Always striving to improve the way you function.

-Dr. Mike

What is good posture?

Posture is the position in which you hold your body upright against gravity while standing, sitting or lying down. Good posture involves training your body to stand, walk, sit and lie in positions where the least strain is placed on supporting muscles and ligaments during movement or weight-bearing activities. Proper posture:

• Keeps bones and joints in the correct alignment so that muscles are being used properly.
• Helps decrease the abnormal wearing of joint surfaces that could result in arthritis.
• Decreases the stress on the ligaments holding the joints of the spine together.
• Prevents the spine from becoming fixed in abnormal positions.
• Prevents fatigue because muscles are being used more efficiently, allowing the body to use less energy.
• Prevents strain or overuse problems.
• Prevents backache and muscular pain.
• Contributes to a good appearance.

Proper posture requirements

Correct sitting position

• Sit up with your back straight and your shoulders back. Your buttocks should touch the back of your chair.
• All three normal back curves should be present while sitting. A small, rolled-up towel or a lumbar roll can be used to help you maintain the normal curves in your back.Here’s how to find a good sitting position when you’re not using a back support or lumbar roll:
  • Sit at the end of your chair and slouch completely.
  • Draw yourself up and accentuate the curve of your back as far as possible. Hold for a few seconds.
  • Release the position slightly (about 10 degrees). This is a good sitting posture.
• Distribute your body weight evenly on both hips.
• Bend your knees at a right angle. Keep your knees even with or slightly higher than your hips. (use a foot rest or stool if necessary). Your legs should not be crossed.
• Keep your feet flat on the floor.
• Try to avoid sitting in the same position for more than 30 minutes.
• At work, adjust your chair height and work station so you can sit up close to your work and tilt it up at you. Rest your elbows and arms on your chair or desk, keeping your shoulders relaxed.
• When sitting in a chair that rolls and pivots, don’t twist at the waist while sitting. Instead, turn your whole body.
• When standing up from the sitting position, move to the front of the seat of your chair. Stand up by straightening your legs. Avoid bending forward at your waist. Immediately stretch your back by doing 10 standing backbends.

Correct driving position

• Use a back support (lumbar roll) at the curve of your back. Your knees should be at the same level or higher than your hips.
• Move the seat close to the steering wheel to support the curve of your back. The seat should be close enough to allow your knees to bend and your feet to reach the pedals.

Correct lifting position

• If you must lift objects, do not try to lift objects that are awkward or are heavier than 30 pounds.
• Before you lift a heavy object, make sure you have firm footing.
• To pick up an object that is lower than the level of your waist, keep your back straight and bend at your knees and hips. Do not bend forward at the waist with your knees straight.
• Stand with a wide stance close to the object you are trying to pick up and keep your feet firm on the ground. Tighten your stomach muscles and lift the object using your leg muscles. Straighten your knees in a steady motion. Don’t jerk the object up to your body.
• Stand completely upright without twisting. Always move your feet forward when lifting an object.
• If you are lifting an object from a table, slide it to the edge to the table so that you can hold it close to your body. Bend your knees so that you are close to the object. Use your legs to lift the object and come to a standing position.
• Avoid lifting heavy objects above waist level.
• Hold packages close to your body with your arms bent. Keep your stomach muscles tight. Take small steps and go slowly.
• To lower the object, place your feet as you did to lift, tighten stomach muscles and bend your hips and knees.

What is the best position for sleeping and lying down?

No matter what position you lie in, the pillow should be under your head, but not your shoulders, and should be a thickness that allows your head to be in a normal position.

• Try to sleep in a position which helps you maintain the curve in your back (such as on your back with a pillow under your knees or a lumbar roll under your lower back; or on your side with your knees slightly bent). Do not sleep on your side with your knees drawn up to your chest. You may want to avoid sleeping on your stomach, especially on a saggy mattress, since this can cause back strain and can be uncomfortable for your neck.
• Select a firm mattress and box spring set that does not sag. If necessary, place a board under your mattress. You can also place the mattress on the floor temporarily if necessary. If you’ve always slept on a soft surface, it may be more painful to change to a hard surface. Try to do what’s most comfortable for you.
• Try using a back support (lumbar support) at night to make you more comfortable. A rolled sheet or towel tied around your waist may be helpful.
• When standing up from the lying position, turn on your side, draw up both knees and swing your legs on the side of the bed. Sit up by pushing yourself up with your hands. Avoid bending forward at your waist.

The above advice will benefit a majority of people with back pain. If any of the above guidelines causes an increase of pain or spreading of pain to the legs, do not continue the activity and seek the advice of a physician or physical therapist.

By Dr. Mercola

The cold and flu season got off to an early start this year in the US, and everywhere you turn, you’ve undoubtedly seen ads and media reports urging you to get the flu vaccine.

Meanwhile, scientific reviews by the independent Cochrane Database^{1, 2} published last fall again refuted pervasive “expert” health and media claims that the flu vaccine is the most effective way to protect yourself against the flu, and that it is a safe way of doing so…

Fortunately, there are many alternatives available, from optimizing your vitamin D levels and taking zinc at the first sign of infection, to incorporating immune boosting foods into your daily diet.

Why the Flu Vaccine is Your Least Effective Option…

Last fall, the Cochrane group released two new scientific reviews on flu vaccines. Their review of all trials comparing vaccinated versus unvaccinated adults³ found that, at best, vaccines might be effective against only influenza A and B.

This represents only about 10 percent of all circulating viruses. Under ideal conditions, where the vaccine completely matches the circulating viral configuration, 33 healthy adults need to be vaccinated to avoid one set of influenza symptoms.

In average conditions (partially matching vaccine) 100 people need to be vaccinated to avoid one set of influenza symptoms.

They also found that vaccine use did not affect the number of people hospitalized or working days lost, but did cause one case of Guillian-Barré syndrome (a major neurological condition leading to paralysis) for every one million vaccinations. So please, carefully weigh the risks versus benefits before you opt for vaccination. Also do your research on risk free alternatives, such as those discussed here.

Garlic – As Good or Better Than Tamiflu?

A recent article by PreventDisease.com⁴ highlighted the use of garlic, which has natural antiviral, antibiotic, and antifungal activity.

“Forget the flu shot. A soup based on more than 50 cloves of garlic, onions, thyme and lemon will destroy almost any virus that enters its path including colds, flu and even norovirus,” John Summerly writes.

Garlic has long been hailed for its healing powers, especially against infectious diseases like cold and flu. This is likely due to its immune boosting effects. According to the featured article:

“…Compounds in this familiar bulb kill many organisms, including bacteria and viruses that cause earaches, flu and colds. Research indicates that garlic is also effective against digestive ailments and diarrhea… A recent and significant finding from Washington State University shows that garlic is 100 times more effective than two popular antibiotics at fighting disease causing bacteria commonly responsible for foodborne illness.”

The respected research organization The Cochrane Database, which has repeatedly demonstrated that the science in support of the flu vaccine is flimsy at best, has also reviewed studies on the alternatives, such as the use of garlic.⁵ Unfortunately, such research is harder to come by, as there’s no financial incentive driving it.

Still, in the singular study identified by the Cochrane group, those who took garlic daily for three months had fewer colds than those who took a placebo, and, when they did come down with a cold, the duration of illness was shorter – an average of 4.5 days compared to 5.5 days for the placebo group.

While this may not seem overly impressive, it’s still better than the results achieved by the much-advertised flu drug Tamiflu. If taken within 48 hours of onset of illness, Tamiflu might reduce the duration of flu symptoms by about a day to a day and a half. That’s the extent of what this $100-plus treatment will get you. It’s virtually identical to just taking garlic on a regular basis…

However, some patients with influenza are at increased risk for secondary bacterial infections when on Tamiflu, which of course would defeat the plan of being able to jump out of bed a day sooner. Furthermore, adverse events reported include pediatric deaths, serious skin reactions, and neuropsychiatric events, including suicide committed while delirious – side effects you won’t experience if you’re taking garlic.

