A recent, extensive study performed on stroke patient rehabilitation shows that patients can yield results that are just as impressive with home based therapy as they could with rehab in a clinic.  The results also show that it is possible to achieve very positive results with the appropriate rehab even if the regimen isn’t started immediately following the incidence of stroke.

Researchers from Duke University analyzed the data of more than 400 patients who had limited ability to walk following a stroke.  Nearly half of the patients followed reported having the ability to travel greater distances on foot and at faster speeds a year after suffering a stroke

A recent study performed by researchers at the University of California and the Harvard School of Public Health shows a possible benefit of regular brisk walks for reducing prostate cancer progression.  The study examined nearly 1500 men who were diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer and found serious benefits for those who participated in sessions of brisk walking.

Researchers found that men who walked at a rate of three miles per hour for a minimum of three hours per week reduced their risk of needing a second round of treatment by nearly 60%.

The CDC has revealed what it believes to be the top ten public health achievements of the last decade.  Controlling infectious diseases, improvements in maternal and child health and controlling tobacco use are all in the top ten but one of the most impressive items on the list has to do with heart disease.

Heart disease and stroke have long been at the very top of the list of the leading causes of death for Americans but several achievements during the last decade

Acid reflux is an incredibly uncomfortable condition that affects millions of Americans. But there are  number of methods that can be used to effectively control the painful and irritating symptoms.  Depending upon the severity of your acid reflux disease your health care provider may recommend medication or a surgical procedure to treat the condition.  While making the choice between multiple options of treatment can be a difficult one. A recent study could make this particular decision a bit easier for those suffering from acid reflux disease.

According to the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, both medication and surgery seem to control the worst symptoms of acid reflux disease equally well.  More than 500 people with  reflux disease were randomly assigned to either continue treating their condition with Nexium or to undergo the minimally invasive procedure designed to treat GERD.

We’ve talked about the potentially powerful health benefits of caffeine and the possibility that drinking coffee could ward off certain types of breast cancer over the course of the past week.  Now we’ve got yet another study that could have health care providers suggesting that their patients enjoy another cup of hot java.

Researchers have reviewed the information of nearly 48,000 men from the Health Professionals Follow Up Study and concluded that coffee may reduce prostate cancer risk.  Drinking coffee seemed to protect against all forms of prostate cancer but was particularly effective in protecting men from lethal forms of prostate cancer.

Men who participated in the study

In a recent post we discussed the high antioxidant content of caffeine and some of the many health benefits that go hand in hand with antioxidant consumption.  A new study conducted by researchers in Sweden could give health care providers another big reason to recommend coffee breaks to their patients.

The study followed nearly six thousand Swedish born women between the ages of 50 and 74 to determine the effects that coffee consumption had on breast cancer risk.  While overall breast cancer risk was only moderately affected by drinking coffee the risk of one particular type, estrogen receptor negative, appeared to be dramatically affected

The American Heart Association and health care providers have been recommending that Americans cut the amount of salt in their diets to avoid high blood pressure and other issues for years.  A new study conducted by researchers in Belgium and backed by the Salt Institute suggests that a high salt diet may be an even better option for heart health than a low salt diet though.

The study indicates that those who eat the least sodium – about one teaspoon a day – don’t show any health advantage over those who eat the most. In fact, those with less salty diets actually had slightly higher death rates from heart disease.

The study gathered information on salty food consumption

A new study published in the American Heart Association publication Circulation: Heart Failure has revealed a possible connection between osteoporosis and heart failure.  Researchers studied more than 600 heart failure patients and found that 12% had compression fractures in the spine that are commonly associated with osteoporosis.  Though the exact connection between bone and heart diseases would need more research to determine, researchers

A recent study published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry B evaluated the potential effects of the antioxidants in caffeine on disease causing free radicals.  Researchers say that their experiments detail how  the  present in caffeine attack and destroy free radicals in the body that can contribute to serious conditions like heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

Disease fighting antioxidants can come from a wide variety of sources  but recent studies

Health care providers have been recommending increases in activity to patients for the last several years but a recent study shows that very few Americans are following the advice.  Researchers analyzed the National Household Travel Surveys from 2001 and 2009 and found very little change in the amount of Americans using walking or cycling as transportation.

Though walking is one of the easiest and most effective ways to increase daily activity researchers found that the average American only walked about nine more miles in 2009 compared to 2001.  There was also very little change in travel by bike with the average American only riding about five more miles