Headaches.

7 Jul

Headaches (HA) play a significant role in a person’s quality of life and are one of the most common complaints that chiropractors see. This comes as no surprise, as one survey reported 16.6% of adults (18 years and older) suffered from migraines or other severe headaches during the last three months of 2011. Another study reported that head pain was the fifth LEADING CAUSE of emergency department (ED) visits in the United States and accounted for 1.2% of all outpatient visits. These statistics are even worse for females (18-44 years old), where the three month occurrence rate was 26.1% and the third leading cause for ED visits! Because of the significant potential side effects of medications, many headache sufferers turn to non-medication treatment approaches, of which chiropractic is one of the most commonly utilized forms of “complementary and alternative approaches” in the management of tension-type headaches. So, why are headaches so common? Let’s talk about posture!

Posture plays a KEY ROLE in the onset and persistence of cervicogenic headaches. If there is such a thing as “perfect posture,” it might “look” something like this: viewing a person from the front (starting at the feet), the feet would flair slightly outwards symmetrically, the medial longitudinal (inside) arch of the feet would allow enough space for an index finger to creep under to the first joint (and NOT flat like so many), the ankles would line up with the shin bones (and NOT roll inwards), the knees would slightly “knock” inwards and hips would line up squarely with the pelvis. The shoulders would be level, the arms would hang freely and not be pronated (rolled) inwards, and head would be level (not tilted). From the side view, the knees would not be hyperextended nor flexed, the shoulders would not be forward (protracted) and MOST IMPORTANT (at least for headaches), the head would NOT be forward and be able to have a perpendicular line drawn from the floor through the shoulder, as this line should pass through the outer opening of the ear. As the head “translates” or shifts forwards, for every inch of “anterior head translation” (AHT), it essentially gains 10 pounds in weight, which the upper back and neck muscles have to counter balance!

A leading University of California medical author, Dr. Rene Calliet, MD, wrote that this altered posture can add up to 30 pounds of abnormal weight to the neck and can “…pull the entire spine out of alignment.” It can also reduce the lung’s vital capacity by 30%, which can contribute to all sorts of breathing-impaired health problems! Think of carrying a 30-pound watermelon around your neck all day – the muscle pain from fatigue would be tremendous! If this is left uncorrected, chronic neck pain and headaches from pinching off the top three nerves in the neck is likely. The combination of AHT and shoulder protraction may also lead to the development of an upper thoracic “hump” and potentially into a “Dowager Hump” if the Midback vertebrae become compressed (wedged). An increased rate of mortality of 1.44 is reportedly associated with this faulty posture!

Between chiropractic adjustments, posture retraining exercises, other postural corrective care, and strength exercise training, we WILL help you correct your faulty posture so that neck pain and headaches STOP and don’t progress into a chronic, permanent condition.

We realize you have a choice in whom you consider for your health care provision and we sincerely appreciate your trust in choosing our service for those needs. If you, a friend, or family member requires care for headaches, we would be honored to render our services.

The Benefits of Happiness.

2 Jul

The feeling of happiness – whether you equate it with optimism, joy, well-being, personal achievement, or all of the above – goes hand-in-hand with healthier habits. People who are in good spirits tend to eat better, exercise more frequently, and get better sleep than those who are not. This could be because leading a healthy lifestyle helps you achieve your goals, which leads to happiness. It could also be that such habits lead to better health, which, in turn, lends itself to a better mood and contentment.
Beyond these rather common-sense associations, there’s something more about happiness that makes you healthy. It appears that a positive mental state may have a much more direct effect on your body. Positive thoughts and attitudes are able to prompt changes in your body that strengthen your immune system, boost positive emotions, decrease pain and chronic disease, and provide stress relief. Happiness, optimism, life satisfaction, and other positive psychological attributes are associated with a lower risk of heart disease. People with a deep sense of happiness and well-being have lower levels of inflammatory gene expression and stronger antiviral and antibody responses.

