Why Chiropractic is so Popular

1. Chiropractic promotes natural healing.

Always seek out the least invasive, most “user friendly” form of health care before submitting to drugs and surgery.

2. Chiropractic can prevent problems.

It keeps you healthy. Chiropractic is able to locate stress creating distortions in your body (subluxations) before damage occurs.

3. Chiropractic is effective and natural.

Why take drugs when you can be helped without them? That’s a big reason why millions of people visit their neighborhood doctor of chiropractic.

4. Chiropractic is safe.

There are no side effects, no surgery that forever changes your body. Chiropractic has an enviable safety record – malpractice insurance for chiropractors is a tiny fraction of that for medical practitioners.

5. Chiropractic is for the entire family.

Everyone, from the very young to the very old, can benefit from chiropractic care.

6. Family chiropractic care sends a healthy message to children.

You don’t need to take drugs to lead a happy healthy life.

Reference: Dr. Ted Koren, Koren Publications

Mad Dash 2009

Hello bloggers! It's been a while since I've posted a blog. My apologies.... I have some news.

Rhinebeck Chiropractic will be sponsoring The Mad Dash this Labor day in Rhinebeck. the run is put on by the parishioners of the Church of the Messiah. Dr. Jess and I used it as a warm up for the Maple Leaf half marathon last year and absolutely loved the race. I really do believe Rhinebeck is a runner's town. Lots of good pavement, trails and even sidewalk depending on the time of day.

More about the race....

There's a 5K race and walk that starts at 8:30am, and a 10K race that starts at 9am. You can register on active.com or mail in your registration (you can download it here). Last but not least there is a "mini-dash" for the kids starting at 10am with awards ceremony to follow.

The best part: Proceeds go to community outreach charities. Get your exercise fo rthe day and help out a good cause. If you don't run, come out and cheer the runners (and us) on.

Holistic Moms Network of Dutchess County

Are you looking for a community of like minded families? Families that take an active interest in holistic health & green living? Look no further-join the Dutchess County chapter of Holistic Moms Network! For more information email Dr. Jessica Burckhard, Chapter Leader at: hmndutchess@gmail.com. Also check the Holistic Moms website at: http://www.holisticmoms.org/. Monthly meetings are expected to begin in August.

"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

Putting the finishing touches on a Powerpoint for a talk I'm doing at Curves in Red Hook. In the process I came across this interview with Michael Pollan.

Michael Pollan is one of the nation’s leading writers and thinkers in this country on the issue of food. He is author of several books about food, including The Botany of Desire, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and his latest, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.

This interview touches on many topics realting to our country's food supply, health, industrial agriculture and more.

By the way ,the talk is at the Curves in Red Hook on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 2PM. Feel free to stop by. The talk is called "Food for Thought" and is about nutrition.

Consumer Reports Gives Chiropractic a Thumbs Up

Consumer Reports survey shows hands-on therapies as top-rated treatments:

April 10, 2009 — A study in the May issue of Consumer Reports shows that hands-on therapies were tops among treatments for relief of back pain. The study, which surveyed more than 14,000 consumers, was conducted by the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center.
According to the report, the survey respondents tried a variety of different treatments and rated the treatments on how helpful and satisfied they were with the results. The report concluded that hands-on therapies were the top-rated.
The report states that, “eighty-eight percent of those who tried chiropractic manipulation said it helped a lot, and 59 percent were ‘completely’ or ‘very’ satisfied with their chiropractor.”
Source: Consumer Reports, www.consumerreports.org

Harvard Medical School Faculty Called Out on Biased Medical Information

Just read this New York times article on events occurring at Harvard Medical School. Faculty with financial interests in pharmaceutical companies have been accused of giving biased information to the future leaders in the medical community. The students have fought back, fearing that these interests deteriorate the reputation of the prestigious school and quality of care. Read More here.

Food Irradiation: Is this really a "safety measure?"

I recently received an email warning me to check the packaging of my food for the logo depicted on the right. This logo indicates that your food has been irradiated to kill unwanted organisms that are living on the food. I was in disbelief when I first saw this. Is it safe to irradiate food? Does it change the nutritional value? What are the risks associated with ionizing radiation? This is almost as ridiculous as when the FDA approved the addition of live viruses on deli meats to kill off unwanted bacteria, several years ago. It makes me wonder, how does ionizing radiation know the difference between the "bad bacteria" and the "good bacteria"? Certainly the brains behind this operation know that bacteria are essential for proper digestion and elimination. They must know that the human body contains trillions of microorganisms, and that these organisms outnumber our cells.

