New Study: Is Exercise the Best Medicine? New research shows exercise can be just as effective as many frequently prescribed drugs for treating some major causes of death, including heart disease and diabetes!

14 May

It’s pretty sad, but in today’s society, it is common to boast and brag. It is also common to make things seem much better or worse than they really are.
We see marketers do it every day through the advertising they bombard us with. Who hasn’t bought something after watching a TV commercial only to find out it wasn’t half as good as claimed?
Well, what you’re about to read is different and without any hype, it could change both your health and your future.
With rising insurance costs in the United States and other countries, this information may also save you a lot of money and time.
Here’s what this is all about: Healthcare professionals want to give their patients the best possible treatments but how does a doctor know which treatment is best?
Scientific research is used to determine which treatments work, which treatments do not work, and which treatments do more harm than good.
Countless medications have been scientifically tested over the years, and new drugs are often compared with older pharmaceuticals to prove their efficacy. However, very few studies actually directly compare drugs with exercise to treat common health conditions and diseases.
Until Now…
Huseyin Naci, a graduate student at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Dr. John Ioannidis, the Director of the Stanford Prevention Research Center at the Stanford University School of Medicine, studied the effectiveness of both drugs and exercise in lessening mortality among people who had been diagnosed with either heart disease, chronic heart failure, stroke, or diabetes.
The two researchers gathered all of the recent randomized controlled trials, reviews, and meta-analyses of older experiments relating to mortality among patients with those illnesses, and whether the study participants had been treated with drugs or exercise.
In total, they studied information from 305 studies, which included a total of 340,000 participants. Most of these past studies focused on pharmaceuticals. Only 14,716 of the subjects were prescribed exercise to treat their disease.
The results of their study were published in the October 2013 issue of the British Medical Journal. Their conclusion: “No statistically detectable differences were evident between exercise and drug interventions in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease and pre-diabetes. Physical activity interventions were more effective than drug treatment among patients with stroke. Diuretics were more effective than exercise in heart failure…
“Although limited in quantity, existing randomized trial evidence on exercise interventions suggests that exercise and many drug interventions are often potentially similar in terms of their mortality benefits in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, rehabilitation after stroke, treatment of heart failure, and prevention of diabetes.”
WOW!
According to this study, both drugs and exercise are more or less just as effective as treatments for those common and life-threatening diseases.
But here is what the study did NOT mention… Exercise is cheaper and does not come with dangerous side-effects!
What Does This Mean for You?
Clearly, health care is changing. With the restructuring of insurance in many countries and an aging population, it must change. Expensive treatments will be cut if cheaper and just as (or more) effective therapies are found. (Or, at least they should be.)
Clearly, insurance coverage is not what it used to be. Many times, patients have to pay huge sums of money out-of-pocket, even if they are insured by private or government insurance plans. Who wants to pay all that money if it can be avoided?
But even more important is doing what’s best for YOU. If exercise can help keep you healthy so you do not end up with heart disease, diabetes, etc., then it makes sense to add it to your lifestyle. Imagine what combining exercise, eating right, stress reduction, and chiropractic care can do for your long-term health.
Science Discovers New Body Part!
You read that correctly. In fact, science has discovered a new ligament in the knee, and its discovery is a pretty fascinating story.
One hundred and thirty-four years ago, French surgeon Paul Segond couldn’t explain the painful resistance in his knee after an injury. This led him to theorize about the existence of an undiscovered ligament.
Now, Belgian doctors have actually found it. The ligament is called the anterolateral ligament (ALL) and was found in all but one of the 41 cadavers they dissected to prove its existence.
According to The Star: “The discovery was shocking: all but one of the dissected bodies had the ‘well-defined ligamentous structure’ between the femur and the anterolateral tibia, or shin that was described by the French scientist. The finding led the doctors to conclude that most humans, about 97 percent, have the little lost ligament.”
Here is something very important: “The doctors also announced patients with ACL tears were likely suffering knee collapses because of ALL injuries.”
This may explain why many people (including athletes) have the diagnosis of a torn ACL but do not have instability or collapse of the knee. There are reports of athletes playing professional sports for years with a torn ACL.
This opens the door for new treatments and ways to approach knee injuries, especially for people with a torn ACL and knee instability.
What is amazing is how long it took scientists to discover a ligament they estimate is in 97% of people.
Can you imagine what will be discovered next?

Whiplash Management.

