Exercise & Fitness Archive

New study findings provide better guidance to men about treatment options for spinal stenosis.

Spinal stenosis, a progressive narrowing of the space around the lower (lumbar) spinal nerves, is a common cause of back pain and disability in men over age 65. When anti-inflammatory medications and injections fail, stenosis sufferers start looking for other solutions. A surgical procedure called decompression can improve things temporarily, but like any back surgery, it comes with risks.

It helps build cardiovascular fitness with shorter workouts.

Have you heard about interval training but aren't sure how it works and whether it's right for you? Interval training simply means alternating between short bursts of intense exercise and brief periods of rest (or a different, less-intense activity). The payoff is improved cardiovascular fitness.

A randomized controlled trial of Finnish women over 70 has demonstrated that regular exercise can significantly reduce the risk of serious injury from a fall. Researchers from Tampere University studied 370 women who had fallen during the previous year. They were randomly divided into two groups. One group of 187 participated in classes in which they learned exercises to increase strength, balance, and agility. They attended exercise class twice a week for a year and once a week the next year. They exercised at home on the days they weren't in class. The women in the control group continued their normal routines. All the women kept daily diaries in which they noted whether they had fallen, and if so, the type of injury they sustained and whether they required medical attention. They mailed their diaries to the researchers every month.

At the end of the period, the number of falls was about the same in both groups: 140 in the exercise group and 141 in the control group. The consequences of those falls, though, differed noticeably between the groups: women in the exercise group had 20 falls requiring medical attention, including eight fractures and six head injuries. That compared with 39 such falls in the control group, involving 14 fractures and 12 head injuries.

Competition is great for older adults, but don't skip training camp before your season starts.

Tai chi appears to have positive effects on a wide range of thinking skills in healthy adults, such as attention, learning, memory, and perception.

Research suggests benefits for a range of cardiovascular conditions.

Q . Can you explain exactly what "ejection fraction" means? And is there any way to increase it?

A. Ejection fraction refers to the volume of blood that's pumped out of the heart's left ventricle each time it contracts. Contrary to what many people believe, a normal ejection fraction is not 100%. Even a healthy heart pumps out only about half to two-thirds of the volume of blood in the chamber in one heartbeat. So a normal ejection fraction lies somewhere in the range of 55% to 65%.

New findings may help allay fears about sports-related heart death.

Unless you have symptoms of a heart problem, taking a cautionary look under the hood is unlikely to help—and could even be harmful.

Q. Should I stretch before or after my workout to help prevent muscle injuries and soreness? I've gotten conflicting advice on this.

A. We all remember the importance placed on stretching in our high school physical education classes. However, recent expert opinion has moved away from static stretching before activity and toward a gradual and active warm-up period before exercise. Stretching a healthy muscle before exercise does not prevent injury or soreness.