Chiropractic care Works- Here are a few Q&As

 Sept. 18th is The birthday of Chiropractic. To celebrate, share this with someone who does not understand Chiropractic care.

About Chiropractic1.         Does chiropractic treatment hurt?Most patients report that adjustments feel good. Depending on the cause of your pain or injury,
you may feel some muscle soreness after treatment. This usually goes away within 24 hours.
2.         When was chiropractic founded?Chiropractic as we know it today was founded in Iowa in 1895 by Dr. David Palmer.
3.         I’ve heard that chiropractors aren’t real doctors.Chiropractic doctors complete about the same number of college classroom hours as medical
practitioners. Chiropractors complete at least two years of undergraduate education plus at least
four years of specialized chiropractic training. Chiropractors must pass both national and state
board exams before practicing. Like other types of doctors, chiropractors meet stringent licensing
requirements and follow a strict code of ethics.
4.         Is chiropractic based on science or folklore?Chiropractic is based on the scientific fact that your nervous system controls the function of
virtually every cell, tissue, organ, and system in your body. Specific techniques are used to
determine underlying causes of pain or imbalance and to treat them. Extensive medical research
and patients experiences confirm that patients get measurable results from chiropractic. Over 30
million Americans received chiropractic treatment in 2003.
5.         I’ve heard chiropractic causes strokes.The estimates are 1 per 1million - 5 million adjustments.  Putting the pen to the paper to figure
the occurrence in real life is the following:  If I treated 100 people a day 6 days a week for 40 yrs
and lived 3 lifetimes then I should see a stroke patient in my office.  Something to think about
when considering 16,000 people died in the US last year from non-steriodal anti-inflamatory
drugs such as celebrex and viox.
6.         I’ve heard chiropractic treatment is dangerous.There are no reported deaths due to treatment by a chiropractor in the US. By contrast, in 2003
alone there were 176,000 deaths from prescription medications.
7.         What is a pinched nerve or subluxation?A pinched nerve, misaligned vertebrea, or subluxation, also known as vertebral subluxation
complex, is what happens when spinal bones lose their normal motion or position due to stress,
trauma or chemical imbalances.
8.         How does a chiropractor treat pinched nerves?Your chiropractor uses a series of safe adjustments, stretches, exercises, heat or ice to restore
normal spinal function. A chiropractic “adjustment” is a carefully directed and controlled pressure
to restore spinal bones to a more normal position or motion. Chiropractic doctors receive years
of training to become experts at using the right amount of force in the right direction. Each
chiropractic adjustment is tailored to the patient’s age, size and unique spinal problem.
9.         Do you have to adjust my neck?Your chiropractic adjustments will vary depending on the treatment needed. Please talk with your
chiropractic doctor about your concerns on your first visit. however increased study in clinical
settings have shown dramatic increase healing time therefor, decrease in patient visits when
coupling cervical and lumbar adjustments due to the effects of increased joint receptors in the
cervical areas more so than any other joints in the human body.
10.      Can chiropractic treatment help with sports injuries?Yes. Chiropractic treatment helps restore function to joints that are not moving properly. In turn,
this helps speed healing of soft tissues. You can reduce injuries by warming up, stretching and
cooling down before and after every exercise or sports session. Dr. Michael Vaughn has
received special training to treat amateur and professional athletes and was an attending
physician to the 1996 Greek Olympic Team.
11.         Is chiropractic treatment safe for infants and children?Yes. Children usually respond quickly to chiropractic treatment.  Dr. Vaughn has received special
training in how to treat infants and children. Even “normal” births can cause unseen trauma to
the spine. Toddlers and children learning to walk, ride bicycles and playing sports experience a
variety of falls and jolts. Chiropractic treatment helps keep their spine and joints functioning
correctly. Early chiropractic treatment can prevent problems in adulthood.  As a side note coming
from a family who had a father as a chiropractor, I remembered my fevers breaking within
minutes after an adjustment from my Dad.  That was the norm for me and my brothers and we
were never sick and if we were sick it was not for very long. I did not realize this was not the norm
until I began seeing patients of my own and became aware of all the sickness in the world.  Now
that I have a family with four kids, they don't get sick either! (DrV)12.         Do children have a need for chiropractic treatment?Even “normal” births can cause unseen trauma to the spine. Toddlers and children learning to
walk, ride bicycles and playing sports experience a variety of falls and jolts. Chiropractic
treatment helps keep their spine and joints functioning correctly. Early chiropractic treatment can
prevent problems in adulthood.
13.         Is chiropractic treatment safe during pregnancy?Yes, from conception to delivery both babies and their pregnant mothers benefit from
chiropractic care. Many women report easier births. Chiropractic care can help expectant
mothers with changes that come from weight gain and hormonal fluctuations.
14.         I’ve heard that chiropractic can reduce neck pain. Is that true?Yes. Pain is a symptom of an underlying problem. Pain relievers, such as aspirin, simply cover
the pain without treating it. Massage may feel good but may not address the cause especially if
your problem is a vertebral joint related problem. Chiropractic treats the underlying causes. After
reviewing your exam results and health history your chiropractor will use specific adjustments to
improve the motion and position of your spinal vertebrae. With improved function and structure
your neck pain may diminish or disappear completely.
15.         How does chiropractic relieve headaches?An often overlooked cause of headaches is the malfunction of spinal bones in the neck or upper
back. Nerves and blood vessels to the head can be affected when spinal bones lost their normal
motion or position. Chiropractic adjustment can bring correction and relief.
16.         Can chiropractic treat earaches?In most cases Yes!  Many parents are relieved to have a fast, safe and effective treatment for
earaches without the use of antibiotics.         
Treating an earache.
17.         Shouldn’t I see if my body will heal on its own rather than rushing to a chiropractor?
Unfortunately, in most cases, waiting can make your condition worse. Affected muscles can
weaken, atrophy, become tight or spasm. Swelling or inflammation can occur and may cause
delicate tissue to tear or degenerate. Soft tissues may suffer permanent damage. Sometimes
bone spurs or other bony growths may occur.        
18.           Whiplash sudden movement of the head backward, forward or sideways.
Can chiropractic treat “whiplash”?If caught early enough, inflammation and scar tissue can be minimized, leading to faster and
fuller recovery. Whiplash is usually caused by collisions during auto accidents, sports, slips and
falls. When the head is suddenly jerked back and forth it can cause muscles and ligaments to be
torn or stretched. Spinal discs can bulge, tear or rupture. Vertebrae forced out of their normal
position have reduced range of motion.
19.         I’m over 60, am I too old for chiropractic treatment?Many active seniors seek regular chiropractic treatment. Periodic visits can help catch little
problems before they become major concerns – helping you to stay healthy and as active.
For answers to questions specific to your condition we’ll be happy to schedule time for you to
meet privately with the chiropractor.

