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A Brief History Of Chiropractic
The first recorded chiropractic adjustment was performed on September 18, 1895, by Dr. Daniel David Palmer, a Canadian-born teacher and helter. Dr. Palmer was, at the time, studying the cause and effect of disease. His patient was Harvey Lillard, a janitor working in the same building as Dr. Palmer in Davenport, Iowa. Mr. Lillard, who had complained of hearing problems for over 17 years, allowed Dr. Palmer to examine his spine. Dr. Palmer discovered a "lump" on Mr. Lillard's back and suspected that a vertebra might be out of place, which he then repositioned the vertebra with a gentle thrust. After several such treatments, much of Mr. Lillard's hearing was restored.
Since Dr. Palmer's first chiropractic adjustment, the art and science of chiropractic has progressed significantly. Today, advanced diagnostic procedures, sophisticated equipment, scientific research, and the growing acceptance among other health care professionals makes chiropractic a popular health care choice.
- Chiropractic Philosophy and The 12 Medical Myths Even Most Doctors Believe
The chiropractic perspective on health and disease emphasizes two fundamental concepts:
1) the structure and condition of the body influences how the body functions and its ability to heal itself;
and
2) the mind-body relationship is instrumental in maintaining health and in the healing processes.
Although chiropractic shares much with other health professions, its emphasis and application of philosophy distinguishes it from modern medicine. Chiropractic philosophy gravitates toward a holistic ("total person") approach to healing which combines elements of the mind, body and spirit and maintains that health depends on obedience to natural laws, and that deviation from such laws can result in illness.
And to contrast the Chiropractic Model of Healthcare:
The 12 Medical Myths Even Most Doctors Believe
With all the medical misinformation we're currently exposed to on a daily basis, it's disappointing to see CNN waste time and space on yet another entertainment-style fluff piece, discussing health myths that have no real bearing on your health whatsoever.
Because, believe me, there is no shortage of real health myths that can, and do, have a massive impact on tens of thousands if not millions of people.
1: Cardio is One of the Best Types of Exercise
In recent years, researchers have begun to realize that conventional cardio, such as jogging, is not all it's been cracked up to be, and that you can actually improve your health and increase fat burning by making slight modifications to your cardio routine.
The problem is that traditional cardio only works on the slow twitch muscle fibers in your red muscle, completely ignoring your white muscle super-fast twitch fibers.
Peak 8 refers to peak exercises done once or twice a week, in which you raise your heart rate up to your anaerobic threshold for 20 to 30 seconds, followed by a 90-second recovery period.
To perform these properly you will want to get very close to, if not exceed, your maximum heart rate by the last interval. Your maximum heart rate is calculated as 220 minus your age. You will need a heart rate monitor to measure this as it is nearly impossible to accurately measure your heart rate manually when it is above 150.
Researchers have found that interval cardio produces a unique metabolic response that is in large part responsible for its superior benefits. Intermittent sprinting produces high levels of chemical compounds called catecholamines, which allow more fat to be burned from under your skin and within your muscles. The resulting increase in fat oxidation is thought to drive the increased weight loss.
It is also the only type of exercise that will increase growth hormone levels. This becomes especially important after the age of 30, when growth hormones steadily decline. It is much safer and far less expensive to have your body make growth hormone naturally though Peak 8 type exercises than inject it like many athletes do to the tune of $1500 per month.
2: Vaccines are Safe and Effective and Prevent Disease
I completely understand that for many this issue is not debatable as they believe that vaccines are one of the greatest gifts to public health in the history of civilization.
If you believe that, then let me encourage you to open your mind and explore other views held by many well respected physicians, scientists, clinicians and pro-vaccine safety educators.
You might want to review the article Read This Before Vaccinating for Anything, to help you start your exploration process.
When it comes to vaccines, there are three primary questions that need to be considered.
* First, is the vaccine in question safe?
* Secondly, does it effectively prevent disease?
* And third, which vaccines can safely and effectively be given together or in close succession?
Unfortunately, these issues have not been sufficiently studied for most vaccines, and those vaccines that have been studied frequently show that they are either unsafe or ineffective, or both!
