In April of this year, The Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine announced the results of a new study that concludes moderate pressure massage therapy can decrease pain for rheumatoid arthritis patients. Additionally, the study found that rheumatoid arthritis patients experienced perceived greater grip strength and greater range of motion… Read more »
September/October 2013
September is Yoga Awareness Month and we encourage you to give it a try. Although the popularity of yoga is newly on the rise in this country, it is one of the few practices which has sustained for thousands of years on multiple continents throughout the world. So there must be something to it, right?… Read more »
Good health is a conscious choice often brought on by a strong passion for change. Choosing to go into health care often starts with the same passion, but is directed at helping others. And with the many changes and challenges facing today’s health care system, launching into medicine with that sincere passion and purpose is… Read more »
Don’t you love setting goals? Goals give you purpose, and purpose enriches your life. On my list of “things to do at 40” (which I still carry with me), is ‘practice yoga on a regular basis.’ I had practiced it off and on over the past 20 years and knew that yoga always made me… Read more »
I’ve been waiting for this news – as have most of the doctors, surgeons and health care practitioners who have seen lung cancer kill the many who could have been saved with early screenings. It’s about time! After decades of debate, guidelines issued recently by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force call for annual CT… Read more »
Many of us remember that chilling day in 1981 when the first diagnosis of AIDS was reported. It wasn’t long before this international epidemic took the world by storm as medical professionals and researchers worked feverishly to determine the cause, treatment and effect. Here in the Coachella Valley, a small group of concerned volunteers joined… Read more »
Anal cancer is a rare disease, with only 7,060 new cases, and 880 deaths estimated for 2013. When broken down by gender, the incidence is only 1.9 per 100,000 women per year, and 1.5 per 100,000 men per year. However, in HIV positive gay/bisexual men, the incidence is increased 100-fold, with estimates of up to… Read more »
Prostate Cancer is the most common cancer in men with 1 in 6 men being diagnosed with the disease at some point in their life. Like any cancer, early detection of prostate cancer gives the patient more options for managing or treating their disease. Currently, the most widely used screening tools for prostate cancer are… Read more »
UPDATE: Eisenhower Wellness Institute has closed. When the Eisenhower Wellness Institute (EWI) launched three years ago, it was Eisenhower Medical Center’s inaugural effort to support the community by providing guidance for making healthy lifestyle choices. Programs were tailored to meet individual objectives concerning midlife changes, weight management, sports medicine, memory preservation, stress management, and integrative… Read more »
As a natural product grown from the earth, the soybean and soy products have been heavily marketed as healthy, high protein alternatives. While there are several benefits from fermented soy products like tempeh, natto, and miso, approximately 95% of the soy products found in the US today like tofu, soy meat products and soymilk, are… Read more »
Are you constantly looking for your glasses when you get up in the morning? Are you tired of all the work involved in wearing contact lenses? You are probably one of the many people who have considered Lasik surgery, but have wondered if it is right for you and/or if this is the right time… Read more »
The health of the United States has hit a new low with millions of Americans at risk for heart disease and stroke. Consequently, The American Heart Association (AHA) has set a lofty goal of improving the cardiovascular health of ALL Americans by at least 20 percent by the year 2020. But they realize that this… Read more »
Whiplash describes a range of injuries as a result of a sudden distortion of the neck from hyperflexion and hyperextension.1 It is one of the most common non-fatal car crash injuries with approximately one million whiplash incidents on our roads each year, and many more which are unreported.2 It is also estimated that 6.2% of… Read more »
There are many ways that practitioners of yoga think about their practice. The term Hatha Yoga has been associated with physical training. Raja Yoga (also known as Royal Yoga) in contrast, has been associated with mental training by a variety of means. In practice, the two are inextricably bound. Anything one does is profoundly affected… Read more »
There is something special about Palm Desert resident JJ Virgin. She appears to be the girl next door all the boys adored (tall, blonde, athletic build); yet, the inquisitive tomboy who could play and explore with the best of them. In high school, she studied ballet while weight training with the football team. Virgin’s passion,… Read more »
Obesity rates in America are among the highest in the world. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer are household conditions for most. The sedentary, under-slept, over-stressed, ever-indulgent lifestyle has become “The American Way.” And never before have we so needed a new relationship with exercise! Research now offers a new twist on an old favorite causing… Read more »
Everyone knows it’s healthy to eat fresh fruits and vegetables daily. But did you know that when you prepare fruits, vegetables, and other natural ingredients without cooking or processing, you preserve the maximum nutrition in these foods? This is the concept of consuming “raw foods”; simply put, eating natural food that is unprocessed, unrefined, and… Read more »
Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk, is traditionally credited with introducing yoga to China in the 5th/6th century. He noted that the Shaolin monks were in poor physical health from sitting and meditating all day and needed to incorporate movement in their meditations for physical, as well as mental, well-being. Coming from the Indian subcontinent, he was… Read more »
Health Career Connection (HCC) is a national, non-profit organization that provides under-represented or disadvantaged college students and recent graduates with a ten-week paid internship in a health related field. This summer marked the return of the HCC internship program, the only one of its kind in the Coachella Valley. The number of interns in the… Read more »
As I look at three generations in my family–my mother, myself and my daughter–I find that proper nutrition and exercise are woven into the fabric of our family. My focus on fitness, contemplative practices such as meditation and yoga, and conscious eating are practices handed down from my mother, which I am now imparting to… Read more »