In my Chiropractic office I am seeing a lot of health effects from stress. This is turning out to be a pretty tough century. Or at least so far. The recent earthquake-like shocks in the economy have impacted everyone, and most people’s stress levels are sky-high.

Economic stress leads to real physical stress and that has effecdts on your health. Jobs have been lost, retirement savings have shrunk drastically, and energy prices are rising again.

Stress is more than just a state of mind. Stress has real physical components, including tight muscles, headaches, difficulty falling asleep and restless sleep, abdominal pain, allergies and asthma, inflammation, and high blood pressure.

Some results of stress may have long-term consequences. Prolonged high blood pressure, for example, may lead to heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Long-term inflammation may lead to weight gain, diabetes, and even kidney disease.

Of course, we could have stress because we have stress. We’re stressed, and now we begin worrying about all the things that could go wrong because we are under stress. Not a good plan.

A better plan would involve being proactive and beginning to take action steps that support our health and well-being. The action steps include the usual suspects – exercise and good nutrition. Everyone knows they “should” be doing regular exercise and “should” be eating good food every day, the difficulty is that no one wants to do what they “should”.3

The way to reducing one’s stress levels is in choosing to take action. We choose healthy behaviors because we want to, not because we think we “should”. The concept of personal choice is powerful and may lead to shifts toward behaviors that are healthy.

From an information point of view, both exercise and good nutrition have potent effects on a person’s health.1,2,3 Both reduce inflammation. Both neutralize circulating free radicals, reducing a number of health risks, and both provide new energy resources, making us healthier and happier.

Choosing good health improves our lives in countless ways. By choosing, we take back the power of good health. Everyone in our lives benefits by our renewed energy, creativity, productivity, and love for life.  Our office strives to promote health in many ways.  Go to our website at www.southingtonchiropractor.com for more information.

Beginning a program of chiropractic care is another positive choice we may make. Chiropractic adjustments help our bodies work more efficiently and effectively, directly reducing physiologic stress and indirectly improving our ability to effectively manage the stress in our daily lives.

Your chiropractor is an expert in health, wellness, and well-being and will be glad to help you design exercises and food plans that will work for you. Remember – being healthy is a choice

In 2009 there’s been lots of conversation about health care, both at the federal and state levels.1-3 Not all the talk has been friendly. Those favoring broad reforms describe serious problems in the health care “system”. Those opposing change have spread rumors about impending “socialized medicine”. Whatever the outcome, chiropractic health care continues to address many of the real shortcomings of the current health care situation in the United States.

First and foremost, chiropractic care focuses on the patient. So much of health care is focused on the profit-taking bottom line. Necessary services are denied coverage and unnecessary services are prescribed, all to further some faceless organization’s return on investment. Chiropractic care has one goal in mind – to help the patient be healthy and get well in the fastest amount of time possible. Other forms of health care talk but chiropractic walks the walk. Chiropractic health care is truly patient-centered.

Chiropractic care is personalized. A patient in a chiropractor’s office feels like part of the family. Chiropractors make the time to talk with their patients, asking the right questions and addressing their concerns. Chiropractic patients don’t feel rushed. They don’t feel as if their doctor’s main priority is getting through this patient visit and moving on to the next. Chiropractic patients have the experience their doctor is very interested in their well-being and has designed treatment that will specifically address their specific problems. Chiropractic care is not a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach to health care.

The majority of the health care system is notoriously fragmented. Patients are bounced from one specialist to another, as various doctors attempt to diagnose a small part of a complex problem. In contrast, chiropractic care is holistic, addressing many of the health requirements of the whole person. Chiropractic treatment restores balances to the nervous system and musculoskeletal system, addressing multiple problems at once. Also, many chiropractors design rehabilitative exercise protocols and nutritional programs for their patients, as well as provide postural recommendations and stress management techniques.

And, chiropractic care is available to the entire family – toddlers, young people, parents, and grandparents. Chiropractic treatment is safe and gentle, and highly effective for a broad range of conditions. Whether an 80-year-old grandmother has osteoporosis-related lower back pain or an 8-year-old softball player has an injured knee, chiropractic care has good solutions for both.