A Sick Health Care System verses Take Charge of Your Health

One of the main goals that I have for this web site is to encourage our readers to learn how to be their own best doctors.

Please don't misunderstand me; I think that there are some wonderfully caring and competent doctors in our world.

But there are also many doctors who don't have each of their patients' best interests at or even near the top of their list of priorities.

Over the years, it's become clear to me that a big part of the problem with our health care system is the system itself; our current health care system doesn't encourage doctors to teach their patients to prevent disease and address health conditions with simple food and lifestyle choices.

Take, for example, the health care system in Canada. I often hear leaders of other countries, most notably, the United States, tout the universal health care system in Canada as being the ideal system - one in which every man, woman, and child has access to free health care.

While on the surface the Canadian system appears to be an effective one, as far as I can tell, it is just as sick as other health care systems throughout the world.

To be more specific, medical doctors in Ontario, Canada, are paid an average of $27 Canadian dollars per routine office visit. Initial visits that involve a thorough physical examination are usually billed at $60 Canadian dollars per visit.

Put another way, for routine office visits, medical doctors in Ontario have no financial motivation to take their time and consider their patients' food and lifestyle choices.

If a patient comes in with a chief complaint of a chronic headache, the doctor could spend an hour gathering critical information on a patient's diet and lifestyle, and then go on to address any changes that could be made to address the chronic headache.

