Edmonton Sun YOUR HEALTH Monday, February 26, 2007

The workout poles

Castagna

edmontonsun.canoe.ca

63

The weight gain beevenly distribute bodygan almost immediweight, while helping ately after he quit to provide a full-body smoking nearly four workout. years ago. Without the poles I Len Krupka, a lifedont know if I could time smoker, packed walk as far as I do now on a whopping 60 without feeling tired, pounds in the months the 58 year old says, following his decision adding the poles also to butt out. assist with correct posCa ry The Edmonton ture and prevent grandfather, who slouching. topped out at a buttonThe poles naturally popping 265 pounds, KEEPING FIT force you to stand tall soon turned to walking and keep your total to help him work off some of that core body in the correct position. excess flab around his middle. By keeping you in this correct Unfortunately for him, the low- alignment, it prevents other areas impact activity was too much for of the body from being stressed his middle-aged joints, most nota- and creating problems. bly his hips. The north-side couple, who both I couldnt walk, he recalls. have mainly sedentary jobs in ofId walk half a block and my fice settings, enjoy pole walking at hips were hurting and Id have to least three times a week, usually stop and rest. going out for a 35-minute jaunt His exercise regimen was around Beaumaris Lake. doomed. Or so he thought. Since the poles are equipped A short time later, Len and his with a tungsten tip that can get a wife Rose found out about a grip on ice and snow, the Krupkas woman in Kelowna who sells poles walk year-round. she designed specifically for Nordic However, when the mercury dips walking. too low in the winter, theyll relucWas this Lens ticket to pain-free tantly hop on their cross-trainer at strolling? They both certainly home. hoped so. Along the way, Len has shed The couple purchased a set of more than 20 pounds. Keen Fit walking poles and took These days, he weighs about 245 them for a spin with pleasing re- pounds at five-foot-ten. sults. Ive still got 35 more to go, he It gets the pressure off my hips, says optimistically. says Len, who at 57 now walks up Its a slow process. It comes on to three kilometres without any hip quick, but it doesnt want to leave trouble. you too quick. Rose, an avid walker for years, Last November, Len endured a explains that the adjustable poles frightening setback when he suftransform a biped into a four- fered a mild heart attack. legged animal and thus more Doctors said a lifetime of bad

SUPPLIED PHOTO

Edmonton couple Len and Rose Krupka stay fit by Nordic walking with their Keen Fit walking poles, which they now distribute locally. They will be promoting them at the upcoming Health and Wellness Show.
habits, including nearly 40 years of smoking, had caught up with him, but it could have been much worse possibly even fatal had he not been recently taking better care of himself. After getting stents to fix three blockages in his ticker, Len was back walking within three weeks of his heart attack. The fitness-minded grandparents have since become more conscious of what they eat, although Rose admits she sometimes has difficulty saying when. I have toned down, says Rose, who weighs 170 at five-foot-two. My problem is the hand-mouth motion is still in effect, as well. The Krupkas enjoy pole walking so much that they have become affiliate distributors of the Keen Fit poles in Edmonton. They have held several free walking clinics and they will be at the Health and Wellness Show on March 3-4 at the Mayfield Trade Centre, where you can bet theyll be telling everyone to buy their poles and take a hike. I love it, Rose says, adding she wants to make sure she can keep up with their two grandchildren for years to come. If you dont use it, youre going to lose it.

Watch out for the results of Club Fits Biggest Winner Contest in my March 12 column. Do you have an inspirational story for Keeping Fit? E-mail Cary Castagna at

THE BIGGEST WINNER

ccastagna@edmsun.com

Relapses responsible for majority of cancer deaths

DR. RICHARD BELIVEAU Special to Sun Media
One of the major obstacles to cancer treatment is its incredible ability to reappear in force after a first round of treatments. The latest research developments suggest these relapses are due to the presence of cancerous stem cells capable of forming new tumours that are even more aggressive. the disease once again. Also, cancers that come back a few months or a few years after treatments are even more dangerous than the initial ones. They are so dangerous, in fact, that relapses are largely responsible for the majority of deaths that are caused by cancer. One of the major challenges of modern oncology is therefore to develop new treatments that will not only eradicate clinically diagnosed cancers, but also prevent the recurrence of these tumours. Until recently, cancer was perceived as a mass of abnormal cells that proliferated at a high rate. In the hope of stopping cancer growth, many drugs intended to eliminate these rapid proliferating cells have been developed. We now, however, know that the growth of several types of cancer is not only due to the cancerous cells themselves, but also to a small population of cancerous stem cells.

Self-replicating
Just like the normal stem cells play an essential part in the development and the normal functioning of our organs, cancerous stem cells have the ability to self-replicate. They also produce a wide range of really aggressive cancer cells that allow the tumour to quickly invade the tissues in which they are located. One extremely important point is that these cancerous

Relapses
Your cancer is back. These terrible words are unfortunately heard too often by patients who have fought cancer. Its generally really bad news, because it implies that these people will have to face

stem cells have a number of characteristics that make them very resistant to the anti-cancer drugs that target mature cancerous cells. This resistance of cancerous stem cells to chemotherapy drugs would therefore explain why existing therapies are often ineffective to treat many types of tumours. Indeed, even if these drugs manage to destroy the mature cells that form the tumours, they cant eliminate the cancerous stem cells which can therefore regenerate the tumour burden. Cancerous stem cells can therefore be compared to a weed that continuously tries to invade our gardens and our lawn. We can mow the grass as short as possible to remove

traces of dandelions and other undesirables, but everything must be started anew only a few days later. The only real efficient way to get rid of a weed is to uproot it by eliminating what it absolutely needs to grow. Its the same thing with cancer treatment: we have to discover ways of stopping these cancerous stem cells from producing new tumours in order to really reduce cancer-related mortality.

Prevention
The latest research developments in cancerous stem cells suggest that one efficient way of destroying these cells is to target their environment. Cancerous stem cells in-

deed gather in very precise regions of tumours, a.k.a. vascular niches, located very close to blood vessels. These vessels are essential because they bring to stem cells all the elements they need to survive and produce mature cancer cells. By preventing the formation of these blood vessels in the tumour, we cut off the stem cells means of subsistence and thus reduce the risk of tumour relapse. This observation is extremely interesting because several drug products meant to stop the formation of blood vessels in the tumours (anti-angiogenic activity) are now in development. They could be used in the near future to improve the effectiveness of existing treatments.