Chiropractic Care Effective for High Blood Pressure

A new study looked at chiropractic care for patients with high blood pressure. In the study those treated with chiropractic care decreased their blood-pressure by 17/10 mm. So, if someone started with blood pressure of 147/90 (high), they ended up with 130/80.

These results are incredible. I will look at the study, hopefully tomorrow and see how it checks out, but initially it looks very promising. (That’s really an understatement!)

“The procedure (chiropractic treatment) has the effect of not one, but two medications given in combination” according to study leader George Bakris, MD at the University of Chicago.

Here is a link.

Are you fat on the inside?

We all know that what’s on the inside is what counts……even the fat.

Now I know you are all motivated (even if not enough) to lose the external fat. We all want to look good, right? But, fat on and in our organs can be just as damaging – maybe even more so – than the fat that jiggles on the outside.

This is a bigger problem in people that don’t exercise – even if they are thin. Research shows us that it is better to be an overweight exerciser than a skinny couch potato. In fact, according to an article published on msnbc.com, many sumo wrestlers may be less healthy than their less active fans!

So, don’t just drop the danish (is that as hard for you as it is for me?) and pick up a dumbell!

(Click here to read more).

How do you diagnose a disc herniation?

This seems to be a popular question so, here we go.

Disc herniations are easy to find. 30 minutes in the old MRI machine and wham, there they are (or aren’t if you don’t have any). Case closed, right? Wrong!

Many disc herniations that show up on MRI are not causing any problems. They are innocent. I know what you’re thinking. My disc is torn or ruptured or slipped or something terrible like that and you are saying that is OK??!!

Actually, sort of. Studies have shown that if you go out to your local mall and grab the first 100 people you see that don’t have back pain and never have and take them to get an MRI…………..about 30 of them will have disc herniations.

But, you say, it must be about to snap!! Like a tinder box about to go up in flames!! Not really. Disc herniations are one of those things that don’t matter…unless of course they do.

Figuring out whether they do or not is what you need a doctor and a good old physical examination for. I guess you can’t outsource the docs yet.

Miracle Whiplash Cure?

I was purusing WebMD the other day….last week, I think. They had a video clip about a “new” treatment for whiplash. I watched and was amazed!

They showed a steroid injection…into the facet joint, I think. The patient even reported some relief. But, how new is this? I took a quick gander at Pubmed, an archive of most all of the available medical literature. I found a dozen or so articles in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s…..this is new?

I also found an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine from 1994 which found this treatment to be ineffective.

Was any of this mentioned by WebMD? No! Be careful. Be skeptical.