Is Our Country Overmedicated?

Almost half of the prescription drugs taken in our world today are consumed in the United States.  Americans take an average of 25 million pills an hour! Many Americans over 65 years old take between 12-18 different medications per day. Twenty-five tons of aspirin are consumed daily in the U.S.  As a result, our “health care system” is the third leading cause of death in our country, a situation that is unheard of in the rest of the world.

Every drug taken is a stressor to the body and its detoxification system.  Because of this, side effects are a common occurance.  For example, an average of 1,600 children die from aspirin each year.  Adverse reactions to prescribed drugs kill more than 100,000 people per year according to a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  By contrast, illegal drugs (cocaine, crack, etc.) kill 6,000 to 10,000 people per year.

Your body has the natural and amazing ability to heal.  One way to ensure this is by keeping your spine aligned with Chiropractic care.  The Chiropractic adjustment removes interference from the control system of your body, the nervous system.  With chiropractic care, many of our patients have found that the need for prescription drugs naturally disappears.   

Adolescent Back Pain and Headaches

 Many parents have a tendency to dismiss back pain as “growing pains” or headaches as something their children may “grow out of.”  Unfortunately, these two issues have become common, but they are definitely not normal. As adults, we have become accustomed to taking an aspirin or Ibuprofen to relieve aches and pains but are resistant, with good reason, to give it to our children.

Today’s children have many stressors on their body.  One of these stressors is the excess load that a backpack places on a child’s spine. The repetitive stress of walking in this posture causes the joints of the spine to misalign, which affects the nerves and can causes pain.

Another stressor on our children’s spines is poor posture.  While at school, children sit for many hours of the day, often in a slouched position.  Children are also sitting while using the computer, playing video games, and watching television.  Sitting to their spine is like sugar to their teeth: it literally rots it.  Our bodies are designed to move, not to sit for long periods of time. (How often do you see deer, squirrels, and other animals sitting in the wild?) This sitting and poor posture can cause your child to develop a postural deformity know as forward head posture (FHP).  This posture puts a tremendous amount of pressure at the base of the neck, where the neck meets the shoulder.  FHP may be source of many headaches and pain that make it difficult for your child to pay attention at school or complete tasks at home. The test to determine if your child has FHP is easy - look at your child from the side.  The ear and the shoulder should line up vertically. If the ear is in front of the shoulder then you child has forward head posture. 

If you suspect forward head posture in your child, consider a chiropractic evaluation for him or her. It is far better to catch the problem early and steer clear of a lifetime pattern of neck pain, headaches, and other preventable health concerns than suffer the consequences later on in life.  Proper posture can also be taught to ensure habits that will encourage a healthy spine and a pain-free life.

“An ounce of prevention is worth move than a pound of cure”-Dr. B.J. Palmer

Vitamin D and Autism

Autism is a developmental disorder that affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), male children have a 1 in 54 chance of developing autism by age 8, and the epidemic is growing at almost 20% per year. 

In 2007, a medical doctor, John Cannell, published a study proposing that a poor genetic vitamin D processing system in certain humans (specifically low vitamin D receptors), combined with declining vitamin D levels over the last 30 years, has lead to damage to the most sensitive of all organs requiring vitamin D, the developing brain.  Other components of the vitamin D system, such as the amount and activity of the enzyme that activates vitamin D, the 1-hydroxylase, is also inherited.  We either have small amounts of this enzyme or a significant amount, with most people getting somewhere in between.  The same is also true of the vitamin D breakdown enzyme, the 24-hydroxylase.  If breastfeeding mothers have very low vitamin D levels due to lack of sunlight exposure and the abstinence of vitamin D-rich foods, have both low vitamin D receptors and low 1-hydroxylase enzyme activity and then wean their child on vitamin D-less 100% pure fruit juice and other foods void of vitamin D, these children could have no source of vitamin D and their inherited vitamin D physiology will interact with the low vitamin D levels to injure their developing brain.  The same mechanism can happen in utero. 

How can you ensure that you are getting enough vitamin D for your body?

• Get outside: During the summer months, expose your skin to 20 minutes of sunlight exposure for a minimum 3 times per week.  Exposure is best between 10am and 2pm.
• Eat foods rich in vitamin D.  This includes cod liver oil, fish, shellfish, butter, lard and egg yolks.
• Supplementation:  During the fall, winter and spring seasons, supplement with vitamin D3.  Adults should take a minimum of 2,000 IU/day.

Are the Statin Drugs I Am Taking Causing My Back Pain?

Statins are a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, which plays a central role in the production of cholesterol in our body's liver.  The most commonly known statin is Lipitor, manufactured by Pfizer.  Statins are one of the most widely prescribed medication in the United States and globally.  In 2003-4, it was estimated that 24 million individuals in the United States alone took statins.  A common adverse effect of statins is musculoskeletal symptoms, including muscle aches, pain, weakness and cramps. 

In February of this year a study was published in American Journal of Medicine that looked at the relationship between statin drug use and musculoskeletal pain in adults with and without arthritis.  Researchers assessed 8,228 subjects over 40 years of age, 5,170 of whom arthritis had not been diagnosed.  They discovered that among those participants without arthritis, statin use was associated with a significantly higher prevalence of musculoskeletal pain, as follows:

• pain in any region was increased by 33%
• pain in the lower back was increased by 47%
• pain in the lower extremities was increased by 59%

According to the study, 1 out of every 17 people taking statin drugs developed musculoskeletal pain symptoms.  Like thousands of studies before it, this study suggests that the best way to improve your health is not by turning to the pill bottle for answers, but by improving your lifestyle.