Having been trained in the use of x-ray technology for the diagnosis of disease, it is common knowledge that ionizing radiation can alter DNA in humans. I believe it is safe to assume that ionizing radiation will alter vegetables and fruits as well. Since our food ultimately will become part of us, I am sure that I don't want fruits and vegetables that have been damaged by radiation to enter my body. Would you want all of the materials in your house to be irradiated before you lived in it? Remember we are products of our environment and what occurs outside our bodies most likely is occurring inside.

One more note: Beware of food that says it is "cold pasteurized." While this seems like a much better option for our food, it is a misleading way of saying that food has been irradiated. Certain groups are pushing for this term to be widely used since most Americans are alarmed when they hear the term irradiated food.

Read more at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation#Current_U.S._market
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/catalog/irradbro.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/health/policy/22spinach.html?_r=1&fta=y

Dr. Josh Plays in the Mud

Sunday, March 29th, Dr. Josh raced in a 5 mile "Mudders & Grunters" race through FDR park. It was a cold, rainy Sunday morning, but that didn't matter! The course was designed to trek racers off road through as much muck, mud & water as possible. Of course Hudson & I had to go cheer him on & take pictures :) Congrats Dr. Josh!

The Power of Sleep

We often hear the popular phrase, "Sleep is over rated" & "I don't have time to sleep." Living in a society where time is money, we often trade sleep for getting more done in our day. I am at fault of this all too often, until I recently had a wake up call (no pun intended).

I like to think of myself as a healthy person. I know the importance of living a wellness lifestyle & most days do a good job of getting exercise, eating healthy, having a positive mental attitude, etc. I get adjusted 2 times a week (one of the many perks of being married to Josh!). But, alas, I began experiencing symptoms. At first it was a scratchy throat, slight fever, achyness. Day 2 it was coughing, runny nose, more fever, more achyness, general tiredness. Day 3, all previous symptoms worsened & I was cranky. You get the idea. This continued for a week. I made dietary changes, used garlic as a natural immune booster, drank copious amounts of ginger tea for an anti-inflammatory effect. I was getting adjusted every day. I increased my fish oil to 3 grams, again for an anti-inflammatory effect. Despite all of my efforts, I was seemingly not improving, & getting seriously frustrated.

It was Josh who realized I was neglecting the importance of getting adequate, restful sleep. Realizing I was extremely overtired & irritable, Josh took Hudson out for the day. I slept a solid 6 hours & woke up feeling better already. We decided to make some changes to our sleeping arrangements, so that I could get the rest my body needed to heal. This would leave Josh largely responsible for Hudson throughout the night. I was apologetic, but excited to get some more sleep. Guess what happened? I slept like a rock again (and again).

The moral of my story is this: we can be taking care of ourselves by eating right, getting adjusted, exercising, and thinking good thoughts, but if we are not getting enough restful sleep, our body is unable to repair & heal. Healing is a process that requires time. Most healing occurs during the hours that our mind is quiet and our bodies are resting. It is during this time that our body can focus its energy on repairing and restoring health.

Make time for sleep. It is not over rated!

Chiropractic Vs. Medicine: Putting out the fire.

A special thanks to Dr. James Chestnut for providing me with this metaphor.
The medical establishment has become exceptional at helping us out when we find that our body is in crisis. For a true emergency, there is no place I would like to go more than the Emergency Room and experience the modern marvel of the latest technology in medicine and as a result be “saved.” In fact, our medical doctors have gotten so good at fighting fires that many of us believe it is not necessary to take care of our bodies. We ingest food with lots of calories and little nutrients, we deprive our body of movement and fail to exercise. We look for pills to mask symptoms, our indicator that something is going wrong. We accept that we were born with too many body parts and take them out.
Thinking of your body as a house may help to clarify the situation. If my house was on fire, I would want the fire department to come as soon as possible to save my house. They would come with axes and fire hoses to put out the fire and I would be ecstatic and consider them heroes for saving my house. However, I would not invite them back the next day to spray the contents of my house with water to prevent future fires or use axes to tear down walls in case there was a fire one day in the future. I would be looking for carpenters and electricians to repair and rebuild the damage caused by the fire and water. I would use the best materials to rebuild the house to make sure its structure was sound. I would also be looking for the cause of the fire and use caution when using fire in the home. I would make sure that proper maintenance was done on the home so it could function at its best.
In this story, modern medicine is the firemen who put out the fires. Chiropractors are the contractors that help restore the house to its original structure and look for the causes of the fire. They make sure the electrical system is intact and help to repair and rebuild the damage. We also help you with proper maintenance and care for your house as well as give you advice on which materials would be best for repairing and rebuilding the areas damaged by the fire. Lastly, chiropractors help with prevention of future fires and optimize the functioning of the house.

