifting too much' at the gym or 'bad posture'?” one radio ad asks. “You might have ankylosing spondylitis.”

The drug advertised is Humira, which has a price tag of about $20,000 a year. It is reprehensible for drug companies to promote this expensive and dangerous drug for an exceedingly rare cause of low back pain, which likely is responsible for less than a tenth of a tenth of 1 percent of low back pain. In the case of antibiotics for treating a herniated disc, drug companies will undoubtedly be thrilled at the prospect. But considering the fact that most cases of low back pain are probably not caused by infection, or certainly not a lack of any drug, you probably do not need drugs to treat it.

Relearning Your 'Primal Posture' Relieves Back Pain for Many

Poor posture and/or improper movement is to blame for most cases of back pain, including herniated discs, which means one of the best steps you can take to prevent and manage back pain is to exercise regularly and keep your back and abdominal muscles strong. Many are also finding success using the posture-improvement methods taught by Esther Gokhale, the so-called “posture guru” of Silicon Valley. The NY Times reports:⁷

“She believes that people suffer from pain and dysfunction because they have forgotten how to use their bodies. It’s not the act of sitting for long periods that causes us pain, she says, it’s the way we position ourselves.

Ms. Gokhale … is not helping aching office workers with high-tech gadgets and medical therapies. Rather, she says she is reintroducing her clients to what she calls “primal posture” — a way of holding themselves that is shared by older babies and toddlers, and that she says was common among our ancestors before slouching became a way of life. It is also a posture that Ms. Gokhale observed during research she conducted in a dozen other countries, as well as in India, where she was raised.

For a method based not on technology but primarily on observations of people, it has been embraced by an unlikely crowd: executives, board members and staff members at some of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies, including Google and Oracle …”

Gokhale’s approach to treating back pain is in line with others that seek to treat the foundational, mechanical body issues that often lead to pain. Most back, neck, and other muscle pains are related to imbalanced absorption of force throughout your body, created by working and sitting in unnatural positions for extended periods. When you teach your body to establish and repeat correct positioning, the pain often goes away.

Foundation Training Was Developed Specifically to Relieve Its Founder’s Low Back Pain

Foundation Training—an innovative method developed by Dr. Eric Goodman to treat his own chronic low back pain—is an excellent alternative to the Band Aid solutions so many are given. Foundation Training exercises work to gradually pull your body out of the movement patterns that are hurting you. The focus is on strengthening your complete core, which includes anything that directly connects to your pelvis, whether above or below it. Foundation Training teaches all those muscles to work together through integrated chains of movement, which is how your body is structurally designed to move.

Every muscle that directly connects to your pelvis should be considered a piece of your core and this includes your glutes, adductors (inner thigh muscles), deep lower back muscles, hip flexors, hamstrings and all of your abdominal muscles.

Having strong, balanced core muscles is like having a built-in corset that not only holds your gut in, but also stabilizes your spine, vertebrae, discs, and most importantly your pelvis. The program is inexpensive and can be surprisingly helpful, as these exercises are designed to help you strengthen your entire core and move the way nature intended.

In the video below you can see a demonstration of one of the key exercises, called “The Founder,” which helps reinforce proper movement while strengthening the entire back of your body. The Founder is an excellent exercise that can help reverse the effects of frequent and prolonged sitting (i.e. back pain).

Two More Non-Drug Options for Relieving Back Pain

Addressing your posture (or other factors that may be contributing to the strain, such as sleeping in an awkward position) and treating the condition with exercises and movement changes as described above are often effective at relieving the pain and addressing the underlying cause. Two other natural, non-drug options that provide relief to many include:

1. Osteopathic manipulation: This may involve moving joints back into place, massaging soft tissue and helping relax stressed muscles. In one study, 63 percent of those who'd had osteopathic manipulation reported a moderate improvement in their pain while half said they had a substantial improvement.⁸
2. Chiropractic care: Seeing a qualified chiropractor is certainly a wise consideration if you suffer from back pain. I am an avid believer in the chiropractic philosophy, which places a strong emphasis on your body's innate healing ability and far less reliance on drugs and surgery. One study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine even revealed that chiropractic care is often better than medication for treating musculoskeletal pain.⁹

12 Tips Virtually Everyone With Back Pain Should Know

Back pain is often unique in how it is caused and experienced by each individual, which is why the best treatment for you will likely be unique too. It may take some trial and error and experimentation with different methods before you find what works best, but keep trying before you resort to drugs or other invasive methods like surgery; there are many natural options available, including these tips below.

1. Exercise and physical activity will help strengthen the muscles of your spine. Make your exercise time count by including high-intensity sessions. You probably only need this once or twice a week at the most. You'll also want to include exercises that promote muscle strength, balance and flexibility. Remember to build up your entire core to avoid back pain. Always make sure you focus on strong, balanced posture.
2. Optimize your production of vitamin D and K2, which will work through a variety of different mechanisms to reduce your pain, as well as prevent the softening of the bones that can often lead to lower back pain.
3. If you spend many hours every day in a chair like I do, pay careful attention to consciously sucking in your belly and rotating your pelvis slightly up. At the same time make sure your head is back with your ears over your shoulders and your shoulder blades pinched. This will help keep your spine in proper alignment. You can hold these muscles tight for several minutes and do this every hour you are sitting.
4. Address psychological factors, which often play a role in back pain. Underlying emotional issues and unresolved trauma can have a massive influence on your health, particularly as it relates to physical pain. Dr. John Sarno,¹⁰ for example, used mind-body techniques to treat patients with severe low back pain and has authored a number of books on this topic. His specialty was those who have already had surgery for low back pain and did not get any relief. This is one tough group of patients, yet he had a greater than 80 percent success rate using techniques like the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) (he has now retired from practice).
5. Get regular massage therapy. Massage releases endorphins, which help induce relaxation and relieve pain.
6. Keep your weight spread evenly on your feet when standing. Don’t slouch when standing or sitting to avoid putting stress on your back muscles.
7. Always support your back, and avoid bending over awkwardly. Protect your back while lifting – this activity, along with carrying, puts the most stress on your back.
8. Sleep in a firm bed. Sleeping on your side to reduce curving of your spine and stretching before getting out of bed is also helpful.
9. Use chairs or car seats that offer good lumbar support. Switch positions often while sitting, walk around a bit and do some light stretching to relieve tension.
10. Wear comfortable shoes. For ladies, minimize the time you spend in high-heel shoes, particularly those with higher heights.
11. Drink plenty of water to enhance the height of your intervertebral disks. And because your body is composed mostly of water, keeping yourself hydrated will keep you fluid and reduce stiffness.
12. Quit smoking as it reduces blood flow to your lower spine and causes your spinal disks to degenerate.

Exercise is a key factor of optimal health; it's particularly important for controlling your blood sugar and normalizing your insulin levels. I often recommend viewing exercise as a drug that needs to be properly prescribed and "taken" at a proper dosage.

When done correctly, exercise can oftentimes act as a substitute for some of the most common drugs used today for things like diabetes, heart disease and depression.

All of these conditions will improve with exercise and the help of an experienced natural health care clinician. High intensity interval training (HIIT), which is a core component of my Peak Fitness program, is key for reaping optimal results from exercise.

There are many versions of HIIT, but the core premise involves maximum exertion followed by a quick rest period for a set of intervals.

My Peak Fitness routine uses a set of eight 30-second sprints, each followed by 90 seconds of recovery, as taught by Phil Campbell who is a pioneer in this field. Also, while I typically recommend using an elliptical machine or recumbent bike, you can just as easily perform a high intensity routine without any equipment at all.

The Scientific 7-Minute Workout

A recent article in the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health & Fitness Journal¹ shows how you can fulfill the requirements for a high intensity exercise using nothing more than your own body weight, a chair, and a wall.

Best of all, this science-backed routine only requires a seven minute investment, as the program calls for as little as 10- to 15-seconds of rest between each 30-second exercise, which should be performed in rapid succession.

As reported by the New York Times²:

“'There’s very good evidence that high-intensity interval training provides “many of the fitness benefits of prolonged endurance training but in much less time,' says Chris Jordan, the director of exercise physiology at the Human Performance Institute in Orlando, Fla., and co-author of the new article.”

The health benefits of high intensity interval training are well-established at this point, and include:

Significantly improving your insulin sensitivity, especially if you're on a low-processed food-, low-sugar/low-grain diet	Optimizing your cholesterol ratios, when combined with a proper diet	Boosting fat metabolism and optimizing your body fat percentage (as a result of improved conservation of sugar and glycogen in your muscles)
Virtually eliminating type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure	Naturally boosting your levels of human growth hormone (HGH)	Increasing your aerobic capacity

One of the added boons of this 7-minute program is that since you don’t need any equipment, you can easily take this routine with you when traveling. You’d be hard-pressed to find a hotel room that doesn’t at least have a chair in it. When done at the appropriate intensity, which should hover around 8 on a scale of 1-10, the following 12 exercises, which are outlined in the report, equate to doing a long run and a weight-training session.

The exercises are ideally done in the following order, as this allows for opposing muscle groups to alternate between resting and working in each subsequent exercise.

Contraindications

I believe most people can perform high intensity exercises, provided you listen to your body and work out according to your current level of fitness and ability. I personally modified the Peak 8 to a Peak 6 this year as it was sometimes just too strenuous for me to do all eight repetitions. So by listening to my body and cutting it back to six reps, I can now easily tolerate the workout and go all out. That said, the authors stress that there are some contraindications for their program:

“Because of the elevated demand for exercise intensity in high intensity circuit training protocols, caution should be taken when prescribing this protocol to individuals who are overweight/obese, detrained, previously injured, or elderly or for individuals with comorbidities.

For individuals with hypertension or heart disease, the isometric exercises (wall sit, plank, and side plank) are not recommended. The isometric exercises can be substituted with dynamic exercises.

For all individuals, the Valsalva maneuver should be avoided, particularly for the isometric exercises. Proper execution requires a willing and able participant who can handle a great degree of discomfort for a relatively short duration. It is also essential that participants in an HICT understand proper exercise form and technique. As with all exercise programs, prior medical clearance from a physician is recommended.”

I firmly believe that most people would benefit from high intensity exercises but the key is to start very slowly if you have any of the risk factors listed above. You might actually require several months to work up to a high intensity level. But as long as you start at a safe level and continue to push yourself to progressively higher levels, you will eventually reach a level of intensity that will provide the benefits.

Remember, while your body needs regular amounts of stress like exercise to stay healthy, if you give it more than you can handle your health can actually deteriorate. So it’s crucial to listen to your body and integrate the feedback into your exercise intensity and frequency. When you work out, it is wise to really push as hard as you possibly can a few times a week, but you do need to wisely gauge your body's tolerance to this stress.

Why High Intensity Interval Training May Be Ideal for Most

Contrary to popular belief, extended extreme cardio, such as marathon running, actually sets in motion inflammatory mechanisms that damage your heart. So while your heart is indeed designed to work very hard, and will be strengthened from doing so, it’s only designed to do so intermittently, and for short periods—not for an hour or more at a time. This is the natural body mechanics you tap into when you perform HIIT.

Repeatedly and consistently overwhelming your heart by long distance marathon running, for example, can actually prematurely age your heart and make you more vulnerable to irregular heart rhythm. This is why you sometimes hear of seasoned endurance athletes dropping dead from cardiac arrest during a race. I ran long distance for over four decades. So please learn from my experience and don’t make the same mistake I did.

Compelling and ever-mounting research shows that the ideal form of exercise is short bursts of high intensity exercise. Not only does it beat conventional cardio as the most effective and efficient form of exercise, it also provides health benefits you simply cannot get from regular aerobics, such as a tremendous boost in human growth hormone (HGH), aka the “fitness hormone.”

What Makes HIIT so Effective?

Your body has three types of muscle fibers: slow, fast, and super-fast twitch muscles. Slow twitch muscles are the red muscles, which are activated by traditional strength training and cardio exercises. The latter two (fast and super-fast) are white muscle fibers, and these are only activated during high intensity interval exercises or sprints. The benefit of activating these fibers is that they will produce therapeutic levels of growth hormone, which many athletes spend over a $1,000 a month to inject themselves with. So there is no need to pay the money or take the risks when your body can produce growth hormone naturally through high intensity exercises.

Getting cardiovascular benefits requires working all three types of muscle fibers and their associated energy systems -- and this cannot be done with traditional cardio, which only activates your red, slow twitch muscles. If your fitness routine doesn't work your white muscle, you aren't really working your heart in the most beneficial way. The reason for this is because your heart has two different metabolic processes:

• The aerobic, which requires oxygen for fuel, and
• The anaerobic, which does not require any oxygen

Traditional strength training and cardio exercises work primarily the aerobic process, while high intensity interval exercises work both your aerobic AND your anaerobic processes, which is what you need for optimal cardiovascular benefit. This is why you may not see the results you desire even when you're spending an hour on the treadmill several times a week. So when it comes to high intensity exercises, less really is more...

For Optimal Health, Add Variety to Your Exercise Program

In addition to doing HIIT a couple of times a week, it’s wise to alternate a wide variety of exercises in order to truly optimize your health and avoid hitting a plateau. As a general rule, as soon as an exercise becomes easy to complete, you need to increase the intensity and/or try another exercise to keep challenging your body. I recommend incorporating the following types of exercise into your program on days when you’re not doing high intensity anaerobic training:

• Strength Training: If you want, you can increase the intensity by slowing it down. You need enough repetitions to exhaust your muscles. The weight should be heavy enough that this can be done in fewer than 12 repetitions, yet light enough to do a minimum of four repetitions. It is also important NOT to exercise the same muscle groups every day. They need at least two days of rest to recover, repair and rebuild.

For more information about using super slow weight training as a form of high-intensity interval exercise, please see my interview with Dr. Doug McGuff.

• Core Exercises: Your body has 29 core muscles located mostly in your back, abdomen and pelvis. This group of muscles provides the foundation for movement throughout your entire body, and strengthening them can help protect and support your back, make your spine and body less prone to injury and help you gain greater balance and stability.

Exercise programs like Pilates, yoga, and Foundation Training are great for strengthening your core muscles, as are specific exercises you can learn from a personal trainer.

• Stretching: My favorite type of stretching is Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) developed by Aaron Mattes. With AIS, you hold each stretch for only two seconds, which works with your body's natural physiological makeup to improve circulation and increase the elasticity of muscle joints. This technique also allows your body to repair itself and prepare for daily activity. You can also use devices like the Power Plate to help you stretch.

By Dr. Mercola

Exercise is a critical part of a healthy lifestyle, and it can be a part of your life no matter what your age. In fact, staying active becomes increasingly important as you get older, both for your physical and mental health.

Even frail seniors of advanced age can improve strength, agility, and even cognitive ability with exercise.

Loss of bone mass is one of the common signs of aging, because as you age your existing bone is absorbed by your body while new bone is created to replace it.

In the case of osteoporosis, the formation of new bone falls behind the rate of bone absorption, leading to weakened, thinner and more brittle bones.

A thinning hipbone is a major concern if you are elderly, because any fall increases the risk of a broken hip, which always carries a great risk of complications and usually requires prolonged specialized care for recovery. It's estimated that 25 percent of elderly people suffering a hip fracture die as a direct result.¹

Weight-bearing exercise, like resistance or strength training, can go a long way to prevent brittle bone formation, and can help reverse the damage already done.

Interestingly enough, strength training also has brain-boosting side effects, which can help you avoid age-related dementia.

The above video created by the University of British Columbia Department of Physical Therapy, demonstrates resistance training for older adults and discusses the many benefits of exercise, which include:

• Improved sleep
• Reducing your risk for medical conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, depression, dementia, cancer, and premature death from any cause
• Preventing falls and fractures
• Improving your overall mood and outlook

Majority of Americans Don’t Get Enough Exercise

According to recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),² the majority—79 percent—of American adults aged 18 and over are not meeting federal recommendations for physical activity for either aerobic- and muscle-strengthening exercise. Federal recommendations include getting:

• At least 2½ hours a week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or one hour and 15 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity
• Muscle-strengthening activities that involve all major muscle groups, twice or more per week

Of the 450,000 respondents participating in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, an annual CDC phone survey of adults, 52 percent said they meet the aerobic activity guideline, and only 29 percent reported meeting the muscle-strengthening activity recommendation. Disturbingly, as reported in the featured article by USA Today,³ other studies suggest Americans are even more sedentary than what these statistics show:

“Scientists with the National Cancer Institute, using actual motion sensors, found that fewer than five percent of adults in the USA get at least 30 minutes a day of moderate-intensity physical activity in bouts of at least 10 minutes.”

