Dr. Stripling’s 3 more for the core, Race season 2013, and this week’s 1-Page Health News.

This week, we have another video for you on core exercises. Dr. Stripling shows three basic exercises that will strengthen and condition the entire body. As simple as these movements seem, there are a few cues to keep in mind to improve both safety and performance. Check it out with the link below.
For those who race, triathlon / cycling / running season are swinging into full gear right around now. Dr. Hyman’s race schedule for 2013 is looking like this:

  • June 1, Xterra Lory, Horsetooth Reservoir
  • July 20, Xterra Beaver Creek, Avon / Beaver Creek
  • August 17, Rattlesnake Olympic, Aurora Reservoir
  • August 24, Xterra Buffalo Creek

Stay tuned for Dr. Stripling’s Event schedule, which he says will include some CrossFit Competitions and some Century rides.

Mental Attitude: Smoking and Anxiety. The belief that smoking relieves stress is pervasive, but likely wrong. Smoking is actually anxiogenic (causes anxiety) and successful quitters usually experience a drop in anxiety.
British Journal of Psychiatry, January 2013

Health Alert: Obesity and Stroke: In males and females ages 5-14, the number of ischemic stroke hospitalizations increased 31% and 36%, respectively, from 1994 to 2007. For ages 15-34 the increase was 51% for males and 17% for females. For ages 35- 44, the increase was 47% for men and 36% for females. The increase in obesity seems to be the primary cause.
CDC, February 2011

Exercise: Aerobic or Resistance Training? A study of 234 adults compared the effects of aerobic training (AT), resistance training (RT) and both aerobic training and resistance training (AT/RT). Researches found the participants in the AT/RT group both increased lean mass (muscle) and decreased body fat, while the RT group did not decrease body fat, and the AT group did not increase lean mass. Journal of Applied Physiology, December 2012

Active Release / Chiropractic: Pregnancy and Back Pain. 20% of women who suffer from severe back pain during pregnancy refrain from having more children out of fear their severe back pain would recur with another pregnancy. Just for the record, WE treat pregnant women using both Active Release and gentle adjustments. Back pain and sciatica are the most common complaints. Obstetrics & Gynecology, February 1998

Wellness/Prevention: How Are You Doing This Year? Only 8% of people succeed in achieving their top New Year’s
Resolution. Journal of Clinical Psychology, December 2012

Quote: “Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

Car accident injuries- how to avoid them, part 2

Last month, we discussed car safety features, proper headrest position, how to prepare for a crash, and to seek immediate treatment as ways to minimize the chances of suffering from whiplash in the event of an accident. Here are four more ways to avoid or minimize whiplash:

PAY ATTENTION WHILE YOU DRIVE. Too often, we get distracted while driving. Any time our eyes leave the road, the potential for an accident increases significantly. This can occur when changing the radio to a different station, eating while driving, reading while driving, talking on the phone, texting (equals the effects of 2-3 alcoholic beverages), driving under the influence of certain prescription medications (pain killers for example), driving under the influence of alcohol or other chemical agents, and turning your head during conversation. We have a responsibility when we are driving to keep our eyes on the road, as many accidents occur within split seconds of time. If we are not paying attention, we will not be able to avoid a potential collision.

THE CONCEPT OF “NO CRUSH, NO CRASH INJURY” IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE. In fact, just the opposite is true. That is, the greater the amount of crushing metal at the time of collision, the greater the amount of energy absorption that occurs, resulting in less force transferred to the contents inside the vehicle (namely you or me). This is why, many times, people are injured in low speed collisions because there is no energy absorbed by crushing metal as noted by the absence of or, minimal damage to the car.

FOLLOWING YOUR DOCTOR’S ORDERS. It is very important that we do not inadvertently hurt or harm ourselves further by NOT following the advice of our health care practitioner. This means initially using ice to reduce inflammation and swelling, possibly wearing a soft cervical collar during the first few days after the injury to “rest” the injured structures, following proper nutritional advice for optimal healing benefits, and following exercise recommendations. This last treatment approach is vital in the prevention of long term, chronic neck complaints. Other ways you can REALLY help are to follow cervical traction orders.

