Hip and Knee pain.

Hip and Knee Security

Everyone knows someone who has undergone hip or knee replacement. These surgeries are no longer exclusively performed on older persons and are now not uncommon procedures for many patients with persistent, significant hip or knee pain. Problems that lead people to be willing to undergo joint replacement surgery include ongoing intolerable pain and loss of mobility. Good outcomes are generally associated with these procedures, but it is reasonable that most of us would far prefer to prevent the progression of a degenerative joint disorder and avoid the need for surgery.

Hip or knee joint replacement surgery is typically prescribed for osteoarthritis (degenerative joint disease). Osteoarthritis involves thinning of protective joint cartilage, loss of sufficient lubrication of the joint by its synovial membrane, and painful inflammation. Osteoarthritis may occur years or decades after a significant joint injury, or osteoarthritis may be a long-term result of disuse, limited use, or otherwise insufficient physical activity.

As with most physical ailments, prevention is generally much more effective than is treatment. Prevention takes time, but the expenditure of time may be worth it compared to the amount of time expended later on in terms of visits to specialist physicians, laboratory tests and MRI studies, possible surgical procedures, and extensive recovery and rehabilitation. Prevention of osteoarthritis is the best policy from every point of view.

Some things just happen, of course, and a minority of osteoarthritis cases will get worse regardless of the measures taken. But, overall, various forms of exercise as well as visits to the chiropractor’s office have been consistently shown to substantially benefit people with osteoarthritis of the knee or hip. Effective exercise programs include walking, running, and biking. Any or all of these are appropriate in most circumstances. Aquatic exercise, such as swimming or water aerobics, is also of great benefit in the treatment of knee or hip osteoarthritis.

Additionally, core exercises are an important part of any comprehensive exercise program, especially when a primary objective is to slow or prevent osteoarthritis. Core exercises help stabilize and strengthen weight-bearing structures such as your lower back and pelvis, removing significant mechanical loads from other weight-bearing joints such as the hip and knee. Redistributing mechanical stresses away from your hips and knees through exercise and regular chiropractic care helps these joints to function more optimally and retain peak levels of performance, hopefully, far into the future.

Although these preventive activities take time, the return on investment is high. The benefits extend far beyond protection of your hips and knees. Your exercise routines improve cardiovascular fitness, increase restful sleep, enhance your posture, and add an extra bounce to your step. By engaging in a consistent program of vigorous physical activity, you're helping to increase your long-term health and well-being, and by extension, that of your family as well.

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1. Fransen M, et al: Exercise for osteoarthritis of the knee. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015 Jan 9;1:CD004376. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004376.pub3
2. Bartels EM, et al: Aquatic exercise for the treatment of knee and hip osteoarthritis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016 Mar 23;3:CD005523. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD005523.pub3
3. Rivera CE: Core and Lumbopelvic Stabilization in Runners. Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am 27(1):319-337, 2016

Healthy Life Style

The Four Seasons

Lifestyle Upgrades and Regular Chiropractic Care

When we read about the national epidemics of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, or listen to news reports, programs, or podcasts discussing these health problems, the solutions most frequently proposed include regular vigorous exercise (begun gradually, of course) and a healthy nutritious diet. These action steps are essential for the long-term well-being of us all, regardless of our current health status. Importantly, we gain critical support for these activities by going for regular chiropractic care. In fact, regular chiropractic care is a difference-maker when it comes to enhancing and upgrading our health and well-being and that of our family. By identifying sources of nerve interference and correcting spinal misalignments, regular chiropractic care helps ensure optimal functioning and performance of all our body's systems. As a result, we're better able to get the most out of our lifestyle activities. Regular chiropractic care provides the secret ingredient that helps us to fulfill our ongoing quest to obtain better health.

Change is an undeniable force that impacts everything. Nothing in the physical world, either on Earth or in the Universe itself, is able to resist change and ultimate decay. Supernovas, for example, are the final explosive moments of massive stars. Our own changes through life are not as dramatic, but nonetheless, they are just as meaningful, often profoundly so.