The evidence is overwhelming when it comes to proving that staying active will benefit your health and longevity. As for what type of exercise to choose, the options are limited only by your own imagination and fitness level. Here are a few suggestions from the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans,⁴ which would help you meet the minimum exercise recommendations listed above:

• Take a brisk walk for 30 minutes on five days (moderate intensity); exercise with resistance bands two days (muscle strengthening).
• Take a brisk walk for 30 minutes two days (moderate); go dancing for an hour one evening (moderate); mow the law for 30 minutes (moderate); do heavy gardening two days (muscle strengthening).
• Do 30 minutes of an aerobic dance class (vigorous); do 30 minutes of running one day (vigorous); take a brisk walk for 30 minutes one day (moderate); do calisthenics (sit-ups, push-ups) on three days.
• Bike to and from work for 30 minutes on three days (moderate); play softball for 60 minutes one day (moderate); use weight machines two days.
• Play doubles tennis for 45 minutes two days (moderate); lift weights one day; hike vigorously for 30 minutes and go rock climbing one day (muscle strengthening).

Progressive Resistance Training is Particularly Beneficial for Aging Adults

As discussed in the video above, progressive resistance training is particularly beneficial for aging adults. “Progressive resistance” is when you build up strength in your muscles by gradually increasing the amount of weight you use. You can use either gym equipment or free weights. The former may be safer if you’re a novice, as free weights will require better form and control. Whichever one you choose, I recommend having a trainer take you through each exercise to make sure you have the proper form performing the exercise, to avoid injury.

While resistance training will improve muscle and bone strength, which can help prevent falls and fractures, mounting research also shows that strength training can have a profoundly beneficial impact on your brain as well. Brawn and brains are not mutually exclusive, it turns out... In one study, seniors doing progressive resistance training twice a week for one year experienced a marked improvement in their cognitive ability, scoring up to 13 percent higher in tests relating to decision making.

Strength training increases your body’s production of growth factors, which are responsible for cellular growth, proliferation, and differentiation. Some of these growth factors also promote the growth, differentiation, and survival of neurons, which helps explain why working your muscles also benefits your brain. I highly recommend watching the video above in its entirety. It demonstrates simple warm-up techniques and some basic resistance exercises for the target areas you’ll want to work, which include your:

• Core muscles
• Upper back
• Lower body
• Shoulders
• Arms

High Intensity Interval Training as an Anti-Aging Tool

Make no mistake — virtually ALL forms of exercise are beneficial, but aside from strength training, high-intensity interval-type training may also be of particular benefit for aging adults. Once you hit the age of 30, you enter what's called "somatopause," at which point your levels of HGH (human growth hormone) begin to drop off quite dramatically. This decline of HGH is part of what drives your aging process, so maintaining your HGH levels gets increasingly important with age.

Peak Fitness exercises boost your body's natural production of human growth hormone (HGH), which will help address the muscle loss and atrophy that typically occurs with aging. In fact, your production of vital human growth hormone increases by as much as 771 percent during a Peak Fitness workout. And the higher your levels of HGH, the healthier, stronger, and more “youthful” you will be. I’ve discussed and demonstrated high intensity interval training exercises on a number of occasions in previous articles, so for detailed instructions and demonstrations, please see this link.

Yoga After 50

While I believe you need to incorporate more intense forms of exercise for optimal health, such as anaerobic exercise (high intensity interval training) and strength training, there’s no doubt that milder, low-impact forms of exercise such as yoga can be an important part of a comprehensive exercise program. Yoga is particularly useful for promoting flexibility and core muscles, and has been proven beneficial if you suffer with back pain. A recent study has also shown that regular yoga classes can help improve atrial fibrillation⁵ (irregular heartbeat).

A recent New York Times article addresses the benefits of yoga after 50, pointing out that “yoga can be practiced fully and deeply at any age.” Naturally, as your body changes, your practice will need to be modified as well. This applies to any form of exercise; always listen to your body. In the article, Dr. Loren Fishman, a back-pain specialist in Manhattan who uses yoga in his rehabilitation practice, gives the following advice:⁶

“...[A]ging brings impairments of range, motion, strength and balance that can require modifications, even among veteran yogis, like using the support of a chair or the wall for many poses. In addition, students may begin to feel the effects of arthritis, injuries and other ailments that may require students skip certain poses altogether. Someone with osteoporosis, for example, may want to avoid headstands and poses requiring extreme spinal flexion or extension, while someone with glaucoma may want to avoid taking the head below the heart in poses like headstand, handstand, shoulder stand and standing forward bends.”

Yoga is an excellent choice for helping you improve and maintain your balance, so make sure to include one-legged standing poses. Carrie Owerko, a New York-based teacher of Iyengar yoga who was also interviewed, mentions Tree Pose and Eagle Pose as examples. If you need to use a chair or wall for support, that’s okay.

Yoga for Weight Loss and Health Maintenance

The following video, featuring Arthur Boorman, a disabled veteran of the Gulf War, is perhaps one of the most inspiring yoga success stories I’ve ever seen. His injuries had put him on a downward spiral for 15 years, and his doctors had told him he'd never be able to walk unassisted again. Due to his injuries, he couldn't perform high impact exercises, but one day, he came across an article about yoga, and the rest, as they say, is history... If you've ever doubted the transformative power of a low impact exercise such as yoga, I urge you to take a look at this video. It's a truly remarkable story. Not only did he rapidly start losing weight, he also gained tremendous strength, balance and flexibility—to the point he proved his doctors' prognosis wrong by walking unaided in less than a year!

Interestingly, research⁷ published just last year discovered that yoga has a beneficial impact on leptin, a hormone that plays a key role in regulating energy intake and energy expenditure.

Both insulin and leptin resistance are associated with obesity, and impairment of their ability to transfer the information to receptors is the true foundational core of most all chronic degenerative diseases. Leptin tells your brain whether you should be hungry, eat and make more fat, whether you should reproduce, or (partly by controlling insulin) whether to engage in maintenance and repair. In short, leptin is the way that your fat stores speak to your brain to let your brain know how much energy is available and, very importantly, what to do with it.

Therefore, leptin may be on top of the food chain in metabolic importance and relevance to disease. If your leptin signaling is working properly.

When your fat stores are "full," this extra fat will cause a surge in your leptin level, which signals your brain to stop feeling hungry, to stop eating, to stop storing fat and to start burning some extra fat off. Controlling hunger is a major (though not the only) way that leptin controls energy storage. Hunger is a very powerful, ancient, and deep-seated drive that, if stimulated long enough, will make you eat and store more energy. The only way to eat less in the long-term is to not be hungry, and the only way to do this is to control the hormones that regulate hunger, the primary one being leptin.

Rounding Out Your Exercise Program

To truly optimize your health, it’s wise to incorporate a wide variety of exercises. As discussed above, each form of exercise has its range of benefits. Also, without variety, your body will tend to adapt and the benefits will begin to plateau. As a general rule, as soon as an exercise becomes easy to complete, you need to increase the intensity and/or try another exercise to keep challenging your body. I recommend incorporating the following types of exercise into your program. (The first three have all been addressed above):

• Interval (Anaerobic) Training
• Strength Training
• Core Exercises
• Stretching: My favorite type of stretching is active isolated stretches developed by Aaron Mattes. With Active Isolated Stretching, you hold each stretch for only two seconds, which works with your body's natural physiological makeup to improve circulation and increase the elasticity of muscle joints. This technique also allows your body to repair itself and prepare for daily activity. You can also use devices like the Power Plate to help you stretch.

It’s Never Too Late to Take Control of Your Health

Following the advice in this article can go a long way toward maintaining healthy bones and muscle mass as you age. Granted, the earlier you start, the better, but remember, you are never too old to start exercising. Research shows that, no matter your age, you stand to gain significant improvements in strength, range of motion, balance, bone density and mental clarity through exercise. My mom didn't start working out until she was 74 and now, at the age of 78, she has gained significant improvement in strength, range of motion, balance, bone density and mental clarity.

You can view her demonstrating her strength training program in this previous article. If you’re presently incapable of engaging in aerobic exercise, using Whole Body Vibration training may be just the thing to help you get more active.⁸ I recently discussed this in the article: How Whole Body Vibration Exercises Can Help Improve Fitness in the Elderly. There’s really no time like the present when it comes to taking control of your health, and exercise is a crucial component of optimal health. I guarantee it will make a major difference in your energy level, and probably your entire outlook on life. It is really THAT powerful, whether you're 18 years old or 80!

Intermittent fasting is a powerful approach to eating that is becoming very popular because it can help you lose weight while reducing your risk of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

While this approach is just now starting to catch on in the media, there’s nothing “new” about it. Our ancestors rarely had access to food 24/7 like we do today, and it’s likely that our genes are optimized for the more sporadic, intermittent meals that they ate.

Fasting has been an important part of religious traditions for centuries, while the health benefits of intermittent fasting have been appreciated since the 1940s,¹ although they are just now achieving more mainstream popularity.

So far, the research overwhelmingly supports this notion that ditching the “three square meals a day” approach in favor of intermittent fasting may do wonders for your health.

The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting Confirmed by the Latest Research 

A new review evaluated the various approaches to intermittent fasting, particularly the advantages and limitations for its use in fighting obesity and type 2 diabetes.²

What the researchers found was that overweight or obese individuals with type 2 diabetes who fast on consecutive or alternate days lost more weight, while also experiencing enhanced heart health and cardioprotective benefits.

Studies included in the review showed a broad range of therapeutic potential even when total calorie intake per day did not change, or was only slightly reduced. This includes evidence that intermittent fasting may:

Limit inflammation	Improve circulating glucose and lipid levels	Reduce blood pressure
Improve metabolic efficiency and body composition	Cause significant reductions in body weight in obese individuals	Help prevent type 2 diabetes, as well as slow its progression
Reverse type 2 diabetes	Improve pancreatic function	Improve insulin levels and insulin sensitivity
Reproduce some of the cardiovascular benefits associated with physical exercise	Protect against cardiovascular disease	Modulate levels of dangerous visceral fat
Reduce LDL and total cholesterol levels

What Type of Intermittent Fasting Program is Best?

It's long been known that restricting calories in certain animals can increase their lifespan by as much as 50 percent, but more recent research suggests that sudden and intermittent calorie restriction appears to provide the same health benefits as constant calorie restriction, providing an alternative for those who cannot successfully reduce their everyday calorie intake (or who simply don’t want to!).

Researchers noted in the British Journal of Diabetes & Vascular Disease:³

“Intermittent fasting can be undertaken in several ways but the basic format alternates days of ‘normal’ calorie consumption with days when calorie consumption is severely restricted. This can either be done on an alternating day basis, or more recently a 5:2 strategy has been developed [see figure below], where 2 days each week are classed as ‘fasting days’ (with <600 calories consumed for men, <500 for women).

Importantly, this type of intermittent fasting has been shown to be similarly effective or more effective than continuous modest calorie restriction with regard to weight loss, improved insulin sensitivity and other health biomarkers … Despite the seemingly strict nature of the fasting days intermittent fasting has a generally good adherence record.”

Dr. Mosley, one of the study’s researchers, claims to have lost 19 pounds in two months by following this recommendation.

Restricting Your Daily Eating to a Specific Window of Time is Another Option

Another version of intermittent fasting, and the one I actually prefer and use, is when you simply restrict your daily eating to a specific window of time, such as an eight hour window. This is feasible and convenient for most people, but you can restrict it even further — down to six, four or even two hours, if you want, but you can still reap many of the rewards by limiting your eating to a window of about 8 hours.

For instance, this means eating only between the hours of 11am until 7pm, as an example. Essentially, this equates to simply skipping breakfast and making lunch your first meal of the day instead. Personally, I have been experimenting with different types of scheduled eating in my own life for the past two years, and I currently restrict my eating to an 8-hour window each day.

The rationale behind this approach is that it takes about six to eight hours for your body to burn the carbs stored in your body as glycogen. After that your body is stimulated to burn fat as its primary fuel. It takes a few weeks or more to make this transition and during that time one typically does have sugar cravings. But you can use coconut oil as a short-chain fat that is rapidly broken down and can supply your body as fuel during this period to relieve your cravings and provide you with a source of energy until your body can effectively burn your own fat.

I lost about seven pounds when I implemented the approach last year, but the most amazing aspect is not the weight loss, it’s the absence of hunger and sugar cravings once you are “fat adapted.” Your desire to eat unhealthy foods seems to disappear; at least, that was my experience.

One of the best things about intermittent fasting is that you’re NOT supposed to starve yourself. You’re not even required to restrict the amount of food you eat when on this type of daily scheduled eating plan, just choose healthy foods and be careful to minimize carbs and replace them with healthy fats, like coconut oil, olive oil, olives, butter, eggs, avocados and nuts. It typically takes several weeks to shift to fat-burning mode, but once you do your body will actually be able to burn your stored fat and not have to rely on new carbs for fuel.

Three Reasons Why Intermittent Fasting Works

For people who loathe the idea of dieting, intermittent fasting offers a simple alternative that doesn’t involve calorie counting or starvation. In fact, I prefer to think of intermittent fasting as a lifestyle shift rather than simply a diet change. It’s a way of living and eating that can help you live a longer, healthier life without feeling like you’re sacrificing too much.  If you’re still skeptical, there are three major mechanisms by which fasting benefits your body, as it extends lifespan and protects against disease, including:

1. Increased insulin sensitivity and mitochondrial energy efficiency – Fasting increases insulin sensitivity along with mitochondrial energy efficiency, and thereby retards aging and disease, which are typically associated with loss of insulin sensitivity and declined mitochondrial energy.
2. Reduced oxidative stress – Fasting decreases the accumulation of oxidative radicals in the cell, and thereby prevents oxidative damage to cellular proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids associated with aging and disease.
3. Increased capacity to resist stress, disease and aging – Fasting induces a cellular stress response (similar to that induced by exercise) in which cells up-regulate the expression of genes that increase the capacity to cope with stress and resist disease and aging.

Adding This to Intermittent Fasting Can Give You Even More Benefits …

If you’re impressed by intermittent fasting’s potential to improve diabetes and offer cardioprotective benefits, you’ll surely want to know about another lifestyle measure that works synergistically with fasting to offer even more benefits: high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

HIIT, which is a foundational part of my comprehensive exercise recommendations, is another aspect of optimal health that I’ve been trying to drill into my readers since the mid-2000s, when the science behind it was showing signs of being really solid. Now the mainstream is finally starting to catch up on this as well, and proof that it really does work as advertised is becoming increasingly evident as people are trying it out. Dr. Mosley also points out the importance of HIIT — especially in conjunction with fasting.

When you exercise while fasting, it essentially forces your body to shed fat, as your body's fat burning processes are controlled by your sympathetic nervous system (SNS), and your SNS is activated by exercise and lack of food. The combination of fasting and exercising maximizes the impact of cellular factors and catalysts (cyclic AMP and AMP Kinases), which force the breakdown of fat and glycogen for energy.

Intensity is KEY for reaping all the benefits interval training can offer. To perform it correctly, you'll want to raise your heart rate to your anaerobic threshold, and to do that, you have to give it your all for 20- to 30-second intervals. I use and recommend the program developed by Phil Campbell, which will also trigger human growth hormone (HGH) production -- a synergistic, foundational biochemical underpinning that promotes muscle and effectively burns excessive fat -- as you go "all out" during the exertion phase.

Who Shouldn’t Fast?