Chiropractic directly addresses many problems in today’s health care system. Chiropractic is a results-driven, cost-effective method focused on holistic health care. Chiropractic care is an integrated system that effectively promotes a family’s wellness and well-being.

1Relman A: The Health Reform We Need and Are Not Getting. The New York Review of Books, July 2, 2009
2Stolberg SG: Obama to Forge a Greater Role on Health Care. The New York Times, June 6, 2009
3Porter ME: A Strategy for Health Care Reform. Toward a Value-Based System. N Engl J Med 360(24):2610, 2009

My Chiropractic parents worry about their children just like all parents.  They see that American kids are under tremendous pressure to perform well in school. Every year they’re required to take more and more standardized tests, and every year they fall further behind children around the world, particularly in science and mathematics.More is required to do well in school beyond sitting in the classroom and managing to stay awake throughout the day.

Chiropractic care can play a big role in childrens development. Periodic chiropractic treatment can improve the functioning of a child’s musculoskeletal system, and thus help improve their physical performance. And, chiropractic care can help a child recover quickly from activity- and sports-related injuries.  Kids by nature want to learn, but somehow this love of new knowledge and new experiences is sucked out of them early on. Many teachers no longer teach to broaden the skills and abilities of their students. Instead they teach to the standardized tests. There’s no longer much room for exploring new territory, and kids get bored easily and stay bored if they’re not challenged.

How can we help our children when the educational system does not provide the formula to engage many kids? Making sure our kids are healthy and well is a very good start. One of the most interesting developments in cognitive science (how people learn) in the last ten years is the importance of physical activity in relation to human performance. 1,2,3 The results are in – research proves that physical activity is highly correlated to learning and academic achievement. Active kids are explorers. Active kids are alert and interested in what’s going on around them. Active kids have an instinctive desire to grow and develop.

What kinds of exercise should our kids be doing? The great news is that the specific type of exercise doesn’t matter. It’s all good, whether a kid is playing soccer, running track, or riding around the neighborhood on her bike. It’s the amount of exercise that counts, not the format of the exercise. Federal agencies recommend that every child get an hour of physical activity each day. This hour can be broken up into small segments or done all at once. What matters is the amount and consistency of the exercise.

By helping a child continue with fun, enjoyable, and rewarding physical activities, chiropractic care is also helping them improve their academic performance. The result is a much more well-rounded young person, one whose interests may extend from the ball field to the science lab to the music room.

As a Chiropractor, I am acutely aware that Americans are not healthy but are starting to talk about wellness.  I believe they are starting to see the results of their actions.  We’re all familiar with the mechanism of action-and-reaction in the world of sports. Pitcher-and-batter is an action-reaction duo in baseball. A basketball guard driving to the hoop and a defender leaping to block the shot is another example. A racecar driver negotiating a tight turn at speed is executing a complex series of actions and reactions.

Actions and reactions may also refer to choices we make in our daily lives which affect our wellness. Someone cuts you off as you’re trying to get into the left-hand lane. That’s an action. Yelling and shaking your fist in the direction of that driver who by now is long gone is one sort of reaction. Taking a deep breath and simply releasing your tension is another sort of reaction. We may also take action on our own behalf or be reactive to events as they unfold. These are personal choices and, of course, there’s no “right” way to be. However, the outcomes and consequences of an active vs. a reactive approach may often be different. These differences are apparent when we consider our approaches to personal health.

For example, the numbers of people affected by chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer continue to increase. In the United States one out of every three persons has a chronic disease, and most of these people have more than one chronic disease. It’s also well-known that two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese. The majority of these disorders are related to people being reactive when it comes to their health. For example, the majority of cancers are preventable.1 Eating more food than your body needs for energy is a choice. Over time these extra calories accumulate in the body and one or more chronic diseases is the result. Finally, your doctor informs you that you have type 2 diabetes. You react to this news and declare you’re going to cut down on junk food, lose weight, and really get serious about exercise. You’re in reaction mode.

But there are consequences. Type 2 diabetes is associated with increased risk of developing cancer 2 as well as cardiovascular disease. Once you have a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes it’s certainly important to be reactive, but an active lifestyle approach could easily have prevented long-term consequences. Likewise with cardiovascular disease. You’ve never felt you needed to watch your weight, but as the years have gone by you’ve gradually gained weight and now you’re concerned. Your doctor may inform you that both your blood pressure and your cholesterol levels are way too high and recommend several lifestyle changes that have been shown to be beneficial. Now you’re in reactive mode and you eagerly desire to make a change.