Awesome Person Alert! If you found a stranger’s wallet with money in it and no one else knew, what would you do? What this person did is incredible…

1 Jul

It’s a very old and commonly used ethical question. If you found a bag of money and no one knew, would you keep it or return it? A quick Google search of this topic reveals many important things…
First, there are a lot of people who jump into the legal debate. In other words, whether they keep or return the money is solely dependant on what they are legally bound to do. They say, if it is legal, they will keep it and vice versa. The situation gets more complicated depending on the amount of money in the bag. For example, it is much easier returning $20 than it is $1 million. What if the person who finds the money is poor? Does this mean it is okay to keep someone else’s money? It all depends on your situational ethics.
That’s why this story is so impressive.
Christian Reyes lost his wallet at a Florida Marlins’ baseball game and the person who found it did something amazing. He looked in the wallet and found Reyes’ Miami Senior High School student ID card. He brought the wallet to the school and turned it in. When he went to the front office, all he said was, “Somebody lost this wallet. One of your students. I think it’s one of your students from this school, lost this wallet at the game, and I just want to make sure he gets it back.”
Then, the good Samaritan left, not even telling the office staff his name. But here is the most amazing part: When Reyes got his wallet and opened it, he found there was EXTRA money in it and a note. Whoever found and returned his wallet actually put an extra $20 in the wallet with a note that said…
“I added $20 to it so you know the world is a great place. Do me a favor, when you get the chance, do something nice for someone else.”
Reyes is reported as saying he is looking forward to holding up his end of the deal. This is incredible because not only did this kind person add money to the wallet, he did not even tell anyone his name. He is obviously just looking to make the world a better place and not looking to make himself look good.
But this is not the only good Samaritan case. According to the Boston Globe, last October, Red Sox player Shane Victorino lost his wallet on a plane. A good Samaritan actually shipped the wallet back to him from Paris! Victorino told the press, “There’s honest, trustworthy people in this world.”
Here is one more good Samaritan story that is nothing short of awesome…
A bunch of college kids got intoxicated and were smart enough to not drive home. They decided to take a chance and knock on the front door of a house at 11:00 p.m. and see if they could get a ride back to their house. What greeted them when the door opened was a little scary…
You see, the house they chose was being rented out by several professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters and the guy who answered the door was 6’3” pro MMA fighter Jake Gombocz. As you can imagine, this story could have gone very wrong for these drunken college kids pounding on a stranger’s door at 11 p.m.
But it didn’t. Jake is a gentle giant and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Jake offered them a ride home all the way across town. When the college kids offered Jake money, he refused to take it and told them to pay the kindness forward to someone else.
The most amazing part of all these stories is the good Samaritans did not give their names and did not try to take credit for their acts of kindness. We only found out Jake’s name because one of his friends was there and posted the story about Jake on his Facebook account.
Maybe these are the real heroes we should pay attention to, praise, and look up to. 

Do Lazy People Eat Junk Food or Does Eating Junk Food Make People Lazy? Study offers surprising answer…