Cervical traction is a very effective method of reducing muscle spasm, separating the joint spaces, improving disk nutrient transfer and water content, reduce the pinching effect of the nerves, and as a result, speeding up the recovery process. Follow your treatment schedule; that is, DON’T SKIP APPOINTMENTS! During office visits, it is necessary to discuss not only what is working well, but also what may not be working so modifications to your care plan can occur on a timely basis. The primary goal of whiplash management is to prevent the condition from becoming chronic and long-term, and the first few weeks of treatment are critical!

ERGONOMIC MODIFICATIONS. An important part of managing whiplash injuries is preventing daily irritations from tasks that we have to do. Hence, we will discuss adjusting your work station for optimum positioning and avoidance of poor posture, such as using office chairs with arm rests, sitting posture modifications, and computer monitor positioning. Proper sleep positions and pillow design are also reviewed.

This week’s 1-Page health News from Denver Chiropractic Center

Health Alert: High Fructose Corn Syrup and Type-2 Diabetes. Researchers found a 20% higher proportion of the population has diabetes in countries with high use of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), like the United States, compared to countries that do not, like the United Kingdom. The United States has the highest consumption of HFCS at 55 lbs (~25 kg) per year per person. The United Kingdom consumes 1.1 lbs (~.5 kg) per year per person.

Global Public Health, November 2012

Diet: Food Advertising. Childhood obesity has tripled in the past 30 years. Food companies spend $10 billion a year marketing in the United States, and 98% of that is on foods high in fat, sugar, or sodium.

Journal of Pediatrics, November 2012

Exercise: Walk Much? The more moderate physical activity (like brisk walking) you do, the better. Compared to doing nothing at all, seventy five minutes of vigorous walking per week was linked to living an extra 1.8 years. Walking briskly for 450 minutes or more per week was found to provide most people with a 4.5-year longer lifespan. The longer people spent each week being moderately active, the greater their longevity. Heart, November 2012

Chiropractic: Keep Your Disks Healthy. In normal healthy disks, the nerves (sinuvertebral) only sense pain on the periphery or outer regions of the disk. In grossly degenerated disks, nerves may penetrate into the center (nucleus) of the disk and be more vulnerable to degeneration and/or inflammation. Lancet, 1997

Wellness/Prevention: Cell Phone Addiction. Cell phone and instant messaging addictions are driven by materialism and impulsiveness and can be compared to consumption pathologies like compulsive buying and credit card misuse. Cell phones may be used as part of the conspicuous consumption ritual and may also act as a pacifier for the impulsive tendencies of the user. Impulsiveness plays an important role in both behavioral and substance addictions.

Journal of Behavioral Addictions, November 2012

This week’s 1-page health news…

Dr. Stripling is back this week showing you how to stretch those hamstrings out. Video link is at the bottom of this page.

Mental Attitude: Multiple Media Use. Media use among United States youth has increased 20% in the past decade, and the amount of time spent multitasking with media has spiked 120%. Using multiple forms of media at the same time (ie. playing a computer game while watching TV) has been linked to symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, December 2012

Diet: Rice Bran. The bioactive components in rice bran show anti-cancer activity, including the ability to inhibit cell proliferation, alter cell cycle progression, and initiate the programmed cell death (known as apoptosis) in malignant cells. Bioactive components of rice bran act not only within cancer cells but around the cells to create conditions in the surrounding tissues that promote the function of healthy cells while inhibiting the function of cancer cells. This tissue microenvironment activity includes controlling chronic inflammation, often a precursor for cancer. Rice bran may also promote an anti-cancer immune response and protect against cancer. Advances in Nutrition, December 2012

Exercise: Want A Healthy Brain? Physical exercise is important when it comes to maintaining a healthy brain. Scientists found that Growth Hormone (stimulated by exercise) increases the amount of stem cells that actively generate new nerve cells in the brain. Growth Hormone also slows and can even reverse the decline in new nerve cell formation normally seen as our bodies age. University of Queensland, November 2012

Chiropractic: Bone Spurs? Bone spurs (osteophytes) are bony projections that form off of bones in and along joints, and are often seen with arthritis. Bone spurs can limit joint motion and can cause joint pain. Bone spurs form when the body tries to increase the surface area of the joint to better distribute weight across a joint surface that has been damaged by arthritis. To slow formation and alleviate symptoms, it has been shown that joint motion improves nutrition to the tissue and maintains the health of the joint. Spine, 1977 In our opinion, Active Release Techniques soft tissue work combined with spinal adjusting is the best way to restore or maintain joint mobility.