Alternatively, the doctor could spend five minutes going through the motions - pulse, blood pressure, pupillary reflexes, and other quick screening measures to make the patient feel like he or she has been adequately examined by an expert - and then write out a prescription for a pain killer.

Either way, the doctor gets paid $47.

So which route do you think most doctors take?

There's another reason why many doctors have a tendency to deal with most cases with a prescription for a drug: the pharmaceutical industry makes it well worth their while to do so.

Here's how a pharmaceutical sales representative recently summarized his work for me:

"I take the doctor out to dinner at a fancy restaurant, all expenses paid. As dinner winds down, I ask the doctor to recommend my company's brand for certain health conditions among his patients. Sometimes, the doctor will say that his office needs new equipment. I say how much? The doctor says $5,000. I say fine, but only if you write 100 scripts (prescriptions) for a specific drug made by our company each month. The doctor agrees, and we get him his new $5,000 machine."

Out of curiosity, I asked the pharmaceutical sales rep how he and his company can be sure that the doctor will follow through on his word to write out 100 prescriptions of their drug each month. Can't the doctor just take his $5,000 machine and not follow through on his promise?

"No, all pharmaceutical companies pay big money to a huge, global corporation called IMS that tracks this type of data," was the rep's instant reply.

For a fee, IMS can provide date-specific data to pharmaceutical companies that breaks down exactly how many prescriptions of each drug that each licensed doctor has handed out and how many of them have been fulfilled at licensed pharmacies.

In other words, the managers who work for pharmaceutical companies who approve $5,000 gifts have a sure-fire way of verifying that their gifts are properly reciprocated.

And I think that we can all safely assume that this regular exchange of gifts does not amount to a net profit of zero dollars for the pharmaceutical industry. Just in case you don't want to make this assumption, consider that the IMS reports that in 2005, global pharmaceutical sales amounted to 602 billion dollars; mucho dinero, n'est pas?

So let's pretend for a moment that you're a doctor who now has to write 100 prescriptions per month for a specific drug that helps to regulate blood glucose.

When a patient walks into your office and shows a mild to moderately elevated fasting blood glucose level, would you take a half hour to an hour to explain what he or she can do with food and lifestyle choices to have a great shot at lowering blood glucose to a healthy level? Or would you write a quick prescription for a blood glucose-regulating drug to bring your target for the month down to 99 prescriptions?

This is one of the most powerful ways in which big pharmaceutical companies have helped to create a sick health care system; they provide strong financial incentives for doctors to choose drugs over health education for patients.

The bottom line: putting your health entirely in another person's hands, namely, your doctor's, is never as good a choice as learning how to be your own best doctor.

Learn how to choose nutrient-dense foods.

Learn about the critical roles that fresh air, clean water, some exposure to sunlight, physical activity, and proper physical and emotional rest play in determining your health state.

Learn how negative emotions can cause physical damage to your cells.

Most importantly, apply all of this knowledge to your everyday life as soon as possible; be your own best doctor.

Dr Wade has put togther an online resource for doctors and companies to utilize to assist in identifying Health Risks for patients or employees. By identifying Health Risks and providing the tools to help a person reduce those risks, the Wellness Education Foundation is able to assist individuals in reducing their health care expense, be more productive and stay healthier by removing the Risks in motivaed individuals. Look for future articles on how to motivate people to move toward healthier choices! For more information email drwade@wellnesseducationfoundation. or go to the website: http://www.wellnesseducationfoundation.org/.

How Much Money Are You Wasting?

I had a practice member come in that I hadn’t seen since he had moved to Arizona roughly 4 years before. He looked the just the same as I had remembered him - happy, healthy and exuding the glow that someone who loves life does. I told him how great it was to see him and asked what he had been doing to stay so happy and healthy. He told me he had continued with the healthy lifestyle habits he had started while he was a member of our practice, including getting checked by his chiropractor at least once per week.

I told him how I admired his discipline and dedication to constantly improving his health. That’s when he said something to me that I will never forget. What he said was, “You know Doc, I have often stopped to marvel at how much money people are wasting on health club dues, organic foods, bottled water and everything else they do to be healthy.” I was a little confused by his statement since I knew he did all of these things himself, so I asked him what he meant. Now he was the one who looked confused. He replied, “I’m talking about people who do all of those things but don’t go to their chiropractor every week - or those who don’t see one at all.”

