Chiropractic Proven to Help Debilitating Migraines

In the U.S., 30 million people suffer from debilitating migraines. Millions of these people also take over-the-counter and prescription painkillers for relief. Not only do these drugs have dangerous side effects, they do not address the root cause of the problem. However, several studies show that Chiropractic can reduce the frequency, duration and severity of migraines, and, sometimes, eliminate them completely.
The effects migraines have on one’s quality of life and productivity are astonishing: 91 percent of migraine sufferers can’t function normally during a migraine 70 percent have trouble with relationships because of migraines 59 percent miss family or social events due to migraines 51 percent say that migraines cut their work or school productivity in half 24 percent have had such severe pain they’ve gone to emergency rooms 25 percent have at least one migraine every week

To make matters worse, nearly 50 percent of migraine sufferers think they have something else wrong with them – tension headaches, sinus headaches, and so on. Consequently, they are never correctly diagnosed and never get the right treatment.

What can you do about migraines other than rest in bed or take drugs? According to several studies, you can visit your chiropractor.

One such study, a clinical trial conducted by chiropractor Dr. Peter Tuchin at Australia’s Macquarie University, worked with 123 migraine sufferers for six months. The participants had suffered from migraines for an average of 18 years. For two of the trial months, they received Chiropractic treatment. As a result of the treatment, seventy-two percent of the participants experienced either 'substantial' or 'noticeable' improvement.

Another trial found that the number of migraine attacks dropped by 90 percent for 22 percent of the participants. Nearly 50 percent of those involved in the trial also said that the pain of their migraines was significantly reduced.

Also, according to a review of 22 studies involving more than 2,600 patients with migraines, Chiropractic treatment is also a successful method of prevention.

If you or anyone you know is suffering from migraines, or other types of headaches that may have been misdiagnosed, consult your chiropractor to see how he or she can help you.

Sources: Migraine.com - http://migraine.com/migraine-statistics/, and
http://migraine.com/complimentary-and-alternative-therapies/chiropractic...
Medical News - http://www.news-medical.net/news/2005/05/22/10268.aspx;
Singer Health Reports - http://www.singerhealthreports.com

WATERMELON MAY REDUCE THE RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the U.S. If you or someone you know has CVD, or has high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, or any of the other factors that could lead to CVD, you have probably been told to exercise, reduce stress levels and avoid certain foods like sugar, white flours and junk food. Or you may have been prescribed drugs like statins. However, there are certain foods — known as ‘functional foods’ — that, in addition to the nutrients they supply, also specifically promote health or prevent disease in a certain part of the body. In the case of CVD, you still want to exercise and eat well, but there are also functional foods that may help prevent it, and may even help you avoid drugs.
Let’s just take one of the CVD risk factors: hypertension, high blood pressure.
Normal blood pressure is considered 120/80 or below. High blood pressure starts at 140/90. Between those you have a rating called prehypertension, which basically means that if you don’t do something to lower your blood pressure you could end up with full-blown hypertension — something you really want to avoid.
The risk level is much higher with hypertension than prehypertension, so getting your blood pressure under control now is a smart health move.
What functional foods help prehypertension? According to a recent study conducted at Florida State University, watermelon might be just what you need.
The study, though small, is very promising and is the first on human subjects. While the participants didn’t actually eat watermelon, they were given six grams daily of the amino acid L-citrulline/L-arginine from watermelon extract for six weeks. There were four men and five women, ages 51 to 57, and each were prehypertensive. All participants had positive results: improved arterial function and lowered blood pressure.
The real ‘active” ingredient, the one that’s making the difference, is the amino acid L-arginine. However, L-arginine taken on its own can be hard on the gastrointestinal system. The better option is another amino acid, L-citrulline, which converts to L-arginine once in the body.
Watermelon is loaded with L-citrulline, is well tolerated, has no side effects, and provides the added benefits of Vitamins A, B6 and C along with fiber, potassium and lycopene, a powerful antioxidant.
If you’re looking for natural solutions to protect your heart, give watermelon extract a try. It is available at local health food stores and online!

SOURCE: Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101013173847.htm.

Summer Safety!