If you're hypoglycemic, diabetic, or pregnant (and/or breastfeeding), you are better off avoiding any type of fasting or timed meal schedule until you've normalized your blood glucose and insulin levels, or weaned the baby. Other categories of people that would be best served to avoid fasting include those living with chronic stress and those with cortisol dysregulation.

Please keep in mind also that proper nutrition becomes even MORE important when fasting, so addressing your diet really should be your first step. Always listen to your body, and go slow; work your way up to 16-18 hour fasts if your normal schedule has included multiple meals a day. Also be sure to address any hypoglycemic tendencies, such as headaches, weakness, tremors or irritability, as it can get increasingly dangerous the longer you go without eating to level out your blood sugar.

Mounting evidence continues to show that exercise may be a key component in successful cancer prevention and treatment. Studies have also found that it can help keep cancer from recurring, so it’s really a triple-win.

Yet not surprisingly few oncologists ever tell their patients to engage in exercise beyond their simple daily, normal activities, and many cancer patients are reluctant to exercise, or even discuss it with their oncologist. Hopefully, you will not be one of them.

Most recently, research announced at the 2013 International Liver Congress¹ found that mice who exercised on a motorized treadmill for an hour each day, five days a week for 32 weeks, experienced fewer incidents of liver cancer than sedentary mice.

Exercise may also be absolutely crucial in the treatment of depression, according to recent research.² I’ve often stated this, and the science continues to support this advice.

Meanwhile, mounting evidence condemns the “evidence-based” drug paradigm, as reviews keep finding that large amounts of published drug research is either seriously flawed or outright fraudulent — motivated of course by the financial interests of the funding party.

Might Exercise Be a Key to Cancer Cure?

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a cancer that originates in your liver cells, and is one of the most common types of cancers. According to the featured article in Medical News Today,³ HCC accounts for just over five percent of all cancers worldwide, and causes an estimated 695,000 deaths annually.

According to the reported research,⁴ the first of its kind for this type of tumor, regular exercise may be the key to significantly reducing your chances for developing liver cancer.

The study involved two groups of mice: One group was fed a high fat diet, and then divided into two sub-groups — one that exercised and one that did not. The second group was fed a controlled diet, and also divided into sub-groups of exercise and non-exercise. According to the featured article:

“After 32 weeks of regular exercise, 71 percent of mice on the controlled diet developed tumors larger than 10mm versus 100 percent in the sedentary group. The mean number and volume of HCC tumors per liver was also reduced in the exercise group compared to the sedentary group.”

In the high-fat diet group, exercise decreased the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Professor Jean-Francois Dufour told Medical News Today:

"We know that modern, unhealthy lifestyles predispose people to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease which may lead to liver cancer; however it's been previously unknown whether regular exercise reduces the risk of developing HCC. This research is significant because it opens the door for further studies to prove that regular exercise can reduce the chance of people developing HCC.

The results could eventually lead to some very tangible benefits for people staring down the barrel of liver cancer and I look forward to seeing human studies in this important area in the future. The prognosis for liver cancer patients is often bleak as only a proportion of patients are suitable for potentially curative treatments so any kind of positive news in this arena is warmly welcomed."

Exercise Needs to be Part of the New Standard of Care for Cancer

But the benefits of exercise are not limited to prevention alone. It can also help you recuperate faster and help prevent recurrence of cancer. A report issued by the British organization Macmillan Cancer Support⁵ just last year argues that exercise really should be part of standard cancer care. It recommends that all patients getting cancer treatment should be told to engage in moderate-intensity exercise for two and a half hours every week, stating that the advice to rest and take it easy after treatment is an outdated view.

The organization offers loads of helpful information about the benefits of exercise for cancer patients on their website, and also has a number of videos on the subject, available on their YouTube channel.⁶

Professor Robert Thomas discusses the benefits of physical activity during after cancer treatment.

According to Ciaran Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support:⁷

"Cancer patients would be shocked if they knew just how much of a benefit physical activity could have on their recovery and long term health, in some cases reducing their chances of having to go through the grueling ordeal of treatment all over again..."

Indeed, the reduction in risk for recurrence is quite impressive. For example, previous research has shown that breast and colon cancer patients who exercise regularly have half the recurrence rate than non-exercisers.⁸ Macmillan Cancer Support also notes that exercise can help you to mitigate some of the common side effects of conventional cancer treatment, including:

Reduce fatigue and improve your energy levels	Manage stress, anxiety, low mood or depression	Improve bone health
Improve heart health (some chemotherapy drugs and radiotherapy can cause heart problems later in life)	Build muscle strength, relieve pain and improve range of movement	Maintain a healthy weight
Sleep better	Improve your appetite	Prevent constipation

Exercise Can Also Benefit Your Mental Health — Even When Forced

Many recent studies have shown that exercise provides a level of protection against stress-related disorders and depression. But could it still work if it was prescribed and forced upon you, by doctor’s orders, for example; or if part of a mandatory program, such as high school students or military, who are required to participate whether they like it or not?

To find out, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder devised an animal study to determine whether rats that were forced to exercise would experience the same stress- and anxiety-reduction as those who were free to choose if and when to exercise.

The rats exercised either voluntarily or forcibly for six weeks, after which they were exposed to a stressor. The following day, their anxiety levels were tested by measuring how long they froze when placed in an environment they’d been conditioned to fear. The longer the rats remained frozen, like “a deer in headlights,” the greater the residual anxiety from the previous day’s stressor. According to the lead author:⁹

"Regardless of whether the rats chose to run or were forced to run they were protected against stress and anxiety. The sedentary rats froze for longer periods of time than any of the active rats. The implications are that humans who perceive exercise as being forced — perhaps including those who feel like they have to exercise for health reasons — are maybe still going to get the benefits in terms of reducing anxiety and depression."

Could 89 Percent of ‘Landmark’ Cancer Research Be Untruthful?

Findings such as the ones above, which demonstrate the significant benefits of lifestyle changes like exercise on your physical and mental health, become all the more important in light of mounting evidence showing that conventional drug treatment research has been sorely compromised by industry funding. As discussed in a recent GreenMedInfo article,¹⁰ the alleged “groundbreaking” results of nearly nine out of 10 cancer studies cannot be reproduced by any means!

“This means that to an extent, we have based our healthcare and clinical guidelines on fake studies that reported untruthful results in order to accommodate the interests of industrial corporations,” Eleni Roumeliotou writes.

“Cancer is a major killer in US. The American Cancer Society reports that in 2012, more than half a million Americans died from cancer, while more than 1.6 million new cases were diagnosed. Given the seriousness of these statistics and the necessity of evidence-based medicine, it would make sense to trust that honest, objective research is tirelessly trying to find the best cancer therapies out there.”

Alas, this trust in the scientific rigor of medical research appears to have been misplaced. First of all, nearly three-quarters of all retracted drug studies are due to falsification of data,¹¹ meaning it’s not even a matter of misinterpretation of data; rather the data used to draw conclusions are pure fiction. Large numbers of patients can be affected when false findings are published, as the average lag time between publication of the study and the issuing of a retraction is 39 months. And that's if it's ever caught at all.

Last year, former drug company researcher Glenn Begley also showed that the vast majority of the "landmark" studies on cancer are unreliable — and a high proportion of those unreliable studies come from respectable university labs. Begley looked at 53 papers in the world's top journals, and found that he and a team of scientists could NOT replicate 47 of the 53 published studies — all of which were considered important and valuable for the future of cancer treatments!

Part of the problem, they said, is that scientists often ignore negative findings in their results that might raise a warning. Instead, they opt for cherry-picking conclusions in an effort to put their research in a favorable light. The allegations appeared in the March 28 issue of the prestigious journal Nature.¹²

"It was shocking," Begley said.¹³ "These are the studies the pharmaceutical industry relies on to identify new targets for drug development. But if you're going to place a $1 million or $2 million or $5 million bet on an observation, you need to be sure it's true. As we tried to reproduce these papers we became convinced you can't take anything at face value."

As if that’s not disturbing enough, Roumeliotou points out that Begley was not permitted to disclose which 53 cancer studies he evaluated and found to be without scientific merit. She writes:¹⁴

“...when they contacted the original authors and asked for details of the experiments, they had to sign an agreement that they would not disclose their findings or sources. This shows that the scientists, who published the tainted research, were all along, fully aware of the discrepancies of their articles and criminally conscious of the fact that they were misleading the medical and public opinion.”

Your Lifestyle has Tremendous Influence Over Your Health and Cancer Risk...

In light of the evidence supporting the notion that lifestyle changes, such as exercise, have a profound impact on human health and diseases of both mind and body, it would be foolish in the extreme to ignore such advice. Especially when you consider that the conventional drug paradigm is riddled with unreliable and outright fraudulent research — courtesy of the financial influence of the drug industry itself, which funds the vast majority of drug research.

Studies on exercise and other lifestyle changes however are less likely to be fraudulent simply because there’s no money to be made by coming to the conclusion that exercise may be helpful — unless it was funded by a gym franchise, perhaps...

Whether you’re trying to address your mental or physical health, I would strongly recommend you read up on my Peak Fitness program, which includes high-intensity exercises that can reduce your exercise time while actually increasing your benefits.

Now, if you have cancer or any other chronic disease, you will of course need to tailor your exercise routine to your individual circumstances, taking into account your fitness level and current health. Often, you will be able to take part in a regular exercise program -- one that involves a variety of exercises like strength training, core-building, stretching, aerobic and anaerobic -- with very little changes necessary. However, at times you may find you need to exercise at a lower intensity, or for shorter durations.

Always listen to your body and if you feel you need a break, take time to rest. But even exercising for just a few minutes a day is better than not exercising at all, and you'll likely find that your stamina increases and you're able to complete more challenging workouts with each passing day. In the event you are suffering from a very weakened immune system, you may want to exercise at home instead of visiting a public gym. But remember that exercise will ultimately help to boost your immune system, so it's very important to continue with your program, even if you suffer from chronic illness or cancer.

If you’re like most people, the time you spend exercising is a valuable commodity that you’ve carefully planned and fit into your day. And when your workout is over, you may simply grab a quick shower or pull on a sweatshirt, skipping the post-exercise cool down because you’re eager to get on with your day.

Cooling down after exercise has long been touted as a necessary step to help prevent muscle soreness and improve recovery, but is it really?

The Case for Skipping Your Post-Exercise Cool Down

In 2007, one of the first studies on cooling down was published.¹ The finding? Cooling down for 10 minutes after a workout had no impact on delayed-onset muscle soreness. Even though more than half a decade has passed, these results have yet to translate into practice, as most people are still under the impression that a cool down is beneficial.

Yet, newer research also suggests that the choice to cool down is simply one of personal preference – not one that will drastically impact your recovery. For instance:

• Cooling down after performing strenuous forward lunges had no impact on muscle pain the next day among active adults; those who cooled down had the same amount of pain as those who did not²
• Cooling down after soccer practice had no impact on performance, flexibility or muscle soreness the next day among professional soccer players^{3, 4}

While it appears unlikely that cooling down has any real benefit in your post-workout recovery, muscle pain or next-day performance, it may help prevent the buildup of blood in your veins, which can lead to dizziness or fainting.⁵

The cool down also brings fresh blood into areas to help with lactic acid removal, while bringing your heart rate down to resting pulse quicker. A proper cool down also helps lower a raised heart rate down to resting heart rate safely.

Further, it may also help you to simply unwind after an intense workout, easing the transition back to your normal level of activity.

Personally I only cool down for three minutes after doing a high-intensity workout. If you are pushing your body to extremes it makes loads of sense to do a cool down, especially if you are close to or exceeding your maximum calculated heart rate (220 minus your age).

Static Stretching Before Exercise: Another Myth Busted

As with cool downs, stretching before exercise is another fitness dogma many of us wouldn’t dare neglect. After all, we’ve been told for decades that stretching is key for warming up your muscles and helping to prevent injuries.

However, pre-exercise static stretching generally hurts rather than helps your athletic and muscle performance, particularly when the stretch is held for 60 seconds or more.⁶ Static stretching is when you hold your muscle in a fixed position for a prolonged period, such as bending over to touch your toes.

This technique has been regarded as the gold standard for decades, but now research shows that it actually decreases the blood flow within your tissue creating localized ischemia (a restriction in blood supply) and lactic acid buildup. This can potentially cause irritation or injury of local muscular, tendinous, lymphatic, and neural tissues.

The evidence is so clear that the American College of Sports Medicine now advises against this form of stretching prior to your workouts. Unlike the cool down, however, which you can generally safely skip, all forms of stretching should not be avoided prior to exercise, only static stretching.

Dynamic stretching, on the other hand, has been shown to positively influence power, speed, agility, endurance, flexibility, and strength performance when used as a warm-up.⁷ And unlike cool-downs, warm-ups are very important and have been shown to help reduce and prevent muscle soreness.⁸

My favorite type of dynamic stretching is active isolated stretches developed by Aaron Mattes. With Active Isolated Stretching or AIS, you hold each stretch for only two seconds, which works with your body's natural physiological makeup to improve circulation and increase the elasticity of muscle joints.

This technique also allows your body to help repair itself and prepare for daily activity. If you’re an avid exerciser, this news to overhaul your pre-workout stretches and your post-workout cool-down may come as a surprise, but these tips can help you to make the most of your workouts.

More Tips for Optimizing Your Workouts: The Benefits of Short and Intense Activity

If you’re excited at the prospect of cutting down your workout time by skipping your cool-down, you’ll be even more enthused to learn about high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Remember, if you do this type of exercise I do believe a three-minute cool down is important.

Researchers have repeatedly confirmed the superior health benefits of HIIT compared to traditional and typically performed aerobic workouts. For example, high-intensity interval-type training gives a natural boost to human growth hormone (HGH) production—which is essential for optimal health, strength and vigor—and has been shown to significantly improve insulin sensitivity, boost fat loss, and increase muscle growth. Anaerobic HIIT can be performed on a recumbent bike or an elliptical machine, or sprinting outdoors (with proper guidelines to avoid injury). You can even perform high-intensity strength training.

While there are a large number of variations, the HIIT routine I recommend involves going all out for 30 seconds and then resting for 90 seconds between sprints, as demonstrated in the video above The total workout is typically 8 repetitions. In all, you’ll be done in about 20 minutes, and you only need to perform HIIT two or three times a week.

Contrary to popular belief, extended extreme cardio actually sets in motion inflammatory mechanisms that damage your heart. So while your heart is indeed designed to work very hard, and will be strengthened from doing so, it’s only designed to do so intermittently, and for short periods—not for an hour or more at a time. This is the natural body mechanics you tap into when you perform HIIT.

How to Round Out Your Exercise Program

In addition to doing high-intensity interval exercises a couple of times a week, it’s wise to alternate a wide variety of exercises in order to truly optimize your health. As a general rule, as soon as an exercise becomes easy to complete, you need to increase the intensity and/or try another exercise to keep challenging your body. I recommend incorporating the following types of exercise into your program on days when you’re not doing HIIT:

• Strength Training: If you want, you can increase the intensity by slowing it down. You need enough repetitions to exhaust your muscles. The weight should be heavy enough that this can be done in fewer than 12 repetitions, yet light enough to do a minimum of four repetitions. It is also important NOT to exercise the same muscle groups every day. They need at least two days of rest to recover, repair and rebuild.

For more information about using super slow weight training as a form of high-intensity interval exercise, please see my interview with Dr. Doug McGuff.

• Core Exercises: Your body has 29 core muscles located mostly in your back, abdomen and pelvis. This group of muscles provides the foundation for movement throughout your entire body, and strengthening them can help protect and support your back, make your spine and body less prone to injury and help you gain greater balance and stability.

Exercise programs like Pilates, yoga, and Foundation Training are great for strengthening your core muscles, as are specific exercises you can learn from a personal trainer.

• Stretching: As mentioned, my favorite type of stretching is Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) developed by Aaron Mattes. This technique allows your body to repair itself and prepare for daily activity. You can also use devices like the Power Plate to help you stretch.

It’s well known that chronic, heavy drinking damages your brain and actually speeds up the brain shrinkage that occurs with age.  This is associated with memory loss, symptoms of dementia and cognitive decline.

