Click here to go to the Newsletter Archives
Adjust Back To Health Newsletter
Issue VII - March 2006
Welcome to our office's Chiropractic newsletter.
We'd like to entertain you, inform you (and even inspire you a little).
♣ TABLE OF CONTENTS
Your discs - Chiropractic keeps them happy ♣
Between your spinal bones (vertebrae) are flexible, gel-like pads called intervertebral discs. You have 23 discs and they help give your spine its curves, flexibility and strength (a curved, flexible spine is much stronger than a straight, rigid one). Discs act like shock absorbers so your vertebrae don't crash into each other when you walk (which would be very painful); they also connect your vertebrae together.
Discs affect your height too - you are about ¼"- ½" taller when you wake up than when you went to bed the night before because walking and sitting make your discs thin a little each day; they expand back while you lie in sleep (astronauts gain about 1" in height due to weightlessness).
A proper alignment between the disc, the vertebrae and other structures in the spine is essential for healthy discs and that is why chiropractic has such an excellent record with disc sufferers, often saving them from the bleak prospect of back surgery. MRI and CT scans have shown that chiropractic care can reduce and correct lumbar disc protrusion or hernation.
Chiropractic spinal care may help prevent disc deterioration and herniation in the first place. Can you visit a chiropractor even if you've already had surgery? Yes! Chiropractors have helped many people relieve the pain and frustration of failed back surgery and may help prevent future operations. However surgery permanently changes the body - it's far better to prevent such operations, especially since they often don't work. See the next article.
(top)
Spinal surgery for disc herniation and low back pain? Think chiropractic.
Half a million Americans will get back surgery this year and many doctors believe most of them don't need it. Why? First, because the operation has a very high failure rate (the pain comes back, never leaves or gets worse); second, surgical accidents can cause impotence and bladder problems; and third, natural approaches such as chiropractic can get most people better at a fraction of the cost without the dangers of surgery.
For disc herniations or painful "pinched" nerves thousands of Americans who aren't lucky enough to try chiropractic care go under the knife and have spinal surgery. From 1993 to 2003 the number of spinal fusion surgeries more than quadrupled, from 60,972 to 297,883 according to the Health-Care Cost and Utilization Project. Costs went from $24,045.00 to $48,672.00. If you know anyone facing this surgery, please refer them to our office.
Note: The National Institutes of Health is spending $14 million to find out if back surgery even works. (1)
(top) ♣
Chiropractic and spinal research
Do you know anyone living on drugs? They may have years of uncorrected subluxations in their body. Please tell them about chiropractic.
Surveys show people are very happy with their chiropractors. In one survey 83.3% rated their chiropractic experience as excellent. As many as 92.5% stated they would definitely recommend their chiropractor to others. (2)
Improvement in hearing. The first chiropractic patient had his hearing restored after 17 years of deafness. A more recent study was performed to see if a single chiropractic adjustment showed improvement in hearing. Fifteen patients (9 male, 6 female) were all classified as hearing impaired. After one adjustment 6 had hearing restored, 7 improved and 2 had no change at 40dB while 11 improved, 4 had no change and 3 missed a tone at 25dB. (3)
Learning and behavioral problems. A 1975 study compared chiropractic care with drug treatment in children with learning and behavioral dysfunction. Chiropractic was found to be "more effective for a wide range of neurological dysfunctions" (13 different conditions were compared). (4)
(top)
♣ 10 ways to avoid outrageous hospital overcharges (besides staying out of them)
Knowing that Nora Johnson's family would have to pay a percentage of the costs, she requested an itemized bill.
Estimates on hospital overcharges run up to $10 billion a year, with an average of $1,300 per hospital stay. Other experts say overcharges make up approximately 5% of hospital bills.
"I've seen $90 charged for a 70-cent I.V. How about $129 for a mucous recovery system? That's a box of Kleenex," Johnson adds. She's also seen charges for ordinary supplies, such as towels and sheets, that should be included in the room charges.
For the full article, click here.