Pro-vaccine-safety educators have long been saying that vaccines can over-stimulate your child's immune system, sometimes causing the very disease it's designed to protect against, or worse. And, when several vaccines are administered together, or in close succession, their interaction may completely overwhelm your child's developing immune system.
This is one of the primary problems with vaccines in general their detrimental impact on your body's primary, natural defense against ALL disease.
Now consider that if your child is vaccinated according to the CDC's recommended schedule, by the time your child starts kindergarten he or she will have received 48 doses of 14 vaccines. Of these, 36 doses will be given during the first 18 months of life - a time when your child's body and brain is undergoing massive development!
Public health officials have NEVER proven that it is indeed safe to inject this volume of vaccines into infants. What's more, they cannot explain why, concurrent with an increasing number of vaccinations, there has been an explosion of neurological and immune system disorders in American children.
This issue covers so much ground, it's impossible to even try to summarize the many hazards and the lack of efficiency data for all the vaccines currently being given, in this article.
For more information please visit our vaccine section at http://vaccines.mercola.com/
3: Fluoride in Your Water Lowers Your Risk of Cavities
The theory behind the introduction of fluoride in your water supply initially seems beneficial - to reduce the incidence of dental caries in children. However, the health dangers of fluoride are so numerous; they far outweigh any benefit to your teeth, and that's IF water fluoridation actually did what its claimed to do.
Today, even promoters of fluoridation concede that the major benefits are only from topical applications; fluoride works from the outside of the tooth, not from inside of your body, so why swallow it?
Statistics tell us that water fluoridation is ineffective for preventing caries. There is practically no difference in tooth decay between fluoridated and non-fluoridated countries, and no difference between states that have a high- or low percentage of their water fluoridated.
Meanwhile, fluoride can cause significant harm, from dental fluorosis to thyroid damage to reduced IQ... and much more.
I've joined forces with the Fluoride Action Network (FAN) to help end water fluoridation poisoning in Canada and the United States.
For more about the dangers of fluoride, and information about how to get involved in this campaign, please see this recent article, which also includes an excellent interview with Dr. Paul Connett, who created FAN and is one of the foremost experts on this topic.
4: GMOs Crops are Safe, Well Tested and Economically Beneficial
GMOs may be the greatest health disaster in the American diet. Within 9 years of their introduction in 1996, multiple chronic illnesses jumped from 7 percent to 13 percent of the population, food allergies doubled in less time, and many other ailments have exponentially increased with the introduction of GM foods.
Millions may already be suffering health problems caused by genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their diet. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine has already urged doctors to prescribe non-GMO diets for all patients, citing studies that show how GMOs cause disorders such as vital organ damage, gastrointestinal and immune system problems, accelerated aging, infertility, and dysfunctional regulation of insulin and cholesterol.
But not only are GM foods a health disaster, they also pose a significant environmental threat, and industry promises of financial benefits have turned out to be false as well.
For a quick introduction, I recommend reading the article 10 Reasons to Avoid Genetically Modified Foods, which delves into everything from the health problems associated with eating GM foods to the evidence against GM crops as a sustainable, economically and environmentally viable alternative to traditional farming.
5: Sun Causes Skin Cancer
There are many misconceptions about melanoma - the most dangerous type of skin cancer that accounts for more than 75 percent of skin cancer deaths. But despite all the bad press linking sun exposure to skin cancer, there's almost no evidence at all to support that stance. There is, however, plenty of evidence to the contrary.
Over the years, several studies have already confirmed that appropriate sun exposure actually helps prevent skin cancer. In fact, melanoma occurrence has been found to decrease with greater sun exposure, and can be increased by sunscreens.
In my interview with vitamin D expert Dr. Robert Heaney, he explains how the conventional recommendations are in fact causing the very health problem they claim to prevent.
How does sunlight prevent, rather than cause, skin cancer?
In short, it's the vitamin D formed in your skin from exposure to sunlight that provides this built in cancer protection.
The vitamin D goes directly to genes in your skin that help prevent the types of abnormalities that ultraviolet light causes. Unfortunately, if you follow the conventional recommendation to avoid sun exposure or always use sunscreen, your skin will not make any vitamin D, leaving you without this built-in cancer protection.
