Lanjopoulos Family Chiropractic
309 E Saginaw Hwy, Grand Ledge. 627- 4547

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. – Albert Einstein

Well, here we are more than 2 weeks into the New Year already. Amazing isn’t it?….Already we are making appointments for February and I am still wondering where January is heading. Of course, most people are ready to call it a day on the cold and snow, but I think that, at least once in a while, we should take a moment and just appreciate the beauty of nature and her incredible wisdom in being able to create such marvelous vistas.. sparkling and bright in the winter sun.

This will be a winter for our “snowbirds” in Florida to remember….what’s up when Miami is colder than we are…where is this thing they call global warming?

Just remember as you are shoveling that white stuff to be careful!!!

This year we are again involved with the local Doctors with Heart program. We offer all in need a chance to be checked, x-rayed, if need be, and adjusted for FREE on Feb 5th. Please tell your friends who are thinking about getting under care that a simple phone call will start the process for them and perhaps help them move towards a healthier New Year ( and maybe give them a chance to be a 10 in 2010?).

AND this January 29th we will have been in this “new space” for 3 Years!!!!! WOW!!..It was a challenge to move in that frosty weather of 3 years ago….but, you know, the move was the best thing we have done. We love our space!!!!!!

January 2010 is
Work towards being a 10 in 2010
Family fitness month
Celebrating our “new” office
Nat’l compliment day 1/24
Fun at work day 30th

A message for the New Year
We’ve all made mistakes – may we learn and grow from them.
We’ve all been scarred and hurt in our lives – may we learn and grow from them.
We all have enemies – may we all learn and grow from them. May we be so strong that we can forgive and move on.
May we have compassion on those we made fun of, or belittled, or even hurt – we most likely did it because they reminded us of something we disliked or hated in ourselves.

May we fight the good fight, but not lose ourselves in battle.
May we be able to lose ourselves in deep satisfying sleep and awaken refreshed to a new world – every day

Words of Wisdom
“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us ‘Universe,’ a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.” – Albert Einstein.

Stretch of the week for Jan 2010

Dog / ½ dog
Dog…on hands and knees with hands on floor under shoulders and knees under hips.
Tuck toes under and lift tail high up into air (think inverted V)…breath 3 breaths or more.
½ Dog…Hands on counter or pressing into wall. Walk tail and feet back until heels are under hips and press back out through tail

Bent knee lunge
On Hands and knees: Walk right foot between hands close to right hand. Bring upper body up, place hands on right knee (or keep them on the floor) and work left hip forward and down. Hold and breathe 3 to 5 breaths and switch. (blanket under knees is optional)

Modified shoulder stretch at the wall.
Sit well back in chair facing wall with knees apart and knees touching wall. Place hands on wall above shoulders. Keeping belly button pulled in, walk arms up wall. Hold and breathe 3-5 breaths

Legs up the wall/sideways stretch at the wall
Lie on side with knees to chest and butt against wall. Roll onto back and lift legs up wall. Hold and breathe 3-5 breaths. (If hamstrings are tight, move butt a little away from wall) Sideways stretch at the wall: with body against wall from back of head to heels, pull belly button into spine and slowly drop one arm down the side of the body without losing body contact. Hold and breathe 3-5 breaths and repeat to other side.

Muscle spasm, trigger points, fibromyalgia and chiropractic
Since over 60% of your body is nerve, muscle and bone, it should come as no surprise that chronic pain, strain, spasm, irritation, inflammation, trigger points and other neuromusculoskeletal (nerve-muscle-bone) conditions are so common. In fact, many of the millions of people who visit their doctors of chiropractic do so because of these problems.

Trigger Points
Trigger points are tender, sensitive areas that when pressed, stuck, heated or cooled can be exquisitely painful. You may first discover trigger points when you are surprised by someone pressing a seemingly pain-free area. Trigger point pain may also be referred to other areas of the body. Trigger points are common in chronic muscle spasm, myalgia, myositis, fibrositis, strain and sprain, and other muscle and joint problems.

The Cause
The cause of this mystery illness may, at least in part, be spinal trauma. It’s not unusual for adults who have had neck injuries to report back, neck, muscle and joint pain and fibromyalgia within one year of their injury.