Some life cycles such as that of a leaf or butterfly are studied and appreciated as symbols of change. Yet, the physical changes we go through over the years and decades are often lamented instead of revered. We could mourn for our youthful selves, regretting our losses and wishing we could have retained what used to be, or we could return our perspective to the forces of life proceeding in and around us. In doing so, we come to realize we are not required to passively accept the march of time. In the context of physical health, we may focus our attention on the things we are capable of doing to resist the impact of the passing years and maintain and even upgrade our levels of fitness, health and well-being.

Realistically, physical structures do break down. For example, our intervertebral discs, the gelatinous shock-absorbers situated between pairs of spinal vertebras, begin to lose their maximum water content shortly after birth, owing to the ongoing effects of gravity. Thus, intervertebral disc degeneration is inevitable. But we can resist the process and slow the progression or loss, by pumping physiologic fluids back into the disc via physical activity and regular vigorous exercise. In this way, we rehydrate our intervertebral discs to the available maximum, improving our flexibility, agility and mobility as we do so.

Overall, lifestyle upgrades such as ensuring a healthy nutritious diet1,2 and engaging in regular vigorous exercise five times a week3 help us be proactive against the effects of the passage of time. We may not be able to run a six-minute mile at age 60, but that's not the point. What we can do is become much fitter and much healthier than we have been. We can lose weight and add pounds of lean muscle mass, sleep more restfully, have more energy throughout the day, upgrade our musculoskeletal adaptability, and improve our long-term health and well-being. We have the time that is ours to have.
 

1. Mangano KM, et al: Dietary protein is associated with musculoskeletal health independently of dietary pattern: the Framingham Third Generation Study. Am J Clin Nutr  2017 Feb 8. pii: ajcn136762. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.116.136762. [Epub ahead of print]
2. Via MA, Mechanick JI: Nutrition in Type 2 Diabetes and the Metabolic Syndrome. Med Clin North Am 100(6):1285-1302, 2016
3. Buscemi S, Giordano C: Physical activity and cardiovascular prevention: Is healthy urban living a possible reality or utopia? Eur J Intern Med 017 Feb 16. pii: S0953-6205(17)30069-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ejim.2017.02.007. [Epub ahead of print]

Chiropractic Care: An Ounce of Prevention

An Ounce of Prevention

Everyone knows the old adage that declares "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." This time-honored wisdom certainly makes sense. We wouldn't wait until we were riding on the wheel rim before we repaired a leaking automobile tire. We wouldn't wait until there were obvious signs of termite damage to our home before calling in the pest control experts. But, in contrast, many of us fail to implement the same kinds of straightforward preventive measures to help ensure appropriate levels of physical fitness and ongoing good health.

The main problem with preventive measures is that they consume time. The adage, however, implies that much more time will be spent, as well as financial resources that could be better directed toward other projects, in trying to cure damage, illness, or disease that would likely have been prevented by consistently taking a few necessary steps. In the case of achieving wellness, most people are aware of the need for good nutrition and regular exercise. But even with this awareness, many people persist in avoiding taking the time to do the things they need to do to retain and maintain robust good health.

What is missing is the commitment to be the person who accomplishes such goals. Change comes from within, as is asserted by another well-known aphorism. In order to take on meaningful change, despite the implication that there is going to be a certain expenditure of time and some inconvenience, the value of the activity needs to outweigh the costs. This means a person needs to be willing to authentically choose to take long-term actions in the areas of healthy eating and exercise. Sometimes it takes a wake-up call to get going, but it's much better, in the context of "an ounce of prevention," to start to make things happen before a real problem develops.

Many people will persist in their habits and resist the self-creation of more healthy lifestyles, as demonstrated by the ongoing worldwide epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes. But many others will one day get out of bed in the morning and experience the sensation of being sick and tired of being sick and tired. On that day, such a person will have the immediate realization of the great value to be obtained in taking care of oneself, despite the short-term costs of time and effort. These "aha moments" are the inspiration for many to adopt and maintain a range of healthy lifestyles, with the result of long-term health, happiness, and well-being.