Now I understood what he meant. He was saying that without a properly functioning nerve system, all the good lifestyle habits were limited in their ability to affect the change people were hoping for. This is absolutely vital to understand. What good is eating impeccably if nerve interference prevents you from digesting, assimilating and eliminating foods properly? Is it advantageous for a person with a subluxation that affects the nerves to his heart to undertake a running program that jars his body and furthers the irritation? Does someone who is suffering from exhaustion benefit from extra time trying to sleep if his body is so completely out of balance that deep sleep is not possible?

I have had people ask me in the past, “Do you really want me to come in to get checked every week for the rest of my life?” My answer has been, “No, only as long as you want to continue to work toward fully expressing your purpose and potential in life.” You may have gone a week without needing an adjustment, and if you are fine we’ll celebrate! But you can’t know if you’re clear unless you get checked!

Many people are just fine with the idea of taking an aspirin or some other medication every day for the rest of their lives. But those things at best only prevent you from getting worse and may do nothing more than cover up symptoms. They can do nothing to actually improve the long-term situation. I find it curious that people will spend time and money trying to “not die,” but they have a very hard time investing consistently in something that will actually help them to live more fully.

We in chiropractic see the body as a vehicle and we believe that we were all put here for a reason. Our bodies are the vehicles we have been given through which to express our true selves and manifest our purpose and potential in life. It is each of our responsibility to keep our bodies as whole and healthy as possible by living a healthy lifestyle. But, if your brain and body can’t communicate fully, all of those healthy lifestyle habits may be futile. Chiropractic is the crucial the “missing piece” to the life puzzle that makes all of those other things worth investing in.

Do you know someone who has been wasting his or her money? Refer them to our office by going to http://alpainrelief.com/helpafriend/

Manipulation or Microdiskectomy for Sciatica?

A PROSPECTIVE RANDOMIZED CLINICAL STUDY


Gordon McMorland, DC,a Esther Suter, PhD,b Steve Casha, MD, PhD, FRCSC,c Stephan J. du Plessis, MD,c and R. John Hurlbert, MD, PhD, FRCSC, FACSc

ABSTRACT

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical efficacy of spinal manipulation against microdiskectomy in patients with sciatica secondary to lumbar disk herniation (LDH).

Methods: One hundred twenty patients presenting through elective referral by primary care physicians to neurosurgical spine surgeons were consecutively screened for symptoms of unilateral lumbar radiculopathy secondary to LDH at L3-4, L4-5, or L5-S1. Forty consecutive consenting patients who met inclusion criteria (patients must have failed at least 3 months of nonoperative management including treatment with analgesics, lifestyle modification, physiotherapy, massage therapy, and/or acupuncture) were randomized to either surgical microdiskectomy or standardized chiropractic spinal manipulation. Crossover to the alternate treatment was allowed after 3 months.

Results: Significant improvement in both treatment groups compared to baseline scores over time was observed in all outcome measures. After 1 year, follow-up intent-to-treat analysis did not reveal a difference in outcome based on the original treatment received. However, 3 patients crossed over from surgery to spinal manipulation and failed to gain further improvement. Eight patients crossed from spinal manipulation to surgery and improved to the same degree as their primary surgical counterparts.

Conclusions: Sixty percent of patients with sciatica who had failed other medical management benefited from spinal manipulation to the same degree as if they underwent surgical intervention. Of 40% left unsatisfied, subsequent surgical intervention confers excellent outcome. Patients with symptomatic LDH failing medical management should consider spinal manipulation followed by surgery if warranted. (J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2010;33:576-584)


CONCLUSIONS

Most of the patients who were considered surgical candidates for the treatment of radiculopathy from LDH improved with standardized spinal manipulative care to the same degree as those who had undergone surgery. Of those who failed spinal manipulation treatment, subsequent surgical intervention provided excellent outcome. In contrast, the 3 patients who failed microdiskectomy did not benefit from further spinal manipulative care.