Statistics confirm the truth of these findings, as melanoma rates have increased right along with sun avoidance and increased use of sunscreens. If avoiding the sun actually was the answer, then melanoma rates should have decreased exponentially over the past couple of decades...
Instead, sun avoidance and the excessive use of sun screen are actually the two primary reasons for the rise in melanoma.
6: Saturated Fat Causes Heart Disease
As recently as 2002, the "expert" Food & Nutrition Board issued the following misguided statement, which epitomizes this myth:
"Saturated fats and dietary cholesterol have no known beneficial role in preventing chronic disease and are not required at any level in the diet."
This dangerous recommendation, which arose from an unproven hypothesis from the mid-1950s, has been harming your health and that of your loved ones for about 40 years now.
The truth is, saturated fats from animal and vegetable sources provide the building blocks for cell membranes and a variety of hormones and hormone-like substances, without which your body cannot function optimally.
They also act as carriers for important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Dietary fats are also needed for the conversion of carotene to vitamin A, for mineral absorption, and for a host of other biological processes.
In fact, saturated is the preferred fuel for your heart!
For more information about saturated fats and the essential role they play in maintaining your health, please read my previous article The Truth About Saturated Fat.
7: Artificial Sweeteners are Safe, Well Tested and Help Promote Weight Loss
Most people use artificial sweeteners to lose weight. The amazing irony is that nearly all the studies that have carefully analyzed their effectiveness show that those who use artificial sweeteners actually gain more weight than those who consume caloric sweeteners.
In 2005, data gathered from the 25-year long San Antonio Heart Study showed that drinking diet soft drinks increased the likelihood of serious weight gain - far more so than regular soda. On average, each diet soft drink the participants consumed per day increased their risk of becoming overweight by 65 percent within the next seven to eight years, and made them 41 percent more likely to become obese.
The reasons for this ironic reality are still being investigated, but there are several potential causes, including:
* Sweet taste alone appears to increase hunger, regardless of caloric content.
* Artificial sweeteners appear to simply perpetuate a craving for sweets, and overall sugar consumption is therefore not reduced, leading to further problems controlling your weight.
* Artificial sweeteners may disrupt your body's natural ability to count calories, as evidenced in studies such as this 2004 study at Purdue University, which found that rats fed artificially sweetened liquids ate more high-calorie food than rats fed high-caloric sweetened liquids.
In the end, the research tells us that artificial sweeteners are NOT a dieter's best friend, because contrary to what the marketing campaigns claim, low- or no-calorie artificial sweeteners are more likely to help you pack on the pounds than shed them.
There are also a large number of health dangers associated with artificial sweeteners and aspartame in particular. I've started compiling a growing list of studies pertaining to health problems associated with aspartame, which you can find here. If you're still on the fence, I highly recommend reviewing these studies for yourself so that you can make an educated decision.
For more information on aspartame, the worst artificial sweetener, please see my aspartame video.
8: Soy is a Health Food
The meteoric rise of soy as a health food is a perfect example of how a brilliant marketing strategy can fool millions. But make no mistake about it, unfermented soy products are NOT healthful additions to your diet.
If you find this recommendation startling then I would encourage you to review my Why Soy Can Damage Your Health, which contains links to dozens of articles on the topic, and a video I recently did.
On the contrary, thousands of studies have linked unfermented soy to malnutrition, digestive distress, immune-system breakdown, thyroid dysfunction, cognitive decline, reproductive disorders and infertility, even cancer and heart disease.
Not only that, but more than 90 percent of American soy crops are genetically modified, which carries its own set of health risks.
Here is a sampling of the detrimental health effects that have been linked to soy consumption:
* Breast cancer
* Brain damage
* Infant abnormalities
* Thyroid disorders
* Kidney stones
* Immune system impairment
* Severe, potentially fatal food allergies
* Impaired fertility
* Danger during pregnancy and nursing
I am not opposed to all soy, however. Organic and, most importantly, properly fermented soy does have great health benefits. Examples of such healthful fermented soy products include tempeh, miso and natto.