Furthermore, there are plenty of reasons to doubt the veracity of Tamiflu’s claims. In 2009, conflicts of interest within WHO were unearthed, showing links between Roche, the manufacturer of Tamiflu, and those responsible for creating pandemic flu planning guidelines. Tamiflu is currently on the organization’s list of “essential medicines.” But the Cochrane team could find “no evidence” to suggest that Tamiflu actually reduces complications in cases of influenza. In fact, eight out of 10 clinical trials on Tamiflu are still “missing in action,” as Roche has doggedly refused to release them.

Kind of makes you wonder why, doesn’t it?

If you love garlic, the featured article includes a hearty garlic soup recipe, consisting of unpeeled garlic cloves, olive oil, organic grass-fed butter, cayenne, ginger, onions, thyme, coconut milk, organic veggie broth, and lemon wedges. For the recipe, please refer to the original article.⁶ If you don’t enjoy garlic, you could opt for a high-quality supplement.

Understanding What Causes Colds and Influenzas Can Help You Prevent Them

Both colds and various influenzas are caused by a wide variety of viruses (not bacteria). While the two ailments typically affect your respiratory tract, there are some differences between them. Common symptoms of a ‘regular cold’ include runny nose, congestion, cough, and sore throat. The symptoms of the flu tend to be far more severe, as the influenza viruses are capable of causing severe lung infection, pneumonia and even respiratory failure. They also tend to affect your joints – hence that allover achy feeling.

The following video offers an excellent, rapid-fire cliff-notes-type education on flu viruses, where the “H” and “N” flu classifications come from and their transmission, along with common flu symptoms. (Bear in mind that I obviously do NOT recommend or advise getting a flu vaccine, which is listed as one of the prevention methods at the end of this video.)

 

The most common way these viruses are spread is via hand-to-hand contact. For instance, someone with a cold blows their nose then shakes your hand or touches surfaces that you also touch. However, the key to remember is that just being exposed to a cold virus does not mean that you’re destined to catch a cold. If your immune system is operating at its peak, it should actually be quite easy for you to fend off the virus without ever getting sick. If your immune system is impaired, on the other hand, they can easily take hold in your body.

So, it’s important to understand that the reason you catch a cold or flu is because your immune system is impaired. It’s not an inevitable event based on exposure alone. Lifestyle factors that can depress your immune system, alone or in combination, include:

• Eating too much sugar and grains. The average person consumes about 75 grams of fructose per day (primarily in the form of high fructose corn syrup found in virtually all processed foods), and when fructose is consumed at that level it can devastate your immune system.

One of the ways it does this is by unbalancing your gut flora. Sugar is ‘fertilizer’ for pathogenic bacteria, yeast, and fungi that can set your immune system up for an assault by a respiratory virus. Most people don’t realize that 80 percent of your immune system actually lies in your gastrointestinal tract. That’s why controlling your sugar intake is CRUCIAL for optimizing your immune system.

It would be wise to reduce your total sugar intake, and limit your fructose consumption to below 25 grams a day if you’re in good health, or below 15 grams a day if you have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, or are insulin resistant or are seeking to recover from an acute illness like the flu.

• Vitamin D deficiency. In the largest and most nationally representative study⁷ of its kind to date, involving about 19,000 Americans, people with the lowest vitamin D levels reported having significantly more recent colds or cases of the flu — and the risk was even greater for those with chronic respiratory disorders like asthma. At least five additional studies also show an inverse association between lower respiratory tract infections and vitamin D levels.
• Insufficient sleep. If you aren’t getting enough restorative sleep, you’ll be at increased risk for a hostile viral takeover. Your immune system is also the most effective when you’re not sleep-deprived, so the more rested you are the quicker you’ll recover. You can find 33 secrets for a good night’s sleep here.
• Insufficient exercise. Regular exercise is a crucial strategy for increasing your resistance to illness. There is evidence that regular, moderate exercise can reduce your risk for respiratory illness by boosting your immune system. In fact, one study⁸ found that people who exercised regularly (five or more days a week) cut their risk of having a cold by close to 50 percent. And, in the event they did catch a cold, their symptoms were much less severe than among those who did not exercise.

Exercise likely cuts your risk of colds so significantly because it triggers a rise in immune system cells that can attack any potential invaders. Each time you exercise you can benefit from this boost to your immune system. Ideally, establish a regular fitness program, such as Peak Fitness, now, to help you ward off colds and other illness. Exercise can also help boost your immune system acutely, by increasing your body temperature. This helps kill off invading pathogens, similarly to the fever your body produces when sick.

• Using ineffective strategies to address emotional stressors. Emotional stressors can also predispose you to an infection while making cold symptoms worse. Finding ways to manage daily stress as well as your reactions to circumstances beyond your control will contribute to a strong and resilient immune system. Effective strategies include a variety of energy psychology tools, such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).

Zinc – Another Trusted Cold-Fighter

A Cochrane Database Review of the medical research on zinc found that when taken within one day of the first symptoms, zinc can cut down the time you have a cold by about 24 hours. The review included 15 randomized control trials, consisting of 1,360 participants of all age groups. Zinc was also found to greatly reduce the severity of symptoms.

The review stopped short of recommending any specific dose of zinc, citing the need for further studies to establish optimal formulations and durations of treatment. However, some of the studies showed the beneficial qualities of zinc in fighting the common cold used between 50 and 65 mg a day. The people taking lozenges were more likely to experience adverse effects than those taking syrup, including a bad taste in their mouth and nausea.

Zinc was not recommended for anyone with an underlying health condition, like lowered immune function, asthma or chronic illness.

Also keep in mind that any time you isolate one mineral and ingest it independently of the others, the potential exists for imbalance, or in the worst case, overdose. Therefore, I wouldn’t currently recommend taking more than 50 mg a day, and I do not recommend taking large doses of zinc on a daily basis for preventive purposes as you could easily develop a copper imbalance that way. You can also activate the “Reverse Effect” in which too much of a good nutrient can actually cause the opposite of what it’s supposed to do. So leave zinc for acute, short-term use only. Foods like garlic, on the other hand, can safely be consumed regularly to maintain a robust immune system.

“Let Food Be Thy Medicine”

As mentioned earlier, the first thing you want to do when you feel yourself coming down with a cold or flu is to avoid ALL sugars and processed foods. (I also recommend avoiding all artificial sweeteners, as they can have a detrimental effect on immune function as well.) Sugar is particularly damaging to your immune system — which needs to be ramped up, not suppressed, in order to combat an emerging infection. This includes fructose from fruit juice, and all types of grains (as they rapidly break down to sugar in your body).

Make sure to drink plenty of pure water. Water is essential for the optimal function of every system in your body and will help with nose stuffiness and loosening secretions. You should drink enough water so that your urine is a light, pale yellow. Ideally, you’ll want to address nutrition, sleep, exercise and stress issues the moment you first feel yourself coming down with something. This is when immune-enhancing strategies will be most effective. Foods that will help strengthen your immune response include:

Raw, grass-fed organic milk, and/or high-quality whey protein	Fermented foods such as raw kefir, kimchee, miso, pickles, sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables	Raw, organic eggs from pastured chickens	Grass-fed beef in small quantities of a few ounces	Coconuts and coconut oil
	Organic vegetables	Garlic. Ideally consumed raw and crushed just before eating	Turmeric, oregano, cinnamon, cloves	Mushrooms, especially Reishi, Shiitake, and Maitake

Does Chicken Soup Really Work?

Short answer, yes, chicken soup can be helpful against cold and flu symptoms. Chicken contains a natural amino acid called cysteine, which can thin the mucus in your lungs and make it less sticky so you can expel it more easily.

Processed, canned soups won’t work as well as the homemade version, however. For best results, make up a fresh batch yourself (or ask a friend or family member to do so) and make the soup hot and spicy with plenty of pepper. The spices will trigger a sudden release of watery fluids in your mouth, throat, and lungs, which will help thin down the respiratory mucus so it’s easier to cough up and expel. Making it from scratch is easy. Below, I demonstrate a simple recipe for making your own chicken soup and stock

• Put the chicken bones in a large stock pan (use bones from organically-raised chicken)
• Cover the bones with water
• Bring to a boil and lower the heat
• Simmer for about an hour or longer

Vitamin D – An Excellent Cold and Flu Prevention Strategy

Vitamin D is an amazingly effective antimicrobial agent, producing 200 to 300 different antimicrobial peptides in your body that kill bacteria, viruses and fungi. So optimizing your levels will not only help send a cold or flu virus packing, it can prevent them from invading your body in the first place. Contrary to flu vaccines, this recommendation has been steadily gaining scientific validation. In fact, there’s compelling evidence suggesting cold and flu may actually be symptoms of vitamin D deficiency.