Therefore, patients with symptomatic LDH failing medical management (failed at least 3 months of nonoperative management including treatment with analgesics, lifestyle modification, physiotherapy, massage therapy, and/or acupuncture) should have considered chiropractic spinal manipulative treatment as a primary treatment, followed by surgery if unsuccessful.

Diet Recommendations for Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition with symptoms which include muscle and tissue pain, fatigue, depression, and sleep disturbances; it often mimics or appears together with other chronic conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), lupus, and arthritis. Recent data suggests that central sensitization, in which neurons in the spinal cord become sensitized by inflammation or cell damage, may be involved in the way fibromyalgia patients process pain. Certain chemicals in the foods patients eat may trigger the release of neurotransmitters that heighten this sensitivity.

Because many fibromyalgia patients have food sensitivities, eating a diet of fresh foods, devoid of preservatives and additives, may ease symptoms triggered by coexisting conditions such as IBS. Several studies have shown improvement of symptoms in fibromyalgia patients who followed vegan and vegetarian diets, although most of the patients in those studies chose to discontinue the diets after the study. Simply cutting back on the amount of red meat in your diet may help as well.

Fibromyalgia is believed to be linked to an imbalance of brain chemicals that control mood, and it is often linked with unrestful sleep and fatigue. Fibro patients may try to ease fatigue with stimulants like caffeine, but they may end up doing more harm than good in the long run.

Caffeine is a loan shark for energy.

Omega-3 fatty acids, found in salmon and a variety of fish, have been touted as a heart-healthy food, but they may help with pain, as well. Fatty acids reduce the inflammation and help brain function. A 2006 survey of arthritis patients found that daily fish oil supplements reduced pain symptoms in 60% of the patients. Omega-3s have not, however, been tested on fibromyalgia patients specifically.

Yeast, along with its partner in crime, gluten, can be found in a variety of baked goods. Consuming yeast may also contribute to the growth of yeast fungus in the body, which can contribute to pain. Fibromyalgia patients may also be more prone to gluten sensitivities. Celiac disease is seen in a subset of patients. Avoiding yeast and gluten can help some patients improve.

Some degree of lactose intolerance affects about 70% of adults worldwide, so it's not surprising that many fibromyalgia patients have trouble digesting milk and dairy products as well. In a 1998 study, researchers tested whether blood samples taken from 40 fibromyalgia patients reacted to substances found in various foods; the blood of 25% of the subjects demonstrated an immune response to cow dairy products. Patients on vegan diets have also been shown to improve symptoms.

A low-carb, low-sugar diet is less stressful on the adrenal glands and the pancreas. About 90% of fibromyalgia patients have low adrenal functioning, from toxicity stressors, which affects the metabolism of carbohydrates and may lead to hypoglycemia. These people crave sugar, but they also experience the crash that follows the initial energy high. If you're hypoglycemic, you want to keep that sugar level as stable as possible. Try to limit carbohydrates to the timed release or smart carbs with a mix of protein and fat.

The artificial sweetener found in diet sodas and many sugar-free sweets is part of a chemical group called excito-toxins, which activate neurons that can increase sensitivity to pain. Though aspartame isn’t dangerous to healthy people when consumed in moderation, fibromyalgia patients are already sensitive to pain, and aspartame may heighten their sensitivity.

Some artificial sweeteners, most notably sorbitol and xylitol, can trigger IBS as well. Since about half of fibromyalgia patients suffer from IBS, foods that irritate your bowel will trigger the body to send a message to the brain that signals fibromyalgia symptoms.

Food additives such as monosodium glutamate (MSG) often cause trouble for pain patients. MSG—a high-sodium flavor enhancer often added to fast food, Chinese food, and processed packaged foods—is a an excitatory neurotransmitter that may stimulate pain receptors; glutamate levels in spinal fluid have been shown to correlate with pain levels in fibromyalgia patients. A 1995 report commissioned by the Food and Drug Administration stated that MSG may cause short-term reactions such as headaches, and a 2007 animal study in the journal Pain suggested that increases in glutamate in muscles may contribute to pain sensitivity.

