Smith Chiropractic's Health News, Notes and Quotes

Welcome to Health News, Notes and Quotes. We have selected the following categories and news items below because I believe they can help educate you about the importance of good health and the benefits of chiropractic.

Articles:

Chiropractic Care

Time for a Spinal Tuneup

When you care about your car, you take it to the shop for the tuneups it needs – oil changes, tire rotations, new brakes, etc. Your spine is no different. It needs a regular “tuneup” as well, complete with chiropractic adjustments. Chiropractic tuneups can serve three purposes: 1. Evaluate the state of your body, even if you have no pain. Even people who feel fine have areas of their spine or extremities that are out of normal alignment. When we adjust those bones back into place, people feel better in some way. If we waited until we felt pain, we would all wait until we needed root canals or crowns before going to the dentist! 2. Address major or minor pains you currently have, but haven’t been too worried about. Have you had any nagging discomforts or pains coming from your spine or extremities? Do these discomforts prevent you from doing the activities you enjoy? Instead of wondering if the pain will continue to get worse or stay that way for the rest of your life, give chiropractic a try. You don’t have to live with pain. 3. Prevent future problems that can and likely will arise from your joints being out of alignment and not functioning at 100 percent. Our society is moving toward preventative health care. Chiropractic has been at the forefront of this concept since the chiropractic profession was founded in 1895. Arthritis, overuse injuries (like carpal tunnel syndrome and tennis elbow), rotator cuff injuries and knee problems are just some examples of conditions that may be prevented with chiropractic care. Scheduling chiropractic tuneups allows you to take care of your body so that your machine functions as well as it possibly can. Please remember to make time to care for yourself; you are worth every penny.

Women's Health

A Bare-Bones Look at Bone Health

Contrary to what you might think, there is more to supporting healthy bones than drinking milk. While calcium is an essential nutrient for your bones, it is by no means the only nutrient your bones need. Your bones are made up of living tissues that are continually breaking down and building up. This process, called remodeling, occurs throughout your lifetime. When you are young, bone buildup outpaces bone breakdown until you reach peak bone mass between 25-35 years of age, depending on your genes and gender. Once you reach peak bone mass, bone breakdown begins to surpass bone buildup. That is why it is essential to develop healthy eating and exercise habits during childhood and adolescence. Research suggests that you can reduce your risk of bone disease by achieving a higher peak bone mass. In addition to whole-food sources of nutrients that support bone health, like calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin K, zinc and dietary protein, lifestyle factors also play a critical role in the health of your bones. Exercising, avoiding tobacco products and limiting the amount of alcohol you consume can help you maintain healthy bones. Your bones, like your muscles, will strengthen with exercise. Bones need specific types of exercise – weight-bearing exercise and resistance (or strength) training – to maintain and build density. Weight-bearing exercises are exercises that require your bones to support your body’s weight. For example, when you jog or walk, your legs are bearing the weight of your body. Resistance or strength training involves using weight or resistance to build strength. Research has shown that strength training increases bone density and reduces the risk for fractures, particularly for postmenopausal women who have a high risk for bone disease. Smoking and alcohol may be linked to increased loss of bone. Researchers have linked smoking to an increase in fractures and hypothesize that for some women, smoking may interact with estrogen in a way that could reduce intestinal calcium absorption. While moderate alcohol consumption has not been linked to osteoporosis, studies have shown that consuming more than two alcoholic drinks a day may decrease bone formation and reduce your body's ability to absorb calcium. To learn more about bone health and bone disease prevention, talk to your doctor. The good news is that you can prevent bone disease with a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Pediatric Health

Raising Baby Einstein

Pregnancy is a time of great expectation, of new beginnings, and the excitement of bringing life into the world. Wouldn’t it be nice to know some of the latest techniques from clinical neurobiology to increase the IQ of your unborn child? Preconception care in America is aimed at reducing risk of birth defects and disease – not maximizing the intellectual potential of your unborn child. We can increase our IQ as we age by challenging ourselves with new skills such as learning a new language or taking piano lessons. (Of course, having an intelligent spouse is also a great leap forward in producing a gifted child.) The most critical element in a newborn’s health is the overall health of the parents. Maternal health is addressed in the majority of medical literature, but poor paternal health and subsequent sperm quality can compromise the future mental health of a child, increasing the probability of schizophrenia, autism and Down syndrome. A common-sense approach would be for the mother and father to eliminate smoking, drug and alcohol use, and caffeine and reduce the mother’s exposure to heavy metals, solvents, cleaning products, MSG, aspartame and processed foods leading up to and during pregnancy. An organic diet for both parents would be the optimal way to go. One surefire way to optimize fetal development is to provide the basic building blocks of neurological tissue: omega-3 fatty acids. A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study showed that omega-3 fatty acid supplementation increases birth weight and lowers complications of pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia, preterm delivery and gestational hypertension. However, results were inconclusive in terms of the infants’ cognitive development. The best advice for couples who are planning a family is to take excellent care of themselves – get plenty of exercise, at least eight hours of sleep each night and quality supplements to improve their health, which in turn offers their children the best chance at a strong mind and healthy body. Although DVDs, CDs and modern toys may stimulate your baby’s brain, nothing can replace the neurobiological components of a healthy mind. Any way you look at it, boosting your child’s IQ starts with caring for yourself. Ask your doctor if you are doing everything you can to create a bright future for your baby.