9: Whole Grains are Good for Everyone
The use of whole-grains is an easy subject to get confused on especially for those who have a passion for nutrition, as for the longest time we were told the fiber in whole grains is highly beneficial.
Unfortunately ALL grains, including whole-grain and organic varieties, can elevate your insulin levels, which can increase your risk of disease.
It has been my experience that more than 85 percent of Americans have trouble controlling their insulin levels -- especially those who have the following conditions:
* Overweight
* Diabetes
* High blood pressure
* High cholesterol
* Protein metabolic types
In addition, sub-clinical gluten intolerance is far more common than you might think, which can also wreak havoc with your health.
As a general rule, I strongly recommend eliminating grains as well as sugars from your diet, especially if you have any of the above conditions that are related to insulin resistance. The higher your insulin levels and the more prominent your signs of insulin overload are, the more ambitious your grain elimination needs to be.
If you are one of the fortunate ones without insulin resistance and of normal body weight, then grains are fine, especially whole grains. It is wise to continue to monitor your grain consumption and your health as life is dynamic and constantly changing. What might be fine when you are 25 or 30 could become a major problem at 40 when your growth hormone and level of exercise is different.
10: All Plant Based Supplements are as Good as Animal Supplements
The primary example here is that of omega-3's. It's very important to realize that not all omega-3 fats are the same, and that the type and source of your omega-3 will make a big difference in the health benefits it provides.
There are three types of omega-3 fats:
* DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid)
* EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid)
* ALA (Alpha-Linolenic Acid)
Many people do not realize that most of the well-known health benefits associated with omega-3 fats - such as mental health, stronger bones and heart health -- are linked to the animal-based omega-3 fats (EPA and DHA), not the plant-based omega-3 fat (ALA).
ALA, which is the type of omega-3 found in flaxseed and nuts, is converted into EPA and DHA in your body, but only at a very low ratio.
So even if you eat large amounts of ALA, your body can only convert a relatively small amount into EPA and DHA, and only when sufficient enzymes are present.
This does not mean plant-based omega-3 fats are intrinsically harmful or that they should be avoided, only that you ideally want to include an animal-based form as well. Personally, I regularly include omega-3 (ALA) plant-based foods, like flax and hemp, in my diet, but these are always combined with animal-based omega-3 fats.
But in order to reap its most important health benefits, your omega-3 needs to be from an animal source. For more information on this topic, please read through my previous article, Are You Getting the Right Type of Omega-3 Fats?
11: Milk Does Your Body Good
Can milk do your body good?
Yes, if it's RAW.
Unfortunately, this myth insists that conventional pasteurized milk has health benefits, which is far from true. Conventional health agencies also refuse to address the real dangers of the growth hormones and antibiotics found in conventional milk.
Please understand that I do not recommend drinking pasteurized milk of any kind, including organic, because once milk has been pasteurized its physical structure is changed in a way that can actually cause allergies and immune problems.
Important enzymes like lactase are destroyed, which causes many people to not be able to digest milk. Additionally, vitamins (such as A, C, B6 and B12) are diminished and fragile milk proteins are radically transformed from health nurturing to unnatural amino acid configurations that can actually worsen your health.
The eradication of beneficial bacteria through the pasteurization process also ends up promoting pathogens rather than protecting you from them.
The healthy alternative to pasteurized milk is raw milk, which is an outstanding source of nutrients including beneficial bacteria such as lactobacillus acidophilus, vitamins and enzymes, and it is, in my estimation, one of the finest sources of calcium available.
For more details please watch the interview I did with Mark McAfee, who is the owner of Organic Pastures, the largest organic dairy in the US.
12: Low-Fat Diets are Healthy
The low-fat myth may have done more harm to the health of millions than any other dietary recommendation. Again, just as the recommendations to avoid sunshine has increased melanoma rates, the low-fat craze led to increased consumption of trans-fats, which we now know increases your risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
To end the confusion, it's very important to realize that eating fat will not make you fat!
The primary cause of excess weight and all the chronic diseases associated with it, is actually the consumption of too much sugar -- especially fructose, but also all sorts of grains, which rapidly convert to sugar in your body.