Physical exercise is touted as one of the key ways to protect against brain shrinkage and other age-related brain changes, and now it appears it may help protect against some of the brain damage caused by drinking.

Exercise May Help Protect Your Brain From Alcohol-Related Damage

Among 60 long-time drinkers, those who were the most physically active had less damaged white matter in their brains compared to those who were less active.¹ The white matter is considered the "wiring" of your brain's communication system, and is known to decline in quality with age and heavy alcohol consumption.

Although the study didn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship, the researchers concluded that “exercise may protect WM [white matter] integrity from alcohol-related damage,” continuing:²

“We cannot say whether exercise would necessarily improve white matter damage in individuals with a history of heavy drinking.

However, our findings in combination with the many well-established positive physiological and psychological benefits of aerobic exercise suggest that aerobic exercise could be potentially helpful for individuals with history of heavy alcohol use.”

Exercise Protects Your Brain From Shrinkage, Slows Cognitive Decline

One of the effects of chronic heavy drinking is that it speeds the shrinkage of key regions in your brain. Exercise is useful in this area, as research has shown that people who engaged in the most physical exercise showed the least amount of brain shrinkage, a protective effect that was even greater than that offered by mentally stimulating activities.³

Exercise encourages your brain to work at optimum capacity by causing nerve cells to multiply, strengthening their interconnections and protecting them from damage.

During exercise, nerve cells release proteins known as neurotrophic factors, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor or BDNF, which activates brain stem cells to convert into new neurons. BDNF also triggers numerous other chemicals that promote neural health.

Scientific evidence shows that physical exercise helps you build a brain that not only resists shrinkage, but also increases cognitive abilities.⁴ In one review of more than 100 studies, both aerobic and resistance training were found to be important for maintaining cognitive and brain health in old age.⁵

Moderate exercise may even reverse normal brain shrinkage by 2 percent, effectively reversing age-related hippocampus degeneration, which is associated with dementia and poor memory, by one to two years.⁶ On the other hand, the people in the control group who didn't exercise saw an average of 1.4 percent decrease in hippocampus size.

Exercise is a Powerful Tool for Brain Health for Drinkers and Non-Drinkers Alike

The hippocampus region of your brain increases in size as a response to exercise, making this activity a powerful tool to fight the onset of Alzheimer's disease. The hippocampus, which is considered the memory center of your brain, is the first region of your brain to suffer shrinkage and impairment at the onset of Alzheimer's disease, leading to memory problems and disorientation.

Other contributing factors to brain disease caused by the normal aging process may also include a decrease in blood flow to your brain, and the accumulation of environmental toxins in your brain. Exercise can help ameliorate both of these conditions by increasing blood flow to your brain, thereby increasing oxygen supply to your brain and encouraging a more vigorous release and removal of accumulated toxins through better blood circulation.

If you’re a regular drinker, this becomes even more important, as alcohol is a neurotoxin that can poison your brain. Increased blood flow may also promote delivery of more of the nutrients necessary to keep your brain cells healthy in the first place.

Brain Exercises are Better than Drugs in Preventing Cognitive Decline

Exercise has been shown to be better than mentally stimulating activities like brain training exercises at protecting your brain, but mental “exercise” is still important. In fact, new research shows it works better than drugs in preventing cognitive decline. The analysis of 32 trials found that mental exercise, such as computer-based brain training programs or memory, reasoning and speed-processing exercises, protected against cognitive decline better than leading dementia drugs like donepezil. Research into brain plasticity has proven that your brain continues to make new neurons throughout life in response to mental activity, which means that cognitive function can be improved, regardless of your age, and cognitive decline can be reversed.

If you’re interested in mental exercises for your brain, Dr. Michael Merzenich, professor emeritus at the University of California, who has pioneered research in brain plasticity for more than 30 years, has been instrumental in the development of a kind of "brain gym" environment — a computer-based brain training program that can help you sharpen a range of skills, from reading and comprehension to improved memorization and more. The program is called Brain HQ.⁷

"There are some very useful exercises in there that are for free, and you can actually drive improvements, for example, in brain speed, in the accuracy, with which the brain represents information in detail," he says. "Basically, what you're doing is reducing the chatter, the noisiness of the process of your brain. That impacts your capacity, for example, to record that information, to remember it. Because when the information is in its degraded form, when it's fuzzy, when it's imprecise, all of the uses of it – like your brain makes basically – are degraded."

In the above-mentioned study, those who used computer-based training programs had significantly better memory and attention skills, improvements that were, in some cases, retained even five years later.

Another Reason for Chronic Heavy Drinkers to Take Up Exercise

There’s little doubt that exercise is one of the most important aspects of optimal health – not only for your brain but also for your entire body. That said, if you or someone you love has been affected by alcohol abuse, you know the great toll it can take on your personal relationships, work life and ability to function normally on a day-to-day basis, let alone fit in regular workouts.

The cravings for alcohol can become all-consuming and eventually an alcoholic does not feel "normal" until they've had a drink. The alcohol abuse inevitably throws off your circadian rhythm -- the normal times you eat, sleep and wake up -- as well, leading to a downward spiral of health and emotional effects. When you drink, it forces your brain to release unnaturally elevated levels of dopamine, a chemical your brain associates with rewarding behaviors. When you exercise, however, this same reward chemical is released, which means you can get the same "buzz" from working out that you can get from a six-pack of beer, with far better outcomes for your health.

This is why, if you know you're prone to alcohol abuse or have a family history of alcohol addiction, exercising regularly can greatly reduce your risk of becoming dependent.

For those already addicted, exercise is beneficial too, and may actually help to lessen cravings. Research has found, in fact, that hamsters that ran the most consumed less alcohol, while less active hamsters had greater cravings for and consumption of alcohol.⁸  By replacing drinking with exercise, you may find that the rewarding feeling you get from exercise provides you with a suitable alternative to the rewarding feeling you previously got from alcohol.

What Type of Fitness Program is Best?

Ideally, to truly optimize your health, you'll want to strive for a varied and well-rounded fitness program that incorporates a variety of exercises. As a general rule, as soon as an exercise becomes easy to complete, you need to increase the intensity and/or try another exercise to keep challenging your body. I recommend incorporating the following types of exercise into your program:

• High-Intensity Interval (Anaerobic) Training: This is when you alternate short bursts of high-intensity exercise with gentle recovery periods.
• Strength Training: Rounding out your exercise program with a 1-set strength training routine will ensure that you're really optimizing the possible health benefits of a regular exercise program. You need enough repetitions to exhaust your muscles. The weight should be heavy enough that this can be done in fewer than 12 repetitions, yet light enough to do a minimum of four repetitions. It is also important NOT to exercise the same muscle groups every day. They need at least two days of rest to recover, repair and rebuild.
• You can also "up" the intensity by slowing it down. For more information about using super slow weight training as a form of high-intensity interval exercise, please see my interview with Dr. Doug McGuff.
• Core Exercises: Your body has 29 core muscles located mostly in your back, abdomen and pelvis. This group of muscles provides the foundation for movement throughout your entire body, and strengthening them can help protect and support your back, make your spine and body less prone to injury and help you gain greater balance and stability. Exercise programs like Pilates and yoga are also great for strengthening your core muscles, as are specific exercises you can learn from a personal trainer.
• Stretching: My favorite type of stretching is active isolated stretching developed by Aaron Mattes. With Active Isolated Stretching (AIS), you hold each stretch for only two seconds, which works with your body's natural physiological makeup to improve circulation and increase the elasticity of muscle joints. This technique also allows your body to repair itself and prepare for daily activity. You can also use devices like the Power Plate to help you stretch.

By Dr. Mercola

Most people, including me, spend a large portion of each day in a seated position. It’s hard to avoid these days, as computer work predominates, and most also spend many precious hours each week commuting to and from work.

Interestingly, a growing body of evidence suggests that sitting in and of itself is an independent risk factor for poor health and premature death—even if you exercise regularly.

An increasingly sedentary lifestyle has led to a steady increase in a number of health problems, including:

• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Heart disease
• Osteoporosis
• Muscle wasting

While these disorders were historically associated with advancing age, they now affect increasing numbers of people well before middle-age. Even children are falling victim.

In the video above, Dr. Joan Vernikos,¹ former director of NASA’s Life Sciences Division and author of Sitting Kills, Moving Heals, presents a scientific explanation for why sitting has such a dramatic impact on your health, and what you can do about it.

In another words, she was one of the primary doctors assigned to keep the astronauts from deteriorating in space, and what she found has profound implications for each and every one of us.

You might think, like I did, that if you had a phenomenal exercise program that you wouldn’t have to worry about prolonged sitting. But nothing could be further from the truth.

In order to figure out why regular exercise does not appear to compensate for the negative effects of prolonged sitting, some of her research focused on finding out what type of movement is withdrawn by sitting.

The Gravity of the Situation...

What she discovered was nothing short of astounding. “Standing was more effective than walking,” she says. And, it wasn’t how long you were standing, but how many times you stood up that made the difference. In conclusion, she discovered that it is the change in posture that is the most powerful, in terms of having a beneficial impact on your health.

In a nutshell, your body needs perpetual motion to function optimally. As Dr. Vernikos states, the good news is that there are virtually unlimited opportunities for movement throughout the day.

“The key to lifelong health is more than just traditional gym exercise once a day, three to five times a week,” she says. “The answer is to rediscover a lifestyle of constant, natural low-intensity non-exercise movement that uses the gravity vector throughout the day.”

Some of the examples she lists include housecleaning, stirring a pot of pasta sauce, rolling dough, gardening, hanging clothes to dry, dancing... the list is endless, because it covers the entire spectrum of movements you engage in during daily life. Interestingly, recent research^{2, 3} has also found that those who engage in community gardening projects have considerably lower body mass index (BMI) than non-gardeners. Overall, female community gardeners were 46 percent less likely to be overweight or obese than the average woman in their neighborhood, and men who gardened were 62 percent less likely to be overweight or obese than their non-gardening neighbors.

The problem is that our modern society and our reliance on technology has reduced or eliminated many of these opportunities for low-intensity movement and replaced it with sitting. Instead of walking across the street to talk to your best friend, you send them a text while slumped on the couch. Some people even text other family members inside the same house instead of getting up and walking into the next room! All of this sloth-like inactivity adds up.

The answer then, as Dr. Vernikos states, is to reintroduce these opportunities for movement. Part of the mechanism that makes non-strenuous, posture-shifting movement so effective is that it engages what she refers to as the gravity vector. The less you move, the less you use gravity, and gravity, it turns out, is your lifeline. She discusses this in the following video segment.

I’ve previously written about the health benefits of Acceleration Training, or Whole Body Vibration Training, in which you perform exercises on a vibrating platform such as the Power Plate. Acceleration Training works by increasing the force of gravity on your body—which is at the heart of issue, according to Dr. Vernikos.

To a lesser degree, a mini trampoline will also increase the G forces on your body and provide similar, yet less extreme, benefits. A mini trampoline or rebounder subjects your body to gravitational pulls ranging from zero at the top of each bounce to 2 to 3 times the force of gravity at the bottom, depending on how high you jump. Some of the benefits rebounding offers include circulating oxygen and nutrients to tissues and organs, and promoting increased muscle strength.

Mounting Evidence Indicts Sitting as Independent Risk Factor for Poor Health

In recent years, researchers have taken a serious look at the effects of inactivity, and have repeatedly found that not moving or engaging in very limited-range movements for extended periods of time has a profoundly negative impact on health and longevity. For example, one study, published last year in the British Journal of Sports Medicine,⁴ concluded that adults who spend an average of six hours a day in front of the TV will reduce their life expectancy by just under 5 years, compared to someone who does not watch TV.

Again, it’s a matter of allowing technology to severely limit your opportunity for regular movement. If you weren’t watching TV, what would you do? Unless you’re sitting down reading, chances are you’d be doing something that requires you to move your body.

Another recent analysis⁵ of 18 studies (which in total included nearly 800,000 people), found that those who sat for the longest periods of time were twice as likely to have diabetes or heart disease, compared to those who sat the least. And, while prolonged sitting was linked to an overall greater mortality risk from any cause, the strongest link was to death due to diabetes. According to lead researcher Thomas Yates, MD:⁶

“Even for people who are otherwise active, sitting for long stretches seems to be an independent risk factor for conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease.”

A 2009 study⁷ highlighted much of the recent evidence linking sitting with biomarkers of poor metabolic health, showing how total sitting time correlates with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other prevalent chronic health problems—even if you exercise regularly. According to the authors:

"Even if people meet the current recommendation of 30 minutes of physical activity on most days each week, there may be significant adverse metabolic and health effects from prolonged sitting -- the activity that dominates most people's remaining 'non-exercise' waking hours."

In other words, even if you're fairly physically active, riding your bike to work or hitting the gym four or five days a week -- you may still succumb to the effects of too much sitting if the majority of your day is spent behind a desk or on the couch.

Counteracting the Ill Effects of Sitting, Using Foundation Training

While sitting down is not the only thing that can cause trouble (adopting any particular posture for long periods of time can slow down your circulatory system), sitting is one of the most pervasive postures in modern civilizations. So how can you increase your activity levels if you have a fulltime “desk job,” as so many of us do these days?

One of the things I do to compensate for the time I spend sitting each day is to regularly do Foundation exercises developed by a brilliant chiropractor, Eric Goodman. These exercises also address the root cause of most low back pain, which is related to weakness and imbalance among your posterior chain of muscles. It is easily argued that these imbalances are primarily related to sitting. I recently interviewed Dr. Goodman about his techniques, so to learn more, you can check out that interview.

Below are two video demonstrations: “The Founder,” which helps reinforce proper movement while strengthening the entire back of your body, and “Adductor Assisted Back Extension,” which will teach you how to properly extend your spine.

Besides “disengaging from the gravity vector,” when you sit, your head and shoulders drop forward, and your hip flexors and abdomen shorten. This misalignment is a major cause of chronic pains. Every exercise included in Foundation Training lengthens the front of your body, which is over-tightened, and strengthens the back of your body, which will help you stand tall and move with strength and flexibility. I do these exercises daily and it is a great tool to build a stronger and more stable low back. As explained by Dr. Goodman:

“The place to start is learning how to hinge effectively. Learn how your hamstrings, lower back, and glutes are designed to work and stretch together. Once that part is in place, you can then advance to all the exercises that build upon that foundation, that build upon The Founder exercise.”

The basic Foundation Training program takes about 20 minutes, and is ideally done daily. You can purchase the Foundation Training DVD from my online store. FoundationTraining.com also offers several free videos , and their thought provoking first book called: Foundation: Redefine Your Core, Conquer Back Pain, and Move with Confidence.

Grounding or Earthing—Another Lost Factor Robbing You of Good Health

Grounding, described in the simplest of terms, is simply walking barefoot on the earth. When your body is directly connected to the earth, via your bare feet, a transfer of free electrons from the ground into your body takes place. These free electrons are a very potent source of antioxidants, which are responsible for the clinical observations from grounding experiments, such as:

• Thinning of your blood
• Beneficial changes in heart rate
• Decreased skin resistance
• Decreased levels of inflammation

It's thought that the influx of free electrons from the earth's surface help to neutralize free radicals and reduce both acute and chronic inflammation, which is at the root of many health conditions and accelerated aging. As written in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine:

"It is well established, though not widely known, that the surface of the earth possesses a limitless and continuously renewed supply of free or mobile electrons as a consequence of a global atmospheric electron circuit. Wearing shoes with insulating soles and/or sleeping in beds that are isolated from the electrical ground plane of the earth have disconnected most people from the earth's electrical rhythms and free electrons.

…A variety of... benefits were reported, including reductions in pain and inflammation. Subsequent studies have confirmed these earlier findings and documented virtually immediate physiologic and clinical effects of grounding or earthing the body."

The simplest way to ground is to walk barefoot outside. The ideal location for doing so is on the beach, close to or in the water, as seawater is a great conductor. Your body also contains mostly water, so it creates a good connection. A close second would be a grassy area, especially if it's covered with dew, which is what you'd find if you walk early in the morning. Concrete is a good conductor as long as it hasn't been sealed; painted concrete does not allow electrons to pass through very well. Materials like asphalt, wood, and typical insulators like plastic or the soles of your shoes, will not allow electrons to pass through and are not suitable for barefoot grounding.