12 May

Whiplash usually occurs as a result of a car crash when the head moves in a fast, uncontrolled way in many possible directions. The forwards-backwards movement is described in a classic “whiplash” injury but side-to-side, rotational, or a combination of movements often occur, especially if we add in the factor of the head being turned or rotated when the impact occurs, regardless of how the car is hit. This month, let’s talk treatment!

Think of “Whiplash Management” in steps:

STEP 1: IMMEDIATELY seek chiropractic attention following a whiplash injury: This is important as studies show delayed treatment is associated with worse outcomes after the dust settles. To avoid long-term disability, DON’T WAIT! Pain usually scares people into a guarded, protective way of thinking. The longer you wait, the greater the muscle tightness, spasm, weakening, and your increased fear of activity because of the pain!

STEP 2: Reduce Inflammation: The words “pain” and “inflammation” are quite synonymous. If you feel “hurt,” you are “inflamed.” We must begin anti-swelling/inflammation measures ASAP after an injury like whiplash. The BEST/safest approach is an ICE PACK – rotate it on/off/on/off/on every 15 minutes (1.25 hours/session) three times a day OR, CONTRAST ice with heat (10 min. ice/5 min. heat x3, ending with ice = 40 min.). BOTH methods produce a PUMP-like effect to quickly get rid of the inflammation. You also have the option of OTC medications (Aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen) but these NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) carry significant side-effects for some people, the most evident early on being stomach upset/irritation (later, liver and kidney damage) so be careful! You don’t want to have to treat an ulcer on top of your whiplash! Consider anti-inflammatory nutrients, herbs, vitamins, and food – they’re safe and effective (we’ve discussed these previously – SEARCH the web for more information).

STEP 3: AVOID INACTIVITY: This is important since the “natural” thing to do is nothing, “…because it hurts!” WE will guide you in this process as you need to know how much and what type of activity is safe and appropriate. You have to “interpret” the pain as being either safe or harmful and then you react accordingly. You MUST tell us the type of pain (sharp, knife-like is harmful vs. a “good” stretch type of hurt is safe), how much pain there is (7-10 on a 0-10 scale is potentially harmful), how constant it is, and what helps/hurt (what have you tried and learned so far). THEN, we will guide you appropriately (with your help)!

STEP 4: DO NORMAL ACTIVITY: This dovetails our last point. Get on with your normal activities as avoiding work and other ADLs (activities of daily living) leads to “disability thinking” or thinking you’re worse than you are. DON’T LET THAT HAPPEN. Talk to us!!!

STEP 5: AVOID prolonged faulty postures: Whether it’s a conversation with a person who is NOT directly in front of you, a faulty computer screen position, talking in a car without turning your body (look straight ahead), or talking on the phone, CHANGE IT!

STEP 6: COMPLY with a home-based exercise program: This is HUGE! We will guide you in this process. We will start with ice and then possibly a home traction device, isometrics followed by Theratube or band (isotonic) exercises, posture training, and much more. You NEED guidance in this area – let us HELP YOU!

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.

Chiropractic and Sinus Headaches.

8 May

Sinus headaches refer to pain in the head typically in and around the face. Most of us are knowledgeable about two of our four sinuses: the frontal (forehead) and maxillary (our “cheek bones”). The other two sinuses (called ethmoid and sphenoid) are much less understood. As chiropractors, many patients ask us about sinus problems, as all of us have had a stuffy nose due to a cold and have felt this pain in our face and head. Those of us who have suffered from sinus infections REALLY know how painful sinusitis can get! This month, let’s take a look at our sinuses and what we can do to self-manage the problem.

First, an anatomy lesson… As stated above, there are four paired, or sets, of sinuses in our head: Maxillary: Pain/pressure in the cheekbones, sometimes referring pain to the teeth. These drain sideways (if you lay on your side, the side “up” drains down into the downside maxillary sinus and into the nose). Frontal: Pain/pressure in the forehead. These drain downward (when we’re upright, looking straight ahead). Ethmoidal: Pain/pressure between and/or behind the eyes. These drain when we lean forwards. Sphenoidal: Cause pain/pressure behind the eyes, top of the head and/or back of the head (which can be extreme). These drain best when lying face pointing down towards the floor, but they can be stubborn to drain!

Sinusitis, or rhinosinusitis, by definition is an inflammation of the sinus lining (mucous membrane) and is classified as follows: Acute – a new infection which can last up to four weeks and are divided into two types: severe and non-severe; Recurrent acute – four or more separate acute episodes within one year; Subacute – an infection lasting 4-12 weeks; Chronic infections lasting >12 weeks; and Acute exacerbation of chronic sinusitis – recurring bouts of chronic sinusitis.