Regular Chiropractic Care and Healthy Lifestyles

Another well-worn yet still meaningful adage is "If it's going to be, it's up to me." Although friends may tell us what they think we should do, and loved ones may attempt to instruct us in hopes of bettering our welfare, most of us have a fairly ingrained resistance to following the recommendations of others if those recommendations didn't match up with our own already developed plans.

It may be that many friends and loved ones have recommended regular chiropractic care to us over months or even years, with the intention of helping us obtain better overall health. When the time comes when we begin to realize how valuable good health actually is, we will discover for ourselves the value and importance of regular chiropractic care. We will then want to sure that we're getting the most out of our good nutritional practices and the time spent engaging in regular exercise, and we will find that regular chiropractic care helps us do so. By detecting and correcting spinal misalignments and optimizing functioning of the nerve system, our body's master system, regular chiropractic care helps us achieve our goals of long-term health and wellness.

1. Kang DW, Lee J, Suh SH, et al: Effects of Exercise on Insulin, IGF-axis, Adipocytokines, and Inflammatory Markers in Breast Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 26(3):355-365, 2016
2. Hayes BD, Brady L, Pollak M, et al: Exercise and Prostate Cancer: Evidence and Proposed Mechanisms for Disease Modification Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 25(9):1281-1288, 2016
3. Micha R, Peñalvo JL, Cudhea F, et al: Association Between Dietary Factors and Mortality from Heart Disease, Stroke, and Type 2 Diabetes in the United States JAMA 317(9):912-924, 2017 Reflex sympathetic dystrophy (CRPS) (ICD9 337.2):26 visits over 16 weeks Arthritis (ICD9 715): 9 visits over 8 weeks
   

Chiropractic is the Key to a Better Operating System

Regular Chiropractic Care and Ongoing Maintenance for Good Health

When you consider yourself as a living organism, your conception most likely includes physiological systems, organs, tissues, and cells. From the perspective of function, your physiological systems are all interconnected. The components of these systems continually talk to each other, exchanging information regarding current status, available resources, and specific requirements. The system that facilitates these ongoing communications is the nerve system, your body's master system. Your nerve system, via innumerable main lines, branches, and local connections, links your brain and spinal cord with every other structure in your body. But nerve interference can disrupt normal functioning within this exceedingly complex system, causing transmission of necessary information to be delayed or cut off, and by creating errors in the information stream itself. Such problems may cause pain, symptoms, and, ultimately, disease. Regular chiropractic care helps detect and correct spinal misalignments, the most common sources of nerve interference. In this way, regular chiropractic care helps restore more normal functioning and helps us gain increased levels of health and well-being.

A computer’s operating system is the vital component that enables the device’s hardware and software resources to function as one. But when the system is compromised by malware or a computer virus, its performance can suffer or even lead to a total device crash. Our bodies, and the systems that keep us operating, can be compared to the interworking of a computer. Our hardware is our muscles and tissues, our software is nerve signals, and our operating system is the nerve system itself.  Just like a computer’s operating system, it is our nerve system that enables our hardware and software resources to function together as one.   

The nerve system is composed of the brain, spinal cord, spinal nerves, and the peripheral nerve system, the latter consisting of large, long branches of the spinal nerves and numerous successively narrower and smaller branches of those branches. The brain, as the center of the nerve system, originates signals that coordinate the activities of all the other physiological systems.1 These signals are transmitted down specific pathways to reach specific target structures. These targets – the cells – that comprise the tissues and organs of your cardiovascular, respiratory, lymphatic, gastrointestinal, and endocrine systems, are what keeps you alive. The cells do their job and then transmit responses back to the brain via the nerve system. These responses consist of status reports, requests for additional materials, and other information regarding local conditions. The brain processes this new information and issues new instructions.

It's easy to see how the now commonplace analogy between the brain and the computer came to be. However, it's critically important to recognize that the brain is most definitely not a computer. Regardless of the ability of lightning-quick systems to rapidly sort through huge masses of data, such processing speed and relative accuracy are not the manifestations of intelligence. Rather, these computer feats are wonderful mechanical accomplishments owing to human ingenuity. In the absence of human designers and programmers, there would be no supercomputer.