Dr. John Cannell, founder of the Vitamin D Council, was one of the first to introduce the idea that vitamin D deficiency may actually be an underlying cause of influenza, which would help explain its apparent benefits as a flu-fighter. His hypothesis was published in the journal Epidemiology and Infection in 2006,⁹ which was followed up with another study published in the Virology Journal in 2008.¹⁰ His hypothesis received further support and confirmation when, in the following year, the largest and most nationally representative study of its kind to date discovered that people with the lowest blood vitamin D levels reported having significantly more recent colds or cases of the flu.¹¹

In another study, published in 2010,¹² researchers investigated the effect of vitamin D on the incidence of seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren. Over the course of a year, influenza A occurred in just 10.8 percent of the children in the vitamin D group, compared with 18.6 percent of the children in the placebo group. According to the authors:

“This study suggests that vitamin D3 supplementation during the winter may reduce the incidence of influenza A, especially in specific subgroups of schoolchildren.”

Revised and Updated Recommendations for Optimizing Your Vitamin D Levels

Research on vitamin D is moving swiftly, so you’d be well advised to stay on top of the latest developments as recommendations are refined and updated. I will cover the latest developments here, so you may want to share this article with your peers. First, it’s important to remember that sun exposure is the best way to optimize your vitamin D levels as your body has built-in “fail-safe” mechanisms that prevent detrimental side effects from occurring. Last year, I created a video to help you determine if you can get enough vitamin D from sun exposure in your area at different times of the year.

Based on additional information received, I now believe that my previous position was too strict… The good news is, you can likely get vitamin D under far less ideal conditions than previously suggested.

The radiation from the sun that reaches the earth’s surface (and hence your body) is partially filtered out by the atmosphere. I had previously stated that UVB rays will only penetrate the atmosphere when the sun is above an angle of about 50° from the horizon, and that when the sun is lower than 50°, the ozone layer will absorb vitamin D-producing UVB-rays while allowing the longer, and more harmful, UVA-rays to get through, which would defeat the purpose of spending time in the sun.

This recommendation is likely too strict. According to experts in the field, you can likely get sufficient amounts of UVB radiation when the sun is as low as 30 degrees above the horizon, or whenever the temperature is warm enough to expose large amounts of skin.

I thank John Hochman, MSME, for bringing this to my attention. According to Dr. Ola Engelsen with the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, the creator of a calculator¹³ that takes a number of factors into consideration give you an estimate of how many minutes of exposure you need to produce the equivalent of 1,000 IU’s of vitamin D, the sun must be more than 15 degrees above the horizon during cloudless conditions.

If You Take Vitamin D Supplements, Remember to Take Vitamin K2

Second, based on the latest investigations by Carole Baggerly, director of GrassrootsHealth, the average adult dose required to reach healthy vitamin D levels is around 8,000 IU’s of vitamin D per day if you’re taking an oral supplement. For children, many experts agree they need about 35 IU’s of vitamin D per pound of body weight. Here, it’s important to remember that if you’re taking high dose vitamin D supplements, you ALSO need to take vitamin K2.

The biological role of vitamin K2 is to help move calcium into the proper areas in your body, such as your bones and teeth. It also helps remove calcium from areas where it shouldn’t be, such as in your arteries and soft tissues. Vitamin K2 deficiency is actually what produces the symptoms of vitamin D toxicity, which includes inappropriate calcification that can lead to hardening of your arteries. The reason for this is because when you take vitamin D, your body creates more vitamin K2-dependent proteins that move calcium around in your body. Without vitamin K2, those proteins remain inactivated, so the benefits of those proteins remain unrealized.

So remember, if you take supplemental vitamin D, you’re creating an increased demand for K2. Together, these two nutrients help strengthen your bones and improve your heart health.

While the ideal or optimal ratios between vitamin D and vitamin K2 have yet to be elucidated, Dr. Kate Rheaume-Bleue, author of Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: How a Little Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life, suggests that for every 1,000 IU’s of vitamin D you take, you may benefit from about 100 micrograms of K2, and perhaps as much as 150-200 micrograms (mcg). So, if you take 8,000 IU’s of vitamin D3 per day, that means you’d need in the neighborhood of 800 to 1,000 micrograms (0.8 to 1 milligram/mg) of vitamin K2.

Lastly, remember that your vitamin D requirements are highly individual, as your vitamin D status is dependent on numerous factors, so while 8,000 IU’s of vitamin D3 per day may put you closer to the ballpark of what most people likely need, it is impossible to make a blanket recommendation that will cover everyone’s needs. The only way to determine your optimal dose is to get your blood tested. Ideally, you’ll want to maintain a vitamin D serum level of 50-70 ng/ml year-round. For an in-depth explanation of everything you need to know before you get tested, please read my latest updates in Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency.

Other Supplements that Send Pathogens Packin’

There are a number of supplements that can be beneficial for colds and influenza, but I believe they should be used only as an adjunct to other healthy dietary and lifestyle measures discussed in this article. Some of the more helpful options for cold and flu – above and beyond vitamin D, garlic, and zinc – include:

Vitamin C: A very potent antioxidant; use a natural form such as acerola, which contains associated micronutrients.	A tea made from a combination of elderflower, yarrow, boneset, linden, peppermint and ginger: Drink it hot and often for combating a cold or flu. It causes you to sweat, which is helpful for eradicating a virus from your system
Oregano Oil: The higher the carvacrol concentration, the more effective it is. Carvacrol is the most active antimicrobial agent in oregano oil	Medicinal mushrooms, such as shiitake, reishi, and turkey tail
Propolis: A bee resin and one of the most broad-spectrum antimicrobial compounds in the world; propolis is also the richest source of caffeic acid and apigenin, two very important compounds that aid in immune response	Olive leaf extract: Ancient Egyptians and Mediterranean cultures used it for a variety of health-promoting uses and it is widely known as a natural, non-toxic immune system builder

 

So please, carefully review the evidence against flu vaccines, and consider using all-natural immune boosting lifestyle strategies as your first line of defense against colds and flu. As you can see, there are many alternatives available, from optimizing your vitamin D levels and taking zinc at the first sign of infection, to incorporating immune boosting foods like garlic into your daily diet.

By now, everyone’s heard about the life-extending benefits of caloric  restriction. Lab results show that drastically cutting food intake can nearly  double longevity in rodents, worms, and flies, and a massive 20-year study on  rhesus monkeys, a species closely related to humans, found that the benefits of  the diet seem to be universal: a resistance to cancer, heart disease, and  age-related cognitive decline.

There’s even a Calorie  Restriction Society International, with thousands of members who live off  roughly 30 percent fewer calories than the number recommended by conventional  medicine. The downside, of course – and it’s a big one – is, who wants to live a  life of deprivation? But what if there were a shortcut? What if you could get  the benefits of calorie restriction without the same degree of sacrifice? Many  people now believe you can. The idea is called intermittent fasting (IF), and  it’s becoming the diet du jour of weightlifters, crossfitters, and the paleo  set.

“When people hear the term fasting, they tend to think of a week of  not eating,” says Brad Pilon, author of the book ‘Eat Stop Eat.’ “Instead, I like to think of it as taking a  break from eating.”

IF is not what most people typically think of as fasting – going without food  or sustenance for days. Instead, IFers believe you can reap all the benefits  (and more) of chronic calorie restriction after as few as 12 hours without food.  Which means that simply skipping breakfast and waiting until lunch to eat any  food (most say it’s OK to put a splash of cream in your coffee) counts as  IF.

It seems counterintuitive, but skipping meals helps you feel more energized,  recover better from exercise, blast fat, and retain lean muscle mass, and even  protects your body from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and cognitive decline – which is why NASA is interested in looking at fasting to improve the cognitive  functioning of pilots and unmanned-aerial-vehicle operators.

