CDC: Millions Avoid Chronic Joint Pain Treatment A recently published report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that approximately 20% of people with chronic joint symptoms (CJS) or arthritis never seek medical help. The study, which appears in the May 9 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, was conducted by Chad Helmick, PhD, a medical epidemiologist for the CDC. According to his research, approximately 10 million out of 47.5 million adults in the United States with chronic joint symptoms such as stiffness, swelling, and pain never seek medical help. “A big reason for this happening is that some clinicians and a lot of people in general are minimizing arthritis as a disease. There are certain myths about arthritis and joint pain that we have to dispel: ‘it happens to everyone as they get older’ being the main one,” says Helmick. “The rehabilitation community, and all of us, have to focus much more on educating the public about the true impact of arthritis. Whether that is through articles and studies, or other methods in the media, we have to step up our efforts. Because this problem is only going to increase.” Helmick and his research team looked at data from the 2001 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a telephone survey of 212,000 people across the United States. Respondents were classified as having chronic joint symptoms if they answered yes to questions of whether they had experienced pain, aches, or swelling around a joint area in the past year and whether symptoms persisted. Those most likely to forego doctor visits were young people, men, Hispanics, those who reported being in good health or unaffected by pain, and those with a high school education or less. Eighty percent of those who have not seen a doctor reported having health insurance, while 2 million reported slowing down their activities because of their condition. The report included a state-by-state breakdown of those who did not seek help for chronic joint symptoms, which averaged 21.1% in each state (see Figure 1). Helmick says that the majority of patients with chronic pain symptoms probably do have some form of arthritis. “If they do have arthritis, they can be helped greatly by medicine and physical therapy. That’s why we want to find out how many haven’t seen a doctor, and work on reaching out and educating these people.” Weight Training Recommended for Cancer Patients A new study by researchers at the Ottawa Regional Cancer Center, Ontario, advances the knowledge of weight training’s medical benefits. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, shows that weight training helps people with some types of cancer, specifically men with progressed prostate cancer who may be undergoing hormone therapy. Cancer treatment such as hormone therapy can successfully shrink or slow the development of prostate tumors, but it can also produce side effects like fatigue, increased body fat, and loss of lean body tissue. Since weight training has been proven to build muscle, reduce fat, and improve mood, the researchers believed it could help men experiencing the drawbacks of hormone therapy. The researchers monitored 155 men receiving hormone therapy in two independent groups. The first group of 82 men endured a supervised weight training program for 12 weeks, while the second group of 73 men were not instructed to exercise. After 3 months, the first group reported a significant increase in the categories of fatigue, strength, and quality of life. Additionally, the second group actually lost strength in their arms and legs. The researchers noted that there were no rises in testosterone, which cancer cells require in order to grow. However, the study did not test the men for anemia, a side effect of prostate cancer, which could have explained some of their fatigue. Still, oncologists Daniel Rayson and Leonard Reyno of the QE11 Cancer Care Program, Halifax, Nova Scotia, write in an accompanying editorial that the study provides important information for doctors who treat cancer patients, and that programs similar to the one studied should be developed to help cancer patients feel better both during and after treatment. Manual Therapy for Neck Pain Found More Cost-Effective A Dutch research study has determined that manual treatment for neck pain is more cost-effective than physiotherapy and standard care by a doctor. Aware of the high frequency of people with neck pain and the high price of treating it, researchers from the Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, evaluated the economic costs and clinical results of 183 people who had suffered from neck pain for at least 2 weeks. Men and women between the ages of 18 and 70 were divided into three treatment methods. Sixty received manual therapy, which involves spinal mobilization, or low velocity passive movements; 59 received physiotherapy, consisting of individualized rehabilitation exercises; and 64 received general practitioner care. The researchers observed the patients’ recoveries in terms of intensity of pain, functional disability, and quality of life. Patients who underwent manual therapy displayed much faster improvement after 26 weeks than the other two methods; however, the results were inconsequential in a follow-up analysis at 52 weeks. The total costs of manual therapy (approximately $400) were around one third less than the physiotherapy and general care costs.