30 Jun

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? People have debated this question for millennia and there is still not a clear answer. However, there is another debate that is probably much more important to you. Knowing the answer to this other debate may give you more energy, improve your health, and make you feel much better.
What is this debate? Here it is…
Does Junk Food Make People Lazy
or Do Lazy People Eat Junk Food?
There is a belief that people who eat junk food and become overweight do so because they are lazy. But, a new study conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found the opposite to be true.
According to Science Daily, “Life scientists led by UCLA’s Dr. Aaron Blaisdell placed 32 female rats on one of two diets for six months. The first, a standard rat’s diet consisted of relatively unprocessed foods like ground corn and fish meal. The ingredients in the second were highly processed, of lower quality, and included substantially more sugar – a proxy for a junk food diet.
“After just three months, the researchers observed a significant difference in the amount of weight the rats had gained, with the 16 on the junk food diet having become noticeably fatter.”
Dr. Blaisdell reports that the rats on the “junk food” diet became obese while the rats on the healthier, more natural diet did not. The researchers also noted that as they gained weight, the rats on the junk food diet demonstrated impaired physical performance and required more rest to perform basic tasks. This suggest laziness and fatigue are caused by eating poorly and gaining weight, not the other way around.
In this study, “junk food” was described as, “highly processed, of lower quality, and included substantially more sugar.”
Most Americans eat a diet high loaded with processed foods that contains a lot of sugar and most Americans are also either overweight or obese. In fact, according to studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, more than 2 in 3 adults are considered to be overweight or obese and more than 1 in 3 adults are considered obese. More than 1 in 20 adults are considered to be extremely obese. About one-third of children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are considered to be overweight or obese and more than 1 in 6 children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are considered to be obese.
One of the most common complaints many people have is being tired and fatigued. Next time you go out to eat, just eavesdrop on the conversations taking place around your table. EVERYONE IS EXHAUSTED.
So, is it your fault if you are overweight, tired, and fatigued? Perhaps not. Processed, high-sugar content foods have been heavily marketed for decades, especially to children. They are much more accessible and cheaper, and many times, food labeling can be misleading or even deceptive. If you do not have a degree in biochemistry, you can easily be fooled. To make things even worse, serious evidence is accumulating that sugar is very addictive.
According to a WebMD article on sugar, “Sugar fuels every cell in the brain. When you overload on sugary foods, it may alter the parts of the brain that control how much you eat. In lab studies, rats that binged on sugar had brain changes like those of getting off drugs. In humans, just seeing pictures of milkshakes triggered brain effects like those seen in drug addicts. It was strongest in women whose answers showed they were more hooked on eating.”
Clearly, quitting a diet of processed and sugar-filled food is not an easy task for many people, which is why so many people try and fail. Many end up quitting for a certain time and falling back into their old ways. This is referred to as the “yo-yo effect” and can lead to serious weight gain.
Understanding this issue is the first step to making a lifetime change, a change where you finally lose weight and keep it off. Just as important, your energy levels will rise so you will not constantly feel tired and fatigued. Oh, and another thing, you may not get sick as much…
The researchers at UCLA found that the rats on the junk food diet grew a large amount of tumors throughout their bodies by the end of the study. Those on the more nutritious diet had fewer and smaller tumors that were not as widespread.
If this research is correct, processed foods high in sugar are the cause of weight gain, fatigue, and may contribute to serious health problems.
On top of all that, they are most likely very addictive.
What About Exercise?
There is no doubt exercise is good for you. There is plenty of research in that regard. But, there is one thing you must understand: You cannot exercise away a bad diet.
This is probably the most common misunderstanding and mistake when it comes to losing weight and increasing energy.
Eating processed foods full of sugar will create weight gain and fatigue no matter how much you exercise. In fact, eating poorly will make exercise extremely difficult because of the fatigue it causes.
If you want to lose weight and have more energy, it is highly recommended you cut processed foods that are loaded with sugar from your diet.
One more thing: New research shows that the average lifetime medical costs for an obese child are $19,000 higher than those of a child of normal weight who maintains normal weight through adulthood. These are direct costs and are probably higher when factoring in indirect costs. Cutting processed foods that are high in sugar from your child’s diet could have a huge impact on their life and healthcare costs.

Chiropractic and Blood Sugar?

26 Jun

One of the tenets of chiropractic care is to manage the health and restore function of the patients entering our office, not limited to any one system of the body but rather manage …THE WHOLE PERSON. With this primary care responsibility, knowledge and understanding of the patient who presents with either controlled or uncontrolled blood sugar abnormalities is necessary, as it is a very important aspect of their health and well-being. How does the blood sugar level affect the body, and what can chiropractic do in the management of the patient with blood sugar abnormalities?

Glucose (sugar) is the primary source of energy for our body’s cells, and the level that exists in our blood is tightly regulated by insulin produced by the pancreas. Essentially, when we eat carbohydrates (simple or complex), the blood sugar level goes up and triggers insulin to increase, which in turn lowers the blood sugar level to keep it in a fairly tight range (usually within 80-110 mg/dl, with a mean of 100). Your blood sugar level is typically lowest in the morning, which makes it the best time to check the level BEFORE EATING (called “fasting” blood sugar or, FBS) as it will elevate after eating for an hour or two and then gradually normalize. It can dip down below the “fasting” level usually in the third to fourth hour after eating, at which time symptoms of low blood sugar or, “hypoglycemia” can occur (tired, difficulty concentrating, light headed, rapid heart rate, etc.). In a “normal” person, the peak of blood sugar after eating usually reaches a maximum of 140 mg/dl (with 125 being the limit in a non-fasting sample) vs. the “controlled” diabetic who peaks out <180mg/dl, above which glucose will start showing up in the urine and is detectable with a urinalysis (dip sticks can be purchased at any pharmacy). When the blood sugar is high, the term “hyperglycemia” is used (too low = “hypoglycemia”). In general, we can tolerate levels that are too high better than levels that are too low, so IF you ever find a person passed out and they are wearing a bracelet indicating diabetes, you must ASSUME that they are hypoglycemic first as levels below 40 mg/dl can be life-threatening and a sugar-rich drink or food is appropriate (if they are conscious of course – if not, call 911!). Diabetes mellitus is diagnosed when the fasting blood glucose level are persistently high (the fasting range allowed for a “controlled diabetic” is 90-130 mg/dl) and is the most common cause of hyperglycemia.

