| Weekly Health Update Week of: Monday, October 31st, 2011 Courtesy of: Malcolm Conway, D.C. (570) 287-7070 "Security is mostly a superstition. It doesn't exist in nature." ~ Helen Keller | ||||||||
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| Mental Attitude: Friendships & Anxiety. Anxious, solitary kids are more emotionally sensitive and more likely to be excluded and victimized by their peers. They're also less likely to have friends, and when they do, to have fewer than their peers and to lose friendships over time. Child Development, Sept 2011 Health Alert: Obesity Costs! States spend up to $15 billion a year in medical expenses related to obesity. Estimates in dollars range from $203 million in Wyoming to $15.2 billion in California. National costs of obesity are $147 billion. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Sept 2011 Diet: Wine & Dementia Risk. Moderate wine drinkers are 23% less likely to develop dementia and/or Alzheimer's disease. Resveratrol, found in fairly high levels in wine, is a naturally occurring antioxidant that decreases the stickiness of blood platelets and helps blood vessels remain open and flexible. It also inhibits enzymes that can stimulate cancer cell growth and suppress immune response. Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Exercise: Good Reasons. Exercise decreases the rate of joint degeneration in people with osteoarthritis, lowers your resting heart rate, helps to boost creativity and reduces circulating levels of triglycerides. Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health, 1996 Chiropractic: What Does Double Crush Mean? If there is irritation of a nerve root at the vertebra of the neck, or at the triangle formed between the scalene muscles and the first rib, the nerve itself becomes "sick." As that nerve passes into the arm, it passes through several muscles before it enters the hand, beneath the transverse carpal ligament. If the nerve is already "sick," the "secondary stress" of compression within the arm muscles, or at the wrist, may cause regional symptoms at that location. We call that second insult to the nerve a "double crush" phenomenon. Wellness/Prevention: Four Ways To Live Longer. Those who practice all 4 are 66% less likely to die early from cancer, 65% less likely to die early from a major cardiovascular disease, and 57% less likely to die early from other causes. 1) Avoid Tobacco. 2) Limit Alcohol: Men should have no more than two drinks a day, women no more than one. 3) Improve Your Diet: Eat more fruits, eat more vegetables, eat more whole grains, switch to fat-free and low-fat dairy and eat more seafood. Cut down on salt and foods high in sodium, saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, added sugar, and refined grains. 4) Exercise at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise spread over at least 5 days a week - or - do a total of 75 minutes of vigorous exercise 3 days a week or more. American Journal of Public Health, August 2011 | ||||||||
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| Conway Clinic for Sports Injury |
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Health Update
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
How One Vitamin Can Save Your Life...
I've written about this before and I have to come back to it once again becasue of its importance...Vitamin D(3). Please read and if you have questions feel free to contact me. I'll be happy to show you more evidence on how truly important this cheap readily available vitamin can help you boost your immune system.
I don't want to sound like a broken record but here is one of the cheapest forms of medicine that can do more for your health than you can imagine. For years vitamin d has been known for bone health when used with calcium. Well please, please read and understand that vitamin d can not only help with your bones but with many more conditions. The research is overwhelming to the efficacy of building your immune system. Research over the past two decades is now gone way beyond the norms of showing how powerful this one small supplement can improve your life. In many cases can it can save your life.
Females: Correct levels of Vitamin D can reduce breast cancer by 50%.
You may or may not know but I've been preaching about vitamin d for years once I learned about how powerful it really was. But I needed facts so I began taking vitamin d for myself taking 5,000 iu per day. After three months I had my blood tested and found out that I was still deficient and below the normal values of vitamin d. So I began taking 10,000 iu per day and found that was the trick and my values normalized.
Vitamin D deficiency is at epidemic proportions in the United States and many other regions around the world today, largely because people do not spend enough time in the sun to facilitate this important process of vitamin D production.
The best way to get your primary dose of vitamin d is to get exposed to the sun. You need to sun at least 40% of your body in direct sun light for period of time conducent to your skin type. If you are fair skin you will only need 15 to 20 min and you can continue to add time the darker complected you are. Even African-Americans need direct sun light because of the fact that all humans are designed to receive UVB spectrum of light. It's the UVB that is important to the production of vitamin d to your body.
So what happens if you live in an area like me that doesn't allow to absorb that type of light? There are two ways that can help you get the appropriate amount of sun light. If you live in the upper portion of the U.S. you won't be able to get UVB sun light that will provide the needed vitamin d. You have two alternatives:
1. Tanning Bed or Salon
2. Oral Supplementation
Yes, you heard that right a tanning bed that uses UVB bulbs is completely safe AS LONG AS YOU DON'T BURN! The key is that you get enough that your skin turns LIGHTLY pink. You can do this two to three times per week which will give you the vitamin d needed to boost your health.
Oral supplementation is good however not as effective as the upper two suggestions. But it still works pretty well if the other ways are out of the question. You need to take 8,000 iu per day and in about three to four months you need to have your vitamin d levels tested.
