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).

New Simple Osteoporosis Self-Screening

I know that many of you are worried about osteoporosis. If you are not, particularly if you are a woman and/or skinny, you should be.

Researchers came up with a simple self-test to see if you should go get a DXA scan. You take your weight in kilograms, subtract your age and then multiply by 0.2.

Lets work through an example for someone who is 50 years old and weighs 150 lb:

1) Get your weight in kilograms. 150 lb/2.2 = 68 kg.

2) Take your weight in kilograms and subtract your age. 68 (kg) – 50 (years) = 18.

3) Now multiply by 0.2. 18 x 0.2 = 3.6.

In the study they recommend that you get your bones checked with a DXA scan if your score on this self-test is less than 2.

I really can’t explain why they added the last step of multiplying by 0.2. It seems simpler to say that if your weight in kilograms is less than your age minus 10 get checked. So, for our example:

68 (kg) – 50 (years) = 18, which is greater than 10; OK for now.

Anyway, this does NOT mean that if you pass this quick screen you can forget about it, or ignore your doctor’s advice to get a screening. But if you fail, as Shakespeare once said, “Get thee to a DXA scanner!”

Back Pain Myths: Strong Back Muscles

On a daily basis, I see patients who suffer more than they should because of some common back pain myths. Today’s myth: Strong back muscles will protect your spine.

Wrong!

Your body has two types of muscle (really more than this, but the others are in your internal organs), movers and stabilizers. Movers are big muscles that move your body parts, hence the name. Stabilizers are muscles that hold your parts in place and prevent you from being damaged while the movers are moving you.

Your multifidus muscle, pictured below, is an example of a stabilizer muscle.

To prevent back pain, you need your stabilizer muscles to have endurance. They protect your spine. If they work as long as you do, everyone is happy. If they quit before you do….ouch!

These muscles don’t need to be strong, but they need to be able to keep going and going….and going.

The problem with exercises for strength is that they tend to work the “movers” more than the stabilizers. And, when they do work the stabilizers, they can change them from slow-twitch (endurance) muscle to fast-twitch (powerful) muscle.

Studies of back pain patients show that high percentages of patients with chronic back pain have a different mix of fast vs. slow twitch muscle fibers. Studies also show that those with back pain tend to have very low endurance of their stabilizers – particularly the multifidus.

Tomorrow: preventing back pain with endurance exercises. Stay tuned!

Sleep Apnea Causes Brain Damage!

Read the article here!

Back Pain, Lies and Videotape

I was watching a TV show, or movie the other night. One of the characters tried to help someone out and got sued for injuring her. The good guys got smart, videotaped the “injured” person and the law suit was dropped.

This makes for great fantasy. The good guys win and the case is clear cut. However, in real life, it doesn’t work like this.

We cannot see back pain. We can take x-rays, MRI’s, CAT scans, bone scans and more. On these images we see potential problems. It’s not like a broken bone, or cancer. It is not anywhere near that straightforward.

In cases with litigation this can cause some….discord, or skepticism and heated debate at least. Defense lawyers – both the evil, scheming and the others – think that they might get some insight on the case by following the patient with a video camera.

I was at a conference awhile ago. A lawyer showed some video of an “injured” patient. This guy was climbing fences, running around. He actually, by himself, hoisted a full size couch into the back of a truck which had sides higher than his head!

Not all cases of video surveillance are clear cut. Some could be argued legitimately either way….not this one. Well, what do you think the judge said after he saw the tape………c’mon guess.

This is actually a trick question. The judge refused to look at the tape! Apparently, according to this defense attorney, this is common. Judges don’t like the invasion of privacy caused by the video surveillance.

Truth is stranger than fiction.

Must Read on Cancer Screening!

Click here for the article.

What does your doctor know?

There is a famous basic competency test to test doctors’ knowledge of musculoskeletal medicine (necks, backs, shoulders, knees, etc). Many studies have shown that most medical school graduates fail this test.

In one particularly galling study, 70 out of 85 orthopedic residents – students who had graduated from medical school and were doing a residency in this very subject – failed.  There are many, many more studies like this. Osteopathic school students, who study spinal manipulation and would be expected to have a decent passing rate, showed a 70% failure rate. In other specialties it is worse.

So, when a study came out testing chiropractic students came out I was pretty interested and thought you might be as well. They used the same test as previous studies, but did not count 5 of the questions which were outside the scope of a chiropractor. The average score was 80% (vs. 55-59% in the studies of medical students.

Does this mean that MD’s are idiots? No! The graduates that failed these exams are bright and have vast knowledge in many other areas. This expectation that a doctor should know everything is crazy and dangerous.

It doesn’t matter too much what your doctor knows. Every doctor knows some areas well and others less so. The question is, does your doctor know what he doesn’t know?

The Skinny on Fat

Fat is bad right? After all, you are what you eat….right? Eat fat and you will be fat.
We have known for years that saturated fat increases cholesterol and that cholesterol causes heart attacks. In fact, that is why they started using trans-fats so much. The food industry was pushed into getting rid of that evil SATURATED  fat.

Now, of course, they are being forced to get rid of that evil TRANS-fat (the ones that they were told to use a few years ago).

Some researchers at Stanford University followed about 320 women randomly put on one of four diets. One of the diets was the Atkins (very high in saturated fat). Another diet was the Ornish diet which is extremely low in fat – especially saturated fat.

They followed these women for a year. They were given weekly training sessions for 2 months and a follow-up at 10 months.

Women in the Atkins group lost the most weight over the year (more than twice as much as the Ornish group). But, your saying, they probably had sky high cholesterol. Uhh…no. They had as good or better cholesterol levels, ratios and triglyceride levels.

Does that mean the Atkins is the perfect diet? No, I think you need more fruits and vegetables than that to be healthy (particularly relating to risk of cancer).

While too many calories is clearly a problem, we might want to worry less about fat.

NSAID’s Slow Healing of Broken Bones

New research from the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery indicates that NSAID’s can slow the healing of broken bones. In this study the slow healing occurred when the drugs were taken in the first two weeks after the injury. This was an animal study, but they used doses that are equivalent (for the animal) to normal human doses.

So, quit your whining and deal with the pain!…or maybe use a different pain reliever. : )