Studies suggest that benefits such as pain relief and stress reduction may occur in just 30-80 minutes of barefoot time a day. This can obviously be a challenge during the winter, or if you live in an urban area without easy access to parks or other barefoot-friendly surfaces, so the other option is to use a grounding or Earthing pad, which allows you to get the benefits of the Earth's electrons even if you're indoors, especially when you're sleeping. I use one myself, especially when I travel by plane, as air travel is a suspected cause of weakening bio-electric currents.

Use Your Body the Way it was Designed

Like physical movement, walking barefoot outside is a grossly neglected foundational practice that you can easily correct. You just have to take the time to do it. Avoiding sitting for long periods of time may at first seem “impossible” if you commute to a fulltime desk job, but really, all you need to do is alter the way you work and travel in small ways.

I plan on interviewing Dr. Vernikos in the near future, but I watched all her videos and she was really clear that standing every 10 to 15 minutes could easily compensate for the majority of the damage from sitting. I look forward to listening to her for more details in our interview.

So stand up at regular frequent intervals, about 40 times a day if you can. Also, shift your position and pay careful attention to your posture. Incorporate Foundation Training, and instead of parking yourself in front of the TV at night, consider doing something else, or at the very least engage in some minor activity while the TV is on. Whenever you can, take off your shoes and connect to the Earth—and while you’re at it, bare some skin to take advantage of the many health benefits sun exposure can provide.

Dr. Vernikos’ research is powerful evidence that many of the health problems people suffer today are linked to modern lifestyle modifications that are incompatible with optimal biological functioning. So the answer is quite simply to revert back to a lifestyle that incorporates natural movement. Using your body the way it was designed is the most powerful way to optimize your health. High intensity interval training (HIIT) is another example of this. This type of Peak Fitness exercise mimics the way ancient hunter-gatherers used their bodies, and research has again and again confirmed that HIIT outperforms traditional aerobic cardio exercise.

If you have a smartphone or tablet, you’ve probably already mastered how to use it for helping you stay organized, keep in touch with friends and work contacts, listen to music and watch videos... but have you harnessed its ability to help keep you fit?

Technology can, in fact, be a great ally in your quest for optimal health, and one area where it excels is in apps for fitness.

The great beauty of these apps is that they allow you to have personal trainers, exercise images and entire fitness programs right at your fingertips, so you can take control of your health.

Better still, the six apps that follow, highlighted in the featured article, involve using your bodyweight for strength training. This means you can strengthen and tone your muscles virtually anywhere, with no fancy exercise equipment or gym membership required.

6 Bodyweight Workout Apps

1. You are Your Own Gym ($2.99)

With over 200 video demonstrations and quick workout options, this app lets you craft a customized workout for your skill level. You can either build a workout from scratch or pick from their quick workouts, which have 81 different combinations per difficulty level.

2. 500 Bodyweight Challenge (Free)

This app has videos with exercise demonstrations along with challenges designed to, well, challenge you. For instance, one challenge will have you complete 50 jump squats in seven minutes. The user interface is clean and simple, allowing you to focus clearly on your workouts.

3. Gorilla Workout ($0.99)

Gorilla Workout, which was named the iPad Health & Fitness app of the year by Apple, has 175 different bodyweight workouts with 40+ unique exercises. You can choose from four different fitness levels along with signature workouts to get fit. Every exercise also has real-life video and text descriptions.

4. Boot Camp Challenge ($3.99)

Get lean, strong and fit with Boot Camp Challenge. It features over 200 exercises and beginner to advanced routines. Plus, it has beat-sync technology, which means it will match the tempo of your music to your workout.

5. Fitness Trainer HD ($1.99)

With over 450 exercises (more than 10 of which are bodyweight or home-based), Fitness Trainer HD has a workout for everyone. Each exercise has video and photo instructions, along with how-to tips.

6. Sworkit Pro (Free)

This app provides randomized circuit training workouts that you can do anywhere. You choose the length of your workout and the area of your body you want to focus on (such as upper body, core, cardio, full body or stretching), and Sworkit designs a customized routine instantly.

Four More of My Favorite Fitness Apps

Many of you know that I have a passion for technology in addition to health, so health apps, which combine the two, are invaluable to a “gadget geek” like me. I have scanned many thousands of articles and downloaded several hundred applications, and the app suggestions that follow are among those I consider to be quite valuable.

 

1. MyFitnessPal

By far one of my favorite apps, this free app lets you track your activity and food/caloric intake using an activity log and food diary. The food calorie portion is one of the best pieces of software out there to record and keep track of your food macronutrients. I use this app nearly every day to record my food intake and help me keep track of my macronutrient ratios. It’s an incredibly easy way to monitor your food intake without a lot of fuss.

MyFitnessPal has an easy to use interface that allows you to access about 1 million food items in its database, plus you can also add your own foods and recipes at any time and access them from anywhere with an Internet connection. Once you enter new food nutritional information, it will be there for you the next time you need it.

I really love this app as it quickly and easily allows you to see the number of grams of carbs, fats and protein you're eating. I consider myself fairly sophisticated nutritionally, but I was really shocked when I found out what the actual numbers were. This is a very powerful tool and best of all it is free.

2. Fitness Builder

For keeping track of your workouts this is my favorite app. I don’t use MyFitnessPal to record my workouts, I use this app. There are loads of exercise applications on the Net but Fitness Builder, in my experience, is the most comprehensive fitness database in the world.

It contains the largest library of exercise images and videos, the most challenging workouts across all disciplines, access to a live personal trainer and a complete set of every fitness tool, and a calculator and tracking features are available. Most all of the apps I have are free, but this one costs $10 for the base version and it is worth every penny if you use it, as it helps you keep incredible records for your workouts.

3. Nike+ Running and RunKeeper

If you love running or jogging, these apps let you map out runs, monitor your distance and speed, and even track calories burned. It will even track your location as you run using GPS, and lets you share goals and run information with those on your social networks. RunKeeper also lets you keep and compare activity stats, set goals and offers customizable training plans and voice coaching.

4. Endomondo Sports Tracker

Another free app, this one is like having your very own personal trainer available at your fingertips. Along with the “usual” ability to track your heart rate, calories, speed, and distance during a workout, a built in GPS tracks your route on a map. Plus, when you enter your goals, an audio coach will give you feedback while you exercising to keep you motivated, and you can also share your workouts with friends and even track the workouts of your friends in real time.

A Word About Cell Phone Safety

Some of you may be wondering why I’m writing an article about apps for a smartphone or tablet, when I’ve previously written about the dangers of wireless technology. Cell phone use has been found to alter your brain, contribute to tumor development and cause numerous other health problems, and for this reason I suggest you limit your use of these devices, especially when it involves holding the device near your head or storing it near any other bodily area.

That said, when using fitness apps, the phone or tablet can be kept in airplane mode to minimize any wireless EMF exposure and you can still access the amazing computer power. Remember your smartphone is more powerful than the fastest supercomputer in the world when I purchased my first computer in 1985.

Last year, for the first time ever, people in the US spent more time on mobile apps than they did on the Internet.¹ The Internet is being progressively relegated to a background infrastructure that allows people to access data through apps with an elegant user interface. This is shockingly remarkable when you consider that mobile apps have only been around for several years, but it’s also indicative of a technology that’s likely here to stay.

You can certainly get fit without a smartphone. But many of you reading this already have and use smartphones and tablets. What you may not have access to is a gym, personal trainer or any type of exercise equipment. For little or no cost, you can access countless workouts via these apps, allowing you to get a fabulous workout you may not have otherwise had, which is one of the most productive, and least dangerous, uses for these devices.

So the purpose of sharing these apps is to help you harness technology (technology that most of you are likely already using) in a positive way that can change your health for the better when used in this manner. For more information, please see my guidelines for safe cell phone use.

Provocative new research involving data from nearly 3 million adults suggests that a having an overweight body mass index (BMI) may be linked to a longer life than one that puts you within a “normal” weight range.

The research, which analyzed 97 studies in all, found that people with BMIs under 30 but above normal (the overweight range) had a 6 percent lower risk of dying from all causes than those who were normal weight, while those whose BMIs fell into the obese range were 18 percent more likely to die of any cause.¹ The researchers wrote:

“Relative to normal weight … overweight was associated with significantly lower all-cause mortality.”

Do a Few Extra Pounds Make You Healthier?

The study results imply, at least superficially, that carrying some extra weight may help you live longer … or at the very least may not be as unhealthy as it’s made out to be. In a JAMA editorial, Steven Heymsfield, M.D. and William Cefalu, M.D. highlighted this notion:²

“The presence of a wasting disease, heart disease, diabetes, renal dialysis, or older age are all associated with an inverse relationship between BMI and mortality rate, an observation termed the obesity paradox or reverse epidemiology.

The optimal BMI linked with lowest mortality in patients with chronic disease may be within the overweight and obesity range.

Even in the absence of chronic disease, small excess amounts of adipose tissue may provide needed energy reserves during acute catabolic illnesses, have beneficial mechanical effects with some types of traumatic injuries, and convey other salutary effects that need to be investigated in light of the studies … "

Indeed, it is quite possible to be overweight and healthy, just as it’s possible to be normal weight and unhealthy. But for the vast majority of those who carry around extra pounds, health problems will often result.

The study has been heavily criticized for painting an overly simplistic picture of a very complex situation. For instance, it doesn’t tell you whether those living longer were afflicted with more chronic disease or whether their quality of life was otherwise impacted. And even more importantly, it used only BMI as a measure of body composition, and this is a highly flawed technique.

Many studies, such as one published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology,³ have actually found that a high BMI was associated with a lower risk of death, a phenomenon known as the "obesity paradox." But these findings are typically only examples of how BMI is such a flawed measurement tool …

Why BMI is a Flawed Measurement Tool

If you'd like to know how much body fat you have and whether or not your levels put you into a weight category that might lead to health problems, most public health agencies, and therefore most physicians, promote the use of the BMI, which gauges weight in relation to height. But this method is quite flawed, as research suggests it may underestimate obesity rates and misclassify up to one-quarter of men and nearly half of women.⁴ According to lead author Dr. Eric Braverman, president of the nonprofit Path Foundation in New York City:⁵

"Based on BMI, about one-third of Americans are considered obese, but when other methods of measuring obesity are used, that number may be closer to 60%."

One of the primary reasons why BMI is such a flawed measurement tool is that it uses weight as a measure of risk, when it is actually a high percentage of body fat that makes a person have an increased disease risk. Your weight takes into account your bone structure, for instance, so a big-boned person may weigh more, but that certainly doesn't mean they have more body fat.

Athletes and completely out-of-shape people can also have similar BMI scores, or a very muscular person could be classified as "obese" using BMI, when in reality it is mostly lean muscle accounting for their higher-than-average weight. BMI also tells you nothing about where fat is located in your body, and it appears that the location of the fat, particularly if it's around your stomach, is more important than the absolute amount of fat when it comes to measuring certain health risks, especially heart disease.

Do You Know Your Body Fat Percentage?

This is another useful tool that is leaps and bounds ahead of BMI as far as gauging your weight-related health risks is concerned. It is FAR better to monitor your body fat percentage than it is your total weight, as the body fat percentage is what dictates metabolic health or dysfunction – not your total weight.

Too much body fat is linked to chronic health problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, while too little body fat is also problematic and can cause your body to enter a catabolic state, where muscle protein is used as fuel.

Body fat calipers are one of the most trusted and most accurate ways to measure body fat. A body fat or skinfold caliper is a lightweight, hand-held device that quickly and easily measures the thickness of a fold of your skin with its underlying layer of fat. Taken at three very specific locations on your body, these readings can help you estimate the total percent of body fat within your entire body.

You can also use a digital scale that determines body fat, which is what I use personally. I use an Eat Smart Precision GetFit Body Fat Scale that I picked up from Amazon for around $50. Although many body fat measurements can be inaccurate, they are nearly all more accurate than BMI, and are particularly useful to determine whether you are gaining or losing fat. Although the absolute value may be off, the direction you are going (whether your body fat is going up or down) will be very accurate, and this is an incredibly useful measure of whether you're nearing your health goals or not. A general guideline from the American Council on Exercise is as follows:⁶

Classification	Women (percent fat)	Men (percent fat)
Essential Fat	10-13 percent	2-5 percent
Athletes	14-20 percent	6-13 percent
Fitness	21-24 percent	14-17 percent
Acceptable	25-31 percent	18-24 percent
Obese	32 percent and higher	25 percent and higher

Overweight Often Leads to Obesity…

It is quite clear that the more overweight you are, the greater the health risks become. So even if it were true that a few extra pounds are actually good for you, if you’re on a path of weight gain you’re on a slippery slope that could easily lead to obesity.

The most recent health report card issued for the United States predicts that half of all American adults will be obese by 2030. Obesity-related illness is predicted to raise national health care costs by $48 billion annually over the next two decades by adding another 7.9 million new cases of diabetes, 5 million cases of chronic heart disease and stroke, and 400,000 cancer cases…⁷ If you want to avoid becoming one of these statistics, I suggest you start to look at your weight as less a product of “calories in vs. calories out” and more the result of a faulty “fat switch.” According to Dr. Richard Johnson of the University of Colorado, author of The Fat Switch:

"Those of us who are obese eat more because of a faulty 'switch' and exercise less because of a low energy state. If you can learn how to control the specific 'switch' located in the powerhouse of each of your cells – the mitochondria – you hold the key to fighting obesity."

Here are some highlights that Dr. Johnson explains in detail in his book:

• Large portions of food and too little exercise are the result of your fat switch being turned on
• Metabolic Syndrome is the normal condition that animals undertake to store fat
• Fructose-containing sugars cause obesity not by calories but by turning on the fat switch
• Effective treatment of obesity requires turning off your fat switch and improving the function of your cells' mitochondria

I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book, which has been described as the "Holy Grail" for those struggling with their weight. Dietary sugar, especially fructose, is a significant "tripper of your fat switch," which is why, if you are serious about losing weight, you'll need a comprehensive plan that includes:

• Eliminating or strictly limiting fructose in your diet, and following the healthy eating program in my comprehensive nutrition plan. You can also use intermittent fasting strategically with this program to greatly boost your body's fat-burning potential.
• Engaging in high-intensity Peak Fitness exercise to burn fat and increase muscle mass (a natural fat burner).
• Addressing the emotional component of eating. For this I highly recommend the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), which helps eliminate your food cravings naturally.

Cellulite, those pockets of fat that tend to collect on buttocks, thighs and upper arms, are a cause of embarrassment for many. The dimpling, “orange peel” effect occurs when fat cells push against the surrounding subcutaneous connective tissue in your skin. If your lymph circulation becomes sluggish, toxins accumulate in these fat cells.

Liposuction, creams and wraps only temporarily reduce the appearance of cellulite. Without continual treatment, cellulite just reappears...So what, if anything, might actually work to reduce cellulite?

The featured article in The Guardian¹ suggests body brushing. Simply give yourself a vigorous scrub-down with a dry body brush before you get into the shower, and then apply a good moisturizer afterward. (I recommend plain coconut oil opposed to chemical-laden creams). According to the writer, this simple technique “really did, honest-to-God, make a remarkable difference in just a few weeks.”

There’s certainly nothing wrong with this strategy; body brushing can help improve circulation and lymph flow, which are important elements for cellulite elimination. The downside is having to manually scrub yourself in areas that can be hard or uncomfortable to reach. Three strategies that I believe might be far more effective, in order of importance, are as follows, and in the following sections I’ll explain why:

1. Intermittent fasting
2. Whole body vibration training, a.k.a. Acceleration Training
3. Rebound exercise

Intermittent Fasting Shifts Your Body from Burning Sugar to Burning Fat

In a nutshell, the answer to eliminating cellulite is to shift your body from burning sugar to efficiently burning fat for fuel, in order to get rid of excess fat deposits. Intermittent fasting is one of the most powerful interventions I know of to move your body into fat burning mode.