If only the low-fat craze had been a low-sugar craze... then we wouldn't have nearly as much chronic disease as we have today.
For an explanation of why and how a low-fat diet can create the very health problems it's claimed to prevent, please see this previous article.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there's no shortage of health myths out there, and it only seems to be getting worse... The 12 myths reviewed above are but a sampling, because there are still many more.
If you want to review a number of additional health topics that are fraught with misinformation, please see the three-part series listed below in Related Articles.
As opposed to the nonsense offered in the CNN article above, these health topics are all essential to get right if you want to protect your health, and the health of your loved ones.
- Widespread Use of Chiropractic Care vs. Widespread Use of Prescription Drugs
The increasing interest in alternative forms of care has caught the attention of several health associations and government agencies. A 1993 study in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that "The estimated number of visits made in 1990 to providers of unconventional therapy was greater than the number of visits to all primary care medical nationwide," and chiropractic was among the most frequently used non-medical therapies.
A followup report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998 found that the use of non-medical treatments had increased significantly since the 1990 survey, with "overall prevalence of use increased by 25%, total visits by an estimated 47%, and expenditures on services provided by practitioners of alternative therapies by an estimated 45%." Of the survey respondents, one in nine (11%) had used chiropractic care within the previous year.
NOW FOR THE BAD NEWS:
The drug company Wyeth used ghostwriters to emphasize the benefits and downplay the harm of hormone replacement therapy in medical journal articles.
Wyeth, now owned by Pfizer, paid a company called DesignWrite $25,000 to ghostwrite articles on clinical studies, including four regarding Prempro, the company's combination estrogen-progestin therapy.
Reuters reports:
... [T]he articles were intended to mitigate concerns that hormone replacement therapy raises the risk of breast cancer, and to support the unfounded idea that the drugs offer some protection against heart disease.
Meanwhile, prescription drug use in the United States has been rising steadily over the past 10 years. The trend shows no signs of slowing.
A study published by the CDC states that the percentage of Americans who took at least one prescription drug has risen from 43.5 percent to 48.3 percent.
According to WebMD:
The use of two or more drugs increased from 25.4 percent to 31.2 percent over the same decade, and the use of five or more prescription medications jumped from 6.3 percent to 10.7 percent.
There is also a new drug problem emerging in the United States -- a national epidemic of prescription drug abuse that has become so widespread it's being called "Pharmageddon." Some have defined Pharmageddon as the prospect of a world in which medicines and medicine produce more ill-health than health, and when medical progress does more harm than good.
In just 20 years, deaths from accidental drug overdoses have increased five-fold. Unintentional overdoses have now replaced car accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in 15 states and the District of Columbia.
According to CBS News, there are definite signs someone could be addicted to prescription drugs:
Activities abandoned or reduced ... Dependence on the drug ... Duration or amount greater than intended, intra-personal consequences -- that they can't cut down or control it. And when it becomes time-consuming.
Sources:
Reuters September 7, 2010
WebMD September 2, 2010
Bloomberg September 2, 2010
CBS News September 4, 2010
- Social Audit
Americans are a pill-popping population, as nearly half are taking at least one prescription drug. Even children are taking their fair share, with one of every five U.S. kids using at least one prescribed medication.
Among seniors, as you might suspect, drug use is beyond epidemic. Nine out of 10 older Americans are taking at least one drug, with more than 76 percent over 60 using two or more and 37 percent using five or more!
The biggest issue here is what all of the drugs are doing to your health, but the cost cannot be ignored either. U.S. spending for prescription drugs more than doubled from 1999 to 2008 to just over $234 billion.
Unfortunately, the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on prescription drugs is not giving Americans the good health they desire. Instead we're seeing massive increases in chronic illnesses like cancer, heart disease and diabetes, and obesity rates are at an all-time high.
As drug spending continues to increase, Americans' health continues to decline, and that is not a coincidence.
Drug Companies are Not Looking Out for Your Health
Pharmaceutical companies have kept the wool pulled over Americans' eyes for many years, and had many convinced that they were working fervently to develop safe medications that would cure and prevent virtually every disease plaguing the world.
