Connecticut Family Chiropractic - The CFC Scoop

Volume 1 Issue 2 October 2003

The preservation of health is easier than the cure of disease. – B.J. Palmer, DC

The way to health is to have an aromatic bath and a scented massage every day. – Hippocrates

The person who takes medicine must recover twice, once from the disease and once from the medicine. – William Osler, MD

The arrival of a good clown exercises more beneficial influence upon the health of a town than twenty asses laden with drugs. – Thomas Sydenham, MD

Welcome to our office's Chiropractic newsletter. We'd like to entertain you, inform, inspire and maybe even scare you a little (it is Halloween, you know).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chiropractic gives you the best of both worlds
You’ve got a lot of nerve
Scary enough for you? (Water bottles)
Eat chocolate and live longer?
More scary stuff
Chiropractic Q&A
Pregnancy and children
Chiropractic and spinal research
Words of wisdom
Nurses give chiropractic high marks
Humor
References

Chiropractic gives you the best of both worlds

Chiropractic occupies a unique place in modern healthcare. On the one hand, it draws upon modern scientific knowledge and techniques. Chiropractors spend thousands of hours studying anatomy, physiology and the most advanced spinal analysis procedures. On the other hand, chiropractic utilizes the ancient concepts of self-healing, life energy and natural healing. (Now referred to as energy medicine or psychoneuroimmunology - PNI) so that our modern tools and techniques are tempered by respect for the body’s wisdom and innate healing ability.

You’ve got a lot of nerve

The picture on the right isn’t a Halloween costume, it’s your nerves. Your nerves fill your entire body! If your skin, blood, muscles, bones, organs and other body parts were to disappear and only your nerves remained you’d still be visible, a little ghostlike, but recognizable (now

that would be some Halloween costume). Your nerves carry energy and information to and from every organ in your body, as the picture at the left shows. Your nerves may be irritated, impinged or “pinched” by vertebral subluxations (misaligned spinal bones) causing your body to malfunction (become dis-eased). Dis-ease can, in time, cause physical and mental disease, affecting your resistance, energy and overall health.

Chiropractors are specially trained to check your body for spinal distortions or subluxations that cause dis-ease. For that reason everyone needs a chiropractic spinal checkup and adjustment. Removing subluxations corrects a major cause of dis-ease. Of course if you or someone you care about has any disease or condition, it is essential that they make sure they have no subluxations or spinal distortions.

Get your spine checked now, before disease manifests.

Don’t become a ghost before your time. A body free of subluxations works better and an ill person needs desperately to be free from subluxations. Chiropractic has often made the difference between drugs or surgery and health and happiness.

Scary enough for you?

Many of us like to reuse disposable water bottles, thinking it’s a good thing for the environment, but recent information has surfaced that we might be poisoning ourselves. The plastic of the bottles is called polyethylene terephthalate or PET and contains a potentially carcinogenic element called diethylhydroxylamine or DEHA. The bottles appear safe for one-time use only; but if you must keep them longer, it should be for no more than a few days, a week max, and keep them away from heat as well. Repeated washing and rinsing can cause the plastic to break down and the carcinogens (cancer-causing chemical agents) can leach into the water that YOU are drinking. Better to invest in water bottles that are really meant for multiple uses. (1)

Eat Chocolate and Live Longer?

It’s a fitting piece of news for Halloween trick-or-treaters: a study of 7,841 Harvard graduates found that chocolate and candy eaters live almost a year longer than those who abstain. Those who ate a “moderate” amount of sweets – averaging one to three candy bars a month – fared the best, having a 36% lower risk of death compared to non-candy eaters. Overall, candy eaters enjoyed on average nearly a year more of life. “Heavy” eaters who consumed 3 or more sweets a week, still had a 16% lower risk of death than those who almost never ate candy. (2)

