But Ian, where's the $$$ profit in getting people to eat healthily and exercise?

The WebMD site has a "Fibromyalgia Slideshow" of "fibro-friendly exercises."

by Ken

Our friend Ian Welsh references the WebMD report from which these excerpts are drawn:

Tai Chi: Best Fibromyalgia Treatment?

Study Shows Fibromyalgia Symptoms Much Better After 12 Weeks of Tai Chi

By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

Aug. 18, 2010 -- Just 12 weeks of tai chi -- the slow-motion Chinese martial art -- relieved longstanding fibromyalgia symptoms and improved quality of life in a clinical trial.

Compared with patients who received wellness education and stretching exercises, those who practiced tai chi saw their fibromyalgia become much less severe. They also slept better, felt better, had less pain, had more energy, and had better physical and mental health, says study researcher Chenchen Wang, MD, of Tufts University School of Medicine.

"We definitely saw better results than reported in trials of drug treatments for fibromyalgia," Wang tells WebMD. "One patient with previous arthritis pain kept saying, 'No pain! No pain!'"

It wasn't for everyone. Wang says 10% to 20% of patients randomly assigned to tai chi did not feel it helped them. But he says 50% to 60% of the patients were "really engaged," and after about eight weeks began to feel better.

Improvement was gradual but steady. Patients who benefited from tai chi asked the researchers to continue the program when the 24-week study ended. . . .

"Tai chi may be an ideal exercise option for patients with fGloria Y.] Yeh tells WebMD via email. "If you are a patient suffering with fibromyalgia without much relief from conventional options -- or are looking for more you can do for yourself -- there is no reason not to give tai chi a try." . . .

Over the past decade, Wang's team has found that tai chi helps patients with a variety of long-term health conditions. That led them to their fibromyalgia clinical trial, which enrolled 66 patients who had suffered from fibromyalgia for 11 years on average.

The patients were told they were in a study of two different exercise regimens, in which one group would receive nutrition education. Wang says most patients had hoped to be included in the education/exercise group, which they were led to believe was the more sophisticated intervention. In reality, that was the comparison group, in which 33 patients received twice-weekly, hour-long wellness education and did stretching exercises.

The other group worked with tai chi master Ramel Rones of Boston's Mind-Body Therapies. Hour-long training sessions took place twice a week for 12 weeks. They included an explanation of tai chi theory and instruction in 10 "forms" of the classic Yang style of tai chi. Training also included training in meditation, breathing techniques, and relaxation. Patients were told to practice at home for at least 20 minutes a day. . . .

[Note that the article itself goes beyond the headline to discuss relief from arthritis as well as fibromyalgia. -- Ed.]

Here's Ian's take on the report:

Imagine that.

What’s remarkable, actually, is how often some form of exercise is better for a variety of conditions than pharmaceuticals. From depression to osteoperosis to preventing the effects of Alzheimer, getting active generally works as well or better than drugs.

In terms of societal health, doing everything we can so that people eat healthily and get exercise would probably do more than anything else.

Instead we subsidize corn syrup and build suburbs without sidewalks.

UPDATE TO YESTERDAY'S POST ON OHIO
"GREED & SELFISHNESS" REPUBLICAN JOHN KASICH

Yesterday I passed on tidings of two typically greed-besotted Republicans, former Reps. John Kasich (by irrepressible Washington Post "In the Loop" columnist Al Kamen) and Rick Lazio (by legendary Village Voice investigative reporter Wayne Barrett). Our pal Al Kamen referenced a Dayton Daily News report that then-Representative Kasich, chariman of the House Budget Committee, a typical GOP foe of wasteful government spending who's now running for governor demanding that state colleges and universities cut costs and make professors teach heavier classloads, "was paid $50,000 a year for seven years to teach a course at Ohio State University." (A Kasich mouthpiece, Rob Nichols, replied that the congressman got "what OSU thought his teaching was worth" and "they kept asking him back." Do we really think it was the congressman's teaching that OSU thought was worth the money?)

Our friend Jacqui passes along a ripple from the Kasich disclosures in the form of an Ohio Democratic Party tweet:

"OSU Students Ask Kasich to fund Scholarship w/ his outrageous $4000 / hr salary from OSU.http://bit.ly/9ZAqQh"

The reference is to a report by Columbus TV station ABC 6:

OSU Students Ask Kasich for Scholarship

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Students from The Ohio State University gathered at the Main Library calling on Congressman John Kasich to start a scholarship fund.

They say they are upset with the $4,000 per hour that he earned as a presidential fellow at the university.

The students said Kasich "consistently voted against increasing access to student loans, expanding grants, and tax breaks for students during his time in Washington, Congressman Kasich gladly lined his pockets with a hefty salary from the university."

Governor Ted Strickland also commented about his gubernatorial candidate's salary from Ohio State saying it was "a disgrace."

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