Homeostasis

Homeostasis: The ability of the body or a cell to seek and maintain a condition of equilibrium or stability within its internal environment when dealing with external changes

The key to health is homeostasis. It is the constant regulation of all body functions. Dis-ease occurs when the body falls out of balance, usually due to its surroundings. Environmental factors cause our bodies to make an adaptation to restore homeostasis or balance.

Temperature is an environmental factor that our body responds to and makes an adaptation to. If we are too cold, our body will begin to shiver. Shivering is an involuntary firing of our muscles in an effort to produce heat and warm our core temperature back to optimal temperature. When our bodies are in an environment that is too hot, we begin to perspire and give off heat via convection in an effort to lower our core temperature back to optimal.

Homeostasis is the most important aspect of our health. All bodily functions are trying to maintain homeostasis. Symptoms are usually an indicator that the body has veered away from homeostasis. Often times, people ask me if chiropractic is “good” for this particular symptom or ailment. My answer is always the same. Chiropractic removes interference to the nervous system, the master control system of the whole body. The nervous system is the center of regulation and homeostatic functioning of the whole body. Chiropractic is great for restoring nervous system function and homeostasis. Symptoms are not the problem. They are our helping indicators to let us know that something has fallen out of balance and something needs to be done.

Surprise Photography Momtrepreneur of the Month

Guess who was named Momtrepreneur of the Month by Surprise Photography?


That's right, Dr. Jessica is Momtrepreneur of the Month. Melissa Surprise, a momtrepreneur herself has a fantastic blog that show cases her style and personality. What's even more extraordinary is her ability to empower others using her internet presence and blog as a vehicle.

It was a pleasure to meet Melissa and Kieran (Melissa's youngest son) at our office when she came to meet us and take some pictures. Despite being so young, he seemed like a seasoned veteran when it came to letting mom get her work done. Be sure to check out Melissa's work at http://www.surprisephotography.com/ and http://www.SurprisePhotography.com/blog and her previous work at http://www.surprisephotography.blogspot.com/.

Obesity Tax

Good idea or bad idea? (5 min)

National Day of Service

From Seth Godin's Blog:

"Monday, January 19 is Martin Luther King Day. And wonderfully, instead of adding
yet another shopping day to the calendar, it's being transformed to a day of
service.
If every person in the US spent an hour doing something selfless,
useful and leveraged, what would happen? What if you and your circle committed
to doing it an hour a day for a year? 300 million hours is a lot of hours for
just one day, a year of that would change everything. "

Anouncing Rhinbeck Chiropractic's Day of Service

The Details

Complimentary Spinal Exams for Children (Day of Service - January 19)

Drs. Burckhard of Rhinebeck Chiropractic are offering complimentary spinal examinations to ALL children on January 19th, from 9 AM - 1 PM and 3 PM - 6 PM. Come learn about your spine and nervous system and the importance of maintaining it! Discover health without the use of drugs and surgery! For more information or to make an appointment call 845.876.6450. Parents/Guardians must be present.

Time: Monday, January 19 from 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Host: Dr. Jessica Burckhard
Location: Rhinebeck Chiropractic (Rhinebeck, NY)
13 West Market StRhinebeck, NY 12572
Maps:
Google Maps
MapQuest
Yahoo! Maps
Directions:
Located in center of Rhinebeck. Entrance to office is in the rear parking lot to Fosters Restaurant.





Sign up here or call 845.876.6450

Chiropractic and Kids
International Chiropractic Pediatric Association
National Day of Service Events

Finding the right recipe

As the year winds down, the inevitable question pops up, "What's your new year's resolution?'. Some answer this question jokingly because of past resolutions that never came to fruition. The key value or belief in this person's mind is "the past will dictate my future.". This is often the case with yo-yo dieters or sporadic exercisers. I am writing today to release this belief from your mindset and let you know that this could not be farther from the truth.

