SECURE YOUR HOME
RETROFITTING YOUR HOME
The most important precaution you can take to reduce damage to your home and property is to protect the areas where wind can enter. According to recent wind technology research, it's important to strengthen the exterior of your house so wind and debris do not tear large openings in it. You can do this by protecting and reinforcing these five critical areas: ROOF : STRAPS : SHUTTERS : DOORS : GARAGE : WINDOWS
A great time to start securing - or retrofitting - your house is when you are making other improvements or adding an addition. Remember: building codes reflect the lessons experts have learned from past catastrophes. Contact the local building code official to find out what requirements are necessary for your home improvement projects.
FLOOD INSURANCE
The National Flood Insurance Program, is a pre-disaster flood mitigation and insurance protection program designed to reduce the escalating cost of disasters. The National Flood Insurance Program makes federally backed flood insurance available to residents and business owners
* NOTE: Flood damage is not usually covered by homeowners insurance. Do not make assumptions. Check your policy.
National Flood Insurance Program: call
1-888-CALL-FLOOD ext. 445, TDD# 1-800-427-5593.
Information provided by NOAA.gov
BLOOD PRESSURE
Increasing vegetables and fruit and reducing amounts of fat and cholesterol will not only reduce blood pressure but can help with weight loss, which also lowers blood pressure.
- Eat whole, fresh, unrefined, and unprocessed foods. Include fruits, vegetables, garlic, onion, whole grains, soy, beans, seeds, nuts, olive oil, & cold-water fish (salmon, tuna, sardines, halibut, and mackerel).
- Low sodium-high potassium diet. Restricting sodium intake to lower blood pressure appears to work better if accompanied by increasing potassium intake. Be sure to read processed and prepared food labels for the sodium content.
- Avoid salt, sugar, dairy, refined & fried foods, junk foods, & caffeine.
- Drink 50% of your body weight in ounces of water daily (e.g., if you weigh 150 lbs, drink 75 oz of water daily).
Supplements such as: Calcium (800-1500 mg daily), Vitamin C (1000 mg daily), Coenzyme Q10 (50 mg two times daily), and Flaxseed meal (Grind 2–4 tablespoons daily), Flaxseed meal has fiber, lignan, & vitamins, but flaxseed oil (1 tbsp daily) can be substituted.
Herbs may also help such as: Coleus forskohlii (Lowers blood pressure and improves heart function), Hawthorne (Has the ability to dilate coronary blood vessels, which helps lower blood pressure), Mistletoe (Not as potent as Rauwolfia but well tolerated and nontoxic in normal doses) and Rauwolfia (Considered the most powerful hypotensive botanical. Only a small dose is required for results and to avoid side effects. Nasal congestion is the most common side effect.)
These can all be part of a drugless approach to blood pressure, along with weight loss, stress control and exercise. But always consult with a doctor before mixing or altering medications.
SPINAL MAINTENANCE
Regular chiropractic care is an important part of keeping your spine in a healthy state. Clinical studies have shown that people under chiropractic maintenance programs have over 72% fewer lost days from work and over 68% fewer hospitalized days from illness or injuries. The effect of maintenance is to correct misalignments and nerve impingement before it leads to symptoms. It also adds to a more stabilized musculoskeletal system. Frequency of treatments will vary on an individual basis. A lack of maintenance leads to problems (vertebral subluxations) in muscle and joint motion combined with nerve irritation which leads to crisis (pain and compromised bodily functions). It is much cheaper to maintain a healthy spine than it is to fix a spine in crisis. Call the office today and ask about spinal maintenance plans. Keep yourself and your loved ones as close to 100% health as possible.
CHILDREN’S HEALTH
All parents want the best health for their children. But many parents are not aware of the importance of proper spinal care for children. Every spine, large or small, needs periodic attention to keep it in the best alignment and to prevent vertebral subluxations. Many parent’s only look to chiropractic for back pain relief. What they fail to consider is how vertebral misalignments (subluxations) affect the nerves and how nerves affect all bodily functions. When we adjust a child’s spine on a regular basis, it helps prevent illnesses, irritation and many symptoms parents may not associate with the spine, such as: sinus and ear congestion, colic, diarrhea, irritability, sleeplessness, bed wetting and many other conditions. In fact, the brain uses spinal nerves to control and regulate all functions of the body, muscles, glands, organs and the sensations of pain as well. If you really think about it, a child’s spine gets traumatized frequently from rough playing, falls, awkwardness, learning to walk and all other activities. This often leads to spinal bumps and twists that would cause considerable back pain in an adult. But the child’s body is flexible and their discs in the spine are thicker enabling them to apparently ‘bounce right back up and keep on going.’ But in reality, these bumps and bangs affect their spines, they just don’t get the pinching and the tearing that adults get. They do get nerve irritation but more on the functional level than the sensory level.
NECK TRAUMA
Trauma can change an individuals posture and cause the body to function in a decreased energy state. The normal forward/backward curve in the neck and lower back give the weight bearing spine strength and stability. Loss of these curves, as in whiplash-type injuries, make the spine weak and unstable and more prone to repeated bouts of back and neck pain. Ligament damage to the posterior aspect of the neck in neck sprains cause a loss of the cervical curve and the forward head posture commonly seen in clinical practice. Forward head posture (ears carried in front of the shoulders) can lead to neck pain, headaches and the acceleration of the degenerative process in the neck joints (arthritis). Chiropractic is an excellent treatment choice to manage these conditions. The sooner treatment begins after a trauma, the better the results. Adjustments to correct vertebral alignment, extension traction for the curves and specific exercises to retrain skeletal muscles and ligaments can relieve and improve the posture without the side effects of drugs or surgery. If someone you know has suffered from any spinal trauma, we are only a phone call away. As always, your referrals are appreciated. We hope this is a healthy, happy, trauma-free new year for you and your family.
WHATTA CROCK!
Maybe you think you are doing something healthy by eating artificial butter spreads. You need to know that these pseudo-unsaturated spreads are more unhealthy than regular butter. Regular butter is a saturated fat but at least it is a natural fat that the body can use. Spreads are very unhealthy because they contain versions of fats that are foreign and toxic to the body. Using less fats is a much better choice than replacing them. If you are not sure what to use, try olive oil which is an unsaturated fat, oleic acid, that the body uses easily and is very healthy.
ANTI-AGING Means WELLNESS Habits
Nutrition, exercise, sleep, posture, stress management, chiropractic, spiritual strength and avoiding toxins. Is that all? Not exactly. There are still other things like supplements, acupuncture, massage, close family support and even a pet seems to help. There are choices everyday that affect your life span. But you notice that drugs are never a part of anti-aging approaches. That is because they are toxins that harm the natural systems. If they are necessary it is because problems are already present. Options may be available but prevention of disease is what anti-aging is about. Get to know your body so you can committ to slowing down the aging process and avoid drugs and hospitals.
SUNSHINE On Your Shoulder... Makes Vitamin D
Brief exposure to sunshine several times a week can help to ward off a host of debilitating and sometimes deadly diseases, including osteoporosis, hypertension, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, immune deficiencies, depression and cancers of the colon, prostate and breast. Vitamin D is made in the skin when it is exposed to the ultraviolet B (UVB) rays in sunshine. For vitamin D to perform its myriad biochemical roles in body cells, it must first be converted into an activated form, 25-hydroxycholecalciferol, and this form cannot be taken in a pill. Be wise and utilize the sunshine, but be smart and learn, don’t overexpose and burn.
MITOCHONDRIA
Remember that from high school biology? You should know that this organelle inside all your cells can play a key role in health, disease and aging. The Mitochondria is known as the powerhouse of the cell because it produces the energy needed for cell function. Some cells have many mitochondria depending on energy requirements. Skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, the liver and the brain have the most. Recent research shows that many diseases are the result of mitochondrial dysfunction, including migraines, coronary artery disease, dementia, diabetes, cirrhosis, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, Alzheimer’s, bipolar disease and numerous others. What they have in common is the failure on the cellular level of normal cell functions. One cause is found to be oxidation of the mitochondrial DNA by molecules called ‘free-radicals.’ (Mitochondria are the only part of the cell besides the nucleus that contain DNA.) Oxidation is the stealing of outer electrons from atoms. This leaves the atom open for attack and causes it to bond to alternate molecules. In DNA, this causes malfunction in amino acid, enzyme and energy production. The hallmark symptom of mitochondrial damage is fatigue. Depending on the particular cell’s job, fatigue means things don’t get done. If this happens in many cells, the result is a disease of that organ. But there is hope through nutrition and avoiding toxins but very little hope through drugs. Antioxidant foods and supplements hold great promise for improving mitochondrial function. Vitamins B, C and E, selenium, CoEnzyme Q10, l-carnitine, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine and a few other key nutrients absolutely help mitochondrial function and decrease damaging oxidation. Try a healthy approach.
FIBROMYALGIA
This syndrome consists of generalized musculoskeletal pain, stiffness and chronic aching with tenderness on palpation of specific anatomical sites called tender points. The best proposed cause is chronic hypoxia, a lack of oxygen by the cells. The lack of oxygen can be caused by poor circulation to muscles. The pain is thought to be from the breakdown of muscle tissue as the cells look for protein sources of the glucose and oxygen needed for the mitochondrial function. The pain is also increased by hypersensitive nerve endings from low energy in muscle cells, high lactic acid from protein breakdown and exposure to ‘excitotoxins‘ such as MSG and aspartame. These should be avoided to reduce nerve pain. Malic acid and magnesium are needed by the mitochondria for energy production and to relieve hypoxia. Spinal adjustments also lowers the nerve sensitivity and improves blood flow. Massage is helpful as is aerobic exercise. So try these approaches if you suffer from or have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
CURRENT NEUROLOGY of SPINE CARE
The effectiveness of spinal adjustments for vertebral subluxations has plenty of research backing the mechanisms of it’s effects. For years chiropractors and their patients just knew it worked to relieve pain and to stimulate normal function in the body. Now we know that joint dysfunction causes sensory input into the central nervous system to be altered. The pathways to the brain are changed when joint movement is restricted and this improves with spinal manipulation. The joint, muscle and nerve components of subluxations are all influenced by traditional spinal adjustments. The clinical evidence for joint dysfunction includes tenderness, restricted motion, asymmetry of muscle tone, abnormal joint play, sensory and motor changes in the body and visual misalignments on x-ray. Correcting these findings improves the motion, lessens nerve pains, balances the muscle tones, strengthens weakened muscles and normalizes joint play. The greatest effect, however, is the positive effects on the central nervous system which spreads out to so many functions of the body, direct and indirect. It makes one healthier! “A somatosensory evoked potential study,” Haavik-Taylor H., Murphy B., Clinical Neurophysiology, Feb. 2007, 118(2):391-402.
MIGRAINE RELIEF
Approximately 157 million workdays are lost each year due to headaches. Surely some of those reported are just poor excuses, but if you suffer from migraine headaches, you know that it is no joke. Migraines are believed to be caused by pressure placed on nerve endings in the head. This leads to vascular changes in the blood supply to the head. Drugs often relieve and even control these headaches but never are able to reduce them. If you stop the medication, the headaches return with a vengeance. Plus, of course these medications have serious side effects. Chiropractic helps to correcting subluxations in the upper neck which are known to aggravate the nerves up into the head. Quite often, the cause of the repeated headaches can be corrected. Others seem to be brought on by diet so proper nutrition is crucial. See us at Coastal Chiropractic Clinics if you or someone you love has headache symptoms.
Military & Chiropractic
Slowly but surely, our active armed forces and veterans are beginning to get access to chiropractic care. On Jan. 23, 2002 Pres. Bush signed into law a bill mandating permanent chiropractic benefits for veterans. The Department of Defense has also completed a pilot study that found chiropractic care to be a positive and feasible benefit. This was signed into law by Pres. Clinton on Oct. 30, 2000 mandating chiropractic to all active duty military personnel by the end of a 5 year phase in period. The implementation and protocol are being arranged. We want the best and healthiest armed forces so it is about time that these services are provided.
Workers' Compensation
If your employer is not utilizing chiropractic care for on-the-job injuries, they are making a costly mistake. Study after study shows the cost savings of chiropractic care over medical care especially for musculoskeletal injuries, and these just happen to be the most common and most pricey injuries. Chiropractic care gets employees back to work faster and at less cost then traditional medical care, physical therapy alone or bed rest. Talk to your employer and have them contact us and place us on the companies' panel of physicians just in case someone injures themselves. We also provide safety lectures. A recent study in Florida showed that for industrial musculoskeletal injuries, chiropractic care demonstrates lower costs and shorter durations both in terms of reaching maximum medical improvement and return to work.("Topics in Clinical Chiropractic," 2002;9(4):33-53.)
What Is Chiropractic?
Chiropractic is a system of health care that releases a most serious form of stress from your body: spinal nerve stress , or what we call vertebral subluxation. Spinal nerve stress can affect your nerves, muscles, internal organs, discs, bones, brain and weaken your overall health. A doctor of chiropractic is specially trained to determine if you have vertebral subluxation, and to correct it using a simple, painless procedure known as a chiropractic adjustment.
Chiropractic has become the largest drugless health care profession in the world because it has helped millions of people recover from sickness, disease, and disability and minimize the use of drugs and surgery in their lives!
What is an Adjustment?
What exactly am I doing when I place my hands on your spine and give you a spinal adjustment? I am freeing your nerves from severe stress, balancing your spine, relaxing muscles, ligaments, discs and tendons; and permitting your body to heal - I am helping awaken your "inner doctor." This allows man 'physical' to connect with man 'spiritual.'
Chiropractors spend years mastering this procedure. I ask myself the following questions (among others) before giving you an adjustment:
- In which direction are the vertebrae out of alignment?
- What is the minimal amount of force necessary for realignment?
- Which is the best technique to use?
- Are there any factors which would prevent the adjustment?
- Are you relaxed and at ease?
Many chiropractors would also include in the checklist a certain "feeling" when an adjustment is just right. This "feeling" can't be put into words, some may call it intuition while others call it "experience."
Your Body is Always Trying
Your body is always trying to realign or adjust your spine. The back muscles are continuously working to pull the vertebra back to where it belongs. I don't actually put the vertebra back in place - I supply just the little bit of energy needed to free the vertebra so your body will realign it.
Want to live to be over a hundred?
With more people living past 100 researchers are now able to study them in greater numbers and they're finding interesting things. "Those who make it close to the 100 mark and beyond are the type who avoid hospitals and doctors whenever possible. When ill, they tend to be optimistic about recovery...[they have generally] good health habits. Most avoid smoking, watch their weight and exercise....their most common characteristic is a feisty spirit and a sense of independence.
"According to researcher Belle Boone Beard author of 'Centenarians' they have a tried and true individuality, tempered, like steel, under the heat and pressure of life over time.'
Centenarians also have been practicing preventive medicine all of their lives. Amazing as it sounds the majority studied by Beard had never seen a doctor. Thus, they avoided the iatrogenic (doctor-induced) diseases, accidents and overmedication that plague so many of the elderly."
Letter from the publisher. Journal of Longevity Vol. 6 No. 3 p. 3
Breast Feeding
"Study after study shows, for example, that babies who are not breastfed have higher rates of death, meningitis, childhood leukemia and other cancers, diabetes, respiratory illnesses, bacterial and viral infections, diarrheal diseases, otitis media (ear infection), allergies, obesity and developmental delays. Women who do not breastfeed demonstrate a higher risk for breast and ovarian cancers."
Grant, JT. Former Director of UNICEF. July/August 1994. Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Newsletter.
"Breastfed children are half as likely to have any illness during the first year of life."
Baldwin EN and Friedman KA New Beginnings Jan-Feb 1996.
Words of Wisdom
"The true nature of anything is the highest it can become." - Aristotle
"The arrival of a good clown exercises more beneficial influence upon the health of a town than twenty asses laden with drugs." - Thomas Sydenham, 17th century physician
"It is impossible to separate between physical needs and spiritual needs. The spiritual transforms into physicality and the physical rises to become spiritual in a perpetual chemistry of exchange. Heal the soul and the body is renewed. Heal the body and the soul is empowered." - Lubavitcher Rebbe
The ideas that have lighted my way have been kindness, beauty and truth. - Albert Einstein
Chiropractic and Spinal Research
Did you know there are thousands of papers on the wonders of chiropractic. Please tell others about the power of chiropractic care - health without drugs or surgery. Any disease or condition you'd like to know about? Ask us.
Asthma and Chiropractic
47 asthma sufferers age 7 to 42 received chiropractic care for 4 to 8 weeks. All 47 showed significant improvements in symptoms (from 87 to 100 percent). Many of the patients were able to completely stop use of asthma medication.
At a two-year follow-up, all 47 of the patients also reported that they maintained the improvements they made at the beginning of the study.
Amalu WC. Chiropractic management of 47 asthma cases. Today's Chiropractic Vol. 29 No. 6 November/December 2000
Lumbar Discs and Spinal Care
Know anyone contemplating back surgery for a disc problem? Chiropractors have helped countless people avoid spinal surgery for over a century. Even medical journals are describing the success of spinal care. In one study, of 517 patients with protruded lumbar discs 76.8% had satisfactory results after they received spinal care.
Treatment of lumbar intervertebral disc protrusions by manipulation. Pang-Fu Kuo P, Loh Z. Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research, Feb. 1987; 215:47-55.
Anorexia Nervosa and Chiropractic
A.S. a 23 year old had been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa; chiropractic spinal analysis revealed vertebral subluxations in her upper and mid neck.
She received a single chiropractic adjustment, which resulted in complete resolution of her condition. A follow-up two years later showed that the condition never returned.
Burnier, A. The side-effects of the chiropractic adjustment. Chiropractic Pediatrics Vol. 1 No. 4 May 1995.
Enuresis, Toe Walking
A six year old boy with nightly nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting) and toe walking was brought for chiropractic care. The medical specialist recommended that both Achilles' tendons be cut and both ankles be broken to achieve normal posture and gait???!! Chiropractic findings included subluxation of atlas, occiput, sacrum and pelvis... At this writing, after 4 weeks of care, toe walking decreased 50% and bedwetting decreased to 2-3 times/week. His MD could not believe how chiropractic helped so much. Crystal, R. International Chiropractic Pediatric Association Newsletter May/June 1997.
Humor
A (politically incorrect hair color) woman named Brandi finds herself in dire trouble. Her business has gone bust and she's in serious financial straits. She's so desperate that she decides to ask God for
help. She begins to pray... "God, please help me. I've lost my business and if I don't get some money, I'm going to lose my house as well. Please let me win the lotto." Lotto night comes and somebody else wins it.
Brandi again prays... God, please let me win the lotto! I've lost my business, my house and I'm going to lose my car as well." Lotto night comes and Brandi still has no luck.
Once again, she prays... "My God, why have you forsaken me?? I've lost my business, my house, and my car. My children are starving. I don't often ask you for help, and I have always been a good servant
to you. PLEASE just let me win the lotto this one time so I can get my life back in order."
Suddenly there is a blinding flash of light as the heavens open and Brandi is confronted by the voice of God Himself... "Brandi, work with Me on this. Buy a ticket!"
That's all for now. Please write if you have any questions. We're always available. Remember, your family and friends need a healthy spine as much as you do, so below is a free coupon for you to forward to them. They can also write to us if they have any questions. And thank you for the privilege of helping us keep your life energy flowing without spinal nerve interference or subluxations.
Thanks again!
Hope you're having a powerful day!
Drs. Jeff & Michelle
