Aaron Rodgers Gets Adjusted to stay healthy

Aaron RodgersAaron Rodgers (MVP, Quarter Back for Green Bay Packers, winner of the 2011 Super Bowl) has been getting adjusted since he was born. Aaron’s dad is a Chiropractor in Chico, California and has been adjusting his son since birth. True Champions choose Chiropractic! What about you?

New Study Confirms That Maintenance Care Delivers!

This new, single blinded placebo controlled study, conducted by the Faculty of Medicine at Mansoura University, conclusively demonstrates that maintenance care provides significant benefits for those with chronic low back pain.

BACKGROUND: Spinal adjustments is a common treatment option for low back pain. Numerous clinical trials have attempted to evaluate its effectiveness for different subgroups of acute and chronic LBP previously, but the efficacy of maintenance adjustments in chronic non-specific LBP has never been studied.

In this study, 60 patients with chronic, nonspecific LBP lasting at leas 6 months were randomized into 3 groups:

  1. One third of them received 12 treatments of sham adjustments (fake) over a one-month
  2. One third of them received 12 treatments of adjustments during a one-month period, with no follow-up care during the next nine months, and
  3. One third of them received 12 Chiropractic adjustments during the first month, followed by “maintenance” adjustments every two weeks, for the next nine months.

To determine any difference among these 3 care groups, researchers measured pain and disability scores, generic health status, and back-specific patient satisfaction at baseline, and at 1-month, 4-months, 7-months, and at 10-months

RESULTS: Patients in groups (groups 2 & 3) experienced significantly lower pain and disability scores than the sham group at the end of the first 1-month period.

At the 10-month follow-up, only the maintenance group maintained improvements in pain and disability, while the group that only received 1-months care had reverted to their pretreatment pain and disability levels.

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first medically managed trial that clearly demonstrates that maintenance care provides significant benefits to those who suffer from chronic low back pain.

SOURCE: Does Maintained Spinal Manipulation Therapy for Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain Result in Better Long Term Outcome?

Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2011 Jan 17.

Tylenol could be responsible for as many as four in 10 cases of wheezing and severe asthma in teens.

A pair of studies suggests that the common painkiller acetaminophen — better known as Tylenol in the U.S. — may be fueling a worldwide increase in asthma.

According to one study, Tylenol could be responsible for as many as four in 10 cases of wheezing and severe asthma in teens.

Those teens who took Tylenol at least once a month, doubled their odds of wheezing.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38690295/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

A controlled fever is your body’s best friend. Chiropractic adjustments, fluid and appropriate clothing are all, natural, safe ways to help your body fight an infection. Ask us for additional ways.

Why Almost Everything You Hear About Medicine Is Wrong

If you follow the news about health research, you risk whiplash. First garlic lowers bad cholesterol, then—after more study—it doesn’t. Hormone replacement reduces the risk of heart disease in postmenopausal women, until a huge study finds that it doesn’t (and that it raises the risk of breast cancer to boot). Eating a big breakfast cuts your total daily calories, or not—as a study released last week finds. Yet even if biomedical research can be a fickle guide, we rely on it.

But what if wrong answers aren’t the exception but the rule? More and more scholars who scrutinize health research are now making that claim. It isn’t just an individual study here and there that’s flawed, they charge. Instead, the very framework of medical investigation may be off-kilter, leading time and again to findings that are at best unproved and at worst dangerously wrong. The result is a system that leads patients and physicians astray—spurring often costly regimens that won’t help and may even harm you.

Here’s the rest of the News Week Article.

Bad Posture Equals Bad Health

Bad posture is a modern day health epidemic that is much worse than most people naturally assume. Posture is the window into your spine. The spine has a powerful relationship with the brain, spinal cord, and overall organ function. This intimate connection means that poor posture and spinal health will lead to an overall decrease in brain and organ function.

Nobel Prize recipient Dr. Roger Sperry says that the spine is the motor that drives the brain. According to his research “90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by the movement of the spine.” Only 10% of our brain’s energy goes into thinking, metabolism, immunity, and healing. Sperry demonstrated that 90% of brain energy goes into processing and maintaining the body’s relationship with gravity.

One of the worst types of health problems people experience is a loss of the natural curves of their spine. Ideally, we should have a 40-45 degree curve in our neck that many chiropractors and neurosurgeons refer to as “the arc of life.” This curve helps to protect the brain stem and the spinal canal for the spinal cord and nerves that travel to every region of our body.

Subluxation is the term for misalignments of the spine that cause compression and irritation of nerve pathways affecting organ systems of the body. Subluxations can manifest as pain, but since only a small portion of spinal nerves transmit pain sensations they are often unnoticeable by the individual. Losing the arc of life in the neck, forward head posture, and scoliosis are three of the most dangerous forms of subluxation.

