No time of the year is like summer, especially in upstate NY.  The lakes, the parks, the weather, it's a great place to live.  One aspect of summer we see occur every year is the lack of proper wellness care.  We all get so focused on the fun to be had in the summer months, that our health gets put on the back burner.  Ironically, it's a great time to step it up and focus on your health.  Late night summer walks, early morning runs, fresh vegetables at the farmers market, and sitting on the porch listening to the crickets chirp to clear your head from the busy day.  Do yourself a favor today.  Walk during lunch time, grab a water instead of that soda, make time to just sit outside tonite and listen.  Summer IS the time to focus on your health...Be Well!

I emplore everyone to read this story that describes a typical story how our children get directed to live a medicated life.  Please comment with your thoughts!

 

Little Johnny was born in the hospital. His mother was given medications to "assist" her in the process. The drugs slowed her contractions and as a result, it was recommended by the experts that a caesarian be performed as to not risk the damage that a protracted delivery may cause. The motions around Johnny's mother became frantic, and after cutting her open, they grabbed Little Johnny's necks and twisted and pulled. There was great concern in getting him out. There was little concern about the excess physical, chemical, and emotional stresses caused by the process.

When Little Johnny was an infant, he "caught" a cold. The people who loved and care about him the most put a medication formula in his bottle and smiled as he drank it because they felt assured that he would now get better.

At five years of age, Little Johnny fell off his bike, scraped his arm and "twisted" his neck. The people who love and care about him the most, his parents, cleaned his wounds and gave him two St. Joseph's aspirin. They smiled warmly and explained to him that now he would be fine and that the pain in his neck would be made better by the aspirin.

At nine years of age, Little Johnny was playing little league football. Going through the line, he took a hard hit to the helmet. He came off the field complaining of neck pain. The next morning, he woke up with a scratchy throat and congestion, his neck still sore. The parents felt reassured because now he was old enough for Junior Tylenol. How wonderful, they thought, that their boy was getting old enough to have more medications available for use when necessary. The people who loved and care about him the most gave him the drugs, feeling good because their fears were laid to rest as they helped their boy. At 12 years of age, that same sore throat and congestion came back. However, this time the Junior Tylenol didn't work. Johnny's symptoms persisted. So now the people who loved and cared for Johnny the most took him to the person they respected the most in such matters, they guy or gal in the white coat, the pediatrician. The pediatrician did a very thorough evaluation of Johnny, talked to his parents, and then gave Johnny drugs.

Johnny's experience for his entire life has been when he felt bad, the people who loved and care about him the most gave him drugs. The people we respect the most as having the greatest amount of knowledge in these matters gave him drugs.

Now Johnny is 16 years old and in high school. He doesn't make the basketball team and the girl he likes rejects him. He feels bad. What has been his training and programming his entire life? And we can't understand why the youth of our nation take drugs when we've programmed them to do it their entire lives.

The average 18 year old in the USA has seen 20,000 hours of drug commercials! Imagine the contradictions we feed our children as they are taught to "just say no" to drugs, while we feed drugs to them in record proportions. We are not winning the drug war in this country, nor shall we, as long as the culture persists in such a way. To paraphrase Einstein, " You cannot resolve problems with the same level of thinking that existed when the problem was created." We have a problem. What is your level of thinking?

This story hits home with the addition of this MSNBC story about this very problem..

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/i

This article really shows the drug problem that we have in this country.  Prescription drugs are more of a problem then illegal drugs when it comes to kids.  Lets all focus more on teaching our kids that any drug is never the answer to any problem.  Please read and share this article with those that you know have children on medications.  There are other answers that don't involve drugs of any sort.  Seek those solutions out, ask your wellness doctor.  The answers are out there, you just have to ask the right people.  Please read on...

On June 16, 2009, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius submitted a report to Congress, evaluating chiropractic services under Medicare. A survey was conducted of 3,464 people seeking chiropractic care for pain and/or difficulty walking, whose symptoms were described as severe or very severe, with 2/3 of those patients reporting that their symptoms "interfered considerably" in their usual daily activities. They were treated with chiropractic adjustments and various physical therapy modalities like EMS, ultrasound, ice and heat.

The astonishing results (to those outside chiropractic, anyway) were as follows: of the approximately 2500 people who responded to the survey, 60% of the respondents got "complete" or "a lot" of symptomatic
relief from chiropractic care, with 87% reporting a satisfaction rating of 8, 9, or 10. The patients who received "moderate" or "complete" relief from treatment by other strategies, like pills, injections, or
surgery was - 11%.

