Helix Clinic blog

Most of us have heard of the numberous health benefits afforded by green tea and now some new research from the Institute of Chinese Medicine has added another one to the list.  The Institute looked at some of the key compounds found in Green Tea and discovered that one in particular (called EGC) had a role to play in slowing the breakdown of bones and in helping to stimulate new bone formation.  They found that the EGC boosted the activity of a key enzyme that promotes bone growth by up to 79 percent. It also boosted the levels of bone mineralization in the cells, and  inhibited the formation of bone destroying osteoclast cells.

Green tea boasts many other benefits so including a cup or two a day is an easy way to promote and maintain good health!

Tags: green tea

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)  is set to launch a new website that can provide patients with detailed information on every UK based IVF clinic. IVF success rates have been shown to be almost indistinguishable between clinics, so the new website will allow people to take other information into account when choosing a clinic, from waiting time to multiple birth rates.

Generally the trend has been for IVF success rates to rise for women up to the age of 42. For women between 40 and 42, the 2007 success rates were as high as 12%, increasing to over 32% for women under 35.

The new website is called ‘choose a fertility clinic’, and should be available through the HFEA site soon.

Tags: IVF

Many women who are worried about their f ertility will use an ovulation predictor kit to see if they are ovulating ok. A common query that we encounter is about how reliable the kits are. If the result appears postive, does that necessarily mean that ovulation has occurred?

The thing to remember is that ovulation kits predict impending ovulation by detecting the surge of a hormone called LH, or luteinizing hormone. LH is the catalyst that thrusts the egg out of the ovary during ovulation. When the basal body temperature rises as a result, ovulation has occurred because after ovulation, the leftover follicle (the corpus luteum) that encased the egg in the ovary starts producing progesterone, a heat-inducing hormone.

So, the progesterone causes the basal body temperature to rise, usually a day or two after ovulation, and there is usually a two or three day delay from the LH surge to the temperature rise. The LH surge happens first, then ovulation, and then the temperature rise.

This means that it is possible to have an LH surge and then still not ovulate.  If this happens, the ovulation predictor kit will register positive but the body temperature will not rise to a sustained higher level. This is why it is a good idea to track the temperature as well as use the ovulation predictor kit.

Tags: basal body temperature, fertility, infertility, ovulation

A recent study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology by Brinkhaus et.al. (Nov 2008) gives evidence to suggest that acupuncture is an effective therapy for allergic rhinitis. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture combined with routine care in patients with allergic rhinitis compared with treatment with routine care alone.

The Rhinitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) was filled in by patients at the start of the trial and again after 3 and 6 months. 487 patients were assigned to the acupuncture group, and 494 patients were in the control group (routine care without acupuncture).

The researchers found that the quality of life for patients as measured by the questionnaire was significantly higher in the acupuncture group compared to the control group after 3 months. The researchers also found that the improvement from acupuncture was greatest in the initial 3 month period.

The results of this trial are positive for acupuncture and  suggest that treating patients with allergic rhinitis in routine care with additional acupuncture leads to clinically relevant and persistent benefits.

Tags: allergic rhinitis

This Saturday it’s the London Marathon, and many of those runners in training will be having problems with their knees. Running is great cardio-vascular exercise, but it really does put a lot of strain on the joints, especially when running on hard surfaces like the roads of London!

It is vitally important to have a good pair of shoes for training, that are well cushioned and custom-built to support individual running gaits. However, even the right shoes cannot always prevent the ill effects of lots of running on the knee joints.

In our experience, we have always found acupuncture to be effective in the treatment of knee problems. It can sometimes be a little scary having acupuncture done to the knee, because the needles used are longer than normal body needles. This is because the acupuncture points that need to be stimulated are deep inside the knee joint. However, even though the needles have to go in quite deep, there is usually only a slight sensation which is not generally painful. Relief from symptoms usually occurs fairly soon after the treatment, and sometimes immediately after.

The reason acupuncture can work so well for knee problems is that it can ‘reach parts other therapies cannot’! No amount of manipulation or massage can have the same effectiveness compared to an acupuncture needle  placed directly into the knee joint.

The treatment is good for acute injuries, such as sprains, and also more chronic injuries, such as bad knees developed over many years due to lots of running or kneeling (e.g. electricians).

Tags: knee pain, running