How does skipping meals provide these types of benefits? Because we were once  hunters and gatherers who sometimes went days between meals, our bodies were  designed to survive in times of feast and famine. Most Americans now live off a  constant drip of processed food, which keeps blood sugars elevated and immune  systems depressed.

Breaking off this continual drip of refined, high-sugar, high-carbohydrate  food isn’t as tricky as it might seem, say proponents of IF, who swear the  diet’s protocol is simple and easy to follow. “Once you get through the first  couple of weeks, it’s easy,” says John Olson, former director of the Strategic Analysis and  Integration Division in Human Exploration and Operations at NASA. “If you have a  healthy diet going into it, it’s not really that big of a deal,” he adds. “If  you have a junk diet, it’s going to be hard. For me, it’s been transformational.  I would say, anecdotally, the cognitive improvements are noticeable almost  immediately.”

Weight loss and fitness gains We learned in high school  biology that the body’s fuel source is glucose – blood sugar. We get it in  abundance by eating sugar and refined carbohydrates like bread, pasta, and  sports drinks. But our body can burn another type of fuel known as ketones.  These molecules are created when your body runs out of glucose and starts to  burn fat, which happens when you fast. Your system switches fuel sources from  sugar to fat without breaking down muscle.

If you exercise during your fasted state, you can supercharge your body’s  fat-burning potential. Studies show that growth hormone, which has serious muscle-building properties, surges during fasts. The spike  of this muscle-molding hormone proves that fasting is not simply about calories  in and calories out. The human body appears to have adapted to thrive during  short bouts of going without food.

That’s not to say, though, that you should attempt a marathon during a fast.  Most people do a short stretch – around 45 minutes – of moderate exercise like  strength training or bike riding that can run through their blood glucose and  turbocharge ketosis. “My clients find fasting not only increases fat burning,  but they feel better and feel stronger as they get used to it,” says Jon Haas,  owner of functional fitness gym Warrior  Fitness in Hainesport, New Jersey. Proponents also say the notion of not  having to eat three square meals a day is freeing and makes you feel more in  control of your body. “It provides another level of mental toughness,” says  Haas. “This is how your body was designed to function.”

The downside of IF is that research shows people who fast are much more  likely to reach for high-calorie, carbohydrate-rich foods when they eat again.  These foods were never a problem, evolutionarily speaking, until the advent of  soda, hoagies, and all-you-can-eat pasta buffets. Still, the research makes  sense: If you haven’t eaten in 20 hours, why wouldn’t your body go for the  biggest bang for the caloric buck? But IFers go a step further and claim the  science behind bingeing after a fast is faulty. “To my knowledge,” says Mark  Sisson, author of ‘The Primal Blueprint‘ and a proponent of IF, “these studies  are not done on people adjusted to burning fat, so it’s not surprising that  someone on a moderate- to high-carbohydrate diet is going to go for the carbs  when they start eating again – the brain of a sugar burner is always expecting  sugar.” Sisson’s comments mirror the reports of the legions of people who claim  there’s an adaptation period as the body becomes more efficient at converting  fat into ketones – or, as Sisson calls it, “becoming a fat-burning beast.”

Cancer prevention An extensive body of research conducted  by institutions like the University of California at Berkeley, the University of  Southern California, and Chicago’s Mount Sinai now shows that IF may help prevent and treat cancer. During a fast, the cells  in our bodies go into a protective mode, while cancerous cells continue their  metastatic, robotic growth. But the fasted state is hostile to cancer cells in  part because their fuel – glucose – disappears from the bloodstream. The same is  true of precancerous cells – the type that lead to cancer – says Valter Longo, director of the University of Southern  California Longevity Institute. “Imagine someone who has precancerous cells,”  says Longo. “The process of developing cancer could take years, but if that  person fasted, those cells could be killed before they had a chance to spread.”  Longo, who has shown that the act of fasting itself can kill cancer cells, is  now working with the Dr. Otto Buchinger Clinic in Germany, an institute that has promoted therapeutic  fasting for almost a century, to develop more human studies to better  understand why IF may be beneficial for treating and preventing cancer.

Longevity and neuroprotection Fasting challenges your  brain in a way that’s similar to exercising muscle, says Mark Mattson, of the National Institute on Aging.  “When the brain goes under energy restriction, we see neural activity that’s  associated with protection against degeneration from stroke and aging,” says  Mattson. “Fasting increases BDNF, a protein that’s crucial for learning and  protection against age-related cognitive decline.” There’s also evidence that  ketone bodies converted from fat and used as fuel during fasting may protect  against neurodegenerative diseases like epilepsy, moderate autism, and  Alzheimer’s.

Master the fast When Brad Pilon, a major guru of the IF  diet, dropped out of his job in the supplement industry to attend graduate  school, his goal was to create the ultimate diet. He was astonished to learn the  key to longevity was to regularly skip eating. He developed what’s since become  the main reference title of IF followers: ‘Eat Stop Eat’. It’s updated annually,  and it recommends two 24-hour fasts a week. But it’s by no means the only  protocol in the world of fasting. While most IF adherents have  their own method for restricting food, the most popular seems to be skipping  breakfast, which allows you to include sleep in your fasting cycle. If you eat  dinner by 9 p.m., for example, all you need to do is skip breakfast and then  resume eating at 1 pm for a solid 16-hour fast, or push it longer. “Fat loss  starts happening at about 12 to 13 hours and plateaus around 18 hours,” says  Pilon, who also has a master’s in human biology and nutritional science from the  University of Guelph in Ontario.

Though we’ve been told for years to fuel up before working out, IF loyalists  report that doing strength training midfast provides them with more energy than  they would have had if they’d eaten breakfast. It does take some getting used  to, however. You’re essentially switching fuel sources from glucose to ketone  molecules, and your body becomes more efficient at doing so over time – something IF advocates call being keto-adapted. It’s like tapping into a tank of  different fuel, and people report having greater concentration while burning  ketones. As with so many things in the health sphere these days, what’s old  seems to be what’s new. Many of the world’s great religions call for fasting  regimens; Socrates was a fanatical proponent; and Benjamin Franklin may have  said it best: “To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.”

Read more: http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/the-benefits-of-occasional-fasting-20121116#ixzz2JoXTaBE2

And the best way to do this is through implementing comprehensive lifestyle and dietary changes rather than taking pharmaceutical drugs, the latter of which can cause unintended harm in the form of damaging side effects. If chronic, low-grade inflammation is affecting your own health, the following foods and herbs can help reduce and even eliminate it naturally without the need for drugs:

1) Fermented foods and beverages. Eating more foods and drinking more beverages that are rich in probiotic bacteria — that is, bacteria that promote a healthy, disease-fighting ecosystem inside your digestive tract — is one of the most effective ways to naturally fight inflammation. Since probiotics are vital for the body to effectively break down foods and make them more bioavailable and digestible, they can also help ease the digestive burden brought about by the modern food supply, which is largely responsible for creating inflammation inside the body.

Your options include foods like traditional fermented vegetables — kimchi and sauerkraut are two of the most popular — traditional miso soup, raw milk kefir or yogurt, tempeh, and homemade pickles. Popular probiotic beverages include kombucha tea, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar (ACV), and water kefir.

2) Omega-3 fatty acids. Often referred to as natural “lubrication” for the systems of your body, Omega-3 fatty acids like the kinds found in wild fatty fish, hemp and chia seeds, walnuts, and pastured eggs and meats are powerful inflammation-fighters. Studies have shown that Omega-3s reduce oxidative stress throughout the body and minimize inflammation in the brain, cardiovascular system, and elsewhere, reducing your risk of developing other serious diseases.

High-quality fish oils like Green Pasture and Carlson, as well as hemp oil, chia oil, spirulina, pumpkin seed oil and walnut oil are all excellent sources of Omega-3s. Each of these foods will help offset the overload of Omega-6 fatty acids that pervade the Standard American Diet (SAD). These foods are also all-around nutritional powerhouses that help promote an internal habitat that is unfavorable for inflammation and disease.