Summer outdoor safety is important to discuss this time of year. Are you a weekend warrior? A seasoned pro? It doesn't matter when the thermometer starts to creep above 90 degrees, you're putting yourself at risk for heat related illnesses. Fluid replenishment before, during and after your activity is essential! Your body can generate 15-20 times the amount of heat it normally produces with hard physical work. Be aware of the "Signals" your body sends as it begins to heat up!!! Know when to quit playing. Always consume more water than you think you need to. Do not wait until you are thirsty. If you wait till then, your body is already dehydrated and is desperately needing water. Whenever possible, don’t plan sporting events between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.(the hottest times of the day). Wear light colored, well ventilated, loose fitting clothing. Those type of clothes will help your body be able to cool off more quickly. And, make sure that shade is close – or bring your own umbrella to rest under. Stay safe out there and enjoy your summer!

Have you found us on Facebook yet? We share valuable information on how to be happy and healthy as well as information related to a variety of health issues. Please follow this link, and "Like" us, and help us spread the word of the priceless value of chiropractic care!

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Atlantic-Chiropractic-and-Wellness-Center/233396096411

Headaches and Chiropractic

If you have a headache, you’re not alone. Nine out of ten Americans suffer from headaches. Some are occasional, some frequent, some are dull and throbbing, and some cause debilitating pain and nausea.

What do you do when you suffer from a pounding headache? Do you grit your teeth and carry on? Lie down? Pop a pill and hope the pain goes away? There is a better alternative.

Research shows that spinal manipulation – the primary form of care provided by doctors of chiropractic – may be an effective treatment option for tension headaches and headaches that originate in the neck.

A report released in 2001 by researchers at the Duke University Evidence-Based Practice Center in Durham, NC, found that spinal manipulation resulted in almost immediate improvement for those headaches that originate in the neck, and had significantly fewer side effects and longer-lasting relief of tension-type headache than a commonly prescribed medication.

Also, a 1995 study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found that spinal manipulative therapy is an effective treatment for tension headaches and that those who ceased chiropractic treatment after four weeks experienced a sustained therapeutic benefit in contrast with those patients who received a commonly prescribed medication.

Headache Triggers

Headaches have many causes, or “triggers.” These may include foods, environmental stimuli (noises, lights, stress, etc.) and/or behaviors (insomnia, excessive exercise, blood sugar changes, etc.). About 5 percent of all headaches are warning signals caused by physical problems.

Ninety-five percent of headaches are primary headaches, such as tension, migraine, or cluster headaches. These types of headaches are not caused by disease. The headache itself is the primary concern.

“The greatest majority of primary headaches are associated with muscle tension in the neck,” says Dr. George B. McClelland, a doctor of chiropractic from Christiansburg, VA. “Today, Americans engage in more sedentary activities than they used to, and more hours are spent in one fixed position or posture. This can increase joint irritation and muscle tension in the neck, upper back and scalp, causing your head to ache.”

What Can You Do?

The ACA suggests the following:

• If you spend a large amount of time in one fixed position, such as in front of a computer, on a sewing machine, typing or reading, take a break and stretch every 30 minutes to one hour. The stretches should take your head and neck through a comfortable range of motion.
• Low-impact exercise may help relieve the pain associated with primary headaches. However, if you are prone to dull, throbbing headaches, avoid heavy exercise. Engage in such activities as walking and low-impact aerobics.
• Avoid teeth clenching. The upper teeth should never touch the lowers, except when swallowing. This results in stress at the temporomandibular joints (TMJ) – the two joints that connect your jaw to your skull – leading to TMJ irritation and a form of tension headaches.
• Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day to help avoid dehydration, which can lead to headaches.

What Can a Doctor of Chiropractic Do?

Dr. McClelland says your doctor of chiropractic may do one or more of the following if you suffer from a primary headache:

• Perform spinal manipulation or chiropractic adjustments to improve spinal function and alleviate the stress on your system.
• Provide nutritional advice, recommending a change in diet and perhaps the addition of B complex vitamins.
• Offer advice on posture, ergonomics (work postures), exercises and relaxation techniques. This advice should help to relieve the recurring joint irritation and tension in the muscles of the neck and upper back.

“Doctors of chiropractic undergo extensive training to help their patients in many ways – not just back pain,” says Dr. McClelland. “They know how tension in the spine relates to problems in other parts of the body, and they can take steps to relieve those problems.”

What's Wrong With My Back?

Not all back problems are created equal. One person may have been working on a home improvement project and injured her back while simultaneously bending and twisting. Another person may have developed back pain as a result of a vehicular collision. Another person may be experiencing back pain as a result of osteoporosis. Yet another person may have a serious illness which causes back pain as a related problem.

