International Chiropractic Pediatric Association |
|||||||
Source: www.toyourhealth.com
Dr. Fabrizio Mancini, a doctor of chiropractic and the president of Parker University in Dallas, and Dr. Patrick DeFazio, a Los Angeles doctor of chiropractic, appear on the “Dr. Phil” show on March 14, marking chiropractic’s first appearance on the popular daytime talk show, which is broadcast on 220 television stations across the U.S. and in more than 40 countries worldwide. The segment begins with Dr. Phil introducing Dr. Mancini as his chiropractor for 14 years and author of the book The Power of Self-Healing: Unlock Your Natural Healing Potential in 21 Days! This set the stage for Dr. Mancini to talk about his book and the concepts of chiropractic. He stated that “the only way to truly fulfill your life potential is to fulfill your health potential.” Dr. Mancini added that the difference between chiropractic and what he called the “sick care system” in the U.S. is that “we see patients as [people, not just diseases].” Dr. Phil told the audience, “I got chiropractic treatment from you [Dr. Mancini] 2 or 3 times a week.” He went on to introduce his current personal chiropractor, Dr. DeFazio, who was given an opportunity to talk more about chiropractic and how it can, among other benefits, help relieve stresses on the body. After the show, a number of people working on the set asked about how to find a local chiropractor or remarked how much they had learned about the value of chiropractic. This was in addition to the many members of the audience who talked about chiropractic and asked Dr. Mancini to autograph their copy of his book.
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
March 14, 2012
To Your Health Newletter 03-13-2012
May 25, 2011
To Your Health Newsletter 05-25-2011
Brought to you by www.toyourhealth.com
The Dangers of Teen Texting, Social Networking
A startling new study suggests a disturbing association between excessive social networking and texting by teenagers and participation in a wide range of poor health behaviors including cigarette, alcohol and drug use, increased sexual activity and violence. The study defined “hypernetworking” as spending three-plus hours per school day on social network sites such as Facebook, and “hypertexting” as sending in excess of 120 text messages per school day. Teens guilty of hypernetworking (11.5 percent of teens surveyed) were:
- 79% more likely to have tried alcohol
- 69% more likely to be binge drinkers
- 62% more likely to have tried cigarettes
- 84% more likely to have used illicit drugs
- 94% more likely to have been involved in a physical fight
- 69% more likely to have had sex
- 60% more likely to report four or more sexual partners
An even larger percentage of teens (19.8 percent) were guilty of hypertexting and displayed similar patterns of poor health behaviors:
- More than twice as likely to have tried alcohol
- 43% more likely to be binge drinkers
- 40% more likely to have tried cigarettes
- 41% more likely to have used illicit drugs
- 55% more likely to have been involved in a physical fight
- Nearly 3.5 times more likely to have had sex
- 90% more likely to report four or more sexual partners
The study by researchers at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine does not show cause and effect, which means it does not prove that excessive social networking and texting caused these unhealthy behaviors to manifest (or vice versa). That said, the study suggests enough of a potential connection to make parents think twice before allowing their teen unlimited text- messaging capabilities and unsupervised access to the Web.
Support Yourself From the Ground Up
Anyone who has experienced foot problems understands all too well that it can affect the rest of the body. The feet are your foundation, much like the foundation of a house. If that foundation suffers, the entire structure suffers right along with it; in some cases, it can come crashing down. Fortunately, that same logic applies in reverse: optimizing foot performance and health is like strengthening your foundation; the result can be a stronger, more durable you from the ground up.
A recent research review provides an excellent illustration of this principle. It involves the example of patients suffering from arthritis and other rheumatic diseases, which can rack the entire body with pain, stiffness and movement limitations. According to the review, biomechanical evidence suggests that “foot orthotics and specialized footwear may change muscle activation and gait patterns to reduce joint loading. Emerging evidence suggests that orthotics, specific shoe types and footwear interventions may provide an effective nonsurgical intervention in rheumatic diseases.”