If I wanted to make the aforementioned statement true, I would say if you do the same thing over and over, you will always get the same result. This is why people use recipes when cooking. They want to get the same result; a tasty dish. What makes the resolution question so humorous to many is that they are used to following the same recipe for failure.

This year, do something different. Follow a different recipe for success. Below is just one recipe for success.

1 Gallon of "I believe I can"

1 Quart of I am determined to do this

4 Cups of Goal setting

1 Tsp. of consult someone with expertise.

1 Cup of taking action

1 Cup of write it down

1 Cup of tell everyone you know about your end result.

1 Cup of planning for obstacles

1 Cup of short term goals that lead to your big one.

1. Cup of positive mental attitude.

12 oz. can of support system, friends, family members, coworkers

Combine all ingredients together until the right consistency is reached. Bake for one year.

Let it snow!

Good Morning blog readers! It's a beautiful Saturday morning at Rhinebeck Chiropractic. Made it into the office this morning carefully and began to shovel the path leading to the front door. As I was doing this task, I realized I do better giving pointers on shoveling than actually doing the winter work itself. As a chiropractor, a heavy snow fall means the phone will begin to ring in the days following with patients and current practice members who "over did it" while clearing the fluffy white stuff. Since prevention is the best medicine (chiropractic), I thought I would give you a few pointers on shoveling to make your holiday more enjoyable.

1. Always warm up first! Muscles and soft tissues are more elastic when they are warm. In addition to wearing warm clothing, feel free to do some light physical activity before lifting the shovel. Try walking the perimeter of the property or do some jumping jacks.

2. Push the snow when possible instead of lifting it. Your spine will thank you later!

3. Use your head. Feel the snow; is it wet or dry and fluffy? If it is wet, it will most likely be much heavier. Knowing how heavy the snow is allows your body to prepare to the sudden demand of shoveling.

4. Use your legs. Your legs are much stronger than the spinal erector muscles in our lower back. This means when you lift the shovel, you squat and stand up straight, rather than bending over at the hip.

5. Shovel while it is snowing. This is a sure fire way to keep the loads lighter and you get to pre-burn extra calories you are inevitably going to consume during the holidays. (Disclaimer: Rhinebeck Chiropractic does not approve or condone of over eating at anytime during the year; even the end.)

6. Get adjusted. Regular chiropractic adjustments keep your spine healthy. After being adjusted our bio mechanics are improved and the muscles used in shoveling work more efficiently.

It should also be noted that shoveling can count as exercise. Nothing like killing two birds with one stone. Enjoy the weather!!!

Standard Process Purification

In recent years, Dr. Jess and I have made a yearly ritual of doing a purification program. We do this for several reasons. This blog entry could go on forever about the dififferent benefits of doing a cleanse so here is 5.5 reasons we choose to purify our bodies.

1. It detoxifies our body of the foreign elements and toxins we have been exposed to.

2. Since our purification requires us to eat extrememely healthy we do just that. It gets good habits started again and serves as a great jumpstart to making major lifestyle changes. Each time we cleanse we learn to appreciate the nutrition and subtle tastes of whole organic foods.

3.We lose weight. Losing weight is a common goal among many americans and feels good to get a compliment from someone else or just having clothes fit you better. Sometimes you even get to go shopping if your pants no longer fit.

4.Your spine and joints appreciate it too. Increasing intake of fruits and vegetables causes you to "deflame'" thus making your perception of aches and pains reduced, and stunts the growth of chronic degenerative diseases occuring (Heart Disease, Diabetes, Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis).

5. It gives you a glimpse of how your body should be running. The way you feel after a purification becomes the gold standard of how good you should feel.

5.5 Since we must refrain from processed foods, and certain sugars, it teaches us self discipline. We all become masters by first becoming a master of our self.

For more information about the Standard Process Purification click here or call 845.876.6450.

The oil light in your car.

What do you do when the oil light comes on in your car? Even those with the most basic car smarts will….. well you guessed it, check the oil level, and then add some oil if needed. Cost: $2.49 for the quart of 10W-30 motor oil. There are some out there, who for some reason or other just ignore the light. They continue to drive their car until it will not drive anymore. Worse yet they find some black electrical tape and cover the light. Out of site, out of mind. When the inevitable break down occurs, the cost is thousands. The damage irreversible. Our bodies are no different. Symptoms are like the oil light; an indicator that something needs to be checked out. It’s your first warning telling you that if you do not do something, crisis will ensue. Do something now about your health. Scan your body’s dashboard. What are your symptoms telling you?