Occasional sunlight exposure to your face and hands is not sufficient for vitamin D nutrition for most people. To optimize your levels, you need to expose large portions of your skin to the sun, and you may need to do it for more than a few minutes. Ultraviolet light from the sun comes in two main wavelengths -- UVA and UVB. It's important for you to understand the difference between them, and your risk factors from each.
First there is UVB, the healthy wavelengths that help your skin produce vitamin D. Then there is UVA, which is generally considered the unhealthy wavelengths because they penetrate your skin more deeply and cause more free radical damage. Not only that, but UVA rays are quite constant during ALL hours of daylight, throughout the entire year -- unlike UVB, which are low in morning and evening, and high at midday.
So to use the sun to maximize your vitamin D production and minimize your risk of skin damage, the middle of the day (roughly between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.) is the best and safest time. During this UVB-intense period you will need the shortest sun exposure time to produce the most vitamin D.
Based on recent research published by Grassroots Health from the D*Action study, the average adult needs to take 8,000 IU's of vitamin D per day in order to elevate his or her levels above 40 ng/ml -- the bare minimum requirement necessary for disease prevention. Ideally, you'll want your levels to be between 50-70 ng/ml.
As Carole Baggerly, director and founder of Grassrootshealth.com, noted:
My hope for you that you heed this advice and begin to get your Vit D in any form that is comfortable for you. The scientific evidence is overwhelming now to help you boost your immune system.
Dr. Malcolm Conway
www.conwayclinic.com
www.raisingeliteathletes.com
I don't want to sound like a broken record but here is one of the cheapest forms of medicine that can do more for your health than you can imagine. For years vitamin d has been known for bone health when used with calcium. Well please, please read and understand that vitamin d can not only help with your bones but with many more conditions. The research is overwhelming to the efficacy of building your immune system. Research over the past two decades is now gone way beyond the norms of showing how powerful this one small supplement can improve your life. In many cases can it can save your life.
Females: Correct levels of Vitamin D can reduce breast cancer by 50%.
You may or may not know but I've been preaching about vitamin d for years once I learned about how powerful it really was. But I needed facts so I began taking vitamin d for myself taking 5,000 iu per day. After three months I had my blood tested and found out that I was still deficient and below the normal values of vitamin d. So I began taking 10,000 iu per day and found that was the trick and my values normalized.
Vitamin D deficiency is at epidemic proportions in the United States and many other regions around the world today, largely because people do not spend enough time in the sun to facilitate this important process of vitamin D production.
The best way to get your primary dose of vitamin d is to get exposed to the sun. You need to sun at least 40% of your body in direct sun light for period of time conducent to your skin type. If you are fair skin you will only need 15 to 20 min and you can continue to add time the darker complected you are. Even African-Americans need direct sun light because of the fact that all humans are designed to receive UVB spectrum of light. It's the UVB that is important to the production of vitamin d to your body.
So what happens if you live in an area like me that doesn't allow to absorb that type of light? There are two ways that can help you get the appropriate amount of sun light. If you live in the upper portion of the U.S. you won't be able to get UVB sun light that will provide the needed vitamin d. You have two alternatives:
1. Tanning Bed or Salon
2. Oral Supplementation
Yes, you heard that right a tanning bed that uses UVB bulbs is completely safe AS LONG AS YOU DON'T BURN! The key is that you get enough that your skin turns LIGHTLY pink. You can do this two to three times per week which will give you the vitamin d needed to boost your health.
Oral supplementation is good however not as effective as the upper two suggestions. But it still works pretty well if the other ways are out of the question. You need to take 8,000 iu per day and in about three to four months you need to have your vitamin d levels tested.
Occasional sunlight exposure to your face and hands is not sufficient for vitamin D nutrition for most people. To optimize your levels, you need to expose large portions of your skin to the sun, and you may need to do it for more than a few minutes. Ultraviolet light from the sun comes in two main wavelengths -- UVA and UVB. It's important for you to understand the difference between them, and your risk factors from each.
First there is UVB, the healthy wavelengths that help your skin produce vitamin D. Then there is UVA, which is generally considered the unhealthy wavelengths because they penetrate your skin more deeply and cause more free radical damage. Not only that, but UVA rays are quite constant during ALL hours of daylight, throughout the entire year -- unlike UVB, which are low in morning and evening, and high at midday.
So to use the sun to maximize your vitamin D production and minimize your risk of skin damage, the middle of the day (roughly between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.) is the best and safest time. During this UVB-intense period you will need the shortest sun exposure time to produce the most vitamin D.
Based on recent research published by Grassroots Health from the D*Action study, the average adult needs to take 8,000 IU's of vitamin D per day in order to elevate his or her levels above 40 ng/ml -- the bare minimum requirement necessary for disease prevention. Ideally, you'll want your levels to be between 50-70 ng/ml.