If my math is right, then it's about five times more likely that a patient suffering from severe neuro-musculo-skeletal symptoms will respond to chiropractic care than any other discipline. If I was suffering from severe neuro-musculo-skeletal symptoms, I think I'd want to know that. Put aside the likelihood of iatrogenic consequences and side effects, or the cost-effectiveness, let's just look at these outcomes for a second.

If you were hurting, wouldn't you want the approach that gave five times better results? Dr. Narson comments, "Chiropractic is clearly validated as an effective form of treatment for those with neuro-musculo-skeletal conditions such as back pain, neck pain, hip pain and shoulder pain. It's time that the medical profession - welcomes chiropractic physicians as partners in the treatment of these conditions for the - benefit of the patient.

Once organic disease is ruled out, ALL neuro-musculo-skeletal - pain patients should be referred first for
chiropractic evaluation and care. This report to Congress clearly shows this as an emerging standard of
care and an integrated approach with this understanding would clearly benefit the patient."

To save money and get better results try all natural, wellness care interventions first.  No harm is done and according to this study better results occur.  Until next time, Be Well!

Now more than ever, emotional health is declining.  We must all make a concerted effort to raise our standards to elevate our mental well-being.  The research states this aspect of health is the most overlooked.  Here are some tips to raise your standards and your level of mental wellness.

Now I know that sounds like a sarcastic title but really??  Those of us in the holistic, natural health care field have known this for years.  This is not a new concept or a "medical discovery."  This concept is natural health care 101.  The issue hear is that medicine is realizing that consumers are seeking out alternatives to a failing "outside-in" approach to health and wellness.  Now millions of dollars are being dumped into researching if vitamins can be used to "treat"disease.  Wrong paradigm folks!  "Inside-out" is how your body heals and stays healthy.  Give the body what it needs, you avoid cancer, heart disease and most chronic illness.  Sound familiar?  As wellness chiropractors we have been saying this all along.  Look at some old blogs, go to our website, subscribe to our newsletter or any natural wellness newsletter.  We knew this and now medicine is playing catch up.  That being said I would like to share some information I recently compiled about the health benefits of vitamin D.  This complete article can be seen in the latest issue of Eco-local.  You can pick it up at your local cafe or business.  Stay Well!

With winter upon us we all need to be aware of shoveling properly and safely.  Shoveling, like raking is a very unnatural motion and can lead to injury of the spine, mainly spinal subluxation.  Two articles appeared in recent publications and i would like to share them with you. 

One of two such articles appeared in the December 2009 issue of To Your Health magazine and the other on the NorthJersey.com local news website on January 6, 2010. The To Your Health article points out that the average shovel full of snow weighs about 5 to 10 pounds. They point out that the combination of bending, lifting, and twisting, along with the exposure to freezing weather conditions, can be stressful on the spine.

The two articles gave a list of helpful hints for proper snow shoveling to avoid spinal problems. These hints can not only be applied to snow shoveling, but also to many other similar activities. These include the following.

• Do a warm-up first. A tight, stiff body is asking for injury.
• Layer your clothing. Layered clothing will keep your muscles warm and flexible.
• Wear the right shoes. Choose shoes with plenty of cushioning in the soles to absorb the impact of walking on hard, frozen ground.
• Use the right size shovel. Your shovel should be about chest high on you, allowing you to keep your back straight when lifting.
• Drink lots of water. Drinking water frequently throughout the day helps to keep muscles and body hydrated.
• Use proper posture. When you do shovel, bend your knees and keep your back straight while lifting with your legs. Push the snow straight ahead; don't try to throw it.
• Take your time. Working too hard, too fast is an easy way to strain muscles. Take frequent breaks.
• See your chiropractor. Gentle spinal manipulation will help keep your back flexible and minimize the chance for injury. If you do overdo it, your chiropractor can help you feel better and prevent more injury.