Subluxation patterns such as forward head posture and loss of the neck curve are most often created by trauma and/or poor posture. Examples of trauma include the birth process (especially with forceps delivery), falls, car accidents, & sporting activities. The typical individual in our society today spends at least 3-4 hours a day slumped in front of a television, computer, and texting cell phone. These behaviors cause the head to shift forward and create a lasting posture pattern called forward head posture.

This ‘forward head posture’ can add up to 30 pounds of abnormal leverage pulling the entire spine out of alignment and may result in the loss of 30% of vital lung capacity,” says University of California’s director of physical medicine and rehabilitation, Rene Cailliet.

As forward head posture decreases lung capacity it affects the body from effectively oxygenating cells. This can lead to asthmatic conditions, blood vessel problems and heart disease. The oxygen deficit affects the entire gastrointestinal system leading to altered nutrient absorption and peristaltic activity. Lowered oxygen states also decrease endorphin production turning the perception of non-painful sensation into pain experiences.

Chiropractic adjustments restore proper motion into the spinal joints allowing you to have proper posture.

Ask us for specific ideas on how you can further improve your posture at home and work.

Benefits of the Mediterranean diet

If you’re looking for a healthy diet to kick-start the new year, you might want to take a fresh look at the Mediterranean diet. It’s not so much a diet as a healthy way of eating that incorporates all the good foods that people like me have been advocating for a long time. And, it’s about including good taste in your kitchen not about all the things you shouldn’t eat. There are many researchers who have looked at this eating pattern in a favorable way and studies suggest it may protect us from heart disease, some cancers and even some of the not so great effects of aging. I recently came across two newer studies that further underline this diet’s benefits.

Researchers at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago studied a large group of adults over the age of 65, looking at their eating habits and cognitive function. They were given scores reflecting how well they followed a Mediterranean style diet and another reflecting how well they met the U.S. Dietary guidelines. Their cognitive decline was assessed over time. The study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that those who followed the Mediterranean diet had significantly slower rates of cognitive decline. This is not the first study to look at the role this diet plays in keeping our brain healthy but it adds to the body of evidence and is another good reason to pay attention to this eating style.

The second study is not so much about the Mediterranean diet but looks at two foods that are important components of it. Also published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers at the Cancer Research and Prevention Institute in Italy found that women who eat more olive oil and leafy green vegetables were less likely to develop heart disease. This study followed almost 30,000 women who were part of a large national health study and they found that eating at least one serving of leafy vegetables and/or 3 Tbsp. (45ml) of olive oil daily significantly lowered their heart risk by over 40%.

Again, not the first study but further evidence that components of this diet are linked to heart health.

So, what are the foods that are part of this eating style?

The diet is rich in complex carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, pasta, herbs, spices legumes and beans. These foods should be eaten daily.

Olive oil is the key fat, replacing butter, margarine and other fats. Rich in heart healthy monounsaturated fats and vitamin E, this oil is also a source of plant chemicals that are believed to reduce inflammation. Nuts and seeds are also included for their healthy fat properties.

Fish is one of the key protein foods eaten and it is well known to provide omega-3 fats which have heart healthy and anti-inflammatory properties. It is suggested to have fish and seafood at least twice a week. Lean meat is consumed less frequently.

The traditional diet is low in saturated fats and trans fats.

Cheese and yogurt are consumed moderately as are poultry and eggs.

People who live around the Mediterranean also drink wine which, in moderation, has also been shown to have some heart healthy benefits.

Original Article

Common back and knee surgeries fail to ease pain

There are thousands of unnecessary surgeries being done on the knees and backs of Canadians, particularly patients with osteoarthritis, a new report concludes.

There were 3,600 therapeutic knee arthroscopies and 1,050 vertebroplasties carried out in Canadian hospitals in the fiscal year 2008-09, according to new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

In both cases, there is mounting evidence that the procedures are largely ineffective to combat certain ailments, and those are but two examples cited in the report that more needs to be done to align care with evidence that it actually helps patients, said John Wright, the president and CEO of CIHI. “Evidence and appropriateness of care are a significant issue in Canada’s health-care debate,” he said.

Mr. Wright said improving efficiency is one of the keys to getting health spending under control.

Knee arthroscopy, a minimally invasive surgery, was once used to diagnosis and treat a host of minor knee problems. But it has fallen out of favour as studies showed it did little to reduce pain and that a large number of patients went on to have knee replacements within one year.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/common-back-and-knee-surgeries-fail-to-ease-pain-study/article1841459/

A multivitamin a day may keep heart attacks away

In an effort to guard against heart disease, you may consider adding a multivitamin supplement to your menu of fatty fish, nuts and oat bran.

According to new a study published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, women who took a one-a-day supplement were 40 per cent less likely to suffer a heart attack than their peers who didn’t use multivitamins.

Ask us which multi vitamin we recommend.

The entire article…