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Health Matters: Lymphedema Act of 2024

ESCANABA — It is not often that we are able to proclaim a significant advance in healthcare law. Too often, the headlines reveal only new obstacles to care and further reductions in the provision of medicine. But with the arrival of 2024, real progress has been made. The Lymphedema Act was passed, providing for clearly defined benefits in the treatment of this condition, with many options now available for effective care. At this point in the conversation, a discussion of the lymphatic system and what it does would be appropriate. This is the waste disposal system for our cells. ...

Health Matters: Many causes of chronic back pain

ESCANABA — The human body is a complex thing, making it prone to many pains and pathologies. Quite often these are due to our bipedal, upright status. Standing and walking on two legs, our entire body supported by just two feet, encourages all manner of painful conditions that develop slowly, over time. The major weight-bearing joints, especially lower spine, are susceptible to many degenerative changes, all resulting from alignment abnormalities. The region of the body most commonly generating chronic pain is the low back, with an estimated 2.07 million cases of low back pain ...

Health Matters: The dangers of extreme heat

ESCANABA — Spring is upon us, and summer will be here in a week. The days are lengthening, and the flowers are blooming. Everyone welcomes this time of year, with plans being hatched about how best to get outdoors. But residents of this region will all agree, it was the mildest winter on record. Could this be representative of climate change? Political leanings are no longer relevant to this discussion, it is a warming planet. And that means dealing with extreme heat. Wildfires are now a seasonal occurrence in California. Winters in the Northeast grow milder, and less snow is falling ...

Health Matters: New evidence for deadly role of dietary sugars

ESCANABA — The incidence of obesity has risen remarkably over the last century. The obesity epidemic began in the U.S. in the mid-70’s, eventually spreading across the industrialized nations, all having adopted the Western diet of fast foods, ultra-processed foods, and sweetened foods. In lockstep with these changes to our nutrition has been heart disease and stroke. And it has become evident that our diet is the driving force behind this trend towards excess adiposity, the incidence of diabetes and the other major chronic diseases. The data indicates our food choices are leading ...

Health Matters: Many causes and complications to toe callus

ESCANABA — When someone is referred to as being only skin deep, it’s usually considered a derogatory term, but this is unfair. Our skin is an amazing structure, capable of a multitude of vital functions, reflecting many aspects of general health. Maintaining skin health is critically important to our well-being. Skin is susceptible to all manner of problems from simple trauma to innumerable skin conditions. Some are due to auto-immune diseases, in which our skin, the largest organ in the body, becomes a target of the immune system. But the important functions of skin go beyond the ...

Many complications of a flatfoot deformity

ESCANABA — Humanity comes in all shapes and sizes. Some people are tall and some short, some thin and some wide. The same variation holds true for our skeletal structure, which may manifest in a wider foot or a slimmer foot. What about a longer one versus a shorter foot. And what about the height of your arch? It is difficult to quantify specifically what constitutes a flatfoot. Multiple different terminologies exist, numerous measurements cited. Because of human variation, there are going to be some people whose arch is lower than the average, but the joints are well aligned, and ...