Short course: Turning to kettlebells to ease back pain

While most research has used traditional weight training exercises,researchers in Denmark set out to study whether a kettlebell workout offered therapeutic benefits to back pain sufferers.

In a study published last year,the Danish researchers recruited 40 pharmaceutical workers,mostly middle-aged women with back,shoulder and neck pain,who were randomly assigned to either a regular kettlebell workout or a control group that was simply encouraged to exercise. The first group trained with kettlebells in 20-minute sessions two to three times a week for eight weeks,according to the report,published in The Scandinavian Journal of Work,Environment & Health.

At the end of the study,the kettlebell exercisers reported less pain as well as improved strength in the trunk and core muscles,compared with the control group. Over all,working out with kettlebells reduced lower back pain by 57 percent and cut neck and shoulder pain by 46 percent.

Kettlebell workouts strengthen the posterior muscle chain,and the increased blood flow to the back and leg muscles also may lessen pain by reducing the buildup of lactic acid,the authors wrote.

Talking things through in your head may help autism

Teaching children with autism to “talk things through” in their heads may help them solve tricky day-to-day tasks and could increase the chances of them living independent lives when they grow up,British scientists have said.

Psychologists who studied adults with autism found that the mechanism for using “inner speech”,or talking things through in your head is intact,but they don’t always use it in the same way as typically developing people do.

The results suggest teaching autistic children how to develop inner speech skills may help them cope with daily tasks later in life. It also suggests children with autism may do better at school if they are encouraged to learn their daily timetable verbally rather than using visual plans,which is currently a common approach.

Among core features of autism are poor communication skills and difficulties with social engagement.

“Most people will ‘think in words’ when trying to solve problems,which helps with planning or particularly complicated tasks,” said David Williams of Durham University’s department of psychology,who led the study. The study,conducted by researchers at Durham,Bristol and City University London and published in the Development and Psychopathology journal,involved 15 adults with high-functioning autism and 16 neurotypical adults for comparison.

Grief could join list of disorders

A new report contends that a proposed change to the diagnosis would characterise grieving as a disorder and greatly increase the number of people treated for it. The criteria for depression are being reviewed by the American Psychiatric Association,which is finishing work on the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,or DSM,the first since 1994. The manual is the standard reference for the field,shaping treatment and insurance decisions.

The new report,by psychiatric researchers from Columbia and New York Universities,argues that the current definition of depression – which excludes bereavement,the usual grieving after the loss of a loved one – is far more accurate. If the “bereavement exclusion” is eliminated,they say,“there is the potential for considerable false-positive diagnosis and unnecessary treatment of grief-stricken persons.” Drugs for depression can have side effects,including low sex drive and sleeping problems.

But experts who support the new definition say grieving people may need help. “Depression can and does occur in the wake of bereavement,it can be debilitating,and calling it by any other name is doing a disservice to people who may require more careful attention,” said Dr. Sidney Zisook,a psychiatrist at the University of California,San Diego.