Welcome to our office's Chiropractic newsletter. We'd like to entertain you, inform you (and even inspire you a little).Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. - George Bernard ShawWe either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same. - Carlos Castaneda

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

 More parents turning to alternatives From New Age Magazine:  "Little Noah was not a happy camper. At the age of eight months, he developed an ear infection and then a cough that often led to vomiting.  His pediatrician prescribed one antibiotic after another, but after 10 months, Noah was still sick. Finally, the doctor decided to put him on asthma medication, even though Noah didn't have asthma.  For the boy's mother that was the last straw. "We'd been stuck in this treatment routine," she recalls," but suddenly I looked at Noah and thought, this is an awful lot of medication for such a little kid!"  Frustrated and concerned [she] sought alternative [healthcare] for their child.With this decision they joined a small but growing number of American parents who are traveling beyond mainstream Western medicine in the search for better healthcare for their kids.  According to a 1999 study published in Pediatrics, 10-15% of children nationwide have received some form of complementary or alternative care, such as chiropractic and herbal medicine. Parents who seek out such care are well educated and have often tried alternative treatments themselves, according to a study published in 1998 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Conditions such as asthma, eczema, allergies, bedwetting, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic respiratory infections, nasal congestion and migraine headaches can be successfully treated with complementary care.." (1) We're number one, we're number one
In 1991 there were 428 million visits to "alternative care" providers and 388 million visits to medical providers. As reported in the November 11, 1998, Journal of the American Medical Association, by 1997, the numbers had grown to 629 million visits to "alternative care" providers while the number to M.D. physicians dropped to 386 million. (2) Why?  Simply because most "alternative" or natural healthcare is safer, non-invasive, gentler and often more effective that medical care.  D.C. means Doctor of Chiropractic but many decades ago it started being referred to as Doctor of Cause.  We don't treat symptoms, we search out a major cause of body malfunction - the vertebral subluxation complex (spine and nerve stress).
PS.  After we locate where the stress is coming from, we correct it with the art of the chiropractic adjustment.

Chiropractic and Spinal Research
Remember, a person with any kind of health problem needs chiropractic. Feel free to forward these studies to others.

Chiropractic and allergies, asthma, breathing, circulation, digestion..385 chiropractors in seven countries collecting information on 5607 patients.  Patients who began care for neuromusculoskeletal problems (such as back and neck pain) reported improvements in other areas as well, such as Allergies, 11%; Asthma, 17%: Breathing, 27%; Circulation, 21%; Digestion, 26%; Hearing, 13%; Heart function, 11%; Ringing in ears, 19%; Vision, 13%. The longer patients were under chiropractic care, the more positive changes they experienced. (3)

Asthma and Chiropractic47 asthma sufferers age 7 to 42 received chiropractic care for 4 to 8 weeks. All 47 showed significant improvements in symptoms (from 87 to 100 percent). Many of the patients were able to completely stop use of asthma medication.

At a two-year follow-up, all 47 of the patients also reported that they maintained the improvements they made at the beginning of the study. (4) Ear infections and Chiropractic A baby boy, age 6 months: scheduled for ear tubes. After a chiropractic adjustment his ear infection completely cleared up by the next day.  Tubes were never inserted. Two [girls] aged 3 and 4 with chronic ear infections and upper respiratory dysfunction [received] upper dorsal and cranial adjustments. No more ear infections have occurred since the first visit. (5) No ear tubes: All the children with chronic recurrent otitis media with chiropractic, avoided ear tubes, within 4 to 7 days of the commencement of the spinal adjusting program. The fluid level behind the tympanic membrane was most often resolved. (6)  Is candy really dandy?  Chocolate - food of the godsWith Halloween upon us let's give the kids a slightly healthier treat. The Aztecs called chocolate "food of the gods" and maybe they were right. The really good, dark, organic chocolate has some really powerful health benefits.  Even regular chocolate has been found to increase longevity if eaten in moderate amounts. (7) However a more recent study showed that there are heart benefits to eating chocolate as well.  Doesn't this sound very scientific?"Our study shows for the first time that consumption of dark chocolate acutely decreases wave reflections, that it does not affect aortic stiffness, and that it may exert a beneficial effect on endothelial function in healthy adults. Chocolate consumption may exert a protective effect on the cardiovascular system; further studies are warranted to assess any long-term effects." (8)
PS.  It also tastes good. Ear Infections - antibiotics not necessary (or beneficial)
A recent study reveals that treating non-severe ear infections with antibiotics has no benefit when compared to doing nothing. 223 children were divided into two groups. Only one group received antibiotics.