A concept of health that runs through all holistic practices is one of Above-Down, Inside -Out.  This is the philosophy that our bodies heal and function from the brain down thru the body, and from the inside out.  This paradigm is 180 degrees opposite then medical practice.  Medicine treats the body from the outside in.  This simple difference has kept these professions distant for over one hundred years.  When making decisions about your health and well-being it's extremely important to understand the basic concepts of these two health practices.  One is treating the patient and one is treating the disease.  As a side note, this was best portrayed in the movie "Patch Adams" with Robin Williams.  He is a brilliant medical doctor who realizes the flaw in the outside-in philosophy of healing and decides to make a change.  He continues to practice today with the paradigm of "treating the patient" and not the condition.  I recommend that anyone who wants to learn more about "Above-down, Inside-out" watch this movie today.  It changed my life!

The above headline is from a HealthDay News article published in the August 4, 2009 Atlanta Journal Constitution. A similar article also appeared on the MedPage Today website on August 5, 2009. These articles and several others covered a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC), that was also published in an advanced September 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

These articles reporting on the CDC study, showed that in the United States alone, each year more than 71,000 children, 18 years old and younger, wind up in emergency rooms for unintentional overdoses of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. The article also notes that more than two-thirds of emergency department visits are due to poisoning from prescription or over-the-counter medications. This represents more than double the rate of childhood poisonings caused by household cleaning products, plants or other items.

Lead researcher Dr. Daniel Budnitz, director of the CDC's Medication Safety Program in the division of health-care quality promotion, was quoted in the articles stating, "Medication overdoses are most common among 2-year-olds" He then reports an alarming statistic by saying, "About one out of every 180 2-year-olds visits an emergency department for a medication overdose each year."

Dr. Robert Geller, a professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and medical director of the Georgia Poison Center, added his concern about these alarming numbers by saying that "the number of children seen in the emergency room due to overdoses that are unintentional or medication errors is remarkable." He then added, "Right now, poison centers are having their funding cut. If poison centers are less available, the number of children going to emergency rooms will rise."

When this type of problem starts affecting our young ones we should realize how dangerous medications can be and do everything we can to avoid their use.  Live pro-actively, not re-actively!  That's what wellness care is all about.  Visit our website or call our office for more information.  Mention this blog and receive a wellness certificate for an examination at no charge.

The above headline comes from an October 8, 2009 story on the "Fox8Live" news show and on their website. This news story along with many others warn of the potential dangers of the H1N1 vaccine in contrast to the seriousness of the disease itself.

In the above story, Dr. Akili Graham, a family practice expert says that he and his family will not be getting the vaccine. He warns, "People are going to take the vaccine based on fear and ignorance." He warns that a more serious problem could develop, "When you start mixing the vaccine with the swine flu, when they co-join and change, they have the potential to cause major problems because of the combination of the two."


A similar story on the same day in the Virginia Beach Conservative Examiner carried the headline, "Infectious disease doctor says swine flu vaccine too risky". In this story infectious disease expert Dr. Kent Holtorf stated, "I have more concern about the vaccine than I do about the swine flu. It's been rushed to market." Dr. Holtorf, speaking about the fact that the controversial substance Thimerosal is being used as an adjuvant, added, "It's been shown to cause autism in children with mitochondrial dysfunction." When asked if he would give the shot to his kids, Dr. Holtorf answered: "I definitely would not."


On September 11, 2009, an interview appeared on the Financial Times health blog website with Dr. Tom Jefferson, a medically trained epidemiologist and Cochrane reviewer who has a special research interest in the effectiveness of vaccinations. Dr. Jefferson started his comments by answering the question of how effective are seasonal vaccines? He responded, "Our reviews either show no effect or limited effect, and poor data."



Another article on the website, Center for Medical Consumers, on September 24, 2009, Dr. Jefferson noted that the World Health Organization changed their definition of the word "pandemic" in May, 2009, just prior to classifying the "Swine Flu" as a pandemic. The earlier definition of pandemic was: "An influenza pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus appears against which the human population has no immunity, resulting in epidemics worldwide with enormous numbers of deaths and illness [emphasis in the original document]."  The NEW definition of pandemic was changed to: "A disease epidemic occurs when there are more cases of that disease than normal. A pandemic is a worldwide epidemic of a disease. An influenza pandemic may occur when a new influenza virus appears against which the human population has no immunity."


In an October 9, 2009 story on USA Today's website is a headline that says, "One-third of parents oppose H1N1 vaccines." This story reports on a poll by the Associated Press showing that parents are concerned about the safety and effectiveness of the H1N1 vaccine. The AP poll found that 38% of parents said they were unlikely to give permission for their kids to be vaccinated at school. In that same AP poll, conducted Oct. 1-5, they found that  72% of those surveyed are worried about side effects.