Calculate Your Fitness Age
VO2max can be used to predict a person’s risk of premature death from a heart attack. Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have developed a simple way to estimate a person’s VO2max, his maximal ability to take in and use oxygen.
Dick Cheney: Sometimes Doctors Lie
This week former U.S Vice President Dick Cheney and his doctor came out with a new book in which they describe his five heart attacks and his heart transplant at age 71. They should tell you how the American public was kept from knowing just how sick he was. During...
Nuts Associated with Reduced Risk for Diabetes and Weight Gain
Nuts are full of fat, but it appears that eating nuts does not increase risk for obesity or diabetes. Almost 1000 people who did not have diabetes or metabolic syndrome were followed for six years. Those who ate nuts at least twice a week were 32 percent less likely...
Michael E. DeBakey, Father of Modern Heart Surgery
“He was probably the greatest surgeon who ever lived” (The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2005). Michael DeBakey personally performed more than 60,000 surgical procedures. He developed the surgical procedures to bypass blocked arteries in the neck, legs...
Peter Huttenlocher, World-Famous Neurologist
The August 27, 2013 issue of the New York Times contains the obituary of Peter Huttenlocher, who died at age 82 of pneumonia, the result of Parkinson’s disease preventing him from clearing particles from his lungs. Huttenlocher was born in Germany on Feb. 23, 1931, to...
Neuropathy
If you lose feeling in a particular part of your body, lose control of your muscles or have abnormal nerve sensations such unexplained pain, burning in your feet, tingling or itching, you usually have a neuropathy: nerve damage. Nerves can be damaged by something pinching or stretching them, such as excessive pressure from moving a limb repeatedly (as in carpal tunnel syndrome in your hand), scar tissue, or a disc problem in your back.
Neuroma (Pinched nerve between foot bones)
A neuroma is a swollen or damaged nerve. This often occurs between the bones that your toes attach to on the foot, most commonly between the third and fourth toes. Neuroma can be caused by tight shoes, repetitive stress or trauma.
Ingrown Toenails
Edges of toenails that press into the flesh can cause pain, swelling, redness, and even infection. Your skin may start to grow over the ingrown toenail. Treatments include special chemicals, lasers, and various ways to remove the edge of the nail that presses into the skin.
Corns and Calluses
Skin responds to friction and pressure by thickening. This is helpful until the skin becomes so thick it actually hurts. Skin that thickens without a core is called callus. They usually form under the foot. Corns are thick spots of skin with a deep, central core. They usually form on the toes.
Bunions (Hallux Valgus)
A bunion is a bony prominence on the side of the foot, at the base of the big toe joint. This enlargement of the joint, spurring, bump or lump can be aggravated by sports or tight shoes. There is progressive movement of the big toe toward the other toes.