In contrast, human consciousness utilizes the human brain to arrive at new solutions to problems. These novel solutions are emergent, meaning they could not be predicted by analysis of the information at hand. Computers are not capable of emergent behavior. Thus, our animating principle not only guides the functioning of our bodies, but may also guide our choices, decision-making, and functioning in the world.

Resources:

1. Banos O, et al: The Mining Minds digital health and wellness framework. Biomed Eng Online 2016 Jul 15;15 Suppl 1:76. doi: 10.1186/s12938-016-0179-9.

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Walk This Way

Self-Actualization and Regular Chiropractic Care

Regardless of the types of self-improvement activities and lifestyle enhancements you're engaged in, regular chiropractic care will help support your long-term health and well-being. By providing holistic care that is directed toward your body's overall functioning, regular chiropractic care helps you get the most out of the time and effort you're spending in regular vigorous exercise, eating a nutritious diet, and obtaining sufficient rest. Regular chiropractic care provides these benefits by correcting spinal misalignments and restoring optimal functioning to the nerve system. By detecting and correcting sources of nerve interference, regular chiropractic care helps make sure all your physiological systems are working together, establishing new levels of harmony, wellness, and well-being.

Whether you're going out for a walk or a run, to the gym to lift weights, or to the pool to swim a few laps, the self-affirmation involved in the concept of "going out" or "going to" something for the sake of exercise is quite substantial. For most of us, it takes an extra effort, an extra application of willpower, to get us out of our chair or off our sofa and get moving in the direction of physical activity. For those who are able to overcome our own inertia and actually get out there and exercise, the rewards can be great!
The message to get out there and exercise comes to us from many directions. Often it’s our spouse or partners, family doctor, or close personal friends who encourage us to exercise.  Other times it’s the onslaught from newspaper, magazine, and blog articles that tell us we have to exercise. Radio and television programs feature droves of celebrity fitness experts telling us about the miracles of this or that type of exercise. Implicit in this messaging is the notion that there's something wrong with us, that we're not being a good person if we're not doing what everybody else is.
However, despite the badgering of family and friends and the constant prodding of media sources, it remains true that exercise is very good for us and we all actually know this.^1,2 The real missing piece for each of us is the recognition that exercise is in our self-interest and that we will proactively choose to take action on our own behalf. In other words, no one can convince us. We as individuals are the only ones who can make that difference.
How do you get to that place of choosing? First, by being willing to undertake a truthful self-assessment. If you find that you'd like to lose weight, have more energy, or have more restful sleep at night, then you might choose to begin a program of regular exercise. You do this, not as a result of someone telling you that you need to, but as a course of action that you have chosen. Then, being a reasonable person, after approximately six to eight weeks of participation in your new activities, you assess the results. If you like what's going on, then you'll probably choose to continue.
And then, surprisingly, if you've reevaluated and reaffirmed a few more times, you may wake up one day to find that you have become a person who exercises. You no longer have to think about this. You no longer feel that exercise is a burdensome activity. You actually now enjoy these activities and authentically appreciate the wonderful results you have been obtaining. The hidden benefit, of course, is that your family, friends, coworkers, and your community at large are reaping the rewards, as well.³

1. Anunciacao PG, et al: Blood pressure and autonomic responses following isolated and combined aerobic and resistance exercise in hypertensive older women. Clin Exp Hypertens 38(8):710-714, 2016
2. Loprinzi PD, Sng E: Mode-specific physical activity and leukocyte telomere length among U.S. adults: Implications of running on cellular aging. Prev Med 85:17-19, 2016
3. Marson EC, et al: Effects of aerobic, resistance, and combined exercise training on insulin resistance markers in overweight or obese children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Prev Med 93:211-218, 2016 self-improvement lifestyle enhancement