But these modern-day messiahs are not the saints they would have you believe not even close.
The drug companies that manufacture some of the best-selling drugs in the world have committed some of the greatest crimes against human health. For instance:
* Pfizer, maker of one of the biggest selling cholesterol drugs Lipitor, paid out the largest health care fraud settlement in history -- $2.3 billion -- for illegally promoting uses of four of its drugs. Pfizer engaged in illegally promoting one of these drugs, Bextra, for off-label use despite their knowledge that it was associated with an increased risk of stroke and heart attack.
* Another top seller, Plavix, which is manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb and used to help prevent strokes and heart attacks, also has serious side effects you many not be aware of. When combined with aspirin, the drug nearly doubled the death rate from heart disease among patients who had not had heart attacks but were at risk for them.
* Diabetes drug Avandia, made by GlaxoSmithKline, is still on the market despite research showing a 43 percent increased risk of heart attack and a 64 percent higher risk of cardiovascular death compared to patients treated with other methods.
* Merck, the maker of the painkiller Vioxx that killed 60,000 people, ignored research that reflected unfavorably on their drug, and they concealed heart attacks suffered by three patients during a clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2000. They also deleted other relevant data before submitting their article for publication.
* Drug company Wyeth, who is now owned by Pfizer, paid ghostwriters to write articles promoting hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and downplaying its risks, for medical journals. Now it's widely known that synthetic HRT increases risks of heart disease, breast cancer and other serious health problems.
The truth is, drug companies continuously display blatant disregard not only for federal laws but also for public health by aggressively developing and marketing drugs even when they know they will cause harm. They continue to do this because they are unlikely to suffer much of a consequence for their crimes.
Most people have no idea just how shielded these huge drug companies really are.
Even under the BEST circumstances -- such as with a drug that has gone through unbiased, stringent, long-term testing -- when it is released into the uncontrolled environment of your body, literally anything can happen -- and only a tiny fraction of the possibilities have been tested for in a lab.
Unfortunately, those circumstances are a rarity. Studies are frequently biased, results are skewed, and drugs are put on a fast-track to be approved long before anyone knows whether they're safe -- and sometimes even when it's known that they're not.
Pharmageddon Overtaking U.S. Baby Boomers
The drug industry has successfully turned our society into a pharmacracy where every twitch and hiccup is deemed treatable with another prescription.
Unfortunately, treating disease symptoms with drugs will invariably create other health problems, which lead to yet another prescription to counteract the side effects from the first one, followed by another one, and another. It's an evil circle that is now leading to a rash of prescription drug addictions and overdose deaths dubbed pharmageddon.
Pharmageddon is "the prospect of a world in which medicines and medicine produce more ill-health than health, and when medical progress does more harm than good" -- and it is no longer a prospect but fully upon us.
Those most at risk from dying from this new drug crisis are people you would least expect: baby boomers whose doctors are only too happy to prescribe multiple medications.
As a result, in the last 20 years deaths from accidental drug overdoses have increased five-fold and, as CBS News reported, unintentional overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death in 15 states and the District of Columbia.
So we're seeing a mounting death toll directly attributable to prescription drugs.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), adverse drug reactions from drugs that are properly prescribed and properly administered cause about 106,000 deaths per year, making prescription drugs the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. Compare this to the death toll from illegal drugs -- which is about 10,000 per year -- and you begin to see the magnitude of the problem, and the magnitude of the coverup.
We are indeed a nation of drug addicts, and just like old-fashioned street junkies, we're spending every penny we have to feed the beast. Unfortunately, now people are dying in droves because of our dependency on a quick, but dangerous, fix.
Should You Put Your Health in the Hands of the Drug Companies?
Drugs should typically not be your first choice when dealing with a health problem. I realize that it takes a massive shift in thinking to realize that your body can heal itself, and that often drugs only hinder the process.
But I can't stress enough the importance of the most basic principle of HOW to resolve an illness: finding the underlying cause of the problem. Masking it with a drug that lessens your symptoms does not fix anything.