The takeaway here seems clear: Support your feet and your feet will support you. An increasing body of research suggests foot orthotics can positively impact foot health (and thus whole-body health) in numerous ways. Talk to your doctor to learn more.
Let’s review what we know about skin cancer, skin protection and your health: If you stay out of the sun, tanning beds, etc., your chances of getting skin cancer are remarkably low (although not completely eliminated); if you get regular, moderate sun exposure, you’ll ensure adequate vitamin D absorption (approximately 10 minutes a day will give you upwards of 10,000 IU; the RDA for vitamin D is 400 IU) and be less likely to develop skin cancer compared with people who experience painful sunburns – even if you spend more overall time in the sun than they do. And while debate runs thick about the effectiveness and safety of sunscreen, a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology emphasizes that if you apply a little lotion, your odds of suffering melanoma go way down.
While not the most common form of skin cancer, melanoma is the most dangerous form, causing approximately 75 percent of all skin cancer-related deaths. More than 160,000 new cases are diagnosed worldwide each year. Melanoma can appear on skin sites that do not receive sun exposure, so it’s important to check your body regularly and report any skin irregularities to your doctor.
Sunscreen may help prevent melanoma, but it blocks vitamin D absorption, which means if you use it regularly, you need to ensure adequate vitamin D intake from food or supplements. And make sure you don’t take it for granted; think moderation when it comes to the sun. You’ll be happy you did. Your doctor can tell you more about skin health and how to enjoy the summer months while keeping your skin safe at the same time.
December 22, 2010
To Your Health Newsletter 12-22-2010
Back pain, neck pain, knee pain, foot pain – wherever the pain is, it’s a pretty powerful motivator. In fact, depending on the severity of the pain, you may be willing to do just about anything to get rid of it. That’s why so many people rush to the medicine cabinet and pop a few pills at the first sign of pain. Here’s a much better idea: Ask your chiropractor about these simple exercises that can actually help reduce pain caused by common overuse conditions.
You wake up at night with numbness and tingling in your hands. Sleeping through the night is almost an impossible task. You may be suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, a condition in which nerves from your neck traveling into your hand can become compressed in the wrist.
What you can do: Extend (straighten) your arm out in front of your body with your palm facing up. Straighten your fingers, keeping them close together. Bend your wrist backward and try to point your fingers toward the floor, and with the opposite hand press down on the palm side of your fingers to bend (extend) your wrist slightly further. Hold this stretch for 2 seconds, return the wrist to a straight position, and then repeat the entire movement for 10 repetitions
Do you feel clicking and popping in your knee? Perhaps walking up and down stairs has become a challenge and taking those after-dinner walks is more and more difficult. Knee pain can be a tricky condition because proper motion depends on the functioning of the hips and ankles.
What you can do: Stand on the edge of a step with the balls of your feet. Make sure you have something to hold on to for balance. Keep a slight bend in your knees and let your heels drift downward towards the floor, so your toes are higher than your heels. Sink the heels downward as far as you can and hold for 5 seconds. You can progress to one foot at a time for increased intensity. Return to the starting position and repeat 10 times.
If you experience sharp pain on the outside of your elbow when trying to twist open a jar or grasping something with your hand, it may be tendonitis of the forearm muscles. This injury became known as tennis elbow because players would get elbow pain after hitting repetitive backswings in tennis.
What you can do: Stand sideways against a wall. Bend your arm 90 degrees at the elbow with the thumb facing up. Place a tennis ball between the top of the forearm and the wall, with the opposite hand press against the inside of your forearm, putting additional pressure into the ball. Move the forearm back and forth in a circular motion on the tennis ball, searching for tender spots. Spend between 30-60 seconds on each tender spot until the pain begins to fade; then search for other tender areas. Do this three to five times per day.