One cause of sinusitis can include an “URI” (upper respiratory tract infections) most often in the form of a virus (such as rhinovirus — there are over 99 types have been identified, or better known as “the common cold”). Bacteria can also cause a sinus infection. These infections tend to last longer and can follow a viral infection. A third cause is a fungal infection. These are more common in diabetic and other immune deficient patients. Chemical irritants such as cigarette smoke and chlorine fumes can also trigger sinusitis. Chronic sinusitis can be caused by anything that irritates the sinuses for >12 weeks (viruses, bacteria, environmental irritants, tooth infections, and more). Allergies are also a common cause of sinusitis whether they are environmental and/or food/chemical induced.

Chiropractic care for sinusitis includes primarily symptomatic care with sinus drainage techniques such as facial and cranial bone manipulation/mobilization, lymphatic pump and drainage techniques, instruction in self-stretch of the sinuses (such as an outward pull of the cheek bones in different positions of the head), nutritional counseling (such as 1000mg of vitamin C every 2-4 hours) and anti-inflammatory herbs and vitamins (see prior Health Updates), cervical and mid-back manipulation, training in nasal saline rinsing (Nasaline, Nettie Pot), moist heat (towels, steam), and of course, chicken soup! Co-management with your primary care doc may be needed at times, if medications are warranted.

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.

Fibromyalgia Dietary Considerations – Part 2.

7 May

Fibromyalgia (FM) management must include dietary considerations, just ask ANY FM sufferer! Last month, we concentrated on the types of foods that reduce inflammation, but the question remains, what foods should we go out of our way to avoid? In other words, what should we NOT eat (and why)? Let’s take a look!

As we all know, it’s MUCH EASIER to simply grab a cookie, a chocolate bar, or go through the drive-through at McDonald’s and eat on the fly. This has become “the rule” for many of us as we trim down our meal times to fit in other tasks. We seem to have our priorities mixed up and have become preoccupied in our busy lives using the excuse that “…eating simply takes too long.”

The “avoid” list starts with stop eating junk food. It’s like pollution to our body as it clogs and clutters up our digestive system and the absorbed by-products include “bad” fat like trans-fats & saturated fats that can damage the heart. These fats are found in highly processed foods, red meats, and high-fat processed meats like bacon and sausage. Many of these meats are also high in salt, another “no-no” for heart health reasons, particularly for those with high blood pressure. Other sources of saturated fat include lamb, pork, lard, butter, cream, whole milk, and high-fat cheese. Some plant sources of saturated fat include coconut oil, cocoa butter, palm oil, and palm kernel oil. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2005 Dietary Guidelines recommends that adults get 20-35% of their calories from fats. At a minimum, we need at least 10% of our calories from fat.

Other foods to avoid are white flour-based foods such as bread and pasta. This is primarily because white flour is derived from grains which are gluten rich (wheat, oats, barley, rye) and as we discussed last month, very inflammatory to our body! Simply avoiding gluten can be the nucleus of a great diet with benefits like increased energy, less mental fog, and weight loss without really trying! Sugar is also found in many products that we like eating. It’s found in juices, soda, pastries, candy, most desserts, as well as pre-sweetened cereals. Even ketchup has sugar in it! Another “bad guy” comes from the nightshade family of plants that includes tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes (but NOT sweet potatoes), sweet and hot peppers, ground cherries (a small orange fruit similar to a tomato), and Goji berries. These plants contain a chemical alkaloid called solanine that triggers pain in some people.

Weight reduction is another way to reduce pain and inflammation. If your Body Mass Index is over 25, (“Google” a BMI calculator and check yours) then you may need to lose weight! There are MANY diets one can follow, but to keep it simple embrace one approach first and see what kind of results you get. Try the “Paleo diet” as it is a gluten-free approach. The Mediterranean diet is similar and then there is the Aitkin’s Diet, the Zone Diet, etc., etc. Try eliminating the three most abused unhealthy foods in your diet (like soda, ice cream, chocolate, etc.) as that too can yield great results. Make sure your thyroid is working properly if you can’t lose weight with these approaches. Simply put, foods high in sugar, saturated fat, and white flour cause overactivity of our immune system which can lead to joint and muscle pain, fatigue, and damage to blood vessels.

Eliminating these foods and eating the foods discussed last month is good for all of us, not JUST those suffering from fibromyalgia!

If you, a friend or family member requires care for Fibromyalgia, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services!

