Family Health

Don’t you just love to watch a great rivalry between epic foes? The Yankees vs. the Red Sox, Superman vs. Lex Luther, Rocky vs. Apollo Creed? Many of us can relate to battling a nemesis, that one opponent who pushes us to our very limits. I must admit, in my 22 years of chiropractic practice, I’ve had a few. I would like to introduce you to a true adversary that has caused me to stretch my abilities beyond almost all others. I am referring to the villainous frozen shoulder!

Acupuncture and Pain
The weather is getting cooler, and winter is on its way. As the cold settles in, less outdoor activities are performed. Therefore, joint stiffness can become more noticeable. Some arthritis sufferers are able to relocate during cold months, but many people have to suffer through the winter months in pain. Medications can be expensive and have side-effects that can make winter more difficult to get through.

No-one’s life is perfect, everyone has challenges and diabetes is just one of mine. I can’t control it or change it so I have accepted it and continued living my life.

Melissa Gray, 2009- Living Well Magazine

As I enter my eleventh year with type 1 diabetes, I can joyfully say that I have lived up to these hopeful words of the young, open-minded, and maybe even somewhat naïve 14-year old girl who wrote them upon entering high school.
Now, as a more mature, experienced,

Sunglasses have become a large part of our fashion culture, with an incredible variety of shapes, sizes, styles and colors to choose from the possibilities are endless. However, are those great looking shades protecting your eyes from the harmful rays of the sun?

Working to identify effective strategies to increase physical activity among older adults, particularly women, University of Arizona researchers have identified dog ownership as a key to better health. The findings were published in the January journal Preventive Medicine, Volume 70.
Regular physical activity can positively affect health outcomes in older adults

Musculoskeletal (bone and joint) problems are on the rise in the United States. They are now one of the top reasons that people see a doctor in this country. In fact, in recent years, they have become the #1 reason for physician visits! In my orthopedic and sports medicine practice, I noticed a tremendous increase in these types of symptoms, ailments and injuries, especially in active individuals.

Even NASA agrees that the stuffy air in your home and office can be detrimental to your health. They have done the research to provide us with a list of the most air cleansing plants for you, your family and even your pets. 

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air is often more than 10 times more polluted than outdoor air. Most of us are in our offices or homes most hours of the day, hopefully with good insulation from the winter’s chill. Unfortunately, building materials, paints, finishes, furnishings and carpets release harmful chemicals into our insulated space. Other toxic chemicals are emitted from cleaning products, pesticides, and hazardous household supplies. Do you really know what the cleaning company uses?

It Does A Body Good. 

Eating for beauty benefits doesn’t mean a lifetime sentence of salad (although leafy greens do wonders for your body and your skin). Instead of feeling guilty after getting “wasted on chocolate”, you get excited, (as long as you choose the right kind of chocolate) because you’ll be reaping some beauty benefits and health rewards for treating yourself!

Some chocolate can deliver significant beauty benefits. However, the only chocolate that can supply these benefits is dark chocolate having at least 70% cocoa content. Unfortunately, most treats found in the candy aisle and conveniently located upon check-out at grocery stores and pharmacies are the wrong kind of chocolate. Dark chocolate, the good stuff, is lower in sugar and high in cocoa. It’s super-rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that nourish our bodies. For example, cocoa contains naturally occurring plant substance called; flavonoids which can contribute to a healthy heart and help reduce the risk of stroke. Dark chocolate also relaxes blood vessels, which in turn can reduce blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels. Several studies even suggest that it may also be a “feel-good” treat that increases production of mood-enhancing neurotransmitters and improved blood flow to the brain.

Celeste was expecting. She felt great and welcomed each miraculous change. The baby moved easily into the head-down position. She walked comfortably with a steady confidence throughout her last trimester. The birth went smoothly and as desired. Her midwife commented on the joy of assisting in such a wonderful delivery experience. Her recovery quickly unfolded.

How close is your vision of a "normal" pregnancy and delivery to the above? First of all, IT IS POSSIBLE! With the right game plan, the odds of a "perfect" pregnancy and delivery can be greatly improved. The purpose of this article is to introduce the many, but often little-known, benefits of chiropractic care for the expecting mother and developing fetus.

Please tell us what we are eating!

Proponents of genetic engineering (GE)—whereby DNA from unrelated species is combined to produce improved or novel organisms—insist that the benefits of increased crop yields and less agricultural waste outweigh the potential risks, but many environmental and public health advocates aren't convinced.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), one risk of GE is that our new "frankencrops" could become invasive, toxic to wildlife, or dangerous in other as-yet unknown ways. "But the most damaging impact of GE in agriculture so far is the phenomenon of pesticide resistance," reports UCS, adding that millions of acres of American farmland are infested by weeds that have become resistant to Monsanto's popular herbicide glyphosate (known to most by its trade name Roundup). "Overuse of Monsanto's 'Roundup Ready' trait, which is engineered to tolerate the herbicide, has promoted the accelerated development of resistance in several weed species."

Maggie saw Jim kick the family dog. His foot firmly connected with Grover's belly, sending him into a humiliating skid on the kitchen floor. The dog yelped and peed on the floor but he wasn't injured. Maggie was shaking with anger and a little bit of fear. It was bad enough that Jim had been yelling at her, but now he was abusing their dog? He would pay for his lapse in judgment, but right now she just wanted to get away from him. She stormed out of the kitchen and slammed the door to her bedroom.

Noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews recently authored a book about the current injury epidemic in youth sports.