Again, there are consequences. High blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels are important risk factors for heart attack and stroke. 3 Engaging in healthful actions in the first place helps to reduce these risks.
Regular chiropractic care is an important component of a healthy lifestyle. Chiropractic care can be reactive, helping you to recover from an injury to your back or neck. Chiropractic care can be of even greater benefit from an active perspective. Chiropractic care helps to ensure that all of your body systems are working efficiently and working in harmony. Chiropractic helps you maximize the benefits from your lifestyle actions of a healthy diet, regular exercise, and sufficient rest.

Inflammation cause a lot of health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, cancer and Alzheimer’s. How to combate this problem can be addressed with changes in diet and nutrition.

Diets that include certain foods will increase inflammation. Fatty meat, chicken skin and farm-raised fish such as tilapia and catfish have more inflammatory compounds than not. Also packaged foods, grains and various oils also increase inflammation. This is because they contain Omega 6 fatty acids.

Omega 3 fatty acids help to decrease inflammation and improve health issues. Increasing your intake of Omega 3 to a ratio of 1:1 to 4:1 omega 6 to omega 3 will make you healthier than the current average ratio of 20-30:1. The excess Omega 6 in proinflammatory.

Omega 3 are found in green leafy vegetables, flax seed, flax seed oil and canola oil as well as in marine sources.

Other anti inflammatory foods are nuts and olive oil. Chiropractic care can also decrease localized inflammation and can help with pain.

Frequently, people that have had trauma come to our Chiropractic office with reversed curves seen on x-rays.  The posture curve in the neck is very important for proper alignment and functioning of the spine. If the curve straightens out, the muscles are affected, the joints are stressed and the nerves get irritated.

Changing the reversed neck curve to the proper posture curve can be accomplished with Chiropractic adjusting, traction and home exercises. But it won’t happen overnight. The longer your neck has been straightened, the longer it will take to retrain the muscles and stretch the ligaments. Unfortunately, this process may be a little uncomfortable but quickly improvement should be seen.

If you have been in an auto accident or had a fall or sport injury, your neck posture may have been affected. The only way to know is to have a thorough evaluation by a Chiropractor. Our office specializes in these types of problems. Visit us at www.southingtonchiropractor.com for more information.

In my Chiropractic practice, I frequently see patients with spinal stenosis. I want to use this column to explain what it is, what some symptoms are and review the treatment options available.

By definition, spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal canal, nerve root canal or intervertebral foramina of the spine. Wow, what does all that mean? The brain sends information down to the body by way of the spinal cord. This structure is about the size of your little finger and extends all the way down your spine to a little above your waist. Actually it ends at the bottom of the thoracic spine, the rest of the spinal column contains individual nerves. If the hole that the spinal cord travels through gets smaller that is stenosis. If the hole that the nerves pass through in the lumbar or low back area gets smaller or if the hole that the nerves exit the spinal canal from gets narrower, that is also stenosis.

Imagine wrapping elastic around your finger. The tighter the elastic is, the more irritated your finger will be. The circulation gets cut off and your finger may swell and become painful. The same thing happens with stenosis. As the opening the nerves or cord pass through gets smaller, the little blood vessels associated with the nerve structures will get irritated and symptoms will occur.

The most common area of stenosis includes the L4/5 region of the lumbosacral spine. While no one is really sure what the cause is, some believe it is due to the blood vessel issue I described above while others think it is because of actual pinching of the nerve. The most common symptoms are sciatica, neurogenic claudication (pain, aching, cramping and tingling with walking relieved by sitting), leg fatigue, abnormal sensation in one or both lower extremities and fear of falling. These symptoms are increased during extension and are relieved with bending forward or again when seated.

Conservative care is appropriate for people with mild to moderate symptoms while surgery is reserved for patients with severe symptoms. You and your doctor would need to work together to decide which course of treatment is best for you. I will tell you that while I am an advocate for conservative care, I have observed spinal stenosis surgery and for the most part it is as mild a surgery as any surgery could be. But because there are always risks associated with surgery, unless there is a condition called Cauda Equina Syndrome (bowl or bladder incontinence) trying conservative treatment is always the first way to go.

