Reverse physiology
If you sprain an ankle or break a wrist this summer and lose the use of one of your limbs, the muscles there will weaken and shrink – unless you exercise those same muscles in your other limb, reports The New York Times. According to a study by researchers from the University of Saskatchewan, working out the muscles on one side of the body can keep the muscles on the other side strong and fit, even if we do not move them at all. The researchers studied two sets of muscles in the wrist joint: the extensors, which move the wrist back and away from the body; and the flexors, which pull it in, toward the forearm. Sixteen students volunteered to have their left forearm and wrist put in a hard cast. Half went about their normal lives and avoided exercising their arms. The others began a workout program that targeted the flexor muscles in their wrists After a month, the left wrist flexors among volunteers who had failed to exercise were about 20 percent weaker – and 3 percent smaller – than they were at the beginning of the experiment. But the group that had exercised their right wrists’ flexor muscles had maintained almost all of those muscles’ original size and strength on the left.
I’m going out for a plog
Plogging is turning out to be one of the fitness trends of the year, reports the Washington Post. The word – derived from the word “jogging” and the Swedish term for pickup, “plocka upp” – means you pick up trash and recyclables in plastic bags while jogging. It is said to help runners work on muscles they typically don’t focus on, and the slower pace can serve as the “perfect recovery day,” according to one plogger. “We were squatting, bending and activating the glutes,” another told the Post. “The risk of injury in running is that you’re maintaining weaknesses in the muscles you don’t use directly.” Plogging takes care of that.
Plogging tips:
- Be aware of your surroundings.
- Wear gloves. If you’ll be in an area where you might encounter glass or other sharp objects, consider gardening gloves rather than latex.
- Bring separate bags for waste and recyclables.
- Carry extra bags. You might be surprised at the amount of trash you find, and running with overstuffed bags or empty bottles can be a hazard.
- Do a full-body warm-up.
- When you pause to pick up trash, do so by squatting down instead of bending over.
- When you’re in a group, make sure you let people know when you’re stopping.
Spinal stimulation overcomes paralysis
A UCLA-led team of scientists reports that six people with severe spinal cord injuries – three of them completely paralyzed – regained use of their hands and fingers for the first time in years after undergoing a nonsurgical, noninvasive spinal stimulation procedure. The researchers placed electrodes on the skin to stimulate the circuitry of the spinal cord. In the stimulation, electrical current was applied at varying frequencies and intensities to specific locations on the spinal cord. In the training sessions, the participants squeezed a small gripping device 36 times (18 times with each hand) and held their grip for three seconds; the researchers measured the amount of force they used. The training consisted of two sessions a week over four weeks; the eight sessions each lasted about 90 minutes.
At the beginning of the study, three of the participants could not move their fingers at all, and none could turn a doorknob with one hand or twist a cap off a plastic water bottle. Each of them also had great difficulty using a cellphone. After only eight training sessions with the spinal stimulation, all six individuals showed substantial improvements. From before the first session to the end of the last session, the participants improved their grip strength. In addition to regaining use of their fingers, they also gained other health benefits, including improved blood pressure, bladder function, cardiovascular function and the ability to sit upright without support.
Whose memory is that?
Repertoire makes no claim that the following item has any application to reps’ health, but it is an interesting story. UCLA biologists report they transferred a memory from one marine snail to another, creating an artificial memory, by injecting RNA from one to another. This research could lead to new ways to lessen the trauma of painful memories with RNA and to restore lost memories. “I think in the not-too-distant future, we could potentially use RNA to ameliorate the effects of Alzheimer’s disease or post-traumatic stress disorder,” said David Glanzman, senior author of the study and a UCLA professor of integrative biology and physiology and of neurobiology. The team’s research was published May 14 in eNeuro, the online journal of the Society for Neuroscience.
The researchers gave mild electric shocks to the tails of a species of marine snail called Aplysia. The snails received five tail shocks, one every 20 minutes, and then five more 24 hours later. The shocks enhance the snail’s defensive withdrawal reflex, a response it displays for protection from potential harm. When the researchers subsequently tapped the snails, they found those that had been given the shocks displayed a defensive contraction that lasted an average of 50 seconds, a simple type of learning known as “sensitization.” Those that had not been given the shocks contracted for only about one second.
The life scientists extracted RNA from the nervous systems of marine snails that received the tail shocks the day after the second series of shocks, and also from marine snails that did not receive any shocks. Then the RNA from the first (sensitized) group was injected into seven marine snails that had not received any shocks, and the RNA from the second group was injected into a control group of seven other snails that also had not received any shocks.
Remarkably, the scientists found that the seven that received the RNA from snails that were given the shocks behaved as if they themselves had received the tail shocks: They displayed a defensive contraction that lasted an average of about 40 seconds.
“It’s as though we transferred the memory,” said Glanzman, who is also a member of UCLA’s Brain Research Institute.