The National Fibromyalgia Research Association recommends limiting or eliminating refined sugar, caffeine, alcohol, fried foods, red meat, and highly processed foods—in other words, most fast food, candy, and vending-machine products. In addition to contributing to weight gain and the development of unhealthy eating habits, these diet-wreckers may also irritate muscles, disrupt sleep, and compromise the immune system.

Experimenting with an "elimination diet" and cutting these foods out completely for several weeks—either one at a time or all at once—may help you decide whether they affect your fibromyalgia symptoms. It's also smart to eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and to keep your weight within healthy ranges: Studies show that losing weight can improve symptoms in overweight individuals.

The Qivana MetaboliQ system is perfect to stimulate healthy lean muscle synthesis which is essential to prepare your body to burn fat naturally.

For more inforation – contact Dr Wade at drdavidwade@gmail.com or go to www.ALPaniRelif.com/fibro.

Autoantibodies to Folate Receptors in the Cerebral Folate Deficiency Syndrome

New England Journal of Medicine reports that Folate Acid deficiencies

Vincent T. Ramaekers, M.D., Sheldon P. Rothenberg, M.D.,

Jeffrey M. Sequeira, M.S., Thomas Opladen, M.D., Nenad Blau, Ph.D.,

Edward V. Quadros, Ph.D., and Jacob Selhub, Ph.D.

From the Division of Pediatric Neurology,

Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital

In infantile-onset cerebral folate deficiency, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5MTHF) levels in the cerebrospinal fluid are low, but folate levels in the serum and erythrocytes are normal. We examined serum specimens from 28 children with cerebral folate deficiency, 5 of their mothers, 28 age-matched control subjects, and 41 patients with an unrelated neurologic disorder. Serum from 25 of the 28 patients and 0 of 28 control subjects contained high-affinity blocking autoantibodies against membrane-bound folate receptors that are present on the choroid plexus. Oral folinic acid normalized 5MTHF levels in the cerebrospinal fluid and led to clinical improvement. Cerebral folate deficiency is a disorder in which autoantibodies can prevent the transfer of folate from the plasma to the cerebrospinal fluid.

Cerebral folate deficiency can be defined as any neuropsychiatric condition associated with low levels of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5MTHF), the active folate metabolite in the cerebrospinal fluid, in association with normal folate metabolism outside the central nervous system, as reflected by normal hematologic values, normal serum homocysteine levels, and normal levels of folate in serum and erythrocytes. Infantile-onset cerebral folate deficiency is a neurologic syndrome that develops four to six months after birth. Its major manifestations are marked irritability, slow head growth, psychomotor retardation, cerebellar ataxia, pyramidal tract signs in the legs, dyskinesias (e.g., choreoathetosis and ballismus), and in some cases, seizures.1,2

After the age of three years, central visual disturbances can become manifest and lead to optic atrophy and blindness.1,2 The only identifiable biochemical abnormality consistently found in these children is a low level of 5MTHF in the cerebrospinal fluid. Active folate transport across the blood–brain and blood–cerebrospinal fluid barriers is mediated primarily by membrane-associated folate receptors. 3

5MTHF, the predominant form of folate in plasma, binds to these receptors, which are anchored by a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) moiety to the endothelial surface in the brain and the basolateral surface of epithelial cells on the choroid plexus. 3-5 After folate binds to the receptors, it is internalized by the epithelial cells through receptor-mediated endocytosis, and from there passes into the brain interstitium and the cerebrospinal fluid.3-5

An important property of these receptors is their high affinity (affinity constant, 10 9 to 10

10 liters per mole) for several folate derivatives, including 5MTHF and folic acid. 4 The reduced folate carrier is a ubiquitously expressed, membrane-bound protein in tissue cells.

Tips For Preventing Acne At Any Age!

'Tips for Preventing Acne at Any Age!'

