Cranswick Muscles Up
Social media health obsessions in recent years have spanned 'clean eating', superfoods and, lately, protein intake. That's helping Cranswick muscle up.
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Chicago Tribune
31 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Students to get mental health screenings under bill Gov. Pritzker signed at Evanston school
For 17-year-old Abhinav Anne, offering Illinois students a chance to get a free mental health screening feels like a milestone in his work in mental health advocacy. Governor JB Pritzker cemented that milestone with a flick of his wrist Thursday afternoon at Chute Middle School in Evanston by signing a new Illinois law, the first of its kind in the nation, he said, to grant students mental health screenings at least once a year. The bill, SB 1560, requires all Illinois public schools to offer third through 12th grade students a free, optional mental health screening. The bill passed the Illinois House of Representatives on May 21, and the Senate a month earlier in April. The state is anticipated to pick up the cost of the health screenings and the Illinois State Board of Education is expected to provide local school districts guidance and policy on how to use the screening tools by Sept. 1, 2026, according to the governor's office. The screenings are slated to begin in the 2027-2028 school year. 'Just as we have been screening for vision or hearing challenges that students have had for many years, we will now provide assessments for mental health,' Pritzker said, prior to signing the bill into law. 'This is a national first that's worth celebrating about the state of Illinois.' 'We know how transformational these screenings can be for kids at this age — they provide early identification and intervention so that those who are struggling get the help that they need as soon as possible,' he said. The governor chose to sign the bill at an Evanston/Skokie School District 65 school because of the district's leading mental health initiatives that outpace other school districts in the state, Pritzker said. 'Chute's been an example of a place that actually pays attention to the mental health of its students and does its best to refer people wherever they can,' he said. 'And I used to live here,' Pritzker said, of Evanston. 'I know how important this community is and its leadership for some in the rest of the state that may not already have gotten there,' he said. Hannah Dillow, District 65's communications manager, said the district launched its counseling program four years ago to provide middle school students additional mental health, social and academic support. District 65 also launched its Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) screener five years ago, allowing schools in the district to proactively identify student needs and offer ongoing support, she said. The district also uses a structured intervention system for academic and social-emotional needs, conducts student surveys to gauge students' sense of belonging, and offers a holistic approach to student well-being, Dillow said. Anne, a rising senior at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, part of Indian Prairie School District 204, said the bill signing signaled to him a promise of compassion from the state and public schools to prioritize mental health, something he has learned a lot about after having a crisis of his own. 'Earlier this year, I found myself sinking under the weight of expectations. I couldn't seem to escape. I wrote around me, spoke about potential, about a bright future, but to me, those hopes felt like chains, like pressure on something already starting to happen,' he said. 'This is our journey forward, to believe in its brightness,' Anne said. 'To every young person who feels unseen or unheard, this moment is for you.' Anne said he helped advocate for the bill when he met Dana Weiner, Illinois' Chief Officer for Children's Behavioral Health Transformation. 'Over the last three years in partnership with ISBE (the Illinois State Board of Education) we have learned a lot about what (school) districts need in order to better identify and respond to youth who confront mental health challenges,' Weiner said Thursday. State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders also commented, saying, 'Too often, we only recognize a student's distress when it becomes a crisis. With universal screening, we shift from reaction to prevention.' Along with the mental health screenings, the bill aims to raise awareness of the state's online Behavioral Health Care and Ongoing Navigation, or BEACON, portal. According to the governor's office, the portal provides Illinois families with information about available behavioral health services for children and adolescents, including: the Illinois Department of Human Services, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. The portal officially launched in early 2025.
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Weekly spin class ‘better than physio' for people with common hip issue
Weekly group spin classes could be more beneficial than physiotherapy for people with a common hip problem, a study suggests. The approach could also be more cost-effective for the NHS and could help tackle waiting times for physiotherapy, according to researchers. Hip osteoarthritis happens when the cartilage in the hip breaks down, causing pain and stiffness. It it estimated that the condition affects about 3.2 million people in the UK. For the trial, experts from Bournemouth University and University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) compared usual physiotherapy care with an eight-week exercise and education programme known as Chain (cycling against hip pain). The study, published in The Lancet Rheumatology, included 211 people, with roughly half assigned to each group. The Chain group attended weekly education sessions from a physiotherapist, lasting around 30 minutes, followed by a 30-minute session of static cycling led by a gym instructor. The effects of treatment on patients were measured by the Hip Disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS) activities of daily living (ADL) subscale, which assesses how hip problems affect various daily activities. The study found those who completed the cycling classes had a 'statistically significant improvement in patient-reported function after treatment'. Researchers said the method 'showed superior outcomes compared with usual physiotherapy care, and the feasibility of delivering a low-cost, community-based intervention within the NHS was shown'. However, they stress the 'longer-term benefits and broader generalisability warrant further investigation'. Tom Wainwright, a professor of orthopaedics at Bournemouth University and a physiotherapist at UHD, said: 'For the time it takes to treat one patient using standard physiotherapy, we can treat multiple patients in a group session and provide them with better outcomes. 'This has proved to be more cost-effective than standard treatment and so we hope this will contribute to reducing NHS waiting times for physiotherapy treatment in the future.' Professor Rob Middleton, of Bournemouth University and an orthopaedic surgeon at UHD, said: 'Hip replacements cost the NHS over £6,000 per patient, so avoiding surgery for hip problems reduces the burden on the NHS, saves money, and provides better outcomes for patients. 'Now with this new study we can also see the potential for static cycling to save further money for the NHS by bringing down waiting lists for physiotherapy.' Dr Peter Wilson, chief medical officer at UHD, said: 'We are an ageing population and increasingly we are seeing more patients with osteoarthritis that need either surgery or physiotherapy. 'Finding alternative ways to treat these patients could help reduce waiting times and the financial demand on NHS services.' The Chain intervention was first launched in 2013 and patients who wish to take part are referred to UHD from their GP. To bolster access on a national level, experts from Bournemouth University had developed a virtual course on their education app, allowing people to follow the programme from their home or local gym.
New York Times
39 minutes ago
- New York Times
Trump Is Bringing Back the Presidential Fitness Test
If you spent your childhood struggling to do chin-ups or groaning over a sit-and-reach box in gym class, brace yourself. Today, President Trump signed an executive order to reinstate the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools. The move is part of the administration's goal to 'restore urgency in improving the health of all Americans,' according to a statement released by the White House. The test, which was introduced in 1966, has taken several forms over the years. The most recent version included a one-mile run, modified sit-ups, a 30-foot shuttle run, the sit-and-reach flexibility test and a choice between push-ups and pull-ups. In the last iteration, children who scored in the top 15 percent nationwide earned a Presidential Physical Fitness Award. The Trump administration has yet to announce which exercises will be included in the new test. In 2012, the Obama administration replaced the Presidential Fitness Test with a program called the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, which was less focused on standardized fitness benchmarks. Some fitness and child development experts have criticized the Presidential Fitness Test as too rigid. Children who are the same age, for instance, could be very different sizes or at different developmental stages. And focusing on scores, experts said, could risk turning some children off exercise altogether. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
