Prolotherapy
Physicians were told that elderly patients who have trouble sleeping might benefit from light therapy to help regulate their circadian cycle. Boston researchers made the suggestion after finding that age-related changes in circadian rhythm and adjustments in mean body temperature may be the reason that elderly people wake often in the night and feel the need to get up early. The Brigham and Women’s Hospital team reported in The Lancet that people over age 65 experienced a drop in body temperature an average of one hour and fifty-two minutes earlier than people in their 20s. This difference correlated with the sleeping patterns of both groups.
Primary-care physicians who have patients with lower-back pain can treat it with a few relatively simple procedures; doctors were told at a seminar at the 44th annual scientific assembly of the American Academy of Family Physicians in San Diego. These patients often can avoid the need for surgery or referral to a specialist, said a family physician in Lewiston, N.Y. Doctors can use manipulation, caudal epidural injections or a technique called prolotherapy to successfully treat patients with herniated discs or other lumbar disorders, he said.