More reader friendly blogs coming your way.

After a nearly four months of blogging, Dr. Jessica and I have made some important distinctions in in the blogging arena. First we started reading others blogs and commenting on what we liked and didn't like and got the wheels turning on how we can improve our blog and make it more "reader friendly". Our goal is to educate and empower you as a reader about health issues that relate to you and to inspire you to make great health decisions that cumulatively will change your life.

In the future look for a shorter blog entry that comes more often. The style of the blog will be more personal than academic. Also slightly more opinionated to create discussion. Feel free to voice your opinion, or ask questions by responding in our blog or simply email us at DRJ@RhinebeckChiropractic.com.

Lastly, keep up to date with our blogs by subscribing n the RSS feeder so you know when new posts are available for your viewing pleasure.

Get ready.......

Strengthening Your Immunity

Understanding immunity is vital in grasping our body's innate ability to heal itself. We are born with an innate or genetic immunity. While we were in our mother's womb, we received immunity through her exposure to different pathogens. As we came into the world, if we were breastfed, our mother continued to pass immunity to us, through her superfood breastmilk. Throughout our lives we continue to build our immunity through exposure to different pathogens. Each time we are exposed to a virus or bacteria, our body identifies the foreign invader & produces an antibody to protect us. Our body remembers every immune response we have had, & protects us from having symptoms or getting "sick" a second time. For example, most of us know that once we have had chickenpox, we cannot have it again.

We are exposed to different pathogens either naturally or artificially. Natural exposure is when we have the flu for example. We feel ill & spend a few days resting & allowing our body to heal. No matter how many more time we are exposed to that flu virus, we will not get it again. Artificial exposure is obtained through vaccination. You are injected with a solution that contains the pathogen (along with many other substances or additives). Your body reacts by producing antibodies in the same way as described before.

The more we are exposed to, the stronger our immune system becomes. This may be different that what you originally believed. Most people subscribe to the germ theory & use it to explain why we get sick. Germ theory was developed by Pasteur in the 1800's. He believed that the human body was pure & sterile. He theorized that if airborne pathogens, or germs, contaminated the body, sickness would result. However, we know today that the human body contains 20 times more bacteria in our body than cells. We have a normal "good" bacteria that help us digest & assimilate our nutrition daily. Bacteria is not only plentiful in our immune system, but necessary.

Our body has some fantastic systems in place for fighting pathogens. In fact, the body is constantly renewing itself & making changes to facilitate rebuilding. 98% of the atoms in the human body are renewed each year, with about half of the water molecules, or 70% of the body, being replaced every 8 days. Blood plasma renews itself every 10 days, white blood cells every 2-3 weeks, red blood cells every 120 days, & our entire blood supply every 3-4 months. Our skin renews itself every 28 days, the stomach lining replaces itself every week, & the liver regenerates every 6 weeks. It is clear to see that the human body is an amazing self healing, self regulating organism.

For some reason we agree with this fact when we think about getting a cut, or breaking a bone, (body heals itself), but we seem to forget about it when we think about getting a cold, flu, or other common illness. The fact is that we cannot escape germs. They are abundant everywhere. We must replace this ideal of "fighting germs" with strengthening our immunity. If we support our body properly, we can look forward to having better health through better immunity. Below is a list of simple tasks to use towards improving your immunity:

1. Eat organic, whole foods, many vegetables & fruits

2. Avoid processed foods, sugars, hydrogenated oils, bleached flours, & high fructose corn syrup

3. Check with your health care provider to see if Essential Fatty Acids & Probiotics would be of benefit to you.

4. Remove toxins from your life: chemicals, alcohol, smoke, plastics, dyes, additives, etc.

5. Limit pharmaceutical drugs that cover up symptoms & in some cases are unnecessary

6. Maintain a positive mental attitude

7. Exercise five times a week

8. Get at least 6 hours of restful sleep each night

9. Practice quiet time each day (prayer, meditation, yoga, etc.)

10. Get adjusted! Research shows people who receive regular chiropractic adjustments have immune system competency that is 200% greater than those who don't!

For more information on strengthening your immunity, attend one of our advanced wellness workshops with Dr. Jessica. Upcoming dates: 12/9 @ 10 am & 12/18 @ 5pm.