Archive for April, 2010
Where Your Health is Concerned, It All Adds Up
There is just no getting around it, if you want to get healthy and stay healthy, you must commit to a healthy lifestyle. Though it may not seem like it, every little thing you do each day from eating a banana to walking around the block makes a big difference in helping you to maintain your overall health and longevity potential. And, in just the same way, every little thing you don’t do makes a big difference as well. In fact, according to a new study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the cumulative impact of smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, and excess alcohol consumption can add up to increased risk of death. Or to put it another way, these four bad habits can shorten your life by as much as 12 years. Not to mention, of course, the low quality of life enjoyment you’ll experience right up until “the end” prematurely comes along! In fact, the study authors say that, when compared to a healthy lifestyle that includes none of the above (or excludes all of the above), the combined effect of all four behaviors tripled or even quadrupled the risk of death.
So, yet another wake up for you procrastinators out there. The bad habits you eliminate and the good habits you develop will tip the scales significantly in your favor. Don’t put healthy changes off one more day. A healthy lifestyle can profoundly affect your chances of living to a happy old age.Santa Barbara Chiropractor: ChiropracticTreatment Can Ease the Pain of Spinal Osteoarthritis (Spondylosis)
You’ve probably heard the old saying, When you consider the alternative, getting old isn’t so bad.” But, if the aging process is causing you pain, you know that aging is no joke! As a Santa Barbara chiropractor, I treat a lot of patients suffering from age-related challenges that might not have occurred if the original cause had been taken care of earlier in life, especially when it involves musculoskeletal breakdowns. Pain in the back, neck, hips, knees, and even the feet are commonly the result of needless stresses due to poor posture, improper gait, and repetitive overuse. But, as another saying goes, “Hindsight is 20-20.” If we only knew years ago how our aging body would feel now!
Back pain is at the top of the list as the most common musculoskeletal condition to evolve as we age. Age-related back pain is generally produced by spine osteoarthritis, or Spondylosis, a degenerative disorder.
Spondylosis is caused by prolonged erosion and weight-bearing force on the spine that, over the years, undermines discs, joints, and surrounding ligaments. The area of the body and rate of the degenerative process of spondylosis varies from person to person. It is likely to affect the cervical (neck), thoracic (mid-back), or lumbar (low back) areas of the spine. Spondylosis symptoms are individual as well, depending on the severity of degeneration, and can range from low-amplitude pain and numbness to extreme sensory loss and muscular atrophy.
Calcium is deposited in the tissues around the vertebrae due to repetitive stresses that adversely affect the cartilage surrounding the joints Adjacent nerves, blood vessels, and soft tissue can be constricted by these calcific deposits, also called bone spurs. This kind of compression is at the root of Spondylosis.
Regular chiropractic treatment and overall chiropractic management is beneficial in significantly slowing the aging process of the spine whether or not you are suffering from spondylosis. It may be true that “you can’t un-ring a bell” or “turn back the hands of time,” but it’s never too late to give your spine the good treatment it deserves. Chiropractors are experts when it comes to treatment of the spine. See your chiropractor in Santa Barbara today, for the health of your spine.
When It Comes to Your Pet, Watch Your Step!
Drugs…Just in Case?
The study conducted by Dr. X. Henry Hu of Merck & Co.and colleagues found that
one in five migraine sufferers had "avoided" a work-related commitment because they were afraid of getting a migraine, while 27 percent reported canceling a work commitment for this reason, and round 28 percent said they had avoided or canceled social commitments due to fear of migraines.
I have treated many patients who "feared" the onset of a migraine and limited their activities in life because of that fear, so I do understand how devastating migraines can be. And, yet, the only "solution" this study offered?
This study is "important," according to Dr. X. Henry Hu of Merck & Co.and colleagues say because early treatment with migraine drugs called triptans can help reduce headache severity. The unpredictability of migraines, Hu said, could contribute to people's anxiety and fear about them. "Because of the lack of predictability of future migraine attacks, migraine sufferers may benefit from increased education on the importance of keeping medications available at all times," they concluded.
SOURCE: Headache, published online March 25, 2010.