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.