Chiropractic Care and Working out

Autumn Leaves Signal it’s Time for a New Workout

Regular Chiropractic Care and a Healthy Lifestyle

In the 21st century, healthy living does not come for free. The primary difference between now and the good old days is the nature of our daily routine. Back then, men and women, and children too, performed rigorous physical work every day. Household chores, agricultural work, and work at a trade all involved ongoing physical labor. Transportation was via your own two feet or on a bicycle. Horseback riding, too, if you were lucky enough to own a horse, involved real exercise on the part of the rider. In the "modern" world, in stark contrast, the vast majority of our daily activities are sedentary. The long-term result is that most of us are seriously deconditioned. The solution to our lack of good physical health involves the costs of time and effort. We need to put in more than a few hours per week to gain the exercise we require. We need to spend time going shopping for healthy food and then preparing and cooking healthy meals for ourselves and our families. We need to make sure we're obtaining proper rest. Additionally, we need to make sure we're getting regular chiropractic care. Regular chiropractic care helps ensure our spines are aligned and our nerve systems are functioning properly. In this way, regular chiropractic care helps us get the most out of the valuable and precious time we're spending eating right and exercising. Regular chiropractic care helps us become healthier overall and enjoy higher levels of personal and family satisfaction and well-being.

Now that autumn is in the air, summertime recreational activities such as camping, going to the lake or beach, volleyball, and surfing begin to take a back seat and we look to focus on more prosaic forms of exercise. Strength training activities and cardiorespiratory-based exercise return to the forefront as we gear up for fitting fitness into our daily routines. On the other hand, many of us have taken the summer off as far as exercise is concerned, thinking we have put in a good nine months of activity and we deserve a break! Regardless of what we've been doing over the summer, for all of us the subtle changes in the weather are a reminder that it's time to get our exercise program organized again.
For those of us who admit to thinking, "Oh no, not more exercise!", it's useful to remember that exercise is not only very good for long-term health and well-being, it’s also very beneficial to your immediate health. Regular vigorous exercise helps us sleep better, look better, and feel better. For example, regular vigorous exercise helps people fall asleep. Additionally, the sleep we obtain when we're getting physical activity is much deeper and more restful than otherwise. We wake up refreshed and ready to take on the challenges of a new day. We have much more energy throughout the day and tend not to experience those mid-afternoon crashes. In terms of looking better, regular vigorous exercise makes your skin glow. Your face becomes brighter and shinier thanks to the increased oxygen supply you're getting. Regular activity also makes you taller owing to restoration of height within your intervertebral discs. As these discs make up approximately 25 percent of the length of your spinal column, you lose overall height if these structures are not fully hydrated. Regular vigorous exercise makes sure you're standing tall. Finally, we just feel better when we're exercising, a result of a regularly replenished supply of endorphins, your body's naturally occurring source of self-satisfaction and well-being.
How Much Exercise Should we be Doing to Reap These Benefits?
Guidelines consistently recommend at least 150 minutes of vigorous exercise each week, most typically obtained as 30 minutes of exercise done five days per week.¹ You're not restricted to 30 minutes per day of course. Thirty minutes is an acceptable baseline standard. Overall, people should perform both strength training and cardiorespiratory (aerobic) exercises on a regular basis.^2,3 You could do three days of strength training and two days of aerobic exercise some weeks, and two days of strength training and three days of aerobic exercise on alternate weeks. You'll be able to tell how things are going based on how you're feeling. Mostly, you should feel uplifted and invigorated in the hours following a workout. If at some point you begin to be slightly bored and are losing interest in your routines, those are signals to vary what you're doing. Fortunately, there is an abundance of exciting, captivating, compelling exercises and programs available across the spectrum of strength training and cardiorespiratory activities. The most important factor is be active and engaged in a consistent exercise program. The results will last a lifetime.

Sources

1. Colak TK, et al: Association between the physical activity level and the quality of life of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. J Phys Ther Sci 28(1):142-7, 2016
2. Carlson JA, et al: Walking mediates associations between neighborhood activity supportiveness and BMI in the Women's Health Initiative San Diego cohort. Health Place 38:48-53, 2016
3. Wojan TR, Hamrick KS: Can Walking or Biking to Work Really Make a Difference? Compact Development, Observed Commuter Choice and Body Mass Index. PLoS One. 2015 Jul 8;10(7):e0130903. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130903. eCollection 2015
4. 
   

