“Healing on a Spare Donut…” True Philosophy of Chiropractic Care

“Healing on a Spare Donut…”

Three Myths of Chiropractic Treatment

There are countless myths and scare stories regarding alternative healing, including chiropractic care, still in abundance today. Although there is no warrant for these myths, people shy away from chiropractic treatments as a result. Some of the more well-known myths of chiropractic treatment include believing it is dangerous or causes pain, no scientific evidence for it being an effective treatment for pain relief and once you go, you will have to continue seeking chiropractic care for the rest of your life.

1. Causes Pain or is Dangerous Many potential chiropractic patients consider getting treatment, but fear an adjustment will hurt worse than the pain they are already experiencing. The truth is many patients feel instantaneous relief, and enjoy feeling better after the adjustment is made. In select cases of severe neck or back pain some discomfort may occur at the time, however it is rare and the pain relief experienced over the long-term makes it well worth it. As far as chiropractic treatments being dangerous, studies have shown this to be untrue, and is in reality one of the safest solutions for the majority of those suffering from neck or back pain. It is essential that any chiropractic care be performed by a qualified and trained doctor of chiropractic, or there can be risk of harm. 2. No Scientific Evidence to its Efficacy Just in the last twenty years alone, many scientific studies have been completed regarding the effectiveness of chiropractic care and can dispel many of these types of myths of chiropractic treatment. The Research and Development (RAND) Corporation, is a non-profit, private corporation out of Santa Monica, California that has conducted countless studies for everyone from the United States Government and Military to national and international private sector businesses. The RAND Corporation's chiropractic case study is the first time any representative from the United States medical field has went on record and testified to the appropriateness of chiropractic care for lower back pain. There are many other studies that have backed up RAND's findings as well. 3. Once You Go, You Have to Go Forever One of the more common myths of chiropractic treatment is once you go, you will have to go for the rest of your life. Most chiropractic doctors take a preventative approach to healthcare and this philosophy has been distorted into believing a lifelong obligation is necessary after going for the initial adjustment. However, returning periodically for a spinal adjustment is not much different from visiting the dentist on a regular basis in order to prevent cavities and gum disease.

Your DNA is not Your Destiny!

Posted By Kristen Harding M.D. On June 4, 2012 @ 5:20 am In All Articles,Featured,Food & Nutrition,Health & Wellness. How many times have you heard someone grumble about their health while laying most of the blame on their genes? Unfortunately, many people go through life resigning themselves to health problems that other family members have had, such as diabetes and cancer. I have had many patients in my office over the years telling me it is all their parents’ fault. But, wait a minute, research is showing that really isn’t true. There is an emerging field in science called epigenetics. It is the study of how the environment impacts our genes. Here is the incredible thing…only about 2% of diseases are passed directly through families. Examples are cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s chorea. Most diseases, however, are controlled by multiple genes. Sometimes we get caught up in news stories telling us that researchers have found the gene for obesity or the gene for Alzheimer’s disease, but it really isn’t true. They have found genes that may contribute, but do not tell the whole story. The Human Genome Project mapped out around 30,000 individual genes. But what they found is that at any given time more than half of these genes are turned off. So it is the different combinations of which genes are turned on and which genes are turned off at any given time that determines what it going on in our bodies. The incidence of diabetes has skyrocketed in the past couple of decades, but is takes centuries for genetic drift to occur in a population. This means that the increase of diabetes in Americans is not due to changes in the genes. Instead genes are being turned on and off all the time by the environment around them. The food we eat has the greatest impact on what is turned on and off and research is showing that exercise, toxins, and stress also have strong influence. How amazing! We are no longer doomed to have the same diseases as our families! But here is the catch…many families pass down their lifestyle which will in turn impact susceptible genes. So if you parents are overweight, sugar-loving , couch potatoes who have ripe gene environments for diabetes and you also love sitting around eating doughnuts and Coke, then those genes will be turned on in you too. The nurture is more important than the nature. So here is the reality, self care is the new primary care. The choices you make with your fork, how you handle your stress, and how active you are each day can have incredible impact on your health. Are you tired of paying so much for your health insurance? Are medications costing you a monthly fortune? Are you depressed from believing that since your mother or father died of something at a certain age that you will too? Take action! You have the power to activate the good genes in your body. Eat real food that does not come from a box or have a label (think plants!) Drink clean, filtered water. Walk outdoors in fresh air daily. Get your life stress in perspective. Start building a health community with your friends and neighbors to encourage each other to make positive change. We hold the key to our own health, we can’t blame our DNA. Kristen Harding, M.D. has now opened her own functional medicine practice in the Cincinnati area, Whole Medicine, LLC. For more information about functional medicine or Dr. Harding’s practice please check out kristenhardingmd.com [1] or call her office at 513-549-0494. Article printed from Healthy Alter Ego : The Health & Wellness Source You've Been Searching For: http://www.healthyalterego.com URL to article: Click Here