Gonstead Chiropractic and Pregnancy

Most women that are pregnant are aware of the benefits of avoiding smoking, alcohol and medications, exercising, and maintaining a nourishing diet for her and her developing baby's health.  Many, however, are unaware of the benefits that Gonstead chiropractic care can provide.  Numerous chiropractic patients report healthier pregnancies as well as more comfortable deliveries.  One study revealed that first time mothers under chiropractic care had 24% shorter labor times versus women who were not.  In addition, chiropractic patients who have had prior deliveries enjoyed 39% shorter labor times than those not under care.  The Gonstead approach is a specific time-proven technique to check for proper spinal and pelvic structural alignment.  Dysfunction in the lumbar spine and pelvic joints has been shown to cause back pain during pregnancy.  Research has shown that as many as 56% of pregnant women experience back pain.  A properly aligned lumbar spine and pelvis not only ensures a reduction of pain, but allows for sufficient space for the developing baby, leading to a quicker and easier delivery. 
Gonstead chiropractic uses great care to ensure the most accurate, painless, and safe adjustment possible.  It is so safe that care can continue until the day of delivery.  The Gonstead system employs special adjusting tables with the necessary modifications for each stage of pregnancy.  Gonstead chiropractic care, in combination with other healthy lifestyle habits, provides the best opportunity for a healthy and happy baby.

The Importance of Good Sleep

Good sleep is just as important as exercising regularly or a healthy diet.  It is essential to your overall health and well-being.  Many people do not know that lack of sleep increases the risk of developing chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, heart disease and type II diabetes.  It can also affect productivity, relationships and accident risk.  Here are a few tips to help increase and improve your sleep:

• Get enough sleep.  Most adults need 8 hours for optimum results.
• Consistency is king.  Try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time each night.  Nap only when needed, as too much daytime sleep interferes with night sleep.
• Get physical.  Exercise during the day-but not just before going to sleep.
• Avoid consumption of caffeine, nicotine or alcohol in the late afternoon or evening.  Caffeine and nicotine stimulate the brain and elevate heart rate and blood pressure.  Alcohol causes drowsiness, but fragments your sleep later on.
• Monitor your meals.  Do not go to bed full or hungry.  Heavy digestion competes with quality sleep, but so does hunger.  Eat dinner several hours before bedtime and snack lightly if hungry at bedtime.  A balanced diet is best.
• Give your mind a break.  Relax an hour before bedtime with prayer or meditation, a bath or a good book.  Making a "to do" list for the following day can also help clear your mind before sleep.
• Create a comfortable sleeping environment by limiting the amount of light in the room, eliminating or masking noise, and maintaining a temperature of about 65 degrees.
• Sleep on your back or side, not on your stomach.  Stomach sleeping places more stress on your neck and lower back.

What is the Gonstead Difference?

The Gonstead System of Chiropractic is know as the Gold Standard within the chiropractic profession.  It is unique because it is thorough, precise and specific in both analyzing and adjusting the spine.  The Gonstead Technique focuses on the structural relationship of the spine and nervous system with its overall effect on health.  It underscores that a specific approach toward correcting spinal conditions will produce long-lasting and often permanent results that last well beyond the recommended treatment plan.  Gonstead practitioners address the entire spine when evaluating for the presence of a structural misalignment pattern (vertebral subluxation) which causes ill health. 

The Gonstead chiropractor conducts a thorough analysis of your spine using five criteria to detect the presence of the vertebral subluxation complex.
1. Instrumentation: The instrument of choice in the Gonstead System is the Nervoscope.  The Nervoscope detects uneven distributions of heat along the spine which can be indicative of infammation and nerve pressure.  This instrument is guided down the length of your back and feels like two fingers gliding down each side of your spine.
2. Static Palpation: This is simply the process of feeling (or palpating) your spine in a stationary (or static) position.  The Gonstead practitioner will feel for the presence of swelling (or edema), tenderness and any abnormal texture or tightness in the muscles and other tissues of your back.
3. Motion Palpation: This process involves feeling the spine while moving and bending it at various angles.  This enables the doctor to determine how easily or difficult each segment in your spine moves in different directions. 
4. X-ray Analysis: X-ray films enable the doctor to visualize the entire structure of your spine.  This is helpful in evaluating for any disease processes, fracture, posture, joint and disc integrity and vertebral misalignments.
5. Visualization: Visualization is a way to cross reference all the other findings.  Gonstead practitioners look for subtle changes in your posture and movement which could indicate any problems.

After a complete analysis, the Gonstead practitioner is ready to deliver any necessary adjustments.  The focus of the Gonstead adjustment is to be as specific, precise and accurate as possible, addressing only the problem areas (areas of subluxation).  Great care is taken to ensure a mechanically correct position and precise thrust to provide the most accurate and painless adjustment possible.  It is the goal of a Gonstead doctor to restore and maintain optimal health by locating and correcting any interference to the nervous system cause by structural misalignment patterns (vertebral subluxations).

For more information, visit our website at www.valleychiroassoc.com.