3) Tart cherries. One of the most powerful anti-inflammatory foods in existence, tart cherries have been shown to provide powerful relief for people who suffer from arthritis, gout, joint pain, and other inflammatory conditions. Tart cherries are so powerful, in fact, that researchers from Oregon Health & Science University recently declared them to have the “highest anti-inflammatory content of any food.”

Since they are not widely available in fresh form — virtually all cherries sold at the supermarket are sweet cherries rather than tart cherries — the best way to obtain tart cherries is to purchase them in powder, capsule, or juice form. Drinking just a few ounces of tart cherry juice every day can significantly improve inflammatory markers in just a few weeks.

4) Saturated fat. This recommendation may come as a surprise to some readers, but the truth of the matter is that Americans consume far too many Omega-6 fatty acids, which are a major cause of systemic inflammation. And who can really blame them considering the fact that the medical system actually promotes the intake of Omega-6-rich vegetables oils and other inflammatory foods as if they were healthy?

Low-fat diets are another cause of both inflammation and chronic disease, as the body needs regular intake of healthy fats to keep the circulatory system in good health and maintain healthy blood flow. Consuming more healthy saturated fats in the form of coconut oil, pastured meats and butter, and natural lard can not only help ease inflammation, but also strengthen your bones, improve lung and brain function, and modulate nervous system function.

5) Nopal cactus fruit. Uniquely rich in powerful bioflavonoid nutrients known as betalains, nopal cactus fruit is another must-have anti-inflammatory food that is both delicious and easy to incorporate into your diet. Members of the quercetin family, betalains have been shown to help neutralize the free radicals responsible for triggering inflammation, as well as provide lasting protection against oxidative damage.

A 2012 study published in the journal Alcohol found that nopal cactus fruit extract helped protect cells in rats from inflammatory damage. And an earlier study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine found that nopal cactus fruit imparts similar anti-inflammatory benefits in humans. (http://articles.chicagotribune.com)

Researchers from the University Medical Center in the Netherlands have published the result of their study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal detailing how suboptimal levels of vitamin D may be associated with decreased longevity, according to a study involving middle-aged children of people in their 90s. The authors noted “We found that familial longevity was associated with lower levels of vitamin D and a lower frequency of allelic variation in the CYP2R1 gene, which was associated with higher levels of vitamin D.”

Vitamin D works at the genetic level to lower the incidence of mutations and improve cellular replication. To determine the association between vitamin D levels and longevity, scientists reviewed data from 380 white families with at least two siblings over the age of 90 (89 years or older for men and 91 year or older for women) in the long running Dutch Longevity Study. The study examined siblings and their offspring for a total of 1,038 offspring and 461 controls.

Vitamin D metabolism is genetically controlled, but can

be influenced by healthy lifestyle.

Researchers tested vitamin D saturation levels using the standard 25(OH)D blood test and categorized the participants by time of month and blood measurement (noting that blood levels vary widely between Summer and Winter months). The researchers controlled for age, gender, BMI, time of year, vitamin supplementation and kidney function, all factors that can influence vitamin D levels. They also looked at the influence of genetic variation in three genes associated with vitamin D levels.

The study authors determined that the active mechanism that converts ultraviolet rays from the sun into vitamin D3 through the skin is likely a genetic function that runs in families. The authors concluded “We found that the offspring of nonagenarians who had at least 1 nonagenarian sibling had lower levels of vitamin D than controls… we also found that the offspring had a lower frequency of common genetic variants in the CYP2R1 gene; a common genetic variant of this gene predisposes people to high vitamin D levels.”

Naturally, we cannot control our inherited genetic structure, but we can influence genetic expression through dietary and lifestyle interventions, including supplementing with vitamin D3 and checking vitamin D blood levels biannually (maintaining 50 to 70 ng/mL blood saturation levels) to lower risk of early mortality.

1. Good digestion: Because posture begins with your core, it directly affects digestion. Poor posture can contribute to acid reflux by weakening your esophagus. Siting in a hunched position or lying down directly after a meal places stress on the stomach that promotes heartburn and indigestion. If you’re looking to ease digestion and practice better posture after a meal, consider this yoga series.
2. Better breathing: Deep breathing can become second nature, not just a yoga luxury. Rather than compressing your abdomen and chest, prevent shallow chest breathing by standing up straight and sitting tall at your desk. Good posture allows the front of your body to open and your diaphragm to work at its best. Still in doubt? Test it for yourself — right now — and notice the difference.
3. Tightens your core: Poor posture may be the one thing preventing you from getting that six-pack. When you slouch, you start to reverse the benefits all those planks. By practicing better posture, you’ll keep your entire core engaged, even when you’re not at the gym. Sitting on an exercise ball at work is a great way to enforce good posture and tighten your core while on the job.

Two more benefits of good posture, after the break!

4. Strengthens back muscles, reducing pain: Slouching at your desk or while standing puts extra strain on the muscles that support your spine, ultimately leading to other aches and pains as well. Improving your posture by unlearning all your bad postural habits and standing with your feet hip-distance apart can be the key to relieving chronic pain.
5. Looking slimmer: Ladies, it’s true, bad posture makes you look heavier than you are! Standing up straight can make you look five pounds slimmer without dieting. These easy posture tricks will help you stand tall (and rock your bikini) with confidence.

Kinematics
v=d/t or t = d/v … the faster you run (speed v) to get to your destination (distance d), the less time (t) it will take. It might seem obvious if you get to your destination in half the time, only half the rain will have hit you – but by changing your speed you change your relative velocity compared to the rain.

Relative Velocity
Suppose the rain is falling straight down. If you are standing still you will only get wet on the top of your head/shoulders and anything else unsheltered and pointing straight up. However, there is a certain amount of water between you and your destination, and by moving you are going to start colliding with it… you are changing the relative velocity between you and the rain. Now instead of seeing the rain coming straight down, you see it as blowing into you, getting your face/legs/etc wet as well. You now have to deal with components of the rain’s velocity.

Vector Components
You now treat the rain as having two components one vertical and one horizontal. The vertical component is independent of your running speed – so this part of the answer truly does predict that by doubling your speed you halve your “wetness”. However, the horizontal is the difference between the horizontal speed the rain has, and your running speed. It will be easiest, however, to deal not with components of the speed, but components of the flux.

Flux
Flux is used in nearly every topic area covered in introductory physics, but is seldom explained by itself. Flux is the amount per unit area of something against a surface. In our case, the flux will be the (number of raindrops/time) per unit area. So suppose you watch a 1 m² area of the ground, and 50 drops hit in 10 seconds. The flux is 50 drops/10 seconds per square meter, or 5 drops/(s m²). So estimate your vertical target area (top area of head and shoulders etc), and multiply by 5 to get the number of drops hitting per second. This number is independent of your speed.

The components of the flux vary in the same proportion as the speeds. So, if the rain is falling vertically at 7 m/s with a wind in your face of 2 m/s and you are running at 5 m/s your relative velocity horizontally is 7 m/s – the rain appears to be falling at an angle of 45^o. So the horizontal flux is (vertical flux)*tan(45). Multiply this by the area presented by your face/body/legs to get the rate that droplets hit your front.

Putting it all together
If you add the rate the droplets hit your top and front areas, you now have droplets/second – so multiply this by the amount of time you will be in the rain – d/v. A few comparisons might lead you to worry less about how fast you run, but there are a lot of cases to consider: wind in your face, wind from behind, wind from the side (we haven’t covered this component, but if you understand the above argument you should be able to work it out), drizzle vs downpour, and the various possible running speeds. For perspective however, remember that the “World’s Fastest Man” runs 100 m in approximately 10 s – so don’t think you’re going to go faster than 10 m/s.

Run over to V Chiropractic and Rehabilitation an get adjusted! There’s a pretty good shot you won’t get precipitated on based on the weather we’ve been having.

At the wrist, as in most areas of the body, nerves require a normal longitudinal movement. Flexion of the digits causes the median nerve to slide proximally into the forearm; with finger extension, the median nerve slides distally toward the hand.³ Hyperextension of the wrist and fingers causes the median nerve to displace farthest under the transverse carpal ligament into the hand (10-15mm relative to a fixed bony landmark in the carpal tunnel). Displacement of the median nerve during flexion of wrist and fingers is two to four times greater at the wrist than in the upper arm.⁴ It is important that the median nerve slides during movement instead of continually being stretched.