No difference was observed between the two groups in days of work or school missed, visits to doctors' offices or emergency rooms, or number of phone calls. There was no difference in the recurrence rate by day 30, and no difference in the clinical examination of the children's eardrums at day 30. (9) Ear tubes ineffective
Every year about 280,000 children under age three have ear tube surgery, which is designed to reduce the number of ear infections or drain middle ear fluid that might muffle sounds and hinder language development.  Parents are scared into agreeing to the operation because they are told it might prevent developmental problems later in life.

Apparently that is pure bunk. Researchers at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh conducted a study of nearly 400 children and concluded that waiting to implant the tubes had no effect on a child's performance on language and speech tests at age three or four or six. (10)

Bypass surgery - more harm than good
Julian Whitaker, MD has been a long foe of coronary bypass operations showing that blocked coronary arteries can be healed via natural means.  He writes, "The data from the past quarter-century shows conclusively that bypasses do more harm than good for the majority of patients who submit to them.the risk of having a heart attack after a bypass is the same as it was before surgery.  Only now, without question, there is significant brain damage.bypass surgery is to our culture what bleeding was in the days of George Washington.  If you are told that bypass surgery is inevitable, get a legitimate second opinion - not just a nod of agreement from a like-minded colleague." (11) Doesn't look like steroid injections for back pain are effective either.
158 patients diagnosed with herniated disk and sciatica were given either an epidural steroid or saline (salt) injection. Pain and functional measures were taken, along with physical examinations at intervals up to three months after the injections. The authors also looked at surgery rates for the two groups 12 months after intervention. There were no differences between the groups at 3 months follow-up. The epidural steroid injection group did report some transient reduction in subjective pain intensity and maximum forward flexion, however, this was not sustained at 3 months. The 1-year surgery rate was also almost identical across the two groups. Lumbar epidural steroid injections and sympathetic nerve blocks produce a large amount of money, with very little science to support their application. (12)

HumorInner Peace We all could use a little more calmness in our lives.By following the simple advice I heard on the Dr. Phil show, I have finally found inner peace. Dr. Phil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you've started and never finished."So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's Bristol Cream, a bottle of Kahlua, a bottle of Gray Goose, a package of Oreos, the rest of the cheesecake, some saltines and a box of chocolates. You have no idea how good I feel!!

Questions to ponder

Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?
If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?
Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours?  They're both dogs!
If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that Acme stuff, why didn't he just buy dinner?
If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?
Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets ma! d at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?
Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?

Want copies of this newsletter for friends? Click on the send button.  Oh, they don't have e-mail?  Well then stop by the office and we'll give you some hard copies for your friends and relatives.  Better yet, have them write us and we'll add them to our mailing list. 

If you are not currently a patient and would like to become one please contact us.

Don't be a stranger, come in for a bite, I mean, a checkup. 

References

1. Pennybacker M. Holistic health for kids. New Age. May/June 2001.
2. Brown W. Alternative medicine goes mainstream. DiscoveryHealth.com. October 19, 2005. http://health.discovery.com/centers/althealth/medtrends/medtrends.html
3. Leboeuf-Yde C, Pedersen EN, Bryner P, Cosman D, Hayek R, Meeker WC, Shaik J J, Terrazas O, Tucker J, Walsh M.  Self-reported nonmusculoskeletal responses to chiropractic intervention: a multinational survey. JMPT. 2005;28:294-302.
4. Amalu WC. Chiropractic management of 47 asthma cases. Today's Chiropractic. 2000;29(6).
5. Hochman J. The management of acute otitis media using SOT and SOT cranial. Sorsi Communicator. 2001;14(2).
6. Fysh PN. Chronic recurrent otitis media: a common pediatric malady.  The philosophy, art and science of chiropractic. Lisbon 2000 Symposium proceedings.  Pp. 64-68. Pub by the Foundation for the Advancement of Chiropractic Tenets and Science, ICA, Arlington, Virginia.
7. http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/short/317/7174/1683 Lee I, Paffenbarger RS. Life is sweet: candy consumption and longevity.  British Medical Journal. 1998; 317:9-10.
8. Vlachopoulos C, Aznaouridis K, Alexopoulos K et.al Effect of dark chocolate on arterial function in healthy individuals. American Journal of Hypertension. 2005;18(6):785-791.
9. McCormick DP et al. Non-severe acute otitis media: a clinical trial comparing outcomes of watchful waiting versus immediate antibiotic treatment. Pediatrics. 2005;115(6):1455.
10. Paradise JL, Campbell TF, Dollaghan CA et al. Developmental outcomes after early or delayed insertion of tympanostomy tubes. N Engl J Med. 2005;353(6):576-586. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd= Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=
Abstract&list_uids=16093466&query_hl=1
11. Julian Whitaker MD. Health & Healing Newsletter Nov. 2004 Vol. 14, No. 11.
12. Carette S, Leclaire R, Marcoux S et al. Epidural corticosteroid injections for sciatica due to herniated nucleus pulposus. N Engl J Med. 1997;336(23):1634-1640.