Back pain is a problem common to many types of injuries and illnesses. How can you tell the difference - in other words, how can you tell when back pain requires you to take action, such as seeing your chiropractor? A reasonable approach is to use a 48-hour guideline. Your body usually has a powerful ability to heal itself. If your back pain hasn't gone away on its own within 48 hours, then seeking professional assistance is a very good plan.

However, some situations require immediate attention. For example, if you've had an accident, seeing your chiropractor right away is probably the right thing to do. In another scenario, if you begin to experience severe pain without an obvious cause, then seeing your chiropractor right away makes a great deal of sense. Like many things in life, having physical pain requires us to use good judgment. The 48-hour rule-of-thumb applies to most situations, but if you've had an accident or are having an unusual problem, see your chiropractor as soon as possible, today if necessary.

When a person has back pain, it's very important to make sure there are no related problems. Most of the time there aren't, but no one wants to be the exception and it's always better to be safe than sorry. Making your own diagnosis is never a good idea. "Oh, that's been bothering me for months," some people will say. "It's just back pain." Of course, such an approach to one's health violates the 48-hour rule. If the problem really wasn't anything much, it would have gone away within a few days. Something else is going on, and usually the longer a physical problem is left untreated the more difficult it is to deal with. The old expression, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is as true today as it was 100 years ago.

Your chiropractor is an expert in back pain. They know that physical pain happens for a reason.^1,2 Their job is to discover that reason, using the tools of history taking, physical examination, biomechanical analysis, and special tests, if necessary, such as x-rays and other imaging methods. Most of the time, the underlying problem is mechanical in nature, involving the spinal joints and associated soft tissues, including the ligaments, muscles, and tendons. Such mechanical problems cause the vast majority of cases of back pain, and are directly addressed by chiropractic care.³ In unusual circumstances, your chiropractor will refer you to another specialist. The important approach in all situations is to seek appropriate care. Your chiropractor's office is the right place to start.

 
Most people now know the importance of exercise in daily life. The benefits of exercise range from improved strength, balance, and agility to deeper, more restful sleep, improved outlook on life, and heightened levels of creativity. Of course, there's also an additional direct benefit for persons with back pain.
Most cases of back pain are biomechanical in nature. In these circumstances, spinal joints have lost some mobility and spinal muscles have become tight. The long-term result is back pain, which may be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on the extent of the biomechanical dysfunction. Chiropractic care is the specific treatment for problems involving the spinal joints and muscles. Exercise is an important addition to chiropractic care. When you perform challenging activities throughout a full range of motion, as you do when you exercise, you're retraining the joints and muscles of your back. By engaging in such activities on a regular basis, you're helping to restore spinal strength and mobility, enhancing the benefits you're receiving from chiropractic care.

Your chiropractor is an expert in rehabilitative exercise and will be glad to design an exercise program that will work for you.

¹Bakker EW, et al: Spinal mechanical load as a risk factor for low back pain: a systematic review of prospective cohort studies. Spine 34(8):E281-E293, 2009

²Shambrook J, et al: Clinical presentation of low back pain and association with risk factors according to findings on magnetic resonance imaging. Pain 157(7):1659-1665, 2011

³Wilder DG, et al: Effect of spinal manipulation on sensorimotor functions in back pain patients: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials 12:161, 2011

Low Back Pain - Don't Just Wait And See

A common mistake made by those suffering from low back pain (LBP) is to play the "wait and see" game. And while it is true that bouts of LBP can disappear on their own without care, what chiropractors know and what research indicates is that waiting too long prior to seeking care for LBP ultimately increases the odds that back pain will reoccur and that more aggressive future care will be required. A recent study comparing those who received physical therapy care early during their acute LBP (less than 4 weeks after the start of their LBP) with those who received care later (more than 3 months after the start of their LBP) found benefits to obtaining care early on. Specifically, those obtaining care within the first 4 weeks of the onset of LBP had a significantly lower incidence of seeking future care for the initial pain. Future care included lumbar surgery, lumbosacral injections, and frequent physician office visits during the following year. The lesson - if you're suffering from back pain, contact your local chiropractor and get yourself checked out. Chiropractic care is safe, natural, effective and scheduling a no-obligation consultation is absolutely painless!  Source: Spine: April 20, 2012 - Volume 37 - Issue 9.