From sweet 16 to fabulous 40 and beyond, acne is a condition that affects almost everyone at some time in their lives.      According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly 85 percent of adolescents and young adults between the ages of 12 and 24 develop the condition, and some people continue to be affected into their forties and fifties.      It’s important to remember that acne has both internal and external causes. However, there are some basic precautions you can take to help prevent breakouts.      Here are some tips for people of any age who want to keep their skin clear:  Don’t pick, pop or squeeze, or otherwise mess with your skin. Squeezing blemishes or whiteheads can lead to infection or scarring.      It almost always makes the acne you have worse.  Wash your pillowcase often and always use clean face towels. Dirty towels and pillowcases can harbor bacteria and germs that can make acne worse.      Be sure to pull your hair away from your skin when you sleep. Try to shower as soon as possible after your workout since sweat combined with skin oilscan trap dirt and bacteria in your pores.      Don’t go to bed with makeup on. It can clog your pores and lead to breakouts.      Make sure to clean cosmetic brushes regularly in soapy water and throw out old, contaminated makeup. Use topical treatments anywhere that you tend to get breakouts -- don't just spot-treat existing pimples. The pore-clogging process happens two to three weeks before any blemish becomes visible on the skin.     Exercising regularly can help reduce stress and it increases blood circulation and oxygen penetration to the skin, which may help to prevent acne. Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day to help 'detoxify' the body from the inside out.    By taking these simple precautions, most people can reduce the occurrence of acne.    There are also a variety of products available to help in healing or preventing breakouts. However, consumers should be careful about what they choose to use. Most acne prevention products either don’t work very well or have side effects. Male and female bodies and hormonal compositions are different, and you have to address those differences when you are treating acne.      Seek professional help if your acne is beyond the norm. Otherwise, contact my friend Tammy Doering at Totally Pamper Me for her Dead Sea Mud Mask - a kicker product that really works contact her at: Phone: 256-236-4447                                 21 East 17th Street, Anniston, AL  36201 Contact Dr Wade

New Beginnings

The time is always right to begin returning to good health. Regardless of whether your issues involve weight, exercise, diet, blood pressure, diabetes, or chronic pain, now is the time to begin taking action on your own behalf.

You are not alone. Literally hundreds of millions of people worldwide have various chronic complaints and illnesses.^1,2,3 Some problems are more serious than others, but everyone eventually wants to find a better way to manage their health problems. Eventually everyone wants to actually begin to be healthier and feel better.

Of course, a healthy diet and regular vigorous exercise are the key elements in any process of returning to good health. People know this, but for the most part this knowledge alone does not do any good. The deep truth is that feeling good and actually being healthy takes a lot of effort. It's much easier to pick up dinner from a fast food restaurant than to spend precious time planning and shopping and preparing meals. It's much easier to sit on your couch and watch people on TV trying to lose weight than to actually do the work of losing weight yourself. It's much easier to spend 30 minutes watching the news for the third time that day than to put on your workout clothes and go for a brisk 30-minute walk.

We are all slaves to our habitual ways of thinking and habitual ways of living. Just as in physics, people have inertia. Newton's First Law of Motion states that a body at rest stays at rest and a body in motion stays in motion, unless it is acted upon by an external unbalanced force. We will do the same things we have always done, achieving the same results we have always achieved, unless we make an active choice to engage in new thinking and new activities.

By the way, no one is going to make any lasting changes in their lifestyle - for example, by choosing a healthy diet and daily exercise - merely because someone told them they needed to do it. If you're chronically overweight, your doctor has told you every year that you need to make changes. Every year at your annual physical she tells you to begin regular, vigorous exercise and adopt healthy eating habits. Do any of these admonitions ever make a lasting difference? They don't, not becauses they are bad advice, but because they were not a match for your own world view. Real change, lasting change, has to come from within, from your own personal choice.  

When a person is actually ready to choose to revamp her lifestyle with respect to achieving good health, there are many possible steps to take. Chiropractic care can be an important and critical component of an overall health improvement strategy.

¹Temple R, Murphy H: Type 2 diabetes in pregnancy - An increasing problem. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab 24(4):591-603.

²Li S, et al: Genetic predisposition to obesity leads to increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Diabetologiz Jan 26, 2011 (Epub ahead of print)

³Urquhart DM, et al: Increased fat mass is associated with high levels of low back pain intensity and disability. Spine Jan 25, 2011 (Epub ahead of print)