The most important point to remember is that no exercise should make your pain worse. Soreness and discomfort are acceptable and expected; however, increased pain and dysfunction is not. It takes time for an injury to properly heal. Talk to your doctor for more information about what you can do to keep pain away the natural way.
There are three main objectives in the treatment of eczema: reducing inflammation, relieving itching of the skin, and moisturizing dry patches. As most alternative health practitioners know, certain dietary practices and various supplements can help to accomplish these objectives in many cases of eczema that seem to be resistant to standard medical treatment. The most evidence-based lifestyle, dietary and supplementation strategies shown to improve cases of eczema are as follows:
Dietary and Lifestyle Considerations: Avoid any known dietary or environmental irritants or allergens. Reduce the build-up of the polyunsaturated fat arachidonic acid within skin cells, as it is the direct building block of inflammatory prostaglandin hormones. To accomplish this, reduce the intake of the following foods: high-fat meat and dairy products; corn oil, sunflower seed oil, safflower seed oil, and mixed vegetable oils; alcohol, hydrogenated fats (e.g., margarine, commercial peanut butter, shortenings).
Replace the above foods with the following: chicken, turkey, fish, Cornish hen, 1 percent milk or yogurt, low-fat cheese (3 percent or less milk fat), olive oil, canola oil, or peanut oil (for salad dressings, to sauté vegetables or stir fry only).
Important Supplements: Omega-3 fats provide the building block for the production of prostaglandin hormones that reduce the inflammatory activity of skin cells. They also reduce the build-up of arachidonic acid in skin cells by blocking the enzyme that converts linoleic acid and gamma-linolenic acid to arachidonic acid. Examples of omega-3 fats of importance to skin health include EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and ALA (alpha-linolenic acid). EPA is found in fish and fish oils, and ALA is found primarily in flaxseed oil. Clinical trials have shown that omega-3 fats can be effective in the treatment of eczema.
Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) has also been shown to help in cases of eczema. Studies reveal that many patients with eczema lack the enzyme to convert linoleic acid to gamma-linolenic acid. As gamma-linolenic acid is the building block of an important anti-inflammatory prostaglandin hormone, supplementation with an oil that is high in gamma-linolenic acid, such as borage, black currant or evening primrose oil, has been shown to favorably affect cases of eczema.
A number of B vitamins (especially B6 and niacin) are necessary co-factors to speed up the enzymes that produce anti-inflammatory prostaglandins in the skin. Vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium and zinc are also required to support various enzymes within skin cells that promote the formation of prostaglandins, which reduce skin inflammatory conditions, including eczema. I recommend a high-potency multivitamin/mineral supplement that contains a B-50 complex along with boosted levels of antioxidants.
In many cases, once specific allergies have been ruled out, the medical profession is at a loss to provide eczema sufferers with any meaningful treatment options. For this subgroup of patients, specific dietary and supplementation practices outlined in this article can provide significant improvement of their condition in many cases. Your doctor can tell you more about the connection between diet and skin health.
Lower Sugar, Lower Blood Pressure
Sounds pretty simple, right? Except in a society overwhelmed by processed foods loaded with added sugar, keeping your sugar (or blood pressure) in check can be a major challenge.
But let’s leave the topic of limiting sugar consumption from all sources for another day, and instead focus on sugar from a single source: sugar-sweetened beverages. According to a study published in the June 2010 issue of Circulation (a journal of the American Heart Association), a reduction in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption of one serving per day reduced systolic blood pressure in adults by 1.8 mg Hg and diastolic blood pressure by 1.1 mg Hg over 18 months. (If your blood pressure is 120-75, for example, your systolic blood pressure is 120 and your diastolic blood pressure is 75.) Diet beverage consumption and caffeine intake did not appear to be associated with blood pressure.
Remember, even a small reduction, particularly if all you have to do is drink less sugar-sweetened beverages, can make a big difference. In fact, it might save your life. Your doctor can tell you more – much more – about the considerable dangers of sugar and high blood pressure.
[Source: www.toyourhealth.com]