5 lifestyle disorders and therapies that have emerged to counter them

A month ago 28yearold Santosh Shukla underwent an angioplasty operation where two stents were inserted at the site of blockages in his heart Reason The powai resident 12 hours of sitting at the desk and no time to exercise coupled with an unhealthy diet Doctors say Shuklarsquos sedentary life and overweight body couldhave caused a cardiac blockage this early in life for the past three weeks 41yearold Prakash Anand has been taking inversion therapy to reduce an almost unbearable back pain The cause The Bangalorebased resident spends long hours working on the computer and slouching These two cases are obviously not isolated and will probably strike a chord with several thousand Mumbaiites as would stories of vitamin deficiency eye fatigue obesity and mobile phoneinduced thumb injuries Indeed as medical experts say the lifestyle of the average urban Indian youth has undergone a drastic change in the last five years perhaps faster than in any preceding decade in history With habits that force us to work long sleep less eat at odd hours and look good even when we are tired personal health sadly is last in the list of priorities The price of an inversion table starts at Rs 31000 Thankfully however as lifestylerelated disorders diseases andinjuries keep popping up so do newer therapies to counter them Take the case of inversion therapy which involves hangingupside down to decompress the discs or botox procedures for stilettotarsals and Vitamin D sprays to counter Vitamin B12 and D3 deficiency Professionals complain of backache thanks to jobs that require long hours of sitting down lack of exercise and wrong postures ldquoWho has the time to exercise regularly Patients today understand the gravity of their back problem but cite time constraints as a reason for not exercisingrdquo says Dr KS Bhawish a physiotherapist at Back Proof an inversion therapy clinic which launched in March this year Anil Nayak cofounder of Kartavya Healtheon a disease management company says there are numerous factors for lifestylerelated disorders which are affecting workingprofessionals homemakers college students and even tiny tots ldquoFood stress overall functioning of the body environment all play a major role in our lives For many a slim body is the sign of being healthy which is a wrong notionrdquo Nayak says Decades ago high cholesterol or blood sugar was associated with middle age ldquoToday youngsters in their early 20s are being diagnosed with high cholesterol and sugar levels They don39t want to exercise they gorge on junk food and work for long hours How will their body coperdquo says Nayak who adds that newer medicines are being launched depending on body metabolics ldquoStress is a word that is sometimes loosely thrown around but if you are thinking too much about a particular thing be it in your professional or personal front you are a victim of anxiety relatively a newage phenomenon that the previous generations were more immune tordquo But there is a golden rule Nayak adds to keep your lifestyle from wrecking your health ldquoThe first thing is to accept that things can sometimes go out of control More importantly one needs to relook at lifestyle habits every now and then and adopt a routine of selfmanagement This could include keeping a check on the food you eat walking regularly counting your calories and hydrating yourself regularly All this may sound simple and easy but obviously very few follow them These are the basic tools to avert a health crisisrdquo Inversion therapy For those who think working on the laptop for a few extra hours is no big deal talk to Prakash Anand for a second opinion Eight years ago one day at work a sharp pain ran through Anandrsquos back He couldnrsquot move Then commenced a longduration physiotherapy session and exercises to treat what was diagnosed as herniated disc ldquoI was on bed rest for three weeksrdquo says the now 41yearold game producer who works for a gaming company While Anand did recover from the injury he was never fully comfortable with his back ldquoI took acupressure therapy to ease the pain but long hours on the computer nullified all my efforts While the physiotherapist had advised me to exercise regularly I just didnrsquot have timerdquo says Anand Then last month the same shooting pain returned when he lifted a heavy object That day while returning early from office Anand came across Back Proof a centre for inversion therapy ldquoCurious I walked in and ended up chatting with the physiotherapist and we set up an appointment for the next dayrdquo For the past three weeks Anand has been taking inversion therapy to decompress the pressure off his discs ldquoMy first session which was a mix of exercises and lying upside down on the inversion table lasted for 20 minutes By the end I was feeling as if a weight had been taken off my backrdquo recalls Anand whoadds that the pain has reduced by 90 per cent in the past 21 days Arvind Agarwal a software entrepreneur who launched Back Proof suffered before he grew wise In 2012 he was researching a new technique to solve his chronic back pain due to long hours interestingly enough he was doing his research on the computer as well when he came across the concept of inversion therapy ldquoI had tried everything from physiotherapy acupressure and painkillers which all gave temporary relief Thatrsquos when I decided to bring the table down for myselfrdquo says Agarwal who launched Back Proof in Bangalore in March this year ldquoI knew there would be takers for this therapy as I had tried it and it workedrdquo says Agarwal who took the therapy for two months regularly Dr Rajeev Singh a physiotherapist who works at the centre says ldquoThe patient lies upside down balancing at a specific angle to release the spinal compression When we sit or stand the disc is compressed and a radiating pain shoots through