One of the mechanisms that makes fasting so effective for fat loss is the fact that it provokes the secretion of human growth hormone (HGH), which is a fat-burning hormone. Fasting also increases catecholamines, which increases resting energy expenditure while decreasing insulin levels, which allows stored fat to be burned for fuel.

Together, these and other factors will turn you into an effective fat-burning machine.

The type of fast you choose appears to be less important, so pick whichever one fits your lifestyle, schedule, and temperament the best. For variations, see this previous article on intermittent fasting. I have been experimenting with different types of scheduled eating in my own life for the past three years, and my preference is to simply skip breakfast and restrict my eating to a 6-7 hour window each day.

For this version of intermittent fasting to be effective, you need to restrict your eating to a window of maximum eight hours each day. This means eating only between the hours of 11am until 7pm, as an example. Essentially, this equates to simply skipping breakfast and making lunch your first meal of the day instead.

This is doable and convenient for most people, but you can restrict it even further — down to six, four, or even two hours, if you want, but you can still reap many of these rewards by limiting your eating to a window of about eight hours.

In the 6-8 hours that you do eat, you want to have healthy protein, minimize your carbs like pasta and bread and potatoes and exchange them for healthful fats like butter, eggs, avocado, coconut oil, olive oil and nuts. (The type of fats the media and “experts" tell you to avoid.)

This will help shift your body from sugar-burning mode to fat-burning mode. Remember it takes a few weeks to make the transition. You have to do it gradually, but once you succeed and switch to fat burning mode, you will easily be able to fast for 18 hours and not feel hungry. Your cravings for sugar will magically disappear and it will be much easier to achieve your ideal weight.

How Acceleration Training Can Help Beat Cellulite

Next, reconsider how you exercise. One form of exercise that provides many of the same health benefits as intermittent fasting is high intensity interval training (HIIT). Doing these kinds of Peak Fitness exercises while fasted (i.e. exercise before you break your fast) will further boost the effects. One of the ways HIIT can be particularly helpful for combating cellulite is that it significantly boosts your levels of human growth hormone (HGH) which, as mentioned earlier, is a fat-burning hormone.

But another form of exercise that is particularly useful for combating cellulite in particular is Acceleration Training, in which you perform exercises on a vibrating platform such as the Power Plate.

Acceleration Training improves your lymph circulation, helping break down cellulite from the inside out. The vibrations cause thousands of muscle contractions that pump your lymphatic fluid out of problem areas, reducing fluid congestion in your tissues. This helps to flush out toxins and ease the load on your immune system. This mechanism has been scientifically shown to actually help rid your body of excess pounds and unsightly cellulite.

In a 2004 German study,² Acceleration Training alone reduced cellulite on subjects' thighs and buttocks by nearly 26 percent. When cardio exercises were added to Vibration Training, cellulite dropped even more; just over 32 percent. Other research confirms its benefits for sustained fat loss. For example, one animal study³ showed that Acceleration training caused a drop in the creation of new fat cells, and a 2010 study⁴ on humans found that:

• Those using Acceleration Training in addition to a low calorie diet lost twice as much visceral fat after six months compared to those who followed a low calorie diet with cardio and weight training.
• The decrease in visceral fat remained at the same level in the vibration group after 12 months, while the diet and fitness groups returned to their normal baseline values after 12 months. The researchers suggested that the maintenance of visceral fat loss in the Acceleration Training group might be related to hormonal changes—specifically, increased production of human growth hormone (HGH).

As You Get Older, Growth Hormone Levels Can Affect Your Fat Deposits

Many tend to gain weight as they approach middle age, and if you don't stay physically active, you also start losing muscle mass around age 40. Overall, you start burning fewer calories as your body shifts from building muscle to storing more fat. This is in part caused by what’s known as "somatopause" — the decline of your body's hormone production as you age, which includes dwindling production of human growth hormone (HGH). HGH actually starts declining rapidly after age 21, so by the time you hit your 40’s, your levels can be quite low, contributing to these stubborn fat deposits.

The amount of HGH you secrete depends on how much lean body mass and belly fat you have. The more belly fat you have, the less HGH your body produces. Some resort to HGH injections to maintain youthful levels. According to ConsumerProductsReview.org,⁵ HGH injections are now also considered a “revolutionary” way to reduce cellulite. But there are significant drawbacks to HGH injections, both biological and financial.

As discussed above, there are at least three different ways you can elevate your HGH levels naturally, either alone or in combination. Each of these can very effectively boost HGH production, and when combined I have no doubt it can rival or even surpass injections, but without any of the associated health risks or cost:

1. Intermittent fasting
2. High intensity interval training (HIIT)
3. Acceleration Training

Even a Mini Trampoline—or Rebounding—Can Help Improve Cellulite

Acceleration training works by increasing the acceleration or the force of gravity on your body. To a lesser degree, a mini trampoline will also increase the G forces on your body and provide similar, yet less extreme, benefits. A mini trampoline or rebounder subjects your body to gravitational pulls ranging from zero at the top of each bounce to 2 to 3 times the force of gravity at the bottom, depending on how high you jump. And, unlike jogging on hard surfaces which stresses your ankles and knees, rebounding helps protect against this stress so it’s easy on the joints.

Some of the benefits rebounding offers include circulating oxygen and nutrients to tissues and organs, and promoting increased muscle strength. It’s an option you can use if the cost of a vibration platform such as the Power Plate is prohibitive. Acceleration Training on a high-quality machine will definitely offer more powerful benefits though, and some gyms do have them, so it’s worth checking around.

Tying it All Together...

Foods high in sugars and carbs, damaged fats (think trans fats) and processed salt are all dietary contributors to cellulite, so addressing your diet should be your first step. My optimized Nutrition Plan can help you do that with the least amount of fuss as it takes you step by step through the changes, from beginners to advanced.

It’s important to realize that dietary carbohydrates, especially fructose, are the primary source of a substance called glycerol-3-phosphate (g-3-p), which actually causes fat to become fixed in fat tissue. High carb intake also raises your insulin levels, which prevents fat from being released, so sugars and grains are really at the root of stubborn fat deposits.

In short, you’ll want to avoid processed foods, as they are loaded with fructose and highly processed fats and salt. Keep in mind that for every gram of excess sodium chloride your body has to neutralize, it uses up 23 grams of cellular water. Hence, eating too much common processed salt will cause fluid to accumulate in your tissues, which can also contribute to unsightly cellulite.

Instead, focus your diet on whole, ideally organic and locally grown foods, healthful fats such as butter, eggs, avocado, coconut oil, olive oil and nuts, and grass-fed or pastured animal protein. If you want to add salt, make sure to use unprocessed natural salt, such as Himalayan salt, which contains about 86 different essential minerals and will not cause the same detrimental health effects as processed salt—especially if you’re eating a diet high in vegetables, as this will ensure a healthy sodium to potassium ratio.

Eating this way will help you transition from being a sugar burner to burning fat as your primary fuel, which is key for lasting weight loss and optimal health. However, do not attempt fasting if your diet still consists mainly of processed foods as proper nutrition becomes even more important at that stage. Next, revise your exercise regimen to include some high intensity interval exercises, and consider Acceleration Training to further boost results—especially if you want to tackle cellulite.

Do you dutifully bend and touch your toes for 60 seconds before you start a workout? For many, stretching and exercise go together like peanut butter and jelly – after all, we’ve been told for decades that stretching is key for warming up your muscles and helping to prevent injuries.

It turns out, though, like so many other unchallenged “truths,” that stretching is not always all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, new research suggests that certain types of stretching before you exercise may actually be counterproductive.

Reasons to Give Up Your Pre-Workout Static Stretch

According to a recent study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research,¹ engaging in passive static stretching prior to lifting weights could make you feel weaker and less stable during your workout.

The researchers concluded that such stretching should be avoided prior to strength training, noting that the passive stretches may have impaired strength because of joint instability.

A second study, a meta-analysis of over 100 studies, likewise revealed that pre-exercise static stretching generally hurts rather than helps your athletic performance. Researchers noted:²

“ … the usage of SS [static stretching] as the sole activity during warm-up routine should generally be avoided.”

 Static stretching, they revealed:

• Reduces muscle strength by nearly 5.5% (and more when a stretch is held for 90 seconds or more)
• Cuts muscle power by 2%
• Reduces explosive muscular performance by nearly 3%

American College of Sports Medicine Now Advises Against Static Stretching

Static stretching is when you hold your muscle in a fixed position for a prolonged period, such as 60 seconds or more. This technique has been regarded as the gold standard for decades, but now research shows that it actually decreases the blood flow within your tissue creating localized ischemia (a restriction in blood supply) and lactic acid buildup. This can potentially cause irritation or injury of local muscular, tendinous, lymphatic, and neural tissues.

In short, static stretching may damage your muscles and tendons, which may be why studies show it worsens muscle performance, particularly when the stretch is held for 60 seconds or more.³

The evidence is so clear that the American College of Sports Medicine now advises against this form of stretching prior to your workouts. But this isn’t to say that all forms of stretching should be avoided.

Dynamic ‘Active’ Stretching Improves Performance

While static stretching is now going by the wayside, dynamic stretching, an active type of stretching such as walking lunges, squats or arm circles, is coming in to take its place. Dynamic stretching has been shown to positively influence power, speed, agility, endurance, flexibility, and strength performance when used as a warm-up.⁴

My favorite type of dynamic stretching is active isolated stretches developed by Aaron Mattes. With Active Isolated Stretching or AIS, you hold each stretch for only two seconds, which works with your body's natural physiological makeup to improve circulation and increase the elasticity of muscle joints. This technique also allows your body to help repair itself and prepare for daily activity.

AIS is a protocol of specialized repetitive stretches, performed in a specific order targeting myofascial (muscle and connective tissue) injury and restriction. AIS allows for the elongation of muscle and fascial tissue without eliciting your body's protective mechanisms that would inhibit safe, effective stretching and overall flexibility.

I now do a daily stretching routine that stretches my neck, shoulders, legs and toes for about 45 minutes every day. I typically multitask and do the upper body stretches while I am listening to video or audio programs on the Web. I do the neck stretches while I am working on my computer, and the leg and toe stretches while I am in bed -- so it's very possible to work this routine into even the busiest schedules.

What Exactly is Active Isolated Stretching?

Active isolated stretching can be used for warming up for exercise, training and most importantly to rehab from your injuries. This is key, as nearly everyone I know gets injured while exercising at some point or another. After injury or even after prolonged periods of inactivity your muscles and joints lose flexibility, range of motion (ROM), strength and general stamina.

I had a serious hamstring tear when I first started doing Peak Fitness exercises; I was sprinting outside and injured my left hamstring. More precisely it was the adductor magnus right where it inserted on the sit bone or the ischial tuberosity. I played around with it for a few years but after consistent AIS stretching I have finally been able to resolve it.

Tips for Performing Active Isolated Stretching

The process begins with the identification of the specific muscles and tissues to be stretched. Sometimes this is obvious but typically it requires the assistance of a trained therapist to help identify which muscles and exercises are to be used in your treatment program. Next, you use very gentle pressure and hold each stretch for only two seconds. You have to be careful not to use too much pressure so as not to engage the Golgi tendon and myotatic stretch, which act as safety mechanisms that if engaged will prevent the stretch from working. The keys to using AIS effectively include:

• Move the joint as far as you can in the direction of the stretch. This is the active part of the exercise, which activates the antagonistic muscles that inhibit the stretch. Many fail to do this and only passively stretch the muscle -- and that simply will not work. It is the most common mistake people make when doing AIS.
• Stretch the muscle gradually with a gentle stretch of less than one pound of pressure toward the end point of ROM, and then hold it for two seconds.
• Do not push through the stretch; instead do multiple stretches and with each stretch you get more ROM.
• Usually you do sets of 10 reps.
• To actually engage the stretch you can use a therapist or you can do regular home stretching exercises.

It is important to always return the area being stretched to the starting position before continuing the next repetition, as this will allow the tissue to receive blood that carries oxygen and nutrients through the movement of your lymphatic fluid, and it will also allow waste products generated during the stretch to be removed.

It is also important to monitor the stretch reflex carefully, as your tissue is stretched to the point of light irritation.

Then after two seconds release the tension to prevent reverse contractions of the tissues being stretched. You also want to make sure you are breathing properly by exhaling during the stretch, as this will oxygenate your tissue and fascia.

The Power Plate: Another Novel Form of Flexibility Training

If you’re looking for something unique to replace your static stretches, one of the programs I use several times a week is the Power Plate, which I have discussed before. The Power Plate works by vibrating in three dimensions, or three planes:

• Vertical
• Horizontal
• Sagittal (front to back)

The Power Plate moves very quickly (25 to 50 times per second) across very small distances (one to two millimeters), so you aren't knocked off balance, but just enough so that your muscles must accommodate. When you stand on the vibrating Power Plate, or perform simple exercises on it, each muscle in your body reacts in a continuous flow of micro-adjustments, contracting reflexively. Just like when your leg automatically jerks after your physician taps it with his reflex hammer, your muscles react automatically to the Power Plate's vibrations – 25 to 50 times per second.

Stimulating your muscles and nerves this way results in more work being done by your body in a shorter period of time – with far greater recruitment of your muscle fibers. When the Power Plate vibrates up and down, your muscle tone improves. Left to right and front to back movements improve your balance and coordination, so the net result is a dramatic improvement in strength and power, flexibility, balance, tone and leanness.

It is really a very powerful way to rapidly improve flexibility for your legs, although it may not work as well for your neck and shoulders. The key to remember is that the old-fashioned advice to perform static stretches prior to exercise is now outdated. You’ll be far better off using a dynamic stretching program, such as AIS, the Power Plate or another form of active stretching, instead.

It has been estimated that 80 percent of Americans will suffer from chronic back pain at some point during their lives.

Nearly 30 percent may be struggling with back pain right now,¹ which can cause debilitating symptoms, leading many to resign themselves to a lifetime of taking prescription painkillers, receiving expensive steroid shots or even opting for surgery.

But before trying these conventional options, which have questionable effectiveness and more than their fair share of side effects, why not try a safe alternative treatment that many have not yet heard of: osteopathic manipulation.

Osteopathic Manipulation Helps Relieve Low Back Pain

If you have chronic low back pain, you may want to consult a doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO). As many of you know, I am an osteopathic physician, which I choose to focus on because DOs practice a "whole person" approach to medicine, treating the entire person rather that just symptoms.

As a DO I can tell you that we receive additional training in adjusting  the musculoskeletal system -- your body's interconnected system of nerves, muscles and bones that make up two-thirds of your body mass.

This training in osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) provides osteopathic physicians with a better understanding of how an injury or illness in one part of your body can affect another.

Osteopathic manipulation, which may involve moving joints back into place, massaging soft tissue and helping you relax stressed muscles, was recently found to reduce chronic low back pain in a study of 455 people.²

Participants received eight weeks of either osteopathic manipulation, a sham treatment, or ultrasound therapy. Sixty-three percent of those who'd had osteopathic manipulation reported a moderate improvement in their pain while half said they had a substantial improvement.

However, in my experience, only a small percentage of DOs are skilled in this area, as they have instead chosen a more conventional allopathic model to follow. So if you choose to see a DO for osteopathic manipulation, make sure they provide this service and have ample experience.

This is just one example of a safe “alternative” treatment that should actually be regarded as a preferable treatment choice to drugs, steroids and surgery. Another is chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Care May Relieve Pain Better Than Drugs

Seeing a qualified chiropractor is a wise option if you suffer from any type of chronic pain, including back pain. One study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine even revealed that chiropractic care is often better than medication for treating musculoskeletal pain.³

After following 272 neck-pain patients for 12 weeks, researchers found that those who used a chiropractor or exercised were more than twice as likely to be pain free compared to those who took medication. Although this study involved neck pain rather than back pain, specifically, it’s likely the results apply to back pain as well.

