Compass Chiropractic

Almost everyday we are told about the wonderful medical breakthroughs on the horizon and how they will change our lives; but do they?  With all the time and money that goes into medical research one would expect that we would be the healthiest we have ever been in history, but we know that this is not the case.  Not only are we at one of our sickest times in history, but many underdeveloped counties without our vast resources remain much healthier than us.

The bottom line is that we’re sick! The good news is that we can fix it without costly medical interventions.  What if I told you that there are four simple things you can do that would almost eliminate the chance of sick?  A study of over 23,000 Germans concluded that the follow diseases could be reduced significantly with four simple lifestyle modifications:diabetes by 93%, myocardial infarction by 81%, stroke by 50% and cancer 36%.

Here is a list of the lifestyle modifications that produced these positive effects: 1) not smoking, 2) keeping your BMI under 30,  3) getting 3.5 hours a week of physical activity, and 4) adopting a diet rich in vegetables, fruit, grains and low in meats.  Doesn’t sound so bad when you consider the benefits.

To determine your BMI (body mass index) visit the NIH website BMI Calculator.

For those of you who are not smokers your a quarter of the way to decreasing your chances of diabetes by 93% and heart attack ny 81%!  Take small steps and remember that physical activity can be performed in many different fashions and doesn’t always require going to the gym.

The following is the original study:

Healthy living is the best revenge: findings from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition-Potsdam study.

Arch Intern Med. 2009 Aug 10;169(15):1355-62.

Ford ES, Bergmann MM, Kröger J, Schienkiewitz A, Weikert C, Boeing H.
Division of Adult and Community Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA. eford@cdc.gov

BACKGROUND: Our objective was to describe the reduction in relative risk of developing major chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer associated with 4 healthy lifestyle factors among German adults.

METHODS: We used data from 23,153 German participants aged 35 to 65 years from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition-Potsdam study. End points included confirmed incident type 2 diabetes mellitus, myocardial infarction, stroke, and cancer. The 4 factors were never smoking, having a body mass index lower than 30 (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared), performing 3.5 h/wk or more of physical activity, and adhering to healthy dietary principles (high intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain bread and low meat consumption). The 4 factors (healthy, 1 point; unhealthy, 0 points) were summed to form an index that ranged from 0 to 4.

RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 7.8 years, 2006 participants developed new-onset diabetes (3.7%), myocardial infarction (0.9%), stroke (0.8%), or cancer (3.8%). Fewer than 4% of participants had zero healthy factors, most had 1 to 3 healthy factors, and approximately 9% had 4 factors. After adjusting for age, sex, educational status, and occupational status, the hazard ratio for developing a chronic disease decreased progressively as the number of healthy factors increased. Participants with all 4 factors at baseline had a 78% (95% confidence interval [CI], 72% to 83%) lower risk of developing a chronic disease (diabetes, 93% [95% CI, 88% to 95%]; myocardial infarction, 81% [95% CI, 47% to 93%]; stroke, 50% [95% CI, -18% to 79%]; and cancer, 36% [95% CI, 5% to 57%]) than participants without a healthy factor.

CONCLUSION: Adhering to 4 simple healthy lifestyle factors can have a strong impact on the prevention of chronic diseases.

Not getting enough vitamin D  may make asthma worse, according to a new study.

Researchers found that low vitamin D levels were associated with worse lung function compared to higher vitamin D levels in people with asthma.

In addition, the study showed that people with low vitamin D levels didn’t respond as well to asthma treatment  compared to people with higher vitamin D levels.

“Our findings suggest that vitamin D levels influence a number of important features of asthma, including lung function, bronchospasm, and therapeutic response to steroids,” researcher E. Rand Sutherland, MD, MPH, chief of the pulmonary division at National Jewish Health in Denver, says in a news release. “The next question to answer is whether giving supplemental vitamin D will lead to clinical improvements in patients with asthma.”

Vitamin D is most commonly produced by the skin  in response to exposure to sunlight and is also found in some foods.

To read the rest of the article on WebMD click here

It would be wonderful if all our food could be pesticide-free, but organic food isn’t cheap and we have to be selective with our grocery selections.  In this blog post we will look at the foods that contain the most and least pesticides as they reach your neighborhood grocery store.  The D.C. based non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) ranked 43 of the most commonly consumed fruits and vegetables  from highest to lowest levels of pesticides.  Below is a list of the 12 fruits and veggies  that contain the highest level of pesticides (The Dirty Dozen) and the 12 cleanest (The Consistently Clean).

The Dirty Dozen (from lowest to highest)
1. Potatoes
2. Lettuce
3. Spinach
4. Grapes
5. Pears
6. Cherries
7. Strawberries
8. Nectarines
9. Celery
10. Sweet Bell Peppers
11. Apples
12. Peaches

The Consistently Clean (from lowest to highest)

1. Onions
2. Avocado
3. Sweet corn
4. Pineapples
5. Mango
6. Asparagus
7. Sweet peas
8. Kiwi
9. Bananas
10. Cabbage
11. Broccoli
12 Papaya

Natural Calm is a isotonic form of Magnesium that is absorbed into the body at a higher rate than tablets.  The body needs a balance between Magnesium and Calcium in order to function properly.  Magnesium’s role is to relax muscles, while Calcium’s role is to contract muscles.  Due to the foods we eat, the majority of us have more Calcium in our system than we do Magnesium which leads to tightening of muscles.