Wellness/Prevention: Sleep and Insulin Resistance. High levels of insulin resistance can lead to the development of diabetes. Teenagers who normally sleep six hours a night can improve insulin resistance by 9% by simply sleeping one additional hour. This probably extrapolates to adults as well Sleep, October 2012

Quote: “He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.” ~ Thomas Carlyle

Dr. Glenn Hyman’s Crossfit Gym & this week’s 1-Page Health News

People are always asking me (Glenn) where I workout. Meredith and I train using a blend of Crossfit and Crossfit Endurance in exactly 91 sq ft of our basement (plus the outside stuff of course). You’d be surprised how much you can do in 91 sq ft with kettlebells, a barbell bumper set, a pull up bar and some imagination. (Secret hint for our loyal blog readers- Stay tuned for an upcoming announcement regarding Crossfit, Dr. Stripling & myself – it’s gonna be a biggie!) Anyway, here’s my present Cossfit Gym:

Speaking of Dr. Stripling, his popular video series is back this week. This time around, Dr. Stripling shows you some quick and easy self-help strategies for the low back.The  link is at the bottom of this email.

Health Alert: Childhood Obesity Rates Falling! During the first decade of the 21st century, childhood obesity rates among children in lower income families in the United States have decreased (14.94% in 2010 vs. 15.21% in 2003). The Journal of the American Medical Association, December 2012

Diet: Red Wine and Cancer. Resveratrol, a chemical found in red wine, is thought to help prevent cancer. Lab models designed to identify any benefits from consuming the amount of resveratrol in 2 daily glasses of wine found a reduction in the rate of bowel tumors by around 50%.(Note-Yay!) University of Leicester, December 2012

Exercise: Good Vibrations. Within 7 months of starting a poor diet, normal mice became obese, with significant damage to their immune and skeletal systems. Daily 15-minute treatments of low-intensity vibration, barely perceptible to human touch, helped restore the immune and skeletal systems of the mice towards those of mice fed a regular diet. If this effect translates to humans, it could have benefits for obese people suffering from immune problems related to their obesity. The FASEB Journal, December 2012

Chiropractic: Quit Smoking! Smokers suffering from spinal disorders and related back pain reported greater discomfort than those who stopped smoking during an 8 month treatment period. Patients who had never smoked and prior smokers reported significantly less back pain than current smokers and those who had quit smoking during their care. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, December 2012

Wellness/Prevention: Sleep and Pain? In a recent study, participants who slept 1.8 hours more per night had increased daytime alertness and less pain sensitivity than those who slept their normal amount. Sleep, December 2012

Quote: “What is called genius is the abundance of life and health.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Do the Chiropractors at Denver Chiropractic Center Help Patients With Headaches?

This seems like an easy question to answer, doesn’t it? The answer of course being, YES!!! However, there are many people who suffer with headaches who have never been to a chiropractor or have not even ever considered it as a “good option.”

So, rather than having me “reassure you” that chiropractic works GREAT for headache management, let’s look at the scientific literature to see if “they” (the scientific community) agree or not.

In a 2011 meta-analysis, researchers reviewed journals published through 2009 and found 21 articles that met their inclusion criteria and used the results to develop treatment recommendations. Researchers discovered there is literature support utilizing Chiropractic care for the treatment of migraine headaches of either episodic or chronic migraine. Similarly, support for the Chiropractic treatment of cervicogenic headaches, or headaches arising from the neck region (see last month’s Health Update), was reported

In addition, joint mobilization (the “non-cracking” type of neck treatment such as figure 8 stretching and manual traction) or strengthening of the deep neck flexor muscles may improve symptoms in those suffering from cervicogenic headaches as well. The literature review also found low load craniocervical mobilization may be helpful for longer term management of patients with episodic or chronic tension-type headaches where manipulation was found to be less effective.