The Many Health Benefits of Raw Honey

According to Dr. Ron Fessenden, M.D., M.P.H. the average American consumes over 150 pounds of refined sugar, plus an additional 62 pounds of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). In comparison, we consume just one pound of honey per year. Instead, Dr. Fessenden recommends that increasing the intake of pure “raw” honey and drastically reducing the refined sugars and HFCS would reap enormous health benefits.
A report in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine further backs the benefits of raw honey with their opinion:

“The therapeutic potential of uncontaminated, pure, raw honey is grossly underutilized. It is widely available in most communities and although the mechanism of action of several of its properties remains obscure and needs further investigation, the time has now come for conventional medicine to lift the blinds off this ‘traditional remedy’ and give it its due recognition.”

What is Honey?
Honey is far more than a natural sweetener. It is a “functional food”, which means it is a natural food with health benefits. It contains natural antioxidants, enzymes and minerals including iron, zinc, potassium, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium and selenium. Vitamins found in honey include B6, thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and niacin. In addition, the nutraceuticals contained in honey help neutralize damaging free radical activity.
One tablespoon of honey contains 64 calories, yet it has a healthy glycemic load around 10 for 1 Tbsp, which is a little less than a banana. and does not cause a sugar spike and elevated insulin release like white sugar. Although honey is an affordable food, bees spend thousands of hours collecting pollen from around two million flowers to make one pound of pure honey.

Why Choose Raw Honey?
Research by the Palynology Research Laboratory at Texas A&M University tested 60 honey products from supermarkets and grocery stores and found that 76% contained no trace of pollen. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains that any honey products that have been ultra-filtered, as these have, are not actually honey and therefore the health benefits of honey cannot be assumed.
Commercial honey is often heavily processed and may even have been chemically refined. Excessive heat destroys the natural enzymes, vitamins, and minerals in honey. Filtering and processing eliminates many of the beneficial phytonutrients including pollen and enzyme-rich propolis. The only way to achieve sparkling clear honey is by heat, so avoid the golden syrup-like honey in favor of opaque organic raw honey.
Raw honey is a concentrated source of natural goodness. Benefits include:
•    A rich taste
•    High nutritional benefits
•    Promotes the growth of good bacteria in the intestine
•    Soothes and heals skin wounds
•    Blocks free radicals
•    Aids sleep
•    Counters pollen allergies
•    Reduces homocysteine levels to maintain a healthy heart
Best of all, honey does not need special storage or refrigeration – use it by the spoonful straight from the jar.

The Health Benefits of Honey
Honey-infused bandages are known to aid healing. Peter Charles Molan at the University of Waikato, New Zealand found that honey reacts with the body’s fluids to make hydrogen peroxide, creating an inhospitable environment for bacteria.
Research studies have already shown that replacing sugar with honey in the diet results in less weight gain and lower blood sugar levels. Switching to honey may even aid in weight loss when compared to diets containing sugar or HFCS.
Honey provides a ready supply of energy in the form of liver glycogen, making it ideal for energetic morning starts and as a pre- and post-exercise energy source. It also boosts the immune system, acting as a preventative against any number of debilitating diseases.
Honey contains many antioxidants including flavonoids to maintain the body’s health balance. Pinostrobin supports enzyme activity while the antioxidant-rich organic acids maintain an optimal slightly acidic pH in the body. Pinocembrin is an antioxidant flavonoid thought to be unique to honey while the amino acids in honey are the body’s building blocks of protein.
Honey promotes restorative sleep as it slowly releases the glycogen needed for essential bodily functions during sleep. Adding honey to milk at bedtime helps the body release melatonin into the brain which is necessary for deep sleep. Melatonin also boosts immunity and helps rebuild tissue during periods of rest. Poor sleep, by comparison, has been shown to be a risk factor for hypertension, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and arthritis. As honey is a proven sleep aid, it naturally lowers the risk of all these health problems.

Although honey is one of the healthiest sweeteners, it still should be used in moderation.

Raw honey can be found at local flea and farmers markets, local farms, and on the internet.   Local raw honey is also known to be a homeopathic treatment for certain types of allergies and even asthma. 

Sources:
http://www.worldclassemprise.com/custom.aspx?id=22
http://products.mercola.com/honey/
http://www.mamahealthy.com/sweeteners-spices-ingredients/raw-honey-benefits-organic-honey
http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-nutrition.html
http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-benefits.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/034102_honey_consumer_alert.html
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-honey-a-safer-sweetener/#axzz1pZs2Na8k
http://www.draxe.com/the-top-5-natural-allergy-fighters/
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