See how important Dr. Hyman MD thinks Magnesium is at huffingtonpost.com

Magnesium is found in a number of food sources, but many of these foods are not in the typical American diet.  To see a list of foods that are high in Magnesium visit this page from the National Institutes of Health.

Magnesium is responsible for muscle relaxation, while calcium is responsible for muscle contraction.  If we become out of balance with a ratio of higher calcium to magnesium, our muscles have a hard time relaxing.  This is common in our diets because calcium is more common in the American diet, not to mention that a number of people take calcium supplements.

I have been using natural calm in my practice for a number of years and found that it has helped my patients with a variety of different conditions including insomnia, anxiety, constipation, migraines and muscles pains.

We carry Natural Calm in the office or you can order it online.  To find out more about Natural Calm you can visit their website.

If you have any questions about the usefulness of this product please contact me on our contact page.

How clean is your home? You may not have much dirt in your home, but you may have chemicals in your home that are much more harmful.

When we think of pollution, we typically think of air pollution outside of our homes created by smoke stacks and burning fossil fuels.  We rarely think of air pollution when it comes to the air we breathe in our own homes, but we should.  Studies have shown that the level of pollution in our homes is often worse than the air we breathe outside.

One of the most dangerous pollutants in our homes are the cleaning supplies that we use.   These chemicals are not only dangerous when ingested, as we are reminded by Mr. Yuck, but can contribute to diseases such as asthma and lung cancer when inhaled. For those of you with little ones it is even more important to use safe cleaning supplies as they spend more time closer to the cleaning surface and tend to put things in their mouths that have been on the floor.

Luckily there are options that are natural and effective, not to mention locally made.  Tracey Clean is a company out of Indiana that produces natural cleaning supplies.  You can purchase their products on their website, Traceycleannaturalproducts.com.

For more information about indoor air quality, visit the EPA’s website on Indoor Air Quality.

The holidays are here and with the holidays comes gatherings with friends and family. Many of these gatherings revolve around food, which can be a problem for folks who are trying to be health conscious this time of year. This is why the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) has put together the 12 Days of Health and Wellness.
Each day provides you with a tip to stay on track through the holidays.

Click Here To view the 12 Days of Health and Wellness.

If you’re looking for a natural way to relax during the holidays, try Natural Calm.  I have had success with using this product to treat a number of conditions including insomnia and anxiety.

At some point in your life you have most likely heard reports about how “dirty” certain everyday locations can become.  I remember hearing about how many organisisms there are on a public telephone, which I guess is not very important for our times.  Under desks, on top of desks, door knobs, sinks, food etc… One could make themselves mad by trying to avoid all of these bugs, so don’t try because we can’t avoid them.

We have 10 times as many organisms on our body than we have cells in our body and we have an estimated 50 to 70 trillion cells in our body.  That’s just our body, that number doesn’t take into account the number of organisms that are in out environment. with all those organisms we should be sick all the time right?

Hopefully you’re still reading this an not hold up in a bubble some where.  My point is not to scare you into hinding, but to make the point that we can not avoid the bugs in our environment.  If we can’t avoid them what can we do?

Luckily our body is equipt with a wonderful immune system that protects us from these foriegn invaders, but like most things it needs maitenance.  Maitenance comes in the form of healthy eating, exercise, restful sleep and stress reduction to name some of the ways to keep your immune system in tip-top shape.   Taking these small, daily precautions can prevent the illnesses that will keep you out of the game.

I recently had a patient present to my office with a number of complaints.  Most of them were relating to neck and back pain, but there was one that I’ve not had any experience with, Hyperhidrosis.  Patients with Hyperhidrosis experience excessive sweating typically on the hands, feet and armpits.  This patient has had this condition for her entire life and was told by her doctor that the only treatment for this condition is surgery.

The surgery involves cutting the nerves in the spine that cause the sweating.  A common side effect associated with the surgery is excessive sweating in new area of the body.  When this patient learned of the potential side effects she decided not to pursue the surgery.  She had grown accustom to the areas of her body that were sweating and was weary of a new type of sweating.

The reason for cutting the nerves in the back is because they are considered hyper active.  I explained to the patient that these nerves exit the spinal column and could be over excited by a joint dysfunction.  As I mentioned before I haven’t had any experience treating Hyperhidrosis or knew of anyone who has, but from a chiropractic perspective her problem was no different than someone who has back or neck pain.

She came back from her first treatment and told me that her  upper back was sore and other than that she felt the same.  When she came in for her second treatment there was something different about her.  When I asked her how she was doing, she looked up with a huge smile and said, “I had to use lotion on my hands today.”  I didn’t understand the significance of her statement, but this is a person that has never had to use lotion on her hands because they have always been so sweaty.  She also mentioned that she didn’t have to change her shirt during the day due to over sweating as she had in the past.  Both of us were shocked and cautiously optimistic.

This happened just the other day and I haven’t seen the patient since.  I am excited about the potential for her condition, but I am also careful not to get too excited.  I look forward to writing more about this case as it develops.