A Spring in Your Step

A Spring in Your Step

Regular Chiropractic Care and Freedom of Motion

Efficient and effective mobility is key to good spinal health and good health overall. Spinal mobility depends on interactions between adjacent vertebras, a complex array of small and large muscles, and ligaments that bind the vertebras together. Nerve irritation and soft tissue inflammation may disrupt the smooth biomechanics of normal spinal motion. Left uncorrected nerve irritation and soft tissue inflammation result in a vicious cycle of increasing biomechanical dysfunction, further loss of freedom of motion, and increasing pain. Regular chiropractic care helps restore spinal mobility by focusing on the causes of biomechanical dysfunction. By analyzing sources of nerve interference and correcting spinal misalignments, regular chiropractic care optimizes spinal activities such as efficient mobility and weight-bearing. The resulting increased function reduces soft tissue inflammation and pain. Thus, regular chiropractic care helps reduce physiological stress. The overall benefits include improved freedom of motion, freedom of choice, and freedom of action.

We all know people who are light on their feet. Fred Astaire comes immediately to mind, as do tennis star Andy Roddick, the great Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter, and WNBA star Candace Parker. Closer to home, we may recognize similar combinations of grace and athleticism in a family member or friend. We may believe that such qualities are inborn and represent natural abilities. But each of us can develop comparable qualities of fluidity and ease of motion. We may not achieve the skill levels possessed by professional athletes, but we can acquire improved posture, greater balance, and heightened skills in day-to-day tasks requiring dexterity and coordination. In other words, we can all develop a spring in our step.
Such a springiness and lightness are the direct result of efficient biomechanical functioning of the spinal column and weight-bearing bones and joints including the pelvis and hips, knees, and ankles.^1,2 Such efficient biomechanical functioning is innate, but these abilities are gradually lost as we grow up, encounter the stresses of life, and become more and more sedentary. Over time, our musculoskeletal system loses flexibility, dynamism, quickness, and the ability to respond to sudden changes in the environment. The overall result is an impression of stiffness and heaviness. Gracefulness is lost as soon as physical motion becomes conscious and planned, rather than instinctive and spontaneous. But these losses are not necessarily the inevitable accompaniment to growing up and getting older. The good news is that such lightness can be recovered. We can restore that spring to our step and, in fact, learn to turn back the clock.³
The great benefit is that the processes involved in reacquiring gracefulness, lightness, and springiness also lead directly to improved health and well-being. The primary action is to engage in regular, vigorous exercise. Any form of exercise, done consistently, will enhance biomechanical functioning. Your muscles learn how to dynamically support increasingly heavier loads against gravity. Proprioceptors, specialized nerve endings located in weight-bearing joints throughout the body, learn to rapidly respond to mechanical alterations in three-dimensional space. Your heart and lungs become more efficient as your body learns to adapt and respond to increasing physiological demands. You begin to lose weight as your daily desire for excess calories naturally decreases in response to a more physical lifestyle. In many ways, your body becomes much smarter and you soon find yourself noticing a certain ease, a certain economy of physical movement, as you go through your day.
The innate grace that begins to be recovered is the wellspring of the newfound spring in your step. As you continue to exercise and achieve your optimal weight, such physical ease perpetuates and becomes an integral component of your overall enhanced health and well-being.

1. Iorio JA, et al: Biomechanics of Degenerative Spinal Disorders. Asian Spine J 10(2):377-384, 2016
2. Du CF, et al: Biomechanical response of lumbar facet joints under follower preload: a finite element study. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2016 Mar 15;17(1):126. doi: 10.1186/s12891-016-0980-4
3.  Huang ZY, et al: The location of Modic changes in the lumbar spine: a meta-analysis. Eur Spine J. 2016 Feb 25. [Epub ahead of print]