the nerve roots that lies behind the disc The ideal thing to do is stop sitting and standing but we canrsquot do that We have to go on with our daily lives By hanging upside down the body works as a tractionrdquo And it is not the back alone that benefits from this therapy Dr Bhawish another physiotherapist at Back Proof says ldquoWhen you hang upside down you not only help your back but rehydrate the disc reduce BP correct a wrong posture The oxygen flow to the brain increases and the heart takes lesser effort to pump thereby controlling BPrdquo Obesity it was mild chest pain that took 28yearold Santosh Shukla to the doctor for a checkup ldquoTurns out I had high diabetes and two heart blockagesrdquo says Shukla who suffers from obesity since many years ldquoI was on the heavier side but I never gave it a serious thoughtu00a0I ate what I liked and didnrsquot really bother about my dietrdquo says the Chandivaliresident who works in the back office of a chemical company which adds to his sedentary lifestyleu00a0 According to World Health Organisation u00a0Obesity is the biggest global lifestyle threat affecting children and adults alike Dr Amprapali Patil founder of Trim and Tone who treated Shukla says lifestyles disorders are not just because of the food we eat ldquoNow we drive even to small distances We donrsquot have time to walk and processed food is a socalled lsquostress busterrsquou00a0Obesity is the biggest global lifestyle threat affecting children and adults both It leads to cardiovascular diseases sleep apnea and even depressionu00a0 ldquoWhen Shukla came to us we were not surprised at the results Even 25yearolds have heart attacks these days In spite of so much awareness about organic food lowcalorie food and diseasesspecific diet foods todayrsquos generation is living on the edgerdquo says Dr Patil Vitamin D spray A few months ago Full Life a healthcare company launched Vitashine D3 Spray ldquoLetrsquos face it not everyone with a Vitamin D deficiency has the time to expose themselves to the morning sun We have brought this product from UK and currently it is available on callrdquo says Varun Khanna founder of Full Life adding that their marketing strategy is underway ldquoOne must use the spray which contains a dose of 1000 Internationa Unit IU once a day This product is completely vegetarian as it is sourced from algae It is a more convenient method than popping a pill which has a dose of 60000 IU The lower dose prevents toxicity The spray helps bring the levels of the vitamin in your bodyrdquo Some like 33yearold Shilpa Thakkar vouch for the spray While she was told to take vitamin d3 injections to popping pills she decided against it as the high dosage affects the liver ldquoI took the spray for three to four monthsrdquo says Thakkar ldquoWhen I was detected with a deficiency I was advised to expose my body to the morning sun Frankly with work and hectic schedules I didnrsquot comply The spray is handy and efficient and my tests show that my levels have improvedrdquo she says Orthopaedic injuries a few years ago Mumbaibased public relations professional Melanie Fernandes woke up one morning to find she could not move her ring finger ldquoIt went numb The orthopaedic diagnosed it as a frozen finger caused by constant use of the laptop trackpad I switched to using a mouse and the condition improvedrdquo Fernandes recallsBut last month she had spent a few days working several hours a stretch on her computer The index finger swellen and turned stiff ldquoIt was diagnosed as reactive arthritis so I rested the finger and took antiinflammatory medication Now I have started giving my hands the required rest by stretching at regular intervalsrdquo she says Dr Prabhoo Ramchandra an orthopaedic surgeon with Mukund Hospital in Andheri says ldquoLong hours of work and travelling in packed trains and buses often lead to neck and lower back pain Patients also complain of fatigue Another worrying trend is that of thumb and wrist injuries due to overuse of computer and cellphonesrdquo He adds that people today have forgotten the importance of drinking water ldquoThis leads to muscle cramps and dehydration which often worsens cases of muscular spasmsand painrdquo The solution is simple he says drink plenty of water and invest in ergonomic products for specific problems ldquoToday there are great products such as mouse keyboards chairs and hand rests to save your body from occupational and lifestyle hazardsrdquo he concludes Eye fatigue While most of the other disorders cause pain or weakness eye fatigue is often ignored for years say doctors as it usually starts with a twitchu00a0Take the case of Ashok Shah a 42yearold businessman who visited ophthalmologist Dr Deepak Sadarangani at Hinduja Healthcare Surgical in Khar last month ldquoHe complained of dry eyes a classic symptom of severe computer vision syndromerdquo says Dr Sadarangani adding that it is not just the computer but also the cell phone and the television that gives the eye muscle no time to relax ldquoWith people sleeping fewer hours the eyes donrsquot get complete restrdquo he adds Tired eyes can lead to dry eyes and double vision The window to the rest of your body the eye is often overstrained overworked and taken for granted ldquoWhile fatigued or tired eyes will not leave you blind they will leave you with dry eyes blurry vision double vision and headacherdquo says Dr Himanshu Mehta founder of Vission Eye Centre Juhu Spending too much time in airconditioned rooms aggravates the dryness ldquoWe can detect diabetes kidney problems and blood pressure by looking at teh condition of the eyerdquo says Dr Mehta adding ldquoLook out of the window at the greens palm your eyes sleep well lubricate the eye if need be and leave your electronic gadgets asiderdquou00a0For all the disorders the good news is that help is also close at hand Some names in the story have been changed on requestu00a0