Poor Posture and the Tweet Generation

An article from "The American Chiropractor" Magazine of the Chiropractic Profession Consider the conclusions from two recent studies: "A significant linear trend for increasing sagittal plane postural translations of the head, thorax, pelvis, and knee was found in children age from 4 years to 12 years."1 "Poor posture was diagnosed in 38.3% children, more frequently in boys. A significantly different occurrence of poor posture was found between 7-year-old and 11-year-old children (33.0% and 40.8%, respectively). The most frequently detected defects were as follows: protruding scapulae (50% of all children), increased lumbar lordosis (32%), and round back (31%). Children with poor posture reported headache and pain in the cervical and lumbar spine more frequently."2 Study after study is validating what chiropractors have been seeing for the past decade or more: Children at a younger and younger age are seeking relief from adult type pain and discomfort. What could be the cause of this increased frequency of young patients seeking care? The author believes it is the result of sociological and technological pressures that have only developed within the past generation, the Tweet Generation. It began in the early 90s when schools eliminated lockers and required children to carry their lockers in their backpacks. A couple of years later that child began playing handheld video games. Next came the cell phone for kids with affordable family plans. But the child didn't use the phone to make and receive calls. They used them for texting. Massive amounts of texting. The author's 11-year-old daughter sent out 11,000 text messages in one month. Next we go back to a change made at the school level. As the Internet expanded so did the reliance of schools on the Internet as a method of delivering content. So, as a result, time in front of a computer at school and at home was required. The connection between all these activities is clear: Since the early 90s children from the age of nine up through young adulthood, their musculoskeletal formative years, have engaged in activities that create a Forward Head Posture environment. These activities have literally molded their bodies into an abnormal posture profile. Re-read the conclusions of the studies cited at the beginning of this article. For those readers not yet alarmed at those conclusions, consider these other studies. "All measures of health status showed significantly poorer scores as C7 plumb line deviation increased."3 "Older men and women with hyperkyphotic posture have higher mortality rates." 4 "Spinal pain, headache, mood, blood pressure, pulse, and lung capacity are among the functions most easily influenced by posture." 5 What is being done to raise adult awareness of this growing trend in children? Not much. Every state requires a school scoliosis exam. During a school scoliosis exam a child is also examined from the side, but only to observe evidence of gross kyphosis. And in most States that part of the exam is not mandatory. Studies have shown that 4.2% of the children screened for scoliosis trigger a referral for radiographs. And of those 4% only a small fraction will require advanced treatment. It appears that nobody is educating parents and schools about the 30% of children in that same age group that are experiencing Forward Head Posture and its effects. Forward Head Posture Epidemic While developing a new posture grid for school posture exams, the author placed a typical middle school youth in front of the grid and asked the youth to send out a text. It was discovered that the head was placed in a position 4.5" in front of the shoulders and placed the shoulder joints in internal rotation. The typical youth can text up to 30 hours per month. Combined with other technology and social stressors, today's youth is at a greater risk for "molded" forward head posture than any past generation. Considering the important immediate and future health ramifications of poor posture, accurate posture exams and counseling with parents, children and schools should be a part of every wellness practice. The author recently examined over 1,000 posture exams from a single office. Using sophisticated posture analysis software, deviations from normal were calculated and charted. "16 years ago I estimated that 80% of the population had FHP. I was surprised and concerned to learn that in such a large population the number was 96.5%" The additional mechanical loads from FHP stress and eventually break down the spine, disks, muscles, etc. In other words, FHP could be the CAUSE of patient complaints. There are several methods of identifying FHP and systems available for correction. For additional information about these options contact the author. References: 1. Postural development in school children: a cross-sectional study. Chiropr Osteopat. 2007; 15:1 (ISSN: 1746-1340)_ 2. Prevalence and risk factors of poor posture in school children in the Czech Republic. J Sch Health. 2007; 77(3): 131-7 (ISSN:0022-4391) 3. SPINE, 2005 4. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2004 5.American Journal of Pain Management, 1994 6. Archives of Internal Medicine 2007 Joseph Ventura D.C. is owner of PostureSoftware.com, a 32 -year-old company that develops software and marketing strategies for the chiropractic profession. Dr. Ventura can be reached at (888) 713-2093 or at sales@posturepro.com If you would like to schedule an appointment with Dr. Luke Reineck follow the link to the online appointment request - Click Here

The Unorganized Brain and its Effect on ADHD.

Neurological Dysregulation is a term used to describe the improper or random and unorganized firing of neurons in the brain. When this occurs in people, the tense unbalanced nervous system tends to cause irregular activation patterns in the brain. This then results in atypical brain wave patterns. One of the most common and studied examples of this altered brain wave pattern would be in children with ADHD.

Recently, the use of ADHD as a diagnosis has skyrocketed. This can be partially due to better ways of diagnosing this issue, the increase in children with neurobehavioral problems, environmental factors and so on. Here are the facts on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder:

· Behavior disorder emerges before the age of seven.
· Symptoms include inattentive, impulsive and hyperactive behaviors.
· ADHD is not a reflection of a child’s intelligence nor caused by bad parenting.
· ADHD is more common in people who have a close relative with the condition.
· Twice as many boys are diagnosed with ADHD as girls.