The Chiropractic Approach
Those suffering from muscle spasm, trigger points, neuro-muscular pain and problems, fibromyalgia and similar symptoms are seeing chiropractors in record numbers. Why? Because they are getting results. For example, in one study 5 men and 18 women, aged 11 to 76 with chronic fatigue syndrome, trigger point pain and fibromyalgia, who had been suffering from 2 to 35 years, began chiropractic care. Every patient was able to resume normal activities including full time work and maintained their improvements one year later at follow up. The authors of the study write: “Improvement in symptoms of 92-100% was achieved in both these syndromes.”

What Do Doctors Of Chiropractic Do?
Chiropractors locate and correct subluxations, a condition that damages nerves, muscles, fascia, meninges and other tissues. Subluxations cause joints to “freeze” or lose normal movement, causing damage to the involved area.

Conclusion
Under chiropractic care your head is more balanced, your hips and shoulders are more level and stress is taken off the joints and muscles throughout your body. Because less of your energy goes into supporting an unbalanced spine and skeleton, you may immediately discover more energy, greater ease in movement and improved relaxation.

A healthy spine and structural system can make the difference between a life of pain, suffering and disability and one of ease, happiness and freedom.

Dee & Warren report: “Less pain, better outlook,more energy and no colds or flu since getting under care”

Humor
Excerpts from a Dog’s Daily Diary…
8:00 am – Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am – A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am – A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am – Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm – Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm – Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm – Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm – Milk Bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm – Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm – Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm – Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

Excerpts from a Cat’s Daily Diary…. Day 983 of my captivity… My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a ‘good little hunter’ I am. Bastards. There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of ‘allergies.’ I must learn what this means and how to use it to my advantage. Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow – but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released – and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now …

More giggles…giggles….giggles…oh stop!

The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.

And the winners are:

1. Coffee, n. The person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.
3. Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade, v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-Nilly, adj. Impotent.
6. Negligent, adj. Absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.
7. Lymph, v. To walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle, n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence, n. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash, n. A rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle, n. A humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude, n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon, n. A Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster, n. A person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

HELPING OTHERS LIVE BETTER LIVES IS WHAT WE DO

Asked what difference Chiropractic had made in her life… Pam W says:” No pain! After 5 years, 3 surgeries and a trip to Mayo Clinic, I have pain-free wrists due to Chiropractic Care. I was told I’d have to live with this pain and prescribed pain meds. But in 3 months I’m a “new person” Thank you!”

Pam originally consulted with us about her wrist and neck pain. I picked this up off Yahoo recently and I feel it is important for us all to do some serious thinking about what we are doing to our food and by extension to ourselves..Dr. C

FRANKENSTEIN, Mo. – The mystery started the day farmer Russ Kremer got between a jealous boar and a sow in heat. The boar gored Kremer in the knee with a razor-sharp tusk. The burly pig farmer shrugged it off, figuring: “You pour the blood out of your boot and go on.” But Kremer’s red-hot leg ballooned to double its size. A strep infection spread, threatening his life and baffling doctors. Two months of multiple antibiotics did virtually nothing. The answer was flowing in the veins of the boar. The animal had been fed low doses of penicillin, spawning a strain of strep that was resistant to other antibiotics. That drug-resistant germ passed to Kremer. Like Kremer, more and more Americans — many of them living far from barns and pastures — are at risk from the widespread practice of feeding livestock antibiotics. These animals grow faster, but they can also develop drug-resistant infections that are passed on to people. The issue is now gaining attention because of interest from a new White House administration and a flurry of new research tying antibiotic use in animals to drug resistance in people. Researchers say the overuse of antibiotics in humans and animals has led to a plague of drug-resistant infections that killed more than 65,000 people in the U.S. last year — more than prostate and breast cancer combined. And in a nation that used about 35 million pounds of antibiotics last year, 70 percent of the drugs went to pigs, chickens and cows. Worldwide, it’s 50 percent. “This is a living breathing problem, it’s the big bad wolf and it’s knocking at our door,” said Dr. Vance Fowler, an infectious disease specialist at Duke University. “It’s here. It’s arrived.” The rise in the use of antibiotics is part of a growing problem of soaring drug resistance worldwide, The Associated Press found in a six-month look at the issue. As a result, killer diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and staph are resurging in new and more deadly forms. In response, the pressure against the use of antibiotics in agriculture is rising. The World Health Organization concluded this year that surging antibiotic resistance is one of the leading threats to human health, and the White House last month said the problem is “urgent.” “If we’re not careful with antibiotics and the programs to administer them, we’re going to be in a post antibiotic era,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, who was tapped to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this year. Also this year, the three federal agencies tasked with protecting public health — the Food and Drug Administration, CDC and U.S. Department of Agriculture — declared drug-resistant diseases stemming from antibiotic use in animals a “serious emerging concern.” And FDA deputy commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein told Congress this summer that farmers need to stop feeding antibiotics to healthy farm animals. Farm groups and pharmaceutical companies argue that drugs keep animals healthy and meat costs low, and have defeated a series of proposed limits on their use.