The results showed:

• 32 percent who received chiropractic care became pain free
• 30 percent of those who exercised became pain free
• 13 percent of those treated with medication became pain free

I am an avid believer in the chiropractic philosophy, which places a strong emphasis on your body's innate healing wisdom and far less reliance on Band-Aid solutions like drugs and surgery. Chiropractic, osteopathic, and naturopathic physicians receive extensive training in the management of musculoskeletal disorders during their course of graduate healthcare training, which typically lasts from 4-6 years.

Due to their comprehensive training in musculoskeletal management, numerous sources of evidence have shown that chiropractic management is much safer and often more effective than allopathic medical treatments, particularly for back and neck pain. In addition, researchers have also found that chiropractic adjustments affect our bodies on a deep cellular level.

What that means is that chiropractic care may affect the basic physiological processes that influence oxidative stress and DNA repair, so in addition to addressing any immediate spinal misalignment that might cause pain, it can also address deeper dysfunction in your body.

Foundation Training: A Must-Know Technique for Anyone With Back Pain

I recently learned of Dr. Eric Goodman’s work through his TED presentation and was excited about the simplicity and elegance of his approach to exercise — an innovative method called Foundation Training, which he developed while in school to become a chiropractor, to treat his own chronic low back pain. Because exercise often leads to improved posture, range of motion and functionality of your body, it can help treat the underlying source of your pain as well as help prevent chronic back pain from developing in the first place. Exercise helps prevent and relieve pain through a number of mechanisms including strengthening key supportive muscles and restoring flexibility.

Poor posture while sitting, or long hours spent sitting in any position, is one of the key reasons why people develop chronic back pain in the first place. Foundation training exercises are powerful, yet simple, structural movements that help strengthen and realign your body posture by working on your core.

As Dr. Goodman explains, your core is anything that connects to your pelvis, whether above or below it, and this includes your hamstrings, glutes, and adductor muscles. Foundation Training teaches all those muscles to work together through integrated chains of movement, which is how you’re structurally designed to move, as opposed to compartmentalized movements like crunches.

In the video below you can see a demonstration of one of the key exercises, called “The Founder,” which helps reinforce proper movement while strengthening the entire back of your body. The Founder is an excellent exercise that can help reverse the effects of frequent and prolonged sitting (i.e. back pain).

Drugs for Back Pain?

If you visit a conventional physician for back pain, there's a very good chance you'll leave with a prescription for a medication, as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), acetaminophen (Tylenol) and even opioids (OxyContin, Vicodin, etc.) are the go-to treatment for pain in the modern medical world.

Aside from significantly increasing your heart risks (such as a two to fourfold increase in the risk of heart attacks, stroke or cardiovascular death), NSAIDs are linked to serious gastrointestinal risks like bleeding of the digestive tract, increased blood pressure and kidney problems. Remember, this applies not only to prescription medications like Celebrex but also to over-the-counter drugs like aspirin, Advil and Motrin.

It's very difficult to find a drug-based method of pain relief that is not saddled with severe side effects. The FDA has even recently limited the amount of acetaminophen allowed in prescription products and added a boxed warning due to liver toxicity concerns. Acetaminophen is actually the leading cause of acute liver failure in the United States.

As for the opioid painkillers like OxyContin, they are among the most commonly abused prescription drugs and are a leading contributor to the rising rates of fatal prescription drug overdoses. Many become addicted after using them to treat conditions like back or neck pain.

You Have Many Natural Options for Treating Back Pain

Drugs do nothing to treat the underlying cause of back pain, which is often related to body mechanics, meaning your posture or muscle balance is off kilter. Addressing your posture (or other factors that may be contributing to the strain, such as sleeping in an awkward position) and treating the condition with exercises as described above is often effective at relieving the pain and addressing the underlying cause. If you have chronic pain of any kind, please understand that there are many safe and effective alternatives to prescription and over-the-counter painkillers, though they may require some patience.

For instance, therapeutic massage has been found to offer clinically significant improvement in function and symptoms for those with neck pain,⁴ while a variety of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments (including acupuncture, massage, spinal manipulation, and mobilization) were deemed to be significantly more efficacious than no treatment, placebo, physical therapy, or usual care in reducing pain immediately or at short-term after treatment for those with neck or low-back pain.⁵ There are also lifestyle changes you can make that may have a dramatic impact on your pain.

Among the best are:

• Start taking a high-quality, animal-based omega-3 fat like krill oil. Omega-3 fats are precursors to mediators of inflammation called prostaglandins. (In fact, that is how anti-inflammatory painkillers work, they positively influence prostaglandins.) The omega-3 fats EPA and DHA contained in krill oil have also been found in many animal and clinical studies to have anti-inflammatory properties.
• Eliminate or radically reduce most grains and sugars (including fructose) from your diet. Avoiding grains and sugars will lower your insulin and leptin levels. Elevated insulin and leptin levels are one of the most profound stimulators of inflammatory prostaglandin production. That is why eliminating sugar and grains is so important to controlling your pain.
• Optimize your production of vitamin D by getting regular, appropriate sun exposure, which will work through a variety of different mechanisms to reduce your pain.
• Optimize your emotional health with the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT): Your brain, and consequently your thoughts and emotions, play a large role in your experience of pain. Using mind-body techniques like the EFT is often one of the best pain-relieving solutions there is.

Even More Safe Pain-Relief Options

Methods like osteopathic manipulation may take several sessions to fully relieve your pain. In the meantime, you don't need to suffer unnecessarily. Following are options that provide excellent pain relief without any of the health hazards that pain medications often carry.

• Astaxanthin: One of the most effective oil-soluble antioxidants known. It has very potent anti-inflammatory properties and in many cases works far more effectively than NSAIDs. Higher doses are typically required and one may need 8 mg or more per day to achieve this benefit.
• Ginger: This herb is anti-inflammatory and offers pain relief and stomach-settling properties. Fresh ginger works well steeped in boiling water as a tea or grated into vegetable juice.
• Curcumin: Curcumin is the primary therapeutic compound identified in the spice turmeric. Curcumin has been shown in over 50 clinical studies to have potent anti-inflammatory activity.
• Boswellia: Also known as boswellin or "Indian frankincense," this herb contains powerful anti-inflammatory properties, which have been prized for thousands of years. This is one of my personal favorites as I have seen it work well with many rheumatoid arthritis patients.
• Bromelain: This protein-digesting enzyme, found in pineapples, is a natural anti-inflammatory. It can be taken in supplement form, but eating fresh pineapple may also be helpful. Keep in mind that most of the bromelain is found within the core of the pineapple, so consider leaving a little of the pulpy core intact when you consume the fruit.
• Cetyl Myristoleate (CMO): This oil, found in fish and dairy butter, acts as a "joint lubricant" and an anti-inflammatory. I have used a topical preparation for myself to relieve ganglion cysts and a mild annoying carpal tunnel syndrome that pops up when I type too much on non-ergonomic keyboards.
• Evening Primrose, Black Currant and Borage Oils: These contain the fatty acid gamma linolenic acid (GLA), which is useful for treating arthritic pain.
• Cayenne Cream: Also called capsaicin cream, this spice comes from dried hot peppers. It alleviates pain by depleting the body's supply of substance P, a chemical component of nerve cells that transmits pain signals to your brain.
• Therapeutic modalities such as yoga, acupuncture, meditation, hot and cold packs, and even holding hands can also result in astonishing pain relief without any drugs.

By Dr. Mercola

A little over three years ago, I was introduced to high intensity interval training, commonly referred to as HIIT, when I met Phil Campbell at a fitness camp in Mexico. I refer to it as Peak Fitness Training.

Since then, researchers have repeatedly confirmed the superior health benefits of HIIT compared to traditional and typically performed aerobic workouts.

For example, high-intensity interval-type training gives a natural boost to human growth hormone (HGH) production—which is essential for optimal health, strength and vigor—and has been shown to significantly improve insulin sensitivity, boost fat loss, and increase muscle growth.

Anaerobic HIIT can be performed on a recumbent bike or an elliptical machine, or sprinting outdoors (with proper guidelines to avoid injury).

While there are a large number of variations, the HIIT routine I recommend involves going all out for 30 seconds and then resting for 90 seconds between sprints. Total workout is typically 8 repetitions. In all, you’ll be done in about 20 minutes, and you only need to perform HIIT two or three times a week.

But researchers such as Dr. Izumi Tabata have shown that even shorter workouts can work, as long as the intensity is high enough.¹

The video above shows a modified high intensity workout from the DVD Mash Up Conditioning. It demonstrates 30 seconds of high intensity followed by 30 seconds of recovery with repeated intervals. There are 3 different levels demonstrated at the same time in the video.

Personal Modifications

I personally modified the Peak 8 to a Peak 6 this year as it was sometimes just too strenuous for me to do all 8. So by listening to my body and cutting it back to 6 reps, I can now easily tolerate the workout and go full out and I no longer dread doing them.

Another tweak is to incorporate Butyenko breathing into the workout and do most of the workout by only breathing through my nose. This raises the challenge to another level. I will discuss more of the benefits of this in a future article but I do believe it has many benefits.

I then finish my Peak 6 workout with Power Plate stretches, 10 pull ups, 10 dips and 20 inverted pushups, and call it a day. I personally have never tried the Tabata protocol as it seems too intimidating and I’m not sure I could do it, but it is yet another option that people can use.

Can You Get Fit in Just Four Minutes, Four Times a Week?

After monitoring the Japanese speed skating team in the early 90’s, Dr. Tabata noticed that extremely hard but intermittent exercise appeared to be at least as effective as standard workouts that require several hours a week. The training protocol he came up with as a result requires a mere four minutes, four times a week. The caveat? Extreme intensity.

Dr. Tabata's HIIT protocol calls for just 20 seconds of all-out drop-dead effort, followed by a mere 10 seconds of rest. This intense cycle is repeated eight times. According to Dr. Tabata:²

“All-out effort at 170 percent of your VO2 max is the criterion of the protocol. If you feel OK afterwards you've not done it properly. The first three repetitions will feel easy but the last two will feel impossibly hard. In the original plan the aim was to get to eight, but some only lasted six or seven.”

When performed four times per week for six weeks, participants in one experiment increased their anaerobic capacity by 28 percent, and their VO2 max (an indicator of cardiovascular health) and maximal aerobic power by 15 percent. This is in contrast to the control group, who performed an hour of steady cardiovascular exercise on a stationary bike five times a week. These participants improved their VO2 max by just 10 percent, and their regimen had no effect on their anaerobic capacity.

Dr. Tabata also has forthcoming research findings showing that his protocol reduces your risk of diabetes, which other HIIT studies have already suggested. And, according to the featured article:³

“Another soon-to-be-published finding, which Tabata describes as 'rather significant,' shows that the Tabata protocol burns an extra 150 calories in the 12 hours after exercise, even at rest, due to the effect of excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. So while it is used by most people to get fit – or by fit people to get even fitter – it also burns fat.”

As Little as Three Minutes of HIIT Per Week Can Improve Your Health, Previous Study Suggests

Dr. Tabata’s claims may sound crazy, but previous research has also found that performing high intensity exercises for just minutes per week can significantly improve important health indices. One such study found that just three minutes of HIIT per week for four weeks improved participants’ insulin sensitivity an average of 24 percent. This truly is amazing, and while aerobic fitness is indeed important, improving and maintaining good insulin sensitivity is perhaps one of the most important aspects of optimal health.

Other research has also demonstrated that 20 minutes of high intensity training, two to three times a week, can yield greater results than slow and steady conventional aerobics done five times a week. But the fact that you can improve your insulin sensitivity by nearly 25 percent with a time investment of less than ONE HOUR A MONTH really shows that you can significantly improve your health without having to eliminate hours of other commitments from your calendar.

As I mentioned previously I have not even attempted this protocol as I know how hard Peak Fitness is with a 90 second recovery. I shudder to think how painful the Tabata protocol is with only 10 seconds to recover. That said, I believe that while it’s theoretically possible to reap valuable results with as little as three minutes once a week, it might be more beneficial to do these exercises two or three times a week for a total of four minutes of intense exertion, especially if you are not doing strength training.

You do not need to do them more often than that however. In fact, doing HIIT more frequently than two or three times a week can be counterproductive, as your body needs to recover between these intense sessions. If you feel the urge to do more, make sure you’re really pushing yourself as hard as you can during those two or three weekly sessions, rather than increasing the frequency. Remember, intensity is KEY for reaping all the benefits interval training can offer. To perform it correctly, you’ll want to raise your heart rate to your anaerobic threshold, and to do that, you have to give it your all for those 20 to 30 seconds. Phil Campbell suggests that it needs to be even higher than your maximum calculated heart rate, which is about 220 minus your age.

Why High Intensity Interval Training May Be Ideal for Most

Contrary to popular belief, extended extreme cardio actually sets in motion inflammatory mechanisms that damage your heart. So while your heart is indeed designed to work very hard, and will be strengthened from doing so, it’s only designed to do so intermittently, and for short periods—not for an hour or more at a time. This is the natural body mechanics you tap into when you perform HIIT.

Repeatedly and consistently overwhelming your heart by long distance marathon running, for example, can actually prematurely age your heart and make you more vulnerable to irregular heart rhythm. This is why you sometimes hear of seasoned endurance athletes dropping dead from cardiac arrest during a race.

Compelling and ever-mounting research shows that the ideal form of exercise is short bursts of high intensity exercise. Not only does it beat conventional cardio as the most effective and efficient form of exercise, it also provides health benefits you simply cannot get from regular aerobics, such as a tremendous boost in human growth hormone (HGH), aka the “fitness hormone.”

What Makes HIIT so Effective?

Your body has three types of muscle fibers: slow, fast, and super-fast twitch muscles. Slow twitch muscles are the red muscles, which are activated by traditional strength training and cardio exercises. The latter two (fast and super-fast) are white muscle fibers, and these are only activated during high intensity interval exercises or sprints.

According to fitness expert Phil Campbell, author of Ready, Set, Go, getting cardiovascular benefits requires working all three types of muscle fibers and their associated energy systems -- and this cannot be done with traditional cardio, which only activates your red, slow twitch muscles. If your fitness routine doesn't work your white muscle, you aren't really working your heart in the most beneficial way. The reason for this is because your heart has two different metabolic processes:

• The aerobic, which requires oxygen for fuel, and
• The anaerobic, which does not require any oxygen

Traditional strength training and cardio exercises work primarily the aerobic process, while high intensity interval exercises work both your aerobic AND your anaerobic processes, which is what you need for optimal cardiovascular benefit. This is why you may not see the results you desire even when you're spending an hour on the treadmill several times a week. Interestingly enough, when it comes to high intensity exercises, less really is more. You can get all the benefits you need in just a 20-minute session, start to finish, performed two or a max of three times per week.

How to Properly Perform Peak Fitness Exercises

If you are using exercise equipment, I recommend using a recumbent bicycle or an elliptical machine for your high-intensity interval training, although you certainly can use a treadmill, or sprint anywhere outdoors. Just beware that if you sprint outside, you must be very careful about stretching prior to sprinting. 

I personally prefer and recommend the Peak Fitness approach of 30 seconds of maximum effort followed by 90 seconds of recuperation, opposed to Dr. Tabata’s more intense routine of 20 seconds of exertion and only 10 seconds of recovery. But some might like his strategy more. His approach may be better suited to fitter athletes who want to kick it up another notch, but may be too intense for most people. For a demonstration using an elliptical machine, please see the following video. Here are the core principles:

• Warm up for three minutes
• Exercise as hard and fast as you can for 30 seconds. You should be gasping for breath and feel like you couldn't possibly go on another few seconds. It is better to use lower resistance and higher repetitions to increase your heart rate
• Recover for 90 seconds, still moving, but at slower pace and decreased resistance
• Repeat the high-intensity exercise and recovery 7 more times. (When you're first starting out, depending on your level of fitness, you may only be able to do two or three repetitions of the high-intensity intervals. As you get fitter, just keep adding repetitions until you're doing eight during your 20-minute session)
• Cool down for a few minutes afterward by cutting down your intensity by 50-80 percent

By the end of your 30-second high-intensity period you will want to reach these markers:

• It will be relatively hard to breathe and talk because you are in oxygen debt.
• You will start to sweat. Typically this occurs in the second or third repetition unless you have a thyroid issue and don't sweat much normally.
• Your body temperature will rise.
• Lactic acid increases and you will feel a muscle "burn."