More Scary Stuff

The new flu vaccine that is sprayed in the nose (FluMist) may be the most dangerous vaccine ever made. The nasal passages connect to the brain, without the protection of the blood-brain barrier. The chances of dangerous chemicals going directly to the brain are increased and largely unknown. An excellent article by Dr. Sherri Tenpenny on the risks of FluMist Vaccine can be found at:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5239a1.htm

Chiropractic Q&A

Q. What’s the difference between chiropractic and medical education?
A. When it comes to basic sciences there is very little difference between chiropractic and medical education. A review of schools found that the average chiropractic school curriculum totaled 4,800 hours, while the average medical school education totaled 4,667 hours. Chiropractic students receive the same number of hours of microbiology (120 hours) as medical students and more hours of biochemistry (150 vs. 120), pathology (205 vs.162), anatomy (570 vs. 368) and physiology (205 vs. 142). Medical students have more extensive clinical training than chiropractic students. (3)

Pregnancy and children

Mom, time to go. How does the mother’s body know when it’s time to begin labor? It’s a scientific mystery. However, it may be that the baby tells the mom when it’s time to leave. Two studies located a specific region in the fetal brain that may trigger labor. This finding represents the first solid proof that the fetal brain initiates labor, at least in an animal model. Fetus tells mother: It’s time for labor. (4)
Pregnancy and coffee. A Canadian study from McGill University School of Medicine of 133 women who lost their fetuses and 993 control women who had normal pregnancies showed a strong association between fetal loss and intake of caffeine. For every 100-mg dose of caffeine taken daily during pregnancy, the ratio increased their chances of losing their fetuses by 1:22. Pregnancy and caffeine don’t go together. (5)
Smoking and I.Q. In a study of 400 women it was found that preschool children whose mothers smoked heavily during pregnancy scored significantly lower on standardized I.Q. tests than kids whose mothers didn’t smoke. Mother’s smoking was linked to child’s IQ drop. (6)

Chiropractic and spinal research

Growth spurt, asthma. A 4-year-old girl’s asthma and breathing symptoms had been progressively worsening. She began chiropractic care. She had but one minor episode of nasal congestion and experienced a “growth spurt” in height and weight. The asthma symptoms all but completely disappeared. Mother states, “She had to constantly run the humidifier and there is no need to do that now.” (7)
Neck/back pain and vision. A young woman in her early 20's was coming in for neck and back pain and headaches. Apart from relief of her chronic pains, she no longer needs glasses. (8)
Migraine. This was a six month study of 127 migraine sufferers half of whom had chiropractic adjustments. The other half was the control group. The chiropractic group migraine frequency, headache duration, disability and medication use all decreased significantly: 22% reported more than 90% reduction in migraines after two months. About 50% reported significant improvement in severity of migraine episodes. (9)

Words of Wisdom

It isn't the mountains ahead that wear you out - it's the grain of sand in your shoe. – Anonymous

If you think you're too small to have an impact try going to bed with a mosquito in the room. – Anita Roddick

Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart. – Marcus Aurelius

All the world’s problems stem from light being withheld. Our job then, is to correct this. Wherever we find light, we must rip away its casings, exposing it to all, letting it shine forth to the darkest ends of the earth. Especially the light you yourself hold. – Lubavitcher Rebbe

Nurses give chiropractic high marks

A survey of 1000 nurses gave chiropractic high marks. The survey to the nurses covered areas including perceived effectiveness; perceived safety; recommendations made to friends, clients and associates; and personal use. In the area of effectiveness, the nurses ranked chiropractic first, in a tie with biofeedback; chiropractic ranked second in safety behind hypnotherapy. (10)

Humor

When I was six months pregnant with my third child, my three-year-old came into the room when I was just getting ready to get into the shower. She said, "Mommy, you are getting fat!"
I replied, "Yes, honey, remember Mommy has a baby growing in her tummy."
"I know," she replied, "but what's growing in your butt?"

The English Language

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes; but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice; yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men, why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet, and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those, yet hat in the plural would never be hