Archive for October, 2009
Your Camarillo Chiropractor Can Get Rid of The Pain in Your Neck!
Posted by: | CommentsSometimes, life can be a real pain in the neck, can’t it? Yet, though circumstances in our life may resolve in a timely manner, actual neck pain can persist for quite a while and often get much worse. Besides causing a lot of pain in a particular region of the neck, neck conditions can also cause pain, tingling, numbness, and weakness down the arm and into the fingers. Neck problems can be responsible for both tension headaches and head pain. It is important to find the source of your neck pain so that it can be treated properly. A detailed examination and evaluation by your chiropractor, a spinal expert, will aid in establishing the exact reason for your individual neck pain.
Are you wondering why you are having neck pain? There are many reasons for neck pain and associated symptoms. The neck can sustain trauma from an accident creating strained muscles, sprained ligaments, and spinal joint injuries. Sitting at a computer for long periods and/or performing repetitive tasks can generate postural stress on the neck. Such stress causes muscular tension and inflammation in the neck and upper back. Postural stresses can be made worse by poor spinal mechanics and weak or overdeveloped muscles. Irritation of soft tissue produced by degeneration of the spinal joints and discs as the result of the aging process, as well as “slipped,” herniated, or ruptured cervical discs are additional causes of neck problems.
Chiropractic techniques offer an organic, non-invasive approach to a wide range of cervical dysfunctions. Pain relief, decreased tension, and increased motion all result from chiropractic management.
Your chiropractor is an expert when it comes to knowledge of the spine and musculoskeletal system and will be able establish the reason for your neck pain and treat it at its source. If you’re ready to get get out of pain for good, chiropractic treatment is the answer you’ve been looking for. Make an appointment with your chiropractor today!
"Close" AND a Cigar
Posted by: | Comments“Close” isn’t generally a word we associate with achievement. In point of fact, not many things in life, it seems, count much at all if you don’t “hit the nail on the head.” Luckily for some, this may not be absolutely true when it comes to an extended lifespan. As a chiropractor in Camarillo, who has many older patients and who is also a firm believer in the advantages of exercise at every age, I was very interested in the following study.
Researchers found that of the “least-fit” versus the “slightly more fit” in a recent study of nearly 4,400 healthy U.S. adults, roughly 20 percent with the lowest physical fitness levels were twice as likely to die over the nine years of the study as the 20 percent with the next-lowest fitness levels. (In other words, those 20 percent who were nearly at the lowest fitness levels.) This is the familiar “bad news/good news” outcome. It is obviously bad news if you are a confirmed spectator in life. However, it is genuinely good news for those who haven’t quite hit rock bottom in the sedentary lifestyle department but are not, by any means, very active. Apparently, those individuals who continue to be even moderately fit as they grow older may have a longer lifespan than those who are entirely out-of-shape, the study suggests.
The study included 4,384 middle-aged and older men and women whose fitness levels were evaluated during exercise treadmill tests sometime between 1986 and 2006. For nearly nine years thereafter, the researchers followed the study groups progress. Such factors as obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure were considered in the study. This, in and of itself, underscores the value of being physically fit. In an email to Reuters Health, Dr. Sandra Mandic, of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, and lead researcher of the study stated: “Our findings suggest that a sedentary lifestyle, rather than differences in cardiovascular risk factors or age, may explain the two-fold higher mortality rates in the least-fit versus slightly more fit individuals.”
Nearly two-thirds of the participants at the least-fit level failed to get at least 30 minutes of moderate activity, five or more days a week, which was the minimum recommended amount of exercise. “These results emphasize the importance of improving and maintaining high fitness levels by engaging in regular physical activity,” Mandic said, “particularly in poorly-fit individuals.”
Classifying the study group participants by fitness levels, the researchers found that 25 percent of the least-fit men and women had died during the study period, versus 13 percent of those who were slightly more in shape. Among adults in the most-fit group (the ones who “hit the nail on the head”, so to speak) only 6 percent died during the follow-up period.
The five fitness-level groups showed little variance, overall, in their reported exercise habits during most of their adult lives, but notably, they differed in activity levels only in recent years. “Since it is recent physical activity that offers protection,” Mandic said, “it is important to maintain regular physical activity throughout life.”
In this particular study, despite weight and other health issues such as those mentioned above, fitness is undeniably linked to longevity. As such, exercise is essential to the extension of our lifespan. And, naturally, just think of the health advantages we could all derive if we worked towards the higher levels of fitness.
SOURCE: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, August 2009.
Drinking Plenty of Water Is Essential to Your Health
Posted by: | CommentsChiropractors, like your Camarillo Chiropractor, are “maniacs” when it comes to getting our patients to drink plenty of water daily. The positive repetitive stress is on “Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate!” For humans to survive, they need air and water (in that order). It would appear reasonable, then, that drinking a sufficient quantity of water would be as instinctual as breathing in enough air, but an astonishing seventy-five percent of Americans suffer from mild, constant dehydration. (Most people aren’t getting enough oxygen either, but that topic is for another time.) Your good health is based on your drinking water, and plenty of it. Every cell, tissue, organ and system in your body relies on the water you drink to function healthfully. Water is the essential element for saliva and the fluids surrounding the joints. Water balances the temperature and metabolism of the body, and keeps the blood circulating. Drinking plenty of water daily has been shown to improve nutrient absorption and toxin removal, and to reduce heartburn, hypertension, exhaustion, and headaches.
Athletes are distinctly at risk when it comes to problems produced by dehydration. “Physiologically, their core body temperature could be higher than it should have been if they were hydrated. Their heart rate will be higher, and they’re going to perceive that they’re working harder than they actually are,” said Susan Yeargin, assistant professor of athletic training in Indiana State’s College of Nursing, Health, and Human Services. A high percentage of collegiate and professional athletes begin the season dehydrated, putting their health at risk even before they begin strenuous workouts, according to researchers at Indiana State University. In fact, 80 percent of football players displayed symptoms of dehydration during pre-season physical examinations.
Just how much water is enough water may seem a little confusing. Chiropractors, like most health care professionals, advise no less than eight, 8-ounce glasses of water every day for many patients, but for our patients who are athletes, or for individuals who are overweight or exercise or work in a hot environment, we propose even more. How can you be sure if you, personally, are drinking an adequate amount of water? Your urine color is a good indicator. If it is a light, pale yellow, it’s a good sign that you’re well-hydrated!
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