There should be a normal movement relationship in the carpal tunnel between the median nerve and the flexor tendons. It is thought that chronic repetitive use of the fingers may create a shearing between these structures, resulting in localized hyperplasia and fibrosis of the investing tenosynovium of the flexor tendons, and median nerve in the tunnel.⁴ Adhesions between the median nerve and surrounding structures, especially the flexor tendons, results in stretching of the nerve. In the wrist, flexor tendon excursion is nearly five times greater than that of the median nerve.⁴ They have found arteriolar and venular smooth-muscle hypertrophy and endothelial thickening increasing the pressure on the median nerve and its vascular supply.⁵

In a study using the following exercises, patients were instructed to place the affected hand in warm water for four minutes, and then cold water for one minute (three to five times a day). Each position (see figures 1 and 2) for mobilizing the median nerve was maintained for seven seconds, and repeated five times at each session, for a total of three to five sessions per day.

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

Positions for extension tendon gliding exercises: (see Figure 2)

1. wrist is in neutral, with the fingers and thumb in flexion;
2. wrist is in neutral, with the fingers and thumb extended;
3. wrist and fingers are extended, with the thumb in neutral;
4. wrist, fingers, and thumb are extended;
5. wrist, fingers, and thumb are extended, with the forearm in supination; and
6. wrist, fingers and thumb are extended, the forearm is in supination, and the other hand gently stretches the thumb.

In this study,⁴ one group of carpal tunnel patients was treated by standard methods, and another group included the nerve and tendon gliding exercises. Of the group that did not do the exercises, 71.2 percent underwent surgery, compared with only 43 percent of the patients who did the exercises.

http://www.warrenhammer.com

http://vchiropractic.com

How to inspire your brain

Take care of stress. Avoid dulling routine. Do something creative every day. Read poetry, spiritual material or anything else that makes you feel uplifted. Take time to be in nature. Bond with another person who is heartwarming. Pay attention to being happy. Make sure you take time every day by yourself to relax, meditate and self-reflect. Deal with negative emotions like anger and anxiety. Focus on activity that makes you feel fulfilled. Give of yourself. Follow a personal vision. Attach yourself to a cause that is bigger than you are. Take the risk to love and be loved.

How to ignore your brain

Get set in your ways. Don’t look beyond your opinions, likes and dislikes. Isolate yourself from others. Take relationships for granted. Reconcile yourself to going downhill as you age. Look upon the past as the best time of your life. Forget about having ideals. Act on selfish impulses. Don’t examine what makes you tick. Give in to anger and anxiety. Let life take care of itself. Go along to get along. Assume that you are automatically right. Avoid anything new or challenging. Put up with stress. Take no emotional risks. Distract yourself with mindless diversions like watching sports for hours on end.

V Chiropractic and Rehabilitation

http://ggblakewooddrvarnay.eventbrite.com/#

• First 5 couples that call get 1 of the cleanse kits at cost (my cost)
• Step 1: Call 720.432.7022 and ask to clean up your act.
• Step 2: Research https://www.standardprocess.com/Standard-Process/Purification-Program

Michael Varnay

Tuesday, January 8, 2013 from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM (MST)

Here are his thoughts on cleansing…

“Cleansing, or detoxification, has its roots in ancient healing systems such as Ayurveda, the oldest surviving medical system in the world.  The need to cleanse periodically is increasingly important in a modern world where our bodies are faced with the processing and elimination of countless toxic insults from food and environment.  A cleansing diet allows the body a rest from foods which are difficult to digest, inflammatory, hyper-allergenic, and stressful to the immune system. During a cleanse, selective supplements support the biochemical processes the body uses to metabolize and detoxify while allowing restoration and rejuvenation of cells and tissues.”

   -Dr. Eric Grasser

This cleanse is a 21 day commitment and can be researched further by visiting the link below.

https://www.standardprocess.com/Standard-Process/Purification-Program

Commit with me between now and the 20th: 25% off

Commit with me between now and the 25th: 20% off

Commit with me between now and New Years: 15% off

Commit with me as a Denver Roller Doll or volunteer for the DRD organization: 25% off

Either way you’re making out. Let’s do this together.

Dr. Mike

V Chiropractic and Rehabilitation

vchiropractic.com

720-432-7022

Researchers from UCL and Imperial College London found that differences in the microstructure of connections in the brain were correlated with how black belts and novices performed in a test of punching ability.

Karate experts are able to generate extremely powerful forces with their punches, but how they do this is not fully understood. Previous studies have found that the force generated in a karate punch is not determined by muscular strength, suggesting that factors related to the control of muscle movement by the brain might be important.

The study, published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, looked for differences in brain structure between 12 karate practitioners with a black belt rank and an average of 13.8 years’ karate experience, and 12 control subjects of similar age who exercised regularly but did not have any martial arts experience.

The researchers tested how powerfully the subjects could punch, but to make useful comparisons with the punching of novices they restricted the task to punching from short range – a distance of 5 centimetres. The subjects wore infrared markers on their arms and torso to capture the speed of their movements.

As expected, the karate group punched harder. The power of their punches seemed to be down to timing: the force they generated correlated with how well the movement of their wrists and shoulders were synchronised.

Brain scans showed that the microscopic structure in certain regions of the brain differed between the two groups. Each brain region is composed of grey matter, consisting of the main bodies of nerve cells, and white matter, which is mainly made up of bundles of fibres that carry signals from one region to another. The scans used in this study, called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), detected structural differences in the white matter of parts of the brain called the cerebellum and the primary motor cortex, which are known to be involved in controlling movement.

The differences measured by DTI in the cerebellum correlated with the synchronicity of the subjects’ wrist and shoulder movements when punching. The DTI signal also correlated with the age at which karate experts began training and their total experience of the discipline. These findings suggest that the structural differences in the brain are related to the black belts’ punching ability.

“We are just beginning to understand how skills in different areas of expertise are associated with variations in brain structure. These findings show that success in sport might not just be due to physical attributes, but also to differences in athletes’ brains,” said co-author Professor Masud Husain of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.

“Much of the research on how the brain controls movement has been based on examining how diseases can impair motor skills,” said Dr Ed Roberts, from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, who led the study. “We took a different approach, by looking at what enables experts to perform better than novices in tests of physical skill.

“The karate black belts were able to repeatedly coordinate their punching action with a level of coordination that novices can’t produce. We think that ability might be related to fine tuning of neural connections in the cerebellum, allowing them to synchronise their arm and trunk movements very accurately.

“We’re only just beginning to understand the relationship between brain structure and behaviour, but our findings are consistent with earlier research showing that the cerebellum plays a critical role in our ability to produce complex, coordinated movements.

“There are several factors that can affect the DTI signal, so we can’t say exactly what features of the white matter these differences correspond to. Further studies using more advanced techniques will give us a clearer picture.”

The study was supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Wellcome Trust, and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University College London.

At a gymnastics or martial arts meet, or at a weightlifting competition, listen to the coaches advice to the athlete — Stay tight! This means to maintain stiffness. Being stiff ensures that there will be minimal energy losses as forces are transmitted through the linkages. Optimal performance requires stability, and stability results from stiffness. Stiffness in the body results from muscular co-contraction. Used properly, it will assist in getting through “sticking points”, enhance whole body strength and speed. Be stiff, and be compliant. Knowing the difference and when to be one or the other is a major way to improving performance.

As a professor and consultant I see too many people who succumb to bad backs during the effort to increase fitness. No wonder. Building true strength and function is elusive for many following the traditional American approach dominated by body building concepts. Of all the variables required for optimal performance, building muscle strength is the easiest component to enhance with training. Far more difficult is the enhancement of the foundation components of healthy motion and motor patterns, joint stability and endurance. And only then with this foundation can serious strength with speed and power be developed.

Super stiffness is used by thebest football hitters, golfers, martial artists and weightlifters. Consider the hit in football where maximum speed of approach requires the combination of sufficient stiffness and compliance. Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee, Vasily Alexeyev, all knew the principles of Super-stiffness. Understanding, training and executing these principles will lead you towards achieving ultimate performance.