As Carole Baggerly, director and founder of Grassrootshealth.com, noted:
"We just published our very first paper. We have about 10 people in this study now that are taking 50,000 IU a day and they're not reaching a potential toxicity level of 200 ng/ml. It should be noted, however, that this is not a recommended intake level. The study reported data on about over 3,500 people.This means that even if you do not regularly monitor your vitamin D levels, your risk of overdosing is going to be fairly slim -- even if you take as much as 8,000 IU's a day. As an aside, there is evidence that the safety of vitamin D is dependent on vitamin K, and that vitamin D toxicity (although very rare with the D3 form) is actually aggravated by vitamin K2 deficiency.
… One very significant thing shown by this research was that even with taking the supplement, the curve for the increase in the vitamin D level is not linear. It is curvilinear and it flattens, which is why it's even hard to get toxic with a supplement."
My hope for you that you heed this advice and begin to get your Vit D in any form that is comfortable for you. The scientific evidence is overwhelming now to help you boost your immune system.
Dr. Malcolm Conway
www.conwayclinic.com
www.raisingeliteathletes.com
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Lower Back Pain
By: Dr. Malcolm Conway
www.conwayclinic.com
www.conwayclinic.com
Most lower back pain is caused by overuse to the muscles. This then puts a strain on the ligaments which ends up not stabilizing the bones in the back. This can cause pinched nerves, disc problems that can lead to severe back and leg pain. Most of us who treat backs for a living believe that with repetitive weakness of your lower back can lead to structural degeneration of the spine.
Once a person injures their lower back they tend to move away from the pain. They begin to walk differently to protect themselves against the pain using muscles that were not intended for that particular movement. We call this compensation pattern. This compensation pattern causes the muscles that weren’t designed in the first place to do this type of work to fatigue putting more stress on other muscles in the area. As time goes on the muscles begin to shut down functionally which leads to other complications.
It’s very rare for anyone to wake up with severe back pain unless they were in some type of traumatic situation. Someone with severe lower back pain developed that pain over time. If you see someone with severe lower back pain walking bent over or walking in an extremely guarded position think to yourself somewhere along the line something happened to cause this condition – a strained muscle, over use from prolong bending, lifting something that was too heavy for them or even prolonged poor posture.
So let’s imagine that we can trace back each day of that person’s life to see what they did to start the snowball growing downhill. We look at each individual day, day by day, until we find the day that started it all. It may take months or even years until we find that day that started. But if we look back at each successive day from the day the pain began to become severe we would observe many different scenarios. Each day going backwards would be different - one day we would see the patient walking different to protect the pain, one day we would see the patient taking aspirin to dull the pain, one day we would notice the patient shifting their weight from one side to another in order to protect them from increasing the pain. As we begin to add up the days, we notice that weeks, months or even years add up to this severe outcome of lower back pain.
Could this have been prevented? Heck yea, but people have to realize that posture, strengthening exercises, and other fitness protocols are important in maintaining normal mechanics of your body.
We can all sit around and say I told you so but that isn’t going to get us anywhere. The more important question is that can this be reversed. The answer is that in just about all cases….absolutely yes!
When the muscles of the body do not absorb force properly, one of the places that force often goes is the spinal column. This force can cause damage, which causes the muscles in the low back to stay chronically tight in order to protect the area. As the force increases in the spinal column an unnatural movement occurs which can lead to inflammation which will lead to pain and sometimes disability.
Now, keep in mind that the pain that the person is feeling in the lower back “is where the damage ended, not where the damage began.”
When you can locate the origin of the damage and properly correct it then you can drastically reduce the worry of the pain returning. How many people do you know tell you about their chronic back pain. It never seems to go away…why? I hurt my shoulder or knee I have it fixed and it goes away. But lower back pain for many means a life time of misery.
A new treatment called the ARPwave has been shown to first locate the original site of damage. Once this is corrected the stress from that damaged site is relived immediately reducing the pain. This machine has been shown not only to locate the source of damage but to help rehabilitate the area to a strong supportive state lessening the change greatly of reoccurrence.
This bio-electric form of healing is years ahead of its time. Using a unique patented wave form it has shown to reduce the healing period up to 85% faster than conventional treatments. With every injury to the body, cell membranes are damaged, and the natural electrical polarity of the body is disrupted. The result is a negative charge buildup within the injured tissue. This is good at first; it is the negative charge that initiates the healing process by attracting white blood cells and promoting the growth of scar tissue. However, if the negative charge buildup does not dissipate, it becomes a liability, causing the scar tissue to adhere to the muscle tissue. This embedded scar tissue within the muscle fibers makes it impossible for the muscles to elongate fully and hence to contract maximally, thereby weakening them. ARPwave direct current breaks up this scar tissue in an efficient manner.
Simply put, the experienced doctor using this machine can locate the original area of damage, begin to eliminate the inflammation that is the underlying cause of the ongoing pain and then develop a protocol to begin to strengthen this area to prevent the pain and damage from returning.
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