While alternative treatment will not eliminate the arthritis or other cause of the narrowing, the goal of chiropractic care or what ever other type of care you choose is to decrease the symptoms and improve the quality of life of the patient. In my office we work on weight loss, exercise, orthotic arch supports, physiologic therapeutics and chiropractic adjustments to reduce any other irritation that might add to the problem. There are no guarantees that conservative care will work for you, but it is always less risky to take that approach before undergoing more invasive procedures.

There has been a debate for years regarding the use of Chiropractic care and spinal manipulation and its benefits in the treatment of low back pain. Since the founding of chiropractic in 1895, the initial reaction against the early pioneer chiropractors resulted in doctors of chiropractic (DC’s) being incarcerated for “…practicing medicine without a license.” But chiropractors kept forging ahead and because of obtaining good results and helping millions of people, by 1971, Medicare adopted coverage for chiropractic – a first in chiropractic’s history. In 1975, the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare invited an international group of health care provider types (MD’s, DC’s, DO’s, etc.), to share with each other at the National Institute of Health, and determine what the “current” research status of spinal manipulative therapy was at that time. Recommendations for future needed research resulted and the proceedings were published in: The DHEW Publication No. (NIH) 76-998 “The Research Status of Spinal Manipulative Therapy.” That landmark gathering stimulated a plethora of research that was to follow over the course of the next 30+ years and continues today. Due to the overwhelming positive benefits of chiropractic published in many research studies, by the late 1980’s, most insurance companies included coverage for chiropractic care. Today, many chiropractors practice in multidiscipline health care centers that include DC’s, MD’s, and PT’s others. The following list of research studies has had a significant impact in vaulting chiropractic to its current accepted status in the health care system (the URL is included for further study):

•1) Meade TW, Dyer S, Browne W, Townsend J, Frank AO. British Medical Journal 1990 (Jun 2); 300 (6737):1431-1437. http://www.chiro.org/LINKS/ABSTRACTS/LBP_of_Mechanical_Origin.shtml

•2) Manga P, Angus DE, Papadopoulos C, Swan WR. A Study to Examine the Effectiveness and Cost-effectiveness of Chiropractic Management of Low-Back Pain. 8/1993; Ontario, Canada. http://www.chiro.org/LINKS/GUIDELINES/Manga_93.shtml

•3) Bigos S, et. al., 1994, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=hstat6.chapter.25870

•4) Meade TW, Dyer S, Browne W, Frank AO. Randomised Comparison of Chiropractic and Hospital Outpatient Management for Low Back Pain: Results from Extended Follow up. British Medical Journal 1995 (Aug 5); 311 (7001): 349-351 http://www.chiro.org/LINKS/ABSTRACTS/Chiropractic_and_Hospital_Outpatient.shtml

•5) Luo X, Pietrobon R, Sun SX, Liu GG, Hey L. Estimates and Patterns of Direct Health Care Expenditures Among Individuals With Back Pain in the United States. Spine 2004 (Jan 1); 29 (1): 79-86. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14699281

At this clinic, we are most appreciative to have the opportunity to provide care to our patients and strive to make the experience highly satisfying. If you, a family member or a friend requires care, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services. We are proud that chiropractic care has consistently scored the highest level of satisfaction when compared to other forms of health care provision and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future.

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This information is solely advisory, and should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all health care concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a health care professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.

As a Chiropractor and health care provider, when patients are interested in there nutritional status, I give them a questionnaire which helps me assess their nutritional health.  There are a number of well established clinical signs and symptoms associated with vitamin and mineral deficiencies.  Additionally, certain nutrition and lifestyle behaviors and the use of certain medications can promote vitamin and mineral deficiencies, usually from a lack of intake or accelerated depletion of specific nutrients.