Stuart McGill, Professor of Spine Biomechanics

About the Technique, she had this to say: “I have never known the Webster Technique not to work in supporting a breech baby to turn except for one case where there was placenta previa. I have, however, known of the external version not to work!”

I have been recommending the Webster Technique for close to 11 years. During that time I have encountered many breeches and have only experienced 3 breech deliveries. One woman did not choose to do the Webster Technique and had her baby by c-section. Another was a last minute client whose doctor said her baby was vertex (not) and refused to do an ultrasound to confirm it. She delivered breech in a hospital. Another client of mine had a baby that was vertex until the last week— her baby did a surprise turn.

In following up with a phone conversation, Ann and I were able to discuss the numerous reasons why chiropractic care in pregnancy allows for safer and easier deliveries for both the mother and baby. Her referrals over the years to Doctors of Chiropractic always left her midwifery clients feeling well taken care of and appreciative of her recommendations.

The Doctors of Chiropractic further supported the midwifery philosophy for natural birthing. Those mutual clients approached their births with a greater sense of confidence and trust in their body’s ability to function normally. This on-going support from both practitioners is an incredible asset to the pregnant mother throughout pregnancy and in birth.

Find practitioners who support the natural process of birth. Make regular chiropractic care a part of your prenatal choices as well. Birth is an amazing experience and how you prepare throughout pregnancy along with who you work with will in fact lead to a more fulfilling birth experience.

Almost half of all children will have at least one middle ear infection before they’re a year old, and two-thirds of them will have had at least one such infection by age 3. The symptoms can include ear pain, fever, and irritability. Otitis media can be either bacterial or viral in origin, and frequently results from another illness such as a cold. For many children, it can become a chronic problem, requiring treatment year after year, and putting the child at risk of permanent hearing damage and associated speech and developmental problems.

Standard treatment for most cases of otitis media is with antibiotics, which can be effective if the culprit is bacterial (antibiotics, of course, do nothing to fight off viruses). But, according to many research studies, antibiotics are often not much more effective than the body’s own immune system. And repeated doses of antibiotics can lead to drug-resistant bacteria that scoff at the drugs, while leaving the child screaming in pain.

Frequent ear infections are also the second most common reason for surgery in children under 2 (with circumcision being the first). In severe cases—for example, when fluids from an ear infection haven’t cleared from the ear after several months, and hearing is affected—specialists sometimes prescribe myringotomy and tympanostomy, more commonly known as “ear tubes.” During the surgical procedure, a small opening is made in the eardrum to place a tube inside. The tube relieves pressure in the ear and prevents repeated fluid buildup with the continuous venting of fresh air. In most cases, the membrane pushes the tube out after a couple of months and the hole in the eardrum closes. Although the treatment is effective, it has to be repeated in some 20 to 30 percent of cases. And this kind of surgery requires general anesthesia, never a minor thing in a small child. If the infection persists even after tube placement and removal, children sometimes undergo adenoidectomy (surgical removal of the adenoids)—an option that is effective mostly through the first year after surgery.

Before yet another round of “maybe-they’ll-work-and-maybe-they-won’t” antibiotics or the drastic step of surgery, more parents are considering chiropractic to help children with chronic ear infections. Dr. Joan Fallon, a chiropractor who practices in Yonkers, New York, has published research showing that, after receiving a series of chiropractic adjustments, nearly 80 percent of the children treated were free of ear infections for at least the six-month period following their initial visits (a period that also included maintenance treatments every four to six weeks).

“Chiropractic mobilizes drainage of the ear in children, and if they can continue to drain without a buildup of fluid and subsequent infection, they build up their own antibodies and recover more quickly,” explains Dr. Fallon. She’d like to see her pilot study used as a basis for larger-scale trials of chiropractic as a therapeutic modality for otitis media.

Dr. Fallon uses primarily upper-cervical manipulation on children with otitis media, focusing particularly on the occiput, or back of the skull, and atlas, or the first vertebra in the neck. “Adjusting the occiput, in particular, will get the middle ear to drain. Depending on how chronic it’s been and on where they are in their cycle of antibiotics, children generally need to get through one bout of fluid and fight it off themselves.” That means, for the average child, between six and eight treatments. If a child’s case is acute, Dr. Fallon will check the ear every day, using a tympanogram to measure the ear and track the movement of the eardrum to make sure that it’s draining. “I’ll do adjustments every day or every other day for a couple of days if they’re acute, and then decrease frequency over time.”

Dr. Fallon, whose research garnered her the acclaim of childrearing magazines like Parenting and Baby Talk, often sees great success when she treats a child for otitis media. “Once they fight it themselves, my kids tend to do very well and stay away from ear infections completely. Unless there are environmental factors like smoking in the house, an abnormally shaped Eustachian tube, or something like that, they do very well,” she says.

“I have two large pediatric groups that refer to me on a regular basis. In the winter, when otitis is most prevalent, I see five or six new children each week from each group,” says Dr. Fallon. “It’s safe and effective and something that parents should try, certainly before inserting tubes in their children’s ears.”

Chiropractic Care Can Help…
Talk to your doctor of chiropractic about your child’s ear infections. Doctors of chiropractic are licensed and trained to diagnose and treat patients of all ages and will use a gentler type of treatment for children.

An increase in chronic childhood disease is part of the reason parents today seek alternative health care for kids. Chiropractic care is an effective and affordable program by licensed providers that addresses children’s health conditions associated with the nervous and musculoskeletal systems. Gentle, noninvasive and drug free, chiropractic adjustments treat, resolve and prevent a wide range of health problems. Recent research by the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA) found spinal manipulative therapy safe and successful in treating children of all ages.

Acute Conditions

Acute conditions may result from birth trauma, sports mishaps and accidental injury. Chiropractic care benefits children by correcting the spinal alignment to improve their overall health. When vertebral joints are misaligned during birth or from a blow or fall, muscle tissue and nerves may also be affected. Spinal adjustment frees joints, restores motion and relieves nerve pressure, which may be the cause of additional ailments. Parents report successful treatment of children’s health issues such as acute earache, upper respiratory infection, muscle pain, neck pain and accident trauma. Spinal manipulation for children as young as newborn babies is an alternative treatment for the discomfort of colic and other digestive disorders as well.

Chronic Conditions

Parents surveyed by the ICPA reported behavioral improvement for kids who saw a chiropractor, as well as improved sleep and stronger immune systems. Although scientific evidence in these areas is still inconclusive, the growing number of those seeking children’s health care from chiropractors (up 8.5% since 1991, according to the American Chiropractic Association) is a positive endorsement of its benefits. Chiropractic America reports that natural, drug-free chiropractic care is sometimes more effective than traditional medical approaches for chronic earache, scoliosis and neck pain. Headaches and sleep disorders of nonspecific causes respond well to spinal adjustments, which affect and repair interrupted neural pathways. Asthma and allergy symptoms and patterns of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may also be treatable with chiropractic.

Prevention

Success in these areas has implications for chiropractic care’s preventive capacity. Periodic ongoing adjustments at a young age may help stave off the above ailments before they begin. Proper spinal alignment now may delay or prevent degenerative bone or joint disease, such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. In addition to maintaining children’s health, regular visits to the chiropractor also instill the value of proactive health care in kids. They’ll be more likely to monitor and manage their health as they grow up and less likely to be afraid or in denial of any health problems. Encouraging good lifelong health habits is one of chiropractic’s best benefits for kids.

Love and pregnancy and riding on a camel cannot be hid.  ~Arabic Proverb

http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/chiropracticcare.html

Why should I have chiropractic care during pregnancy?

During pregnancy, there are several physiological and endocrinological changes that occur in preparation for creating the environment for the developing baby. The following changes could result in functional and potentially structural changes:

• Protruding abdomen and increased back curve
• Pelvic changes
• Postural adaptations

What are the benefits of chiropractic care during pregnancy?