Reading this book reinforced some beliefs about what I see daily in my clinic. Pre-teen and teenage athletes are constantly coming into the clinic with sports related injuries. They trickle in during the summer like drips of water from a leaky faucet. By midway through fall and into the spring, there is a steady stream of young athletes who do not make it through their seasons. Some of these injuries are traumatic, some are not. Almost all have one thing in common. The athletes who sustain them seem to be the ones who play a single sport all year round. This leads me to the topic of this month's article. What happened to the offseason?

When it comes to diabetes mellitus (DM), patients have enough to worry about. Controlling this disease is essential to maintaining the health of one's blood vessels, eyes, limbs, kidneys and numerous other parts of the body. While most patients who are diagnosed with diabetes are aware of the previously mentioned potential complications, many are surprised to hear that their diabetes can impact their oral health.
Diabetic patients report a variety of oral issues, including xerostomia (dry mouth), oral candidiasis, and poor wound healing following dental surgery. However, what dentists notice the most in their patient with poorly controlled DM is a higher prevalence of periodontitis.

Glaucoma is the second most common cause of preventable blindness in the U.S. Approximately 2 million Americans have glaucoma. Another one million do not know they have the disease. With early diagnosis and treatment, the vast majority of people can retain their vision for life. The key is early diagnosis, which can only be obtained by regular, routine eye exams.

In a healthy eye, fluid is constantly being made and drained through a microscopic, drainage canal. When something blocks or prevents this natural drainage, the pressure inside the eye goes up. Glaucoma is often caused by increased pressure that can develop when the fluids in the eye are not draining properly. This condition eventually damages the nerve that connects the eye to the brain (the optic nerve) and leads to loss of vision. In most cases, a person's side vision (peripheral vision) is noticeably affected.

Is it possible that electronics could be an underlying cause for the rise of obesity and Type II Diabetes in the American culture? Though not the sole culprit, the truth is that television, computers, tablets and phones very much contribute to the general decline in aggregate health and weight management. The reason, however, lies far deeper than merely rendering the general population less active. Rather, it has much to do with the colored light emitted from the devices' screens and the resulting negative impact on sleep. Deficiencies in sleep, in turn, handicap not only the body's ability to utilize the energy it stores in fat but also has a profound effect on the amount of fat the body will create, fostering the tendency to gain weight.

Clearly something is out of balance. More than two-thirds of all American adults over the age of 20 are overweight or obese, according to Health, United States, 2012, an annual report on the health of the nation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Center for Health Statistics. If the current trend continues, it is estimated that 42 percent of Americans – men, women and children - will be obese by 2030.

With obesity on the rise, never before in the West have so many diet programs and products been available to those who want to lose weight. Some plans count calories or carbohydrates; others control what, how much, and when you eat; a few feature supplements or appetite suppressants, diuretics or laxatives; there are the workouts regimens and repetitions; and most extreme is stomach stapling. These weight-loss regimes are well advertised in various media, and classes, books, tapes, and DVDs abound everywhere. Americans now spend an estimated $55 billion a year on diet programs and products. Why then, are so many of us overweight?

Healing shame is a vital step toward realizing your full potential and can have many unexpected benefits.. For instance, if you are less controlled by feelings of shame, you may have more energy and enthusiasm to explore your creativity, find your passion, realize your purpose, and find fulfillment.

This is where we start. This is not unique to me; on the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) webpage, the APTA describes Physical Therapists (PT's) as highly trained medical professionals that "understand how the body works and how to get you moving again." This boils down to "Movement = Life."

 Barley

“Beer, if drank in moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit, and promotes health.”Thomas Jefferson

 

Studies have revealed that beer can produce the same benefits as drinking wine. Whether you prefer ales, lagers, stout, bitter or wheat beers, studies show that one drink a day for women or up to two drinks a day for men will reduce your chances of strokes, heart and vascular disease. It's no secret that the stroke is the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S. and the leading cause of serious, long-term disabilities.
What's interesting is that it was proven (New England Journal of Medicine - Nov. 1999) that those who drank one beer a week compared to those who drank one beer a day experienced no variance in reducing stroke risks. It is said that light to moderate drinkers will decrease their chances of suffering a stroke by 20%.
A researcher at the Texas Southwestern Medical Center (May 1999) reported that those who consume moderate amounts of beer (one to two a day at the most) have a 30-40% lower rate of coronary heart disease compared to those who don't drink. Beer contains a similar amount of "˜polyphenols' (antioxidants) as red wine and 4-5 times as many polyphenols as white wine.
Alcohol has also been attributed of its ability to increase the amount of good cholesterol (HDL) into the bloodstream as well as help to decrease blood clots.
Beer also contains vitamin B6, which prevents the build-up of amino acid called homocysteine that has been linked to heart disease. Those of us who have high levels of homocysteine are usually more prone to an early onset of heart and vascular disease.

 “Clearly, drinking alcohol has some benefits. But there also are some very real risks. If you choose to drink, be mindful about it and always drink in moderation.”

— Donald Hensrud, M.D., Preventive Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.

Recently, consistent information has been provided in support of an association between light to moderate alcohol consumption and protection from vascular and all-cause mortality, ischemic stroke, peripheral arterial disease, congestive heart failure, and recurrence of ischemic events. After reviewing the information with respect to major aspects of cardiovascular pathophysiology, to potential confounders and to underlying mechanisms, several concepts emerge. First, the recommended amounts of “safe alcohol drinking” in healthy individuals are up to two standard drinks (~20 g/d) for a man and up to one drink (10 g/d) for a nonpregnant woman. 

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