2 Fun Posture Analysis and Resistance Training CEC College Workshop Locations in June-2013: San Diego State University Jun 7/8 http://www.npionline.org/workshops/sdsu & Santa Barbara College Jun 12/13 http://www.npionline.org/workshops/sbcc Book your trip to California this summer for some posture education and training! 

National Posture Institute - Posture Points Newsletter (May 2013)! Feature Article “Performing Posture Assessments to Become a Community Resource” by Ken Baldwin, NPI-CPS, Executive Director of NPI; New CECs/CEUs Approval; Mother's Day Sale; Online CEC Courses for Only $39, and More!! http://conta.cc/10Lf3dE   

National Posture Institute News: Not all patients benefit equally from hip or knee replacement: Study finds

TORONTO, ON, April 5, 2013 — Only half of people with arthritis who had a hip or knee replacement reported a significant improvement in pain and mobility after surgery, according to a new study led by Women's College Hospital and the Institute for Clinical and Evaluative Sciences (ICES).

"Many patients with hip and knee arthritis have the condition in more than one of their hip or knee joints," said the study's lead author Dr. Gillian Hawker. "So it's not surprising that replacing a single joint doesn't alleviate all their pain and disability — patients may need subsequent surgeries to maximize the benefits of joint replacement."

The study, published in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism, followed a cohort of 2,400 patients with osteoarthritis and inflammatory arthritis in Ontario. Nearly 480 had a hip or knee replacement and of the 202 patients included in the study, only half reported a meaningful improvement in their overall hip and knee pain and disability one to two years after surgery. What's more, researchers found the patients who had worse knee or hip pain to begin with but fewer general health problems and no arthritis outside of the replaced joint were more likely to report benefits.

According to the study authors, nearly 83 per cent of study participants had at least two troublesome hips and or knees. In general, an estimated 25 per cent of patients who undergo a single joint replacement will have another joint replacement — usually the other hip or knee — within two years.

"While demand for joint replacement surgery has increased as our population ages, physicians lack a set of established criteria to help determine what patients will benefit from surgery and at what point during the course of the disease," said Dr. Hawker, physician-in-chief at Women's College Hospital and a senior scientist at ICES. "As physicians, we need to do a better job of targeting treatments to the right patient at the right time by the right provider."

Arthritis is a leading cause of disability in men and women in Canada. According to the Arthritis Society, joint damage from osteoarthritis is responsible for more than 80 per cent and 90 per cent of hip replacement and knee surgeries in Canada, respectively.

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About Women's College Hospital

For more than 100 years, Women's College Hospital (WCH) has been dedicated to groundbreaking advances in health care. Today, this legacy continues. WCH is delivering health system solutions by creating new models of ambulatory care and improving access. As a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto, Women's College Hospital is also training the health professionals of the future to work in ambulatory settings.

About ICES

ICES is an independent, non-profit organization that uses population-based health information to produce knowledge on a broad range of health care issues. Our unbiased evidence provides measures of health system performance, a clearer understanding of the shifting health care needs of Ontarians, and a stimulus for discussion of practical solutions to optimize scarce resources. ICES knowledge is highly regarded in Canada and abroad, and is widely used by government, hospitals, planners, and practitioners to make decisions about care delivery and to develop policy.  

3 Top University National Posture Institute CEC Workshops in July! Temple University (Philadelphia, July 13-14) Georgia Tech (Atlanta, July 20-21) & University of Kentucky (Lexington‚ July 27-28). Attend NPI’s Resistance Training & Posture Correction CEC Workshops-Register: http://www.npionline.org/workshops/posture-workshops.html    

National Posture Institute News: Huge disparities in hypertension seen across US counties

New data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation show variations among communities, genders and ethnic groups in treatment and control of high blood pressure

SEATTLE – One in five Americans are completely unaware that they are at risk for the second leading cause of premature death: high blood pressure. In the first ever analysis of awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension for every county, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington revealed significant differences across the US.

The study found the largest burden of hypertension in the southeast, the lowest prevalence in Colorado, and differences among genders, ethnic groups and geographies. But despite high prevalence of hypertension in the southeast, the region also had the highest levels of treatment, suggesting a major step forward.

The findings are published in an article titled "Prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in United States counties, 2001-2009" in the journal PLOS ONE.

IHME analyzed hypertension data by county, sex, and race for adults over 30 in the US from 2001 to 2009. Across US counties, the median rate of hypertension prevalence for men in 2009 was 37.6% and county-level rates ranged from 26.5% in Eagle County, Colorado, to 54.4% in Holmes County, Mississippi. For women, the median rate of hypertension prevalence in US counties in 2009 was 40.1% with 28.5% in Pitkin County, Colorado, to 57.8% in Holmes County, Mississippi.

The study also highlights the need for increased efforts to raise awareness among women about the dangers of high blood pressure and the need for prevention and treatment. Bristol Bay Borough, Alaska, was the only community of the 3,133 studied nationally where, between 2001 and 2009, the percentage of women receiving treatment had increased more than the percentage of men on treatment.

These findings build on work IHME released in 2011 and 2012 that provided county-level life expectancy estimates for the past two decades and showed that women in particular were faltering in comparison to the improvements in life expectancy seen in Europe and the high-income countries of the Pacific.

"By identifying these rising blood pressure rates, now we can see the evidence for why life expectancies are stagnating in hundreds of counties nationwide," said Dr. Ali Mokdad, the head of IHME's US County Performance team.

The study uses data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a yearly state-level telephone survey that monitors leading risk factors for premature mortality and morbidity, and the National Health Examination and Nutrition Survey (NHANES), a nationally representative cross-sectional health survey. By applying new small area estimation methods, IHME is able to make estimates at the county-level that were not possible just five years ago.

Researchers also found significant regional disparities in hypertension treatment and control:

• Texas had some of the highest disparities among counties in treatment levels for both men and women.
• California treatment levels below the national averages for both men and women while Florida had rates of uncontrolled hypertension for both sexes that were higher than the national averages.
• Counties in four states accounted for the 10 highest rates of hypertension prevalence—Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi—but the percentage of people in those states whose hypertension was being treated or was controlled increased between 2001 and 2009.

"The message seems to be getting out in the South, where doctors are doing a good job of helping their patients control their hypertension," Dr. Mokdad said. "There's certainly room for improvement, but there have been some great success stories within particular counties."

In addition to geographic disparities, the study also found disparities due to gender and race. Black men and women had the highest total prevalence of hypertension, at 50.8% and 54.4%, respectively. Prevalence rates for Hispanic men were 38.1% and 42.6% for Hispanic women. The states with the largest disparity between the genders in uncontrolled hypertension were Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Virginia.

Researchers noted the significant risks of uncontrolled hypertension, which kills one in six adults in the US. IHME's Global Burden of Disease 2010 study (GBD) found that in 1990 and 2010 high blood pressure ranked second as a cause of premature death for women and third for men.

"This hypertension work shows the power of a disease-burden analysis that delves into the differences within a country," said IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray. "IHME is in a unique position to produce county-level data that communities can use to evaluate what works locally and help set priorities."  

3 Top University NPI CEC Workshops in July! Temple University (Philadelphia, July 13-14) Georgia Tech (Atlanta, July 20-21) University of Kentucky (Lexington‚ July 27-28). Attend NPI’s Resistance Training & Posture Correction CEC Workshops-Register: http://www.npionline.org/workshops/posture-workshops.html