There are three categories that ADHD can present itself as.

1. Combined Type (Inattentive/Hyperactive/Impulsive). Children with this type of ADHD show all three symptoms. This is the most common form of ADHD.
2. Hyperactive/Impulsive Type. Children show both hyperactive and impulsive behavior, but are able to pay attention.
3. Inattentive Type. Formerly known as attention deficit disorder (ADD), these children are not overly active. They do not disrupt the classroom or other activities, so their symptoms might not be noticed.

Theta Beta Ratio Study for ADHD/ADD

Study consisted of 482 test subjects having EEG studies done to measure brain wave activity. This was later replicated with 440 subjects. Control subjects in this study had a normal theta to beta brain wave ratio of 3:1. Children who were properly diagnosed with ADHD and ADD using traditional criteria had a T/B ratio of 9:1. This means that during the study when the child was given a book to read within 10 seconds their EEG drops into theta waves, showing lack of focus. Typically, when focusing a person may have more elevated beta waves as those tend to be produced when you are awake, alert, externally focused, problem solving, and attentive. In conclusion, in more than 25 recent studies 86% of children with ADD/ADHD produce higher than normal levels of theta waves.

What does this mean for chiropractic care?

Studies show the effectiveness of chiropractic on the normalization of brain wave activity using an EEG. We now know that proper function of the central nervous system is dependent upon mechanoreceptive input from the joints and muscles. Mechanoreception is what feeds information to the brain of all the sensory coming into the body from various stimuli. In short, without proper mechanoreception neurological stress and possible unorganized brain waves then occur. Chiropractic care promotes mechanoreception and therefore is a possible therapy to help your child with ADD/ADHD!

Chiropractic relates to brain function? Deeper than most thought.

Our brain is the command center for everything that happens in the body. It receives information 24/7 from all areas of the body. Every muscle, organ, cell in the body has the ability to communicate with the brain and vice versa via the nervous system. Having the ability to touch our nose with our eyes closed, walking in a straight line, or jumping and landing on one foot, all relate to the nervous system. These actions can take place because in every muscle, joint and tendon there are thousands of receptors that communicate to our brain about where our body is and what is moving. These special receptors give our brain proprioceptive input (sensory information) to allow us to move, walk, jump, and run while maintaining perfect balance and coordination. The same proprioceptive input often referred by chiropractor’s as mechanoreception gives the brain information about the spine and how freely its functioning in a pain free manner. The point of this scientific talk is to point out that Chiropractic is affecting input to the brain. The Chiropractic adjustment is not about the “pop” or “crack” it’s about the movement or stimulation of key receptors that are located in the joint space of every joint. When your neck, for example, is not moving because you slept awkward those mechanoreceptors are not functioning. Therefore other receptors turn on creating pain, muscle spasm, and even sympathetic vasoconstriction to organs (creates lack of oxygen to organs). You are correct this is BAD! For instance, those muscle knots in your neck and back hurt due to lack of oxygen to the muscle and inability to circulate waste products out. The more efficient we are with this the better we will feel and function.

So what happens if you don’t go to a Chiropractor?

This may be different depending on several issues. How well do you handle and process stress in your life, diet, exercise, posture, amount of water you drink, or amount of other things you drink like coffee and soda. The point I’m trying to make is not whether or not you are going to be worse off than someone who goes to a Chiropractor. Well maybe? But more because of the research we see that Chiropractic is much more than pain relief. By understanding pain and how the brain perceives pain, we have learned so much more about the Chiropractic adjustment. A study presented at the International Research and Philosophy Symposium finds that Chiropractic adjustments have a positive effect on the Central Nervous System (Brain and Spinal Cord), specifically on the four primary frequencies of brain function. The study was conducted over a three-year period with over 100 volunteers. Using an electroencephalogram (EEG – measures brain wave activity) before and after Chiropractic adjustments the EEG scans were examined to check right/left balance, the amount of total activity, and the effect of the adjustment. In conclusion, after receiving Chiropractic adjustments, post EEG scans revealed improvement in all areas of the volunteer’s brain function. Particularly, the researchers noticed an increase in the meditative Alpha brainwave patterns that are associated with a greater degree of relaxation, health and healing. So by receiving proper Chiropractic care you are not only fixing back problems but also allowing the brain to work in a way that promotes overall health and healing! Research has allowed Chiropractic to substantiate what Chiropractor’s have known for 125 years. The adjustment can provide a state in which the body can heal itself!!!

Neck Pain: Chiropractors, Exercise Better Than Medication, Study Says

Neck Pain: Chiropractors, Exercise Better Than Medication, Study Says: When it comes to neck pain the best medicine is no medicine at all according to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.   The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, tracked 272 patients with recent-onset neck pain who were treated using...