Chiropractic care during pregnancy can provide benefits for women who are pregnant. Potential benefits of chiropractic care during pregnancy include:

• Maintaining a healthier pregnancy
• Controlling symptoms of nausea
• Reducing the time of labor and delivery
• Relieving back, neck or joint pain
• Prevent a potential cesarean delivery

What about chiropractic care and breech deliveries?

he Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics reported in the July/August 2002 issue an 82% success rate of babies turning vertex when doctors of chiropractic used the Webster Technique. Further, the results from the study suggest that it may be beneficial to perform the Webster Technique as soon as the 8th month of pregnancy when a woman has a breech presentation.

Currently, the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA) recommends that women receive chiropractic care throughout pregnancy to establish pelvic balance and optimize the room a baby has for development throughout pregnancy. With a balanced pelvis, babies have a greater chance of moving into the correct position for birth, and the crisis and worry associated with breech and posterior presentations may be avoided altogether. Optimal baby positioning at the time of birth also eliminates the potential for dystocia (difficult labor) and therefore results in easier and safer deliveries for both the mother and baby.

Obesity screening and counseling for eligible beneficiaries by primary care providers in settings like doctor’s offices are covered under the new benefit.

The move may prompt private-sector health plans to follow suit, as Medicare sets a national standard for coverage.

More than 30 percent of both men and women ages 65 and older are estimated to be obese. The condition is directly or indirectly associated with heart disease, diabetes and other chronic conditions.

“Obesity is a challenge faced by Americans of all ages, and prevention is crucial for the management and elimination of obesity in our country,” Dr. Donald Berwick, administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid ServicesLatest from The Business JournalsCGI to build health insurance exchange for CMSCGI will build online health info system for CMSLocal hospital CEOs want private fund for more residencies Follow this company .

It’s a topic I’ve covered in great detail before on The Science of Sport, with approaches ranging from a look at the evidence for shoes, to the findings of the latest barefoot running research. I fly to London on Tuesday night for the UKSEM conference, where I’ll be chairing a debate on running injuries (among other talks), and which will probably be one of the highlights of the meeting, since it includes Daniel Lieberman and Benno Nigg, both of whom have done research on this subject. So there’ll be more to come from that, no doubt.

But for today, I just wanted to share with you the presentation that I did. It will lack the sound and my explanations, of course, but most of it should be fairly self-explanatory. For those who want to read through a more detailed description, you can read the article I wrote after the ACSM meeting earlier this year – most of the concepts covered in the presentation below are also described in that article.

I would say that the three key points about this whole debate are:

Evidence linking the mechanics to the injury outcome still lacking

There is as yet no conclusive evidence that either proves or disproves the benefits of shoes or barefoot running, or links the mechanical characteristics of barefoot running to a reduced risk of injury. That is, for all the work showing how impact forces and loading rates are reduced when barefoot, it remains to be proven that this leads to lower injury rates. I began Monday night’s talk by saying that this was the first time a “scientific” presentation would be given with so little conclusive scientific evidence! There are plenty of theories, of course, and some are sound, but we await the real evidence for the injury and performance side of the debate, which will come from long-term, prospective studies.

Recognise that running barefoot may be a skill and that people acquire skills at different rates (or not at all)

The evidence so far suggests that barefoot running produces some potentially beneficial changes, mostly related to how running form and kinetics are altered without shoes. However, it also points to a potentially large group of people who, when running barefoot, may have increased risk of injury, especially early on – these are the people who continue to heel-strike when barefoot, and who may “force” a forefoot landing, leading to huge strain on the calf muscle and Achilles tendons.

The key point is that barefoot running (and thus running in general) should be recognised as a SKILL, and it is clear that we do not all have the ability to acquire skills equally. Those who do not may be substantially worse off, and require much longer to make the adjustments. Whether they should even try is a good question.

The issue however is not necessarily whether barefoot running is “good for you”, but rather whether barefoot running helps us understand anything about how we run that might help us reduce injury risk. If barefoot running provides these answers for a given runner, then of course it would be enormously beneficial. But it may be that simply learning about barefoot running helps runners in shoes just as much!

It’s also vital to recognise that huge differences may exist between individuals: some adapt very quickly to minimalist shoes or barefoot running – these people are the “responders” and they tend to go on to become “evangelists” who tell everyone to throw away their shoes! At the other extreme, however, are non-responders, who, for reasons unknown, will battle to run without “traditional shoes”. In both cases, we have to be careful about generalizing the “extreme” observation to the general population. That’s the mistake shoe companies made when telling everyone they needed all manner of gadgets in their shoe, and it’s a mistake that people now make when advocating barefoot running.

We do not fully understand why some people adapt faster than others. The studies required in the future need to assess how biomechanical and neuromuscular changes are learned and relearned when running barefoot, and then to establish whether this impacts on injury risk. Those will come, in time.

Worth a try, or inclusion into training. But respect the length of the investment: Change management

In terms of advocacy, I believe that barefoot running will help most runners. It may be as part of a training programme where barefoot running helps with adaptation because it loads the joints differently, activates muscles in different patterns and therefore provides a good training impulse. For some, barefoot running (or minimalist shoes) will go on to become the “only way”. For others, it will remain a training technique, and that’s fine too. But I’d certainly look at incorporating it, just for the training adaptations it provides.

The key, as mentioned in #2 above, is to recognise that going from shoes to either minimalist shoes or barefoot is a skill and involves a significant change. Therefore, it’s essential to respect the time that it will take to fully adapt to the different loading stresses associated with running either barefoot or in minimalist shoes. I’ve given an illustration of a programme in the presentation, where I’ve ‘budgeted’ 12 weeks to build up to 40 minutes of solid running (plus 2 to 4 weeks of preparation). Some people may take even longer than this – the question that has to be asked then is whether it’s worth it? Is a 6-month intervention worth the benefit, when the benefit hasn’t yet been clearly established? I doubt it.

Nevertheless, if you’re sold on the idea of giving it a try, recognise that you’re making a long-term investment, and that if you simply continue your normal training barefoot, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get injured!

More to come in the future, I am sure. Looking forward to meeting Lieberman for a few runs along the Thames, and we will be discussing the future research that needs to be done!

Click here (then scroll down) to watch Ross’s presentation.

• Ross Tucker writes for The Science of Sport.

Women who appreciate their morning cup of java have yet another reason to continue indulging. Harvard researchers have discovered that coffee consumption can cut the risk for developing endometrial cancer by as much as 25 percent. The details of the study were recently published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

The study adds to the fast-mounting evidence that the health benefits of drinking coffee far outweigh the risks posed by downing the miraculous, golden nectar.

While too much coffee can lead to nervous jitters and heart palpatations for some, previous studies have shown the powers of the almighty coffee bean help protect against a growing number of maladies including brain tumors, multiple schlerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes.

In addition, research has shown that women who drink a moderate amount of coffee can expect to lower their chances of gout, depression, stroke, and certain types of breast cancer.

Endometrial cancer forms in the tissue that lines the uterus, where a fetus develops. The majority of endometrial cancers develop in the cells that make and release mucus and other fluids, known as adenocarcinomas. According to the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute, an estimated 46,470 new cases of endometrial cancer will be diagnosed this year in the United States alone, with 8,120 women losing their lives to the disease.

For their study, Harvard School of Public Health researchers analyzed data on 67,470 women who were a part of the Nurses’ Health Study. Findings showed that over the 26-year study period, a total of 627 cases of endometrial cancer occurred among the study participants. However, women who consumed four or more cups of coffee daily were shown to have reduce their risk for developing the disease by 25 percent when compared to those who drank an average of less than one cup per day. Women who drank two to three cups of java a day had a seven percent reduction in risk.

The results remained true even for the few women in the study who preferred drinking decaffeinated coffee versus caffeinated, although the association was not quite as strong for those who consumed decaf.

This could be due to the small number of study participants who consumed the decafeinated version. No such health benefit was revealed for caffeinated tea drinkers during the study.

The reasoning behind the apparent disease-preventing properties of coffee is believed to be associated with how the substance alters the function of estrogen and insulin in the body, since both are linked to the risk of chronic disease.

While the study authors acknowledge that the best defense against endometrial cancer includes getting a sufficient amount of exercise and keeping body weight in check, they noted that drinking a moderate amount of coffee may provide a beneficial health boost. However, they warned that the addition of cream and sugar to coffee could go a long way to negate the positive effects.