We add Active Release Techniques to this treatment arsenal to release tension in the muscles in the neck and at the base of the skull. These tight muscles are often the overlooked culprit in people with headaches,

Okay, we realize this is all fairly technical, so sorry about that. But, it is important to “hear” this so when people ask you why are going to a chiropractor for your headaches, you can say that not only that it helps a lot, but there are a lot of scientific studies that support it too!

Bottom line is that it DOES REALLY HELP and maybe, most importantly, it helps WITHOUT drugs and their related side effects. Just ask someone who has taken some of the headache medications what their side-effects were and you’ll soon realize a non-drug approach should at least be tried first since it carries few to no side effects.

We realize that you have a choice in where you choose your healthcare services.  If you, a friend or family member requires care for headaches, we sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence shown by choosing our services and look forward in serving you and your family presently and, in the future. 

Low Back Pain, Balance, and Foot Orthotics

Low back pain (LBP) can result from many causes, and sometimes it just occurs for reasons that are not clear, such as the accumulation of stresses that occur over time. Many causes of low back pain have been described such as bending over “wrong,” combined bending and twisting, lifting, over reaching, climbing, sitting too long, repetitious activities at home or work, sports injuries, being out of shape, and so on. But what about balance? Because poor balance leads to falling, which is the #1 cause of injuries in the elderly, ANYTHING that we can do to improve our balance should help prevent falls and hence low back injuries. Let’s look at strategies to improve our balance…

First, let’s measure our ability to balance by using a simple test you can do yourself. Stand on one leg in the corner of a room or in a doorway where you can easily grab onto something if you feel like you’re going to fall. Try to do this without holding on to anything, first with your eyes open and a second time with your eyes closed. If you have a stopwatch, click it when you start and stop (when you put your foot down). Otherwise, count, “…1001, 1002, 1003, etc.” Studies have shown that for those under 60 years old, you’re “normal” if you can balance on one leg with your eyes open for 30 seconds and 25 seconds with your eyes closed. Between ages 60-69, normal is 23 sec. (eyes open) and 10 sec. (eyes closed) is normal. If you’re 70-79 years old, normal is 14 seconds (eyes open) and 4 seconds (eyes closed). Give it a try! Notice how “normal” drops as we age. From 25 sec. to 4 sec. between age 59 and 70 is pretty dramatic! No wonder falling is so common among the elderly!

So, now that you’ve tested yourself, I’m guessing you aren’t too impressed with your balance skills. The question now is, how can we improve our balance? Performing balance exercises with a rocker, wobble board or cushion is VERY EFFECTIVE! You’ll be surprised that if you use this for 10 minutes a day, the improvement in balance is significant in just 2 weeks. Another method takes no effort at all on your part, and that is the use of  made foot orthotics. Simply known as arch supports, foot orthotics (the good “prescription” kind) correct the rolling in or out of the heel bone, referred to as pronation (rolling in = most common) or supination (rolling out) by wedging the heel of the orthotic/arch support. This stabilizes the ankle joint, reduces the inward or outward shift at the knee and hip joints, and as a result, improves our balance.

Results of a recent study proved this to be the case. Researchers studied 13 subjects over 65 years of age who reported at least 1 unexpected fall in the past 12 months and measured their balance skills using a similar test as the one you just tried as well as 3 other tests (tandem stance, tandem gait, and alternating step tests) twice before and twice after starting use of  foot orthotic intervention (immediately after and 2 weeks later). In each of the 4 balance tests, improvement was statistically significant in the post-tests and 2-week later follow-up tests PROVING that balance is effectively improved when wearing foot orthotics. We recommend doing BOTH the exercises and the use of  foot orthotics to obtain even better results. Since falling is such a common occurrence at any age, especially in those over 60-65 years old, these simple strategies seem like a “no-brainer” to implement into a treatment program, especially for people with poor bone density at high risk for fractures.

At Denver Chiropractic Center we offer the-semi-custom Aline Foot Suspension system. In our opinion these are better than rigid orthotics because they allow your foot’s natural arches to function while providing a moderate amount of support. This allows your foot to naturally strengthen its intrinsic muscles. Call us for your more info 303.300.0424.