(top)
Study: More medical care doesn't mean more health
Here is another study showing that more medical care doesn't improve health or affect longevity. This study of California hospitals showed that more care could be harmful because exposure to infections, accidents and errors could increase patients' death rate. (5)
(top)
Low fat = low health ♣
You need fat in your diet. You need fat for a healthy life. Low fat, low-cholesterol diets weaken bones (fats are needed for calcium absorption into bones), make you more susceptible to cancer, mental illness (most of your brain is cholesterol), and suicide and also weaken your immune system. Get rid of trans-fats such as margarine, which is practically plastic and use butter, natural oils and fats instead.
Remember, fat doesn't make you fat - carbohydrates do. Stay away from fluffy food so you won't become fluffy. Avoid bread, pasta, pastries, wheat and sugar and you'll see less inflammation, weight problems, diabetes, heart disease and body fat. (6)
(top)
Diet soda causes weight gain?
Stop drinking this stuff. It's bad for your body, your brain, your overall health and it doesn't make you thinner. It can even be addictive. Now a 26-year heart study at the University of Texas Health Science Center (San Antonio) found that diet soda drinkers tend to be overweight. Even in normal weight people, "the risk of being overweight or obese increased 65% more with each diet drink per day." (7)
(top)
Words of wisdom
Every human being is the author of his own health or disease. - Buddha
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens. - Carl Jung ♣
I don't believe in pessimism. If something doesn't come up the way you want, forge ahead. If you think it's going to rain, it will. - Clint Eastwood
(top)
Flu vaccine a big failure
The ads say "The flu shot saves lives" but it's not so; the flu vaccine isn't preventing death in the elderly, the "high risk group" that is told to get a flu shot to reduce mortality according to a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Although immunization rates in those over 65 have increased 50% in the past 20 years there has been no decline in flu related deaths. In addition to ineffectiveness the flu shot's typical ingredients include aluminum, which is associated with Alzheimer's and seizures, mercury which is linked to brain damage, ADHD and autism and phenol, a carcinogen.
Additionally mortality rates for those over 85 between 1968 and 2001 showed no change as well. The authors add: "Studies substantially overestimate vaccination benefit." A more diplomatic way of saying it's useless. (8)
(top)
Breastfeeding prevents leukemia
Leukemia is the leading cause of cancer death in children under the age of 15. In a recent study it was discovered that breastfeeding lowers a child's risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) by 24%. Even breastfeeding for less than 6 months had a (lesser) protective effect. Breastfeeding also protects against acute myoblastic leukemia (AML). (9) ♣
(top)
Humor
Things you should have learned by the time you have reached Middle age:
-
For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program. ♣
-
Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.
-
A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good.
-
No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.
-
Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
-
Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.
-
Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
-
Someone who thinks logically, provides a nice contrast to the real world.
-
If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.
-
If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.
-
♣ Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.
-
By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.
-
A person, who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)
-
If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, & never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."
-
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
-
The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.
-
You should not confuse your career with your life. ♣
-
Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
-
The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.
-
You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
(top)
Bye – see you next month...even if it’s just on e-mail.
We’ll make sure you all know when this baby decides to show up. Don't forget to stop by for a spinal checkup and an adjustment by the end of the month! ♣
We'll be happy to add your friends and relatives with e-mail to our mailing list.
References
1. http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=health&id=3598653
2. Cates JR. Evaluating the quality of clinical practice guidelines. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2001;24(9):612-618.
3. Di Duro JO. Improvement in hearing after chiropractic care: A case series. Chiropractic & Osteopathy. 2006;14(2):1-17.
4. Walton EV. The effects of chiropractic treatment on students with learning and behavioral impairments due to neurological dysfunction. Int'l Rev Chiropractic. 1975;29(4-5):24-26.
5. http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Insurance/
Insureyourhealth/P74840.asp?GT1=7823
6. Howard BV et al. Low-fat dietary pattern and risk of cardiovascular disease. JAMA. 2006;295(6):655-666.
7. Drink more diet soda, gain more weight? WebMD Medical News. June 13, 2005. www.webmd.com
8. Simonsen L et al. Impact of influenza vaccination on seasonal mortality in the US elderly population. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2005;165:265-272.
9. Kwan ML, Buffler PA, Abrams B, Kiley VA. Breastfeeding and the risk of childhood leukemia: A meta-analysis. Public Health Rep. 2004;119:521-535.
(top) ♣
Newsletter Archive 
