"The only real education comes from what goes counter to you."

Andre Gide

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March 2006

Contents

1. Pain, Pain Go Away
2. Question of the Month
3. Fitness Corner
4. Health News
5. Office Happenings

Pain, Pain Go Away

Pain. Hurt. Ache. We do all sorts of things to avoid pain. It is one of the most powerful motivators there is. If you go into a pharmacy, what drug takes up most of space in the store? Pain relievers. Why do 95% of the people who start chiropractic care come through the door? Pain relief. Our healthcare system is designed to treat symptoms/pain as an entity itself.

An important question to ask is “What is pain?” What is it really? It’s a sign. Your body is telling you something. It’s the best way it can get your attention. It could be keeping you safe. You may have overworked yourself. The pain is telling you to slow down to prevent you from hurting yourself worse. If your first reaction is to relieve the pain or cover it up, you could be missing an opportunity to help the situation. For example, what if you sit at your desk with poor posture all day. Your body can only handle this for so long until it starts to hurt. If your only response to relieve the pain is with Tylenol, you miss the chance to get to the cause and improve yourself.

When your body sends you a message, the best thing to do would be to listen. Listening is something we all could be better at. Especially when it comes to our health. One of the things I tell a new patient to our office is to listen to their bodies after they get adjusted. The reason being is that with a clearer nervous system, it will let you know what it needs to start working better. This same advice would apply to when you experience pain. The body is giving you an opportunity for change.

The next time you feel pain, pause and consider what it is telling you. Don’t immediately make it go away by whatever means. Listen. There could be a great lesson ready to be learned. It could lead to a healthier you.

Question of the Month

Why do you use less force when you adjust the spine?

My approach to chiropractic care is to get the body to help out with the adjustment. By using less force but enough to start the adjusting process, the body can then finish the job. This becomes a learning experience for the body so it can remember what went on during the adjustment. This helps you outside the office. When your spine and nervous system encounter stress during your day, it can handle it better because it has the knowledge to repair itself. In the long term, it improves the strength of the spine and nervous system. That makes you healthier and happier!

Fitness Corner

Would you like to stay up-to-date on what is happening in the health and fitness world? Subscribe to Scott McDermott’s free monthly newsletter. Send an email to mybestbody@shaw.ca to receive the latest information. This month’s topics are: 
           Protein bars – still searching
           Indoor/Outdoor Training options
           When to increase your weights, why, and understand why some  never increase 

Sign up today! 

Health News

Widely used drugs can cause mental impairment in seniors

“Anticholinergic drugs, commonly used to treat various problems in the elderly, can cause mild impairment, says a study in the British Medical Journal.” It is estimated that about 30 percent of the elderly population in U.S. nursing homes are taking at least 2 of these types of drugs. To read more: http://www.healthscout.com/news/1/1507692/main.html

Anticholinergic drugs can include muscle relaxants, sedatives, anti-depressants, anti-histamines, pain relievers and heart medications. Follow this link to get a more expansive list http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec02/ch014/ch014a.html. Given the high number of these drugs being used, it is important to be aware of how that might affect our seniors. It might be creating more problems.

Little benefit taking calcium, Vitamin D and other misleading headlines

“The biggest study ever of calcium and vitamin D supplements for older women showed they offered only limited protection against broken bones, raising questions over what has been an article of faith among doctors and nutritionists.”

So says the opening line of a recent article on the two supplements. But if you read on, that isn’t entirely true… http://www.docstacy.com/supplement_advocate

Further in the article it says that if women were taking supplements before the study began, they could continue to do so. That would dilute the findings of the group taking the supplement and affect the women who were taking the placebo, throwing the results off. It also stated that some of the women were taking hormones pills, which would reduce the number of fractures. So what we have here is a poorly controlled study that actually showed that women, who took their supplements regularly, lowered their risk of fracture by 29%. Maybe a better headline would have been “Badly designed study still show supplements are helpful reducing fractures”.

Office Happenings

1. Olympic Draw. Congratulations to Todd Broughton who won the Canadian Olympic Team jersey that was drawn in the office. Thanks to all those who entered and cheered on our Olympic Team while in the office.

2. Wellness Orientation Workshops. If you haven’t been to one yet or would like to refresh your memory, make March the month to attend one. The dates are Wednesday March 1 and Monday March 13. They are here in the office at 5:30 pm. See you then!

3. Office Hours. Here are our office hours: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 8:00 to 12:30 and 2:00 to 5:30, Tuesday 8:00 to 12:30 and Thursday 1:00 to 7:30 pm.