As the population lives longer, bone fractures become more important. Even microfractures in the spine from collapsed vertebrae can cause pain and disability, while hip fractures can be life-threatening to an older person. On the positive side, people have become more tuned into their calcium intake as a result; but the focus on bone fracture [...]

At least half of my patients deal with chronic illness on a daily basis, and it can be profoundly discouraging and debilitating. There are some simple steps I share with them that can greatly help the body’s ability to fight chronic disease and grow stronger, not weaker, in the process:
Massage:  Body massage not only feels [...]

As many of you are aware, there was a catastrophic water main break on Saturday that is currently affecting dozens of communities in Eastern Massachusetts, For those of you living in a restricted water zone I want to offer my advice as to safe water-use procedures.
First, make sure to consult the MWRA website regularly, as [...]

This year’s recent Functional Medicine conference was illuminating and energizing, as always. One study utterly blew me away, involving a little animal called the Agouti mouse. This particular mouse is often used in research because it is genetically overweight, making it naturally more susceptible to diabetes, cancer, and a shorter lifespan than its mouse relatives.
This [...]

What do Egyptian pharaohs, Italian grandmothers, the ancient Greeks, and Gwyneth Paltrow have in common? They all have trusted the healing properties of cupping therapy. Although cupping is perhaps most commonly associated with Chinese medicine, it’s a practice that has roots all over the world, dating back thousands of years. I remember my Eastern European grandparents coming to this [...]

Most of my patients who are in pain simply want relief. They would take any medication if they could tolerate it, and if they were assured the drug was safe. But what makes some medications so potent can also make them tough to stomach (sometimes quite literally), as well as potentially dangerous.
A recent example – the FDA [...]

The latest study indicating red yeast rice’s ability to lower cholesterol levels surprised me – not because of the results (indeed it does work), but because the pharmaceutical companies have so much invested in statins, I’m surprised that a Chinese herbal remedy made it past the barricades!
First, if statins work to lower cholesterol, why go to an herbal supplement [...]

My Arlington practice hosted its second Lyme clinic of the summer last Friday, with a steady hum of new patients who’ve been treated for Lyme but aren’t better, or who’ve been told they don’t have Lyme but think they might have it, or who feel the classic symptoms but never had a rash. With all that’s [...]

 
I’ve never disliked anything Michael J. Fox has been in, from Family Ties to his recent run on Rescue Me. (All right, Spin City could be a bit lame.)   And of course, we share an illness.  But I developed a new respect for him after attending a roundtable discussion last night on Parkinson’s Disease Research hosted [...]

Some recent online articles about the herbal supplement industry have had people asking my advice about safety concerns. The FDA is still not regulating supplement production, choosing instead to leave quality control in the hands of the manufacturers. There’s a lot of tainted and mislabeled product out there, and too many unsuspecting people are spending [...]