What is the average patient’s experience of head and neck lymphedema? Am I a ‘typical’ case, or somehow unique? You may suspect that you have lymphedema in your head or neck, or perhaps you’ve been formerly diagnosed with it. But often patients with lymphedema have little exposure to others with the condition….
There are many so-called postpartum exercise programs targeted at new moms; from yoga and Pilates, to run workshops, boot-camps, and weight-lifting classes. But when is it safe to return to exercise after pregnancy? New moms coming to terms with their postpartum physiques can be highly motivated to join classes or…
In recent years a new treatment tool has become available that offers unique therapeutic benefits to patients with knee osteoarthritis: Lower Body Positive Pressure (LBPP) Treadmills, like our own AlterG Anti-Gravity treadmill. Exercise therapy can be an effective tool for managing the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis, and delaying progression of…
Specific recommendations for how to prevent lower back pain are largely absent from existing clinical guidelines and research literature. Thankfully, newly published data provides some much needed evidence-based insight. Non-specific low back pain (pain without an identified cause such as degenerative disc disease) is an enormous health problem, causing huge health…
Knee osteoarthritis is a progressive and debilitating condition with enormous impact on health care spending. More than 25 million North Americans are currently affected by it (ref1), and nearly half of all people will develop knee osteoarthritis symptoms by the age of 85 (ref2). What is it, what are the risks, and…
Compression bandaging and garments can help reduce swelling due to lymphedema, but should patients wear lymphedema compression garments while exercising? People with lymphedema suffer from lymphatic insufficiency, an inability to effectively clear extravascular fluid from affected tissues. Consequently, anything that increases fluid volume in an affected area could cause symptom…
The evidence supporting the safety of exercise for lymphedema patients continues to grow, as does the number of clinicians recommending it to their patients. There is even some early data suggesting that some exercise may benefit lymphedema directly. But there are important caveats to this body of research that need…
Lymphedema is a common complication of lymphadenectomy (lymph node removal), a routine practice used for cancer staging and the treatment of a variety of cancer types including melanoma. But not everyone who has lymph nodes removed gets lymphedema, and the incidence of lymphedema differs between cancer types. So what is…
The latest evidence suggests that recreational runners concerned about the long term effects of running on knee osteoarthritis can probably rest easy. New research says that regular running likely does not increase the risk of developing osteoarthritis in the knee, and that it may even protect against it (ref1, ref2). But…
Current clinical evidence suggests that local estrogen therapy is both safe and effective for treating the vaginal and urinary symptoms of estrogen decline in menopausal women. But is it safe for breast cancer survivors? The natural decrease in estrogen levels during menopause causes vaginal atrophy (also known as atrophic vaginitis,…