In patients with diabetes mellitus, the blood sugar literally makes the blood thicker (think of molasses) making it hard for it to pass through the smaller blood vessels (called capillaries). This is why the eyes, kidneys, and the toes / feet are so susceptible to damage, as blood can’t get through the small vessels in these locations. Though larger scaled studies are needed, numerous case studies have been published that report success in reducing A1C levels, blood glucose levels, and the amount of insulin needed in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus in patients of various ages, including a four-year-old type 1 diabetic. There are several published case reports showing that chiropractic adjustments applied to the upper neck and mid-back regions, the areas where nerve supply to the pancreas, have benefited diabetics. Nutritional recommendations have also been reported as beneficial in many case reports. The authors of these case studies have recommend larger studies to investigate the efficacy of these treatments.

We realize you have a choice in whom you consider for your health care provision and we sincerely appreciate your trust in choosing our service for those needs. If you, a friend, or family member requires care, we would be honored to render our services.

Whiplash Self-Care: Part 1.

24 Jun

Whiplash is a condition that can occur from MANY causes – in fact, anything that results in a sudden change in the head/neck position. Usually, there is a rapid acceleration that injuries the soft tissues around the neck area by stretching them beyond their limits. Hence, the more accurate terms for whiplash are, “cervical acceleration-deceleration” or CAD as it describes the mechanism of the injury and “whiplash associated disorders” (WAD) describing the degree of injury.

Most commonly, when we think about whiplash, we immediately envision a motor vehicle collision (MVC), but prior to the invention of the automobile, the term “railroad spine” was coined to describe injuries to the neck from crashes that occurred between trains. Since then, due to pilots landing planes on aircraft carriers, sports injuries, and the rise of the automobile, this once rare condition has affected MOST of us at some point in time!

Today’s topic will focus on self-care. What can you and I do for ourselves WHEN we suffer a CAD injury? Since there are different levels of injury severity, keep in mind that EACH CASE IS UNIQUE and we will ONLY be discussing general options. So ALWAYS let your symptoms guide you in the process of care – that is, if you feel a sharp, piercing/stabbing, activity or movement stopping type of pain, STOP!!! Don’t further injure your tissues!!! We will discuss a common WAD II injury (soft-tissue injury limiting motion but not injuring nerves) and we’ll look the acute and sub-acute stages of the injury.

Stage 1 – ACUTE: The inflammatory phase (up to 72 hours). ICE is necessary to decrease swelling (inflammation). Limit motion but try NOT to use a collar unless you have no choice as even small movements that avoid the sharp/knife-like pain are better than no movement at all. A collar may be needed when driving (especially if the roads are bumpy)! Anti-inflammatory herbs like ginger, turmeric, boswellia, bioflavonoid, and others reduce inflammation WITHOUT irritating the stomach, liver, kidneys, and will NOT inhibit the chemicals needed for healing (like NSAIDs do!). Chiropractic care SHOULD begin ASAP after an injury. We may only use gentle manual traction and/or mobilization, also staying within reasonable pain boundaries. It’s been well proven that early movement is best!

Stage 2 – SUB-ACUTE: The repair phase (72 hours to 14 weeks). Ice can continue if it helps control pain. You can also alternate ice and heat at 10/5/10/5/10 minutes, starting and ending with ice (it “pumps” the tissues). Cervical range of motion (ROM) exercises with LIGHT resistance (use 1 or 2 fingers against the head and push in a forward, backward, sideways, and rotating directions first with “isometrics” – not moving the head, and when tolerated, “isotonic” – moving the head against the LIGHT pressure applied in BOTH directions within the range that avoids sharp/knife-like pain. Movement, strength, pain, and coordination are ALL better managed when light resistance + motion is used vs. not moving (isometrics). Self-applied methods of performing “myofascial release” (which we will teach you) include: Self-massage, the use of a tennis ball and/or foam roll, the use of a TheraCane or Intracell (Exercise Stick), and others. During this repair phase, chiropractic adjustments REALLY help!!! We will continue this discussion next month!!!

We realize you have a choice in whom you consider for your health care provision and we sincerely appreciate your trust in choosing our service for those needs. If you, a friend, or family member requires care for Whiplash, we would be honored to render our services.

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