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: More “Fun Facts!”

5 May

Did you know that Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) can affect anyone? None of us are immune to developing CTS as roughly 1 out of 20 of us will develop CTS in our lifetime! This month, let’s look at some of the risk factors for developing CTS.

1) Race: Caucasians carry the greatest risk of developing CTS.
2) Gender: Women are three times more likely than men to develop CTS. This may be because female wrists are smaller and shaped a little differently than male wrists, but hormonal differences are probably the most important reason for this variance.
3) Pregnancy: Up to 62% of pregnant women develop CTS. This is thought to be due to the excess fluid retention that normally occurs during pregnancy and most likely stems from the elevation in hormone levels that NORMALLY occurs during pregnancy. The prevalence in the first, second, and third trimesters is 11%, 26%, and 63%, respectively, thus supporting the fact that the risk increases with the length of the pregnancy. Though CTS usually resolves after giving birth, symptoms can continue for as long as three years following delivery!
4) Birth Control Pill (BCP): The use of BCPs increases CTS risk due to an increase in hormonal levels similar to the CTS risk increase during pregnancy.
5) Occupational: Workers in highly repetitive, hand-intensive occupations (such as line work, sewing, finishing, meat processing, poultry or fish packing) have a higher rate of developing CTS.
6) Injury to the wrist or hand: An obvious example is a wrist fracture from a slip and fall, sports injury, or blunt trauma like a car accident. When there is a direct pinch on the median nerve, nerve damage can occur quite quickly, and as a result, the onset of symptoms can be very fast. Less obvious injuries, which usually have significantly slower onsets, include repetitive motion injuries, often referred to as “cumulative trauma disorders” and include a group of conditions such as tendonitis, sprain/strain, bursitis, and other types of soft tissue injuries.
7) Certain conditions: Nerve damaging conditions that can cause CTS include diabetes and alcoholism. Other conditions that can contribute and/or cause CTS include menopause, obesity, thyroid disorders, kidney failure, and more.
8) Inflammatory conditions: These include several types of arthritis such as rheumatoid, lupus, and others. Osteoarthritis is technically NOT an “inflammatory” condition but it can cause CTS by compressing the median nerve via a bone spur formed within the carpal tunnel.
9) Faulty work stations: A job site has A LOT to do with whether or not a person develops CTS. Though jobs that require fast, repetitive movements pose the greatest risk (see #5 above), other work-related factors that may be controllable can also significantly contribute to the development of CTS. Some of these include the shape of tools such as screwdriver handles shaped like a gun (pistol) which allow for better alignment of the wrist than a “normal” straight screwdriver handle. Another is a power tool that may have too much vibration or torques too hard at the end of a cycle. A handle that is too cold/hard (e.g., metal handle) or that may be too large for the worker’s hand is an additional factor to consider. Positioning the work so that the wrists can stay straight vs. bent can be VERY helpful. In fact, if some of these “ergonomic” factors are not fixed, CTS can be next to impossible to remedy. Also, poor posture in the back, neck, and the rest of the body can result in compensatory faulty postures elsewhere. Look in a mirror and poke your chin out towards the mirror. Now look at your shoulders. See how they roll forward and feel the strain in your upper back and neck? Keep your chin tucked in, NOT out. This can make a BIG difference in your posture!

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 Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, we would be honored to render our services.

Fight the Common Cold… with Your Stomach!

4 May

No one wants to get sick. In fact, I bet you never want to get the common cold or the flu ever again in your life. While that would be nice, it is impossible. But, new research has shown a way children may get the common cold less often, and shorten the time they have it when they do. This is extremely important because the common cold is responsible for the largest amount of school and work absenteeism and causes a huge economic burden.
A double-blind randomized controlled trial was performed during the winter season in Thailand. Children ages 8-13 were given either a two-strain combination probiotic or placebo twice a day for three months.
According to the study, “Children in the probiotics group had significantly lower risk of fever, cough, rhinorrhea, school absence, and school absence related to common cold compared to children in the placebo group. There was no impact on diarrhea and vomiting.”
What are Probiotics?
Probiotics are microorganisms that offer some form of health benefit to their host organism and they can be found in various different foods. Probiotics are believed to play very important roles in regulating proper intestinal function and digestion by balancing intestinal microflora. Probiotics are normally consumed in fermented foods with active live cultures, such as yogurt, though they are also available in supplement form as capsules, liquid, and chewables. There are many different strains of probiotics, but the most common strains available today are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.

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