Recipes
Mexican Tortilla Soup Created by White Lotus Chef Beatrix Rohlsen

Lanjopoulos Family Chiropractic
309 E Saginaw Hwy, Grand Ledge. 627- 4547

Greetings all!!

Well, we made it through another year. Erelong we will be dating our check 2010!!!!!

This has been an interesting and challenging year and we are grateful that you have stuck with us. We trust 2010 sees more glimmers of hope in the economy.

As the snow starts to make it’s presence felt in our lives….. make sure you take adequate and sensible precautions when shoveling and embarking on trips in the car. Keep an emergency kit in the car that includes water, power bars/nuts and blankets.

When shoveling….don’t try and do it ALL at once, twist equally to both sides if you have to or get one of those fancy shovels that you essentially push the snow with. Remember twisting under load is where the damage happens.

Jessica is recovering from her deer encounter and continues with her schooling through Sienna Heights. Erica has been accepted by Cornerstone University for her Masters in Marketing, which hopefully will start in January.

Ray and I continue to teach Tai Chi and Yoga and I will be starting my training for a ½ marathon walk in the New Year.

Make a decision this coming year that your health and that of your family’s is important and consider bringing the family in if they are not currently under care. (read page three for some thoughts to ponder on)

Everyone stumbles over the truth from time to time, but most people pick themselves up and hurry off as though nothing ever happened……………- Sir Winston Churchill

Your chiropractor’s goal

Your chiropractor’s goal is to assist your body to regain optimal functioning by removing blockages and deep stress so that balance and harmony among your body’s systems can be restored. That is especially important for children.

Throughout your children’s lifetimes – from infancy into adulthood – chiropractic care can help ensure your child’s physical and emotional health. Over a century of success in helping children regain and retain their health has made chiropractic the healthcare of choice for millions of parents and their children throughout the world. Chiropractors are specially trained to locate and release blockages commonly caused by tiny misalignments of the structural system. These blockages (called subluxations) create dis-ease (disharmony) which can lead to lowered resistance to disease, organ malfunction, poor posture, pain, and physical and emotional illness. Chiropractors have helped babies suffering from nearly every condition imaginable: colic, vomiting, sleeping problems, tonsillitis, vision and hearing problems and many, many others. It is not unusual to hear parents state that since starting chiropractic care their children get sick less frequently, less severely, have less or no ear infections and take less (or no) antibiotics and other drugs. Many conditions such as asthma and allergies have responded to chiropractic care as well.

Academic Performance
Both clinical reports and research have reported chiropractic’s success with dyslexia, attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), lack of energy or “low mental stamina”, anxiety and behavioral problems.

Sports Performance
Improvements in coordination and athletic ability have also been noted as a result of chiropractic care. Chiropractors are “team doctors” for athletes in all kind of sports from tennis, swimming, golf and track-and-field to football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey, handball, rugby, soccer and Olympic and professional teams. Chiropractic care help athletes function at their peak to maintain their “competitive edge.” Chiropractors can help prevent injury by keeping your child balanced and functioning free of spine and structural stress. Chiropractic care can prevent minor injuries from becoming major ones, without the use of drugs or surgery.

Chiropractic care for children makes a big difference no matter what their age. Keep your children healthy, ensure their natural self-healing ability functions at its peak and help them grow into their physical and emotional potential with chiropractic. If we had a dollar for each time we’ve heard, “I just don’t believe in Chiropractic” or “I’m not sure I believe in Chiropractic”, we would be one of the Fortune 500. We want to go further with you today with some very simple questions:

DO YOU BELIEVE…

…that there is an inborn wisdom in your body that controls and coordinates all function and healing?

If you answered anything but ‘yes’, then explain how a cut on your leg heals without you or a doctor helping it.

If you answered anything but ‘yes’, then explain why cutting your spinal cord in half at the neck would cause every organ in your body to die.

…that the spinal bones surround and protect the Brain Stem, Spinal Cord, and Nerve Roots? If you answered anything but ‘yes’, simply look at any anatomy book and you’ll change your answer.

…that if a spinal bone shifts out of it’s normal alignment and stretches, irritates, or damages a nerve or the spinal cord, it would affect how your organs function? If you answered anything but ‘yes’, talk to someone who has had this happen (if they are fortunate enough to be alive), someone like Christopher Reeve (the actor who played Superman that fell off his horse and damaged his spinal cord).

…that a large man wearing a red suit riding a sleigh driven by reindeer delivers presents down the chimney to all the kids of the world? If you answered anything but ‘yes’, just for the heck of it, say ‘yes’ anyway ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE!!!!!!

As you can see, everyone BELIEVES in chiropractic, however, not everyone UNDERSTANDS it. It’s the most misunderstood, and ironically, the most POWERFUL thing available in Health today

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on vaccination
This is a great interview that is worth watching all the way through (both segments).
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=KEN20091110&articleId=16014

Chiropractic Research

Still more reasons to show that all people, no matter what their health, need chiropractic care. Asthma & bedwetting. In May 1987 at the age of 22 months, this male child was medically examined and diagnosed with asthma. In an attempt to control the asthmatic symptoms, two medications were prescribed. On May 20 1988 , at two-years and ten-months-old, the child was seen for chiropractic examination and evaluation and, from that date to August 3, 1991 , the child received 28 chiropractic adjustments. Dramatic improvement of asthma and enuresis followed the series of chiropractic adjustments.

Lung (pulmonary) function and chiropractic. It is known that abnormal posture of the head and neck influences breathing and other bodily functions. A study of 11 patients was designed to test the effect of chiropractic adjustments on neck curve, forward head posture and pulmonary function. In addition to chiropractic structural analysis, patients’ lung functions were also analyzed including lung capacity.

After 3-6 months of care the subjects showed improvements in (neck) cervical curve, reduction in forward head posture and improved lung function. ANOTHER HAPPY PATIENT”S TESTIMONIAL Jack R says…” I wake up ready for the day…not sluggish or tired. I just feel better, I have more stamina and my energy comes back quicker after a hard day’s work.”

Good fat, bad fat

Avoid bad fats
Bad fats are linked to heart disease, cancer, arthritis and many other chronic illnesses. If anything in your refrigerator or pantry has any of the following bad fats in the ingredients do yourself and your family a favor and dump them in the garbage:
Hydrogenated oils
Partially hydrogenated oils
Cottonseed, soybean, canola and vegetable oils
Trans-fats
Especially avoid margarine or butter oil “spreads” or “blends”

Partake of good fats
Good fats promote health and healing. Good (saturated) fats include:
Butter (especially from raw milk and grass fed cows)
Oliver oil (virgin and cold pressed)
Coconut oil
Fish oil (smaller fish such as herring, sardines etc. are best)
Avocados

Remember – good fats are good for you and bad fats can kill you. People that use good fats are thinner, have more energy and are healthier.

Words of wisdom

Ninety percent of politicians give the other ten percent a bad name. – Henry Kissinger

A “gaffe” occurs not when a politician lies, but when he tells the truth. – Michael Kinsley

A politician will always be there when he needs you. – Richard Smolik

Fluoride and hypothyroidism

One of the reasons there is so much thyroid disease is all of the chemicals in our environment that have been linked to hypothyroidism. Fluoride was found to cause thyroid damage and contribute to thyroid disease. For more information see Doctor Exposes Fluoride as Poison at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP7IPDfC3yg&feature=related

FUN PUNS

1. The roundest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .
3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.
4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.
6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
9. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
10. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, ‘You stay here; I’ll go on a head.’
13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ‘Keep off the Grass.’
15. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, ‘No change yet.’
16. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
17. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium-at-large.
18. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
19. A backward poet writes inverse.
20. In democracy it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s your Count that votes.

Mark says “ that being able to maintain a healthy pain-free back has been the greatest benefit of chiropractic care to me. My body is more flexible and since I started Tai Chi with Dr Ray I have noticed more productive days.”

Recipes
Cranberry-Carrot Cake with Maple-Cream Cheese Frosting
Maple-Cream Cheese Frosting
Roasted Cauliflower and Rice Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette

Ok, so that’s it for this year…..hope you enjoyed them as much as I had fun putting them together. Feedback is ALWAYS welcome