For example, all of the following conditions can be treated or prevented with LIFESTYLE CHANGES, yet if you go to a typical doctor, you will likely be prescribed a potentially dangerous drug instead:
* Diabetes
* Heart disease
* High blood pressure
* High cholesterol
* Insomnia
Disease can only be resolved by addressing its root cause, so that is what you should strive for. Remember, leading a common sense, healthy lifestyle is your best bet to produce a healthy body and mind, and increase your longevity.
So first and foremost I encourage you to follow these basic health tenets if you want to avoid these and other terrible diseases.
Next, seek out a physician or health coach that understands your body's innate ability to heal, who will provide guidance into natural and truly safe treatment methods that go above and beyond a bottle of pills.
In the event your doctor or coach suggests you take a drug, research it before you take it. Do not believe for one minute that your physician will have all the answers and all the latest research findings at his or her fingertips. They won't. Most physicians will have little to offer you aside from the lines they learned from their drug reps.
Also, it's a good idea to keep in mind the very real fact that drug companies are ALLOWED to continue making drugs despite being caught lying, defrauding, and even knowingly killing its customers time and time again.
Then take a look at the frequently devastating side effects that are listed on the drug's label. Remember that even if it lists a side effect as rare, it can still happen to you.
Also remember that a large number of drugs are vastly over-prescribed and unnecessary. They're frequently referred to as blockbuster drugs. If several people you know are on it, ask yourself, why? and what alternatives do I have.
More often than not, you will discover there are numerous non-drug alternatives to help you not only resolve your health complaint, but go on to reach true optimal health.
- Healthy Tips for a Healthy Spine
The following tips can help you take better care of your spine:
1) Make sure you have a firm mattress that keeps the spine aligned and supports the spine's natural curve. The best sleeping positions are on your back or side.
2) When standing for extended periods, rest one foot on a small stool to maintain spinal curvature and relieve pressure. The knees should be bent when bending forward. Low-heeled shoes may help by maintaining spinal curvatures and cushioning your weight.
3) Use chairs that promote good posture and support your back. Placing a lumbar support in the lower portion of your back may help support your spine's natural curve. Readjust the seat of your car so that your knees are level with your hips.
4) When bending forward, bend at the knees and hips, but keep your back straight. This will help to keep your spine's curvature in proper alignment. When lifting, keep your spine straight while using your legs to do most of the work. Hold the objects being lifted close to your body to keep the weight on your spine to a minimum.
- The ABCs of Subluxations
Vertebral subluxations are displacements of the spinal bones (vertebrae) that can cause stress to your spinal cord and nervous system. Subluxations may be caused by poor sleeping habits, poor posture, strenuous exercise, injuries, auto accidents, sports, slips or falls, and in some cases, the birthing process itself.
Chiropractic adjustments are very helpful in correcting subluxations and restoring optimal health.
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PATIENT TESTIMONIALS
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WHAT YOU CAN DO AT HOME
Home Pain-Relief Therapy
I always recommend that you perform some self home therapy in conjunction with regular Chiropractic adjustments. To do this, simply lay on some ice for a minimum of 15-20 minutes. Sometime after that, lay on some MOIST heat for another 15-20 minutes. Moist heat means a Jacuzzi, hot tub, steam room, bath, shower, a moist hand-towel in the microwave. NEVER use a heating pad unless you place a moist hand-towel between you and the heating pad. NEVER place a heating pad on you by itself! There is no need to apply ice and heat immediately after each other, just whenever you have time to do so. Just be sure to alternate back and forth between the 2 therapies throughout the course of the day. Try to end with ice. In fact, you can even fall asleep on ice in bed and simply put it back in the freezer in the morning. Biofreeze is a great topical analgesic ointment that is very effective and addresses many of the everyday aches and pains without the smell and greasy feeling.
Stretching Exercises
NOTE: Perform one complete set of stretches in the morning BEFORE you get out of bed and one complete set in the evening BEFORE you go to bed. Be sure to hold each stretch for 5-10 seconds. Do NOT perform stretches that are painful. Consult your Chiropractor if you have any questions.
NOTE: There are many more activity-specific exercises located under the "Member Access" tab. Please request Username and Password.
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