Some Suggestions to Take Into Consideration

Remember, while your body needs regular amounts of stress like exercise to stay healthy, if you give it more than you can handle your health can actually deteriorate. So it’s crucial to listen to your body and integrate the feedback into your exercise intensity and frequency.

When you work out, it is wise to really push as hard as you possibly can a few times a week, but you need to wisely gauge your body's tolerance to this stress. When you're first starting out, depending on your level of fitness, you may only be able to do two or three repetitions of Peak Fitness. That’s okay! As you get fitter, just keep adding repetitions until you’re doing eight. And if six is what your body is telling you, then stop there.

If you have a history of heart disease or any medical concern please get clearance from your health care professional to start this. Most people of average fitness will be able to do it though; it is only a matter of how much time it will take you to build up to the full 8 reps, depending on your level of intensity.

For Optimal Health, Add Variety to Your Exercise Program

In addition to doing high intensity interval exercises a couple of times a week, it’s wise to alternate a wide variety of exercises in order to truly optimize your health. Without variety, your body will quickly adapt and the benefits will begin to plateau. As a general rule, as soon as an exercise becomes easy to complete, you need to increase the intensity and/or try another exercise to keep challenging your body. I recommend incorporating the following types of exercise into your program on days when you’re not doing high intensity anaerobic training:

• Strength Training: If you want, you can increase the intensity by slowing it down. You need enough repetitions to exhaust your muscles. The weight should be heavy enough that this can be done in fewer than 12 repetitions, yet light enough to do a minimum of four repetitions. It is also important NOT to exercise the same muscle groups every day. They need at least two days of rest to recover, repair and rebuild.

For more information about using super slow weight training as a form of high-intensity interval exercise, please see my interview with Dr. Doug McGuff.

• Core Exercises: Your body has 29 core muscles located mostly in your back, abdomen and pelvis. This group of muscles provides the foundation for movement throughout your entire body, and strengthening them can help protect and support your back, make your spine and body less prone to injury and help you gain greater balance and stability.

Exercise programs like Pilates, yoga, and Foundation Training are great for strengthening your core muscles, as are specific exercises you can learn from a personal trainer.

• Stretching: My favorite type of stretching is Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) developed by Aaron Mattes. With AIS, you hold each stretch for only two seconds, which works with your body's natural physiological makeup to improve circulation and increase the elasticity of muscle joints. This technique also allows your body to repair itself and prepare for daily activity. You can also use devices like the Power Plate to help you stretch.

Arthroscopic knee surgery for osteoarthritis is one of the most unnecessary surgeries performed today, as it works no better than a placebo surgery.

Proof of this is a double blind placebo controlled multi-center (including Harvard’s Mass General hospital) study published in one of the most well-respected medical journals on the planet, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)¹ over 10 years ago.

Despite this monumental finding, some 510,000 people in the United States undergo arthroscopic knee surgery every year.² And at a price of anywhere from $4,500 to $7,000 per procedure, that adds up to billions of dollars every year spent on this surgery.

Osteoarthritis of the knee is one of the primary reasons patients receive arthroscopic surgery. This is a degenerative joint disease in which the cartilage that covers the ends of the bones in your joint deteriorates, causing bone to rub against bone.

Arthroscopic knee surgery is also commonly performed to repair a torn meniscus, the crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that acts like a cushion in your knee.

Many might think that this problem, surely, would warrant surgery. But recent research³ shows that physical therapy can be just as good as surgery for a torn meniscus, adding support to the idea that when it comes to knee pain, whether caused by osteoarthritis or torn cartilage, surgery is one of the least effective treatments available...

Physical Therapy as Good as Surgery for Torn Cartilage and Arthritis

The featured study, also published in NEJM,⁴ claims to be one of the most rigorous studies yet comparing treatments for knee pain caused by either torn meniscus or arthritis. According to the Washington Post:⁵

“Researchers at seven major universities and orthopedic surgery centers around the U.S. assigned 351 people with arthritis and meniscus tears to get either surgery or physical therapy. The therapy was nine sessions on average plus exercises to do at home, which experts say is key to success.

After six months, both groups had similar rates of functional improvement. Pain scores also were similar.

Thirty percent of patients assigned to physical therapy wound up having surgery before the six months was up, often because they felt therapy wasn’t helping them. Yet they ended up the same as those who got surgery right away, as well as the rest of the physical therapy group who stuck with it and avoided having an operation.”

Another study⁶ published in 2007 also found that exercise was just as effective as surgery for people with a chronic pain in the front part of their knee, known as chronic patellofemoral syndrome (PFPS), which is also frequently treated with arthroscopic surgery.

The study compared arthroscopy with exercise in 56 patients with PFPS. One group of participants was treated with knee arthroscopy and an eight-week home exercise program, while a second group received only the exercise program. At the end of nine months, patients in both groups experienced similar reductions in pain and improvements in knee mobility.

A follow-up conducted two years later still found no differences in outcomes between the two groups.

In an editorial about the featured study,⁷ Australian preventive medicine expert Rachelle Buchbinder of Monash University in Melbourne urges the medical community to change its practice and use physical therapy as the first line of treatment, reserving surgery for the minority who do not experience improvement from the therapy.

“Currently, millions of people are being exposed to potential risks associated with a treatment that may or may not offer specific benefit, and the costs are substantial,” she writes. “These results should change practice. They should also lead to reflection on the need for levels of high-quality evidence of the efficacy and safety of surgical procedures similar to those currently expected for nonoperative therapy.”

Placebo Surgery Works as Well for Osteoarthritis as Arthroscopic Surgery

Buchbinder points out the importance of sham surgery to determine the true value of operative treatments. Unfortunately, many surgeons are reluctant to take on such research. Many doctors consider them unethical because patients could undergo risks with no benefits. But it has been done. The study I mentioned at the start of the article that was published in 2002,⁸ evaluated arthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis. A total of 180 participants were randomly assigned to either have the real operation or sham placebo surgery in which surgeons simply made cuts in their knees.

Those in the placebo group received a drug that put them to sleep. Unlike those getting the real operation, they did not have general anesthesia to avoid unwarranted health risks and complications. In the end, the real surgery turned out to be no better at all, compared to the sham procedure. According to the authors:

“At no point did either of the intervention groups report less pain or better function than the placebo group. For example, mean scores on the Knee-Specific Pain Scale were similar in the placebo, lavage, and débridement groups... at one year [and] at two years... Furthermore, the 95 percent confidence intervals for the differences between the placebo group and the intervention groups exclude any clinically meaningful difference. In this controlled trial involving patients with osteoarthritis of the knee, the outcomes after arthroscopic lavage or arthroscopic débridement were no better than those after a placebo procedure.”

Outcomes in Tennis Elbow Significantly Improved by Novel Therapy

People suffering from chronic tennis elbow may also want to consider the alternatives to arthroscopic surgery. According to the largest multi-center study to date on the use of platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatment for lateral epicondylar tendinopathy (“tennis elbow”), 84 percent of patients reported significantly less pain and elbow tenderness at six months following the treatment, compared to those who received a placebo.

What is PRP?

Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is a component of whole blood that contains a number of growth factors that takes advantage of your body’s natural healing process. A small amount of your own blood is drawn, and using a centrifuge machine, the blood is spun to separate and concentrate the specific platelets and growth factors sought. The PRP is then injected into the site of injury to help jumpstart the natural healing process. The treatment has garnered some attention for its potential in treating problems such as:

Osteoarthritis of the knee	Shoulder injuries	Hip, spine and neck injuries
Rotator cuff tears	Chronic plantar fasciitis	Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries
Ankle sprains	Tendonitis	Ligament sprains

 

The research was presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). According to Medical News Today:⁹

“In this study, 230 patients suffering from chronic tennis elbow who had failed traditional therapies were treated at 12 U.S. medical centers. Patients were randomized and received either an injection of PRP made from their own concentrated blood platelets, or a placebo, administered with an analgesic at the site of pain.

At 12 weeks, 55.1 percent of PRP patients reported improved pain scores compared to 47.4 percent in the control group, and 37.4 percent reported less elbow tenderness versus 48.4 percent in the control group. At 24 weeks, 71.5 percent of the PRP patients had improved pain scores compared to 56.1 percent in the control group, and 29 percent reported less elbow tenderness compared to 54 percent in the control group. At six months, 83.9 percent of the PRP-treated group reported significantly less pain and elbow tenderness, compared to 65.9 percent of the active control group.”

If You Have Joint Pain, Exercise is an Important Must

The notion that exercise is detrimental to your joints is a misconception, as there is no evidence to support this belief. Instead, the evidence points to exercise having a positive impact on your joint tissues -- if you exercise sufficiently to lose weight, or maintain an ideal weight, you can in fact reduce your risk of developing joint pain due to osteoarthritis rather than increase your risk. Exercise can also improve your bone density and joint function, which can help prevent and alleviate osteoarthritis (a major cause of joint pain) as you age.

For example, previous research¹⁰ has shown that people with rheumatoid arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness and deformities, who did weight training for 24 weeks improved their function by up to 30 percent and their strength by 120 percent. Unfortunately, many with joint pain are missing out on these potential benefits. Research¹¹ published in 2011 found that over 40 percent of men and 56 percent of women with knee osteoarthritis were inactive, which means they did not engage in even one 10-minute period of moderate-to-vigorous activity all week...

Exercise, along with a healthy diet, can help you to jumpstart weight loss if you're overweight, and this can lead to tremendous improvements in your joint pain. According to a 2012 article by Harvard Health Publications:¹²

"Each pound you lose reduces knee pressure in every step you take. One study¹³ found that the risk of developing osteoarthritis dropped 50 percent with each 11-pound weight loss among younger obese women. If older men lost enough weight to shift from an obese classification to just overweight — that is, from a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher down to one that fell between 25 and 29.9 — the researchers estimated knee osteoarthritis would decrease by a fifth. For older women, that shift would cut knee osteoarthritis by a third."

Special Considerations for Exercising With Joint Pain

There are some factors to consider, particularly if your pain worsens with movement, as you do not want to strain a significantly unstable joint. Pain during movement is one of the most common and debilitating symptoms of osteoarthritis, and typically this is the result of your bones starting to come into contact with each other as cartilage and synovial fluid is reduced.

If you find that you're in pain for longer than one hour after your exercise session, you should slow down or choose another form of exercise. Assistive devices are also helpful to decrease the pressure on affected joints during your workout. You may also want to work with a physical therapist or qualified personal trainer who can develop a safe range of activities for you. Your program should include a range of activities, just as I recommend for any exerciser. Weight training, high-intensity cardio, stretching and core work can all be integrated into your routine.

My most highly recommended form of exercise is Peak Fitness, and this program can be used by virtually everyone. However, if you've already developed osteoarthritis in your knee, you'll want to incorporate exercises that strengthen the quadriceps muscle at the front of your thigh. And, rather than running or other high-impact exercise, you may be better off with non-weight-bearing exercises like swimming and bicycling.

Natural Tips for Pain Relief and Cartilage Loss

Cartilage loss in your knees, one of the hallmarks of osteoarthritis, is associated with low levels of vitamin D. So if you're struggling with joint pain due to osteoarthritis, get your vitamin D levels tested, then optimize them using appropriate sun exposure or a safe tanning bed. If neither of these options are available, supplementation with oral vitamin D3 along with vitamin K2 can be considered.

Sun exposure is your best option though, because when your skin produces two types of sulfur in response to sun exposure: cholesterol sulfate, and vitamin D3 sulfate. Sulfur plays a vital role in the structure and biological activity of both proteins and enzymes. If you don't have sufficient amounts of sulfur in your body, this deficiency can cascade into a number of health problems, including impacting your joints and connective tissues.

In addition to making sure you're getting high amounts of sulfur-rich foods in your diet, such as organic and/or grass-fed/pastured beef and poultry, Dr. Stephanie Seneff, a senior scientist at MIT, recommends soaking your body in magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) baths to compensate and counteract sulfur deficiency. She uses about 1/4 cup in a tub of water, twice a week. It's particularly useful if you have joint problems or arthritis.

Methylsulfonylmethane, commonly known by its acronym, MSM, is another alternative that may be helpful. MSM is an organic form of sulfur and a potent antioxidant, naturally found in many plants, and is available in supplement form. As for glucosamine and chondroitin, two animal products marketed as food supplements for the relief of joint pain, the results from studies evaluating these supplements have been mixed, and many do not appear to be getting any significant relief from either of them.

Pain Relieving Supplements

For joint pain, I recommend avoiding anti-inflammatory drugs like non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) and analgesics, like Tylenol, which are often recommended to osteoarthritis patients. Chronic use of these types of medications is associated with significant side effects such as kidney and/or liver damage. Safer, and very effective, options to help relieve joint pain include:

• Astaxanthin: An anti-inflammatory antioxidant that affects a wide range of inflammation mediators, but in a gentler, less concentrated manner and without the negative side effects associated with steroidal and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. And it works for a high percentage of people. In one study, more than 80 percent of arthritis sufferers improved with astaxanthin.
• Eggshell membrane: The eggshell membrane is the unique protective barrier between the egg white and the mineralized eggshell. The membrane contains elastin, a protein that supports cartilage health, and collagen, a fibrous protein that supports cartilage and connective tissue strength and elasticity.

It also contains transforming growth factor-b, a protein that supports tissue rejuvenation, along with other amino acids and structural components that support the stability and flexibility of your joints by providing them with the building blocks needed to build cartilage.

• Hyaluronic acid (HA): Hyaluronic acid is a key component of your cartilage, responsible for moving nutrients into your cells and moving waste out. One of its most important biological functions is the retention of water… second only to providing nutrients and removing waste from cells that lack a direct blood supply, such as cartilage cells.

Unfortunately, the process of normal aging reduces the amount of HA synthesized by your body. Oral hyaluronic acid supplementation may effectively help most people cushion their joints after just 2 to 4 months.

• Boswellia: Also known as boswellin or "Indian frankincense," this Indian herb is one treatment I've found to be particularly useful against arthritic inflammation and associated pain. With sustained use, boswellia may help maintain steady blood flow to your joints, supporting your joint tissues' ability to boost flexibility and strength.
• Turmeric / curcumin: A study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that taking turmeric extracts each day for six weeks was just as effective as ibuprofen for relieving knee osteoarthritis pain. This is most likely related to the anti-inflammatory effects of curcumin -- the pigment that gives the turmeric spice its yellow-orange color.
• Animal-based omega-3 fats: These are excellent for arthritis because omega-3s are well known to help reduce inflammation. Look for a high-quality, animal-based source such as krill oil.

Make Surgery Your Last Option Rather than Your First...

The steps outlined above should help to significantly slow down any further deterioration or loss of motion in your joints, and provide you with drug-free pain relief. And remember, whether you have osteoarthritis in your knees or a torn meniscus, arthroscopic knee surgery has been shown to be no better than placebo surgery, and physical therapy and exercise has repeatedly been shown to be just as effective as surgery, and perhaps even more so in some cases.

So please, carefully weigh your options; the risks and the benefits. As reported in the featured article,¹⁴ NOT resorting to the “fix” promised by surgery may actually be the magic you’re looking for:

“Surgery costs about $5,000, compared with $1,000 to $2,000 for a typical course of physical therapy... Robert Dvorkin had both treatments for injuries on each knee several years apart. Dvorkin, 56, director of operations at the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City, had surgery followed by physical therapy for a tear in his right knee and said it was months before he felt no pain.

Then several years ago he hurt his left knee while exercising. 'I had been doing some stretching and doing some push-ups and I just felt it go ‘pop.’' he recalls. 'I was limping, it was extremely painful.' An imaging test showed a less severe tear and a different surgeon recommended physical therapy.

Dvorkin said it worked like a charm — he avoided surgery and recovered faster than from his first injury. The treatment involved two to three hour-long sessions a week, including strengthening exercises, balancing and massage. He said the sessions weren’t that painful and his knee felt better after each one. 'Within a month I was healed,' Dvorkin said. 'I was completely back to normal.'”