Posts Tagged ‘diagnostic tool’

Exercise as a diagnostic tool

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Did you know about this? Exercise not only boosts fitness and wards off disease, it should also help you feel better. If it doesn’t , pay attention to your symptoms. The rigors of a work out function as a whole-body stress test that can reveal an array of serious medical conditions that might otherwise go undiagnosed and untreated.
For example, the headaches that plagued a 57-year-old man shortly after the start of vigorous physical activity actually signalled the presence of blocked coronary arteries. The Physician and Sportsmedicine, a professional journal, described this and an assortment of other case histories of exercise-induced red flags:
• Fatigue and poor athletic performance: a possible sign of anemia.
• A noticeable drop in speed and nimbleness: Parkinson’s disease.
• Abdominal cramping and diarrhea: inflammation of the colon.
• A severe headache or incoherence: a brain tumor.
• Repeated bouts of tendinitis: hypothyroidism.
Granted, many workout-related aches, pains, and other ailments stem from nothing more than an over ambitious attempt to cram a week’s worth of exercise into a single session at the gym. But any symptom that’s unusual, intense, or persistent merits prompt medical attention. Exercise may be intended to promote health, but don’t ignore its ability to uncover illness.