Studies indicate that 91 percent of North Americans are nutritionally deficient and do not ingest the RDA levels for each vitamin and mineral on a daily basis. Further, those levels for many nutrients are considered to be suboptimal according to many anti-aging and nutrition experts, especially in regard to certain antioxidants, vitamin D and selenium. An additional complicating factor is that many people engage in dietary and lifestyle behaviors which encourage nutrient loss and/or take mediations that impair absorption, or promote excretion and accelerate loss of vitamins and minerals from the body. This becomes very important considering the role that vitamins and minerals play in the prevention of cancer heart disease, dementia, osteoporosis, cataracts, macular degeneration and other health problems.

The questionnaire I use in my chiropractic office to assess nutritiona deficiencies is in two parts and is too long for me to reproduce in this column. The first part deals with lifestyle factors while the second part addresses drug and medication intake. If you are interested in the questionnaire, please call the office. I would be happy to have you come in and take the “test” and have me review it with you. Some of the questions address the following.

Drinking more that 3 alcoholic beverages per week will deplete Vitamin A, all the B’s, Vit C, D, E and potassium. More than two cups of coffee or caffeinated tea of any kind per day will deplete the body of Vitamins C, B and minerals. B vitamins will also be depleted if you smoke, have cracks at the margin of your lips or scaly skin at the outer margin of your nose above your lips. Of course, stress is a major problem for not only your nutrition as it creates hormonal imbalances leading to decreased Vitamin C, B and many minerals, but it also creates changes in your skeletal system. This can cause headache, neck pain and back pain.

In terms of drug and medication use, you are probably aware that medications have side effects. What you may not realize is that the side effects may not be noticeable until way down the road.
Regular use of laxatives will deplete your body of Vitamins A, D, E and Calcium. Over the counter anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin will lower your levels of folic acid, iron and Vitamins C and K. Even Antacids like Maalox, Tums, Mylanta and Rolaids will affect your levels of Vitamins A, B1, B12, folic acid, chromium and iron. Contraceptives, Sedatives, estrogen replacement drugs, antidepressants, heart medications such as those for blood pressure and cholesterol will all affect vitamins and minerals in your body. As a chiropractor, I try to encourage people to take supplements to counter these effects. I am not convinced that diet alone will counter these issues. So try to eat well and take a good quality supplement if you have to take medication.

I have noticed over the years as a chiropractor that people who exercise, have good nutritional habits and receive regular Chiropractic care are is great shape.  Have you ever noticed that people who are in good physical shape are in better mental shape? I see that in my office especially with the older population of people. And from an evolutionary perspective we are better equipped to adapt to stress and change if we are mentally and physically in shape.

Exercise and good nutrition benefits the brain in two major ways. First, it helps generate new brain cells. And second, it strengthens the connections between those cells, providing more mental agility and actually allowing the brain to stay young even as the body ages. There has been scientific research showing that the body continues to make new brain cells later in life. The general assumption was that around 50 we stop making new cell but now it is understood that neurogenesis (making new brain cells) can occur throughout life even as we advance into old age.

However, neurogenesis doesn’t occur at an equal rate in every person or throughout the different times in one’s life. Among the variables affecting the rate of production is exercise. Each time a muscle tenses and relaxes, it releases various chemicals into the body. Among these is a protein called IGF-1 that helps to organize the production of other chemicals that prompts brain cells to reproduce with remarkable speed. The more of these chemicals there are the more brain cells grow equipped to process new information. A brain with little of these chemicals closes itself off to new information and memory tend ot suffer as well.

It is all well and good to have lots of new cells but they need to connect together to work together. Exercise also aids in maintaining and improving these connections, the synapses. Researchers have found that the positive impacts of exercise on the brain come quickly. In under an hour, improvements in mental fitness often kick in, with synapse firing more efficiently. The bad news is that the benefits of exercise tend to fall off fairly quickly. People have to keep at it and these days Americans often don’t place much of a premium on physical fitness. We may be getting not only slower, but also slower on the uptake.

If the allure of remaining mentally sharp into old age isn’t enough to get you off the couch, think about this: recent studies suggest (not proved) that some of the same benefits may also slow the onset of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Fortunately, good results don’t require an extreme amount of exercise. Even just a few hours a week of brisk walking can help sustain body and mind. Any amount of exercise is better than none. I will also add that diet and sound sleep are also extremely important for mental alertness. There are many ways to stay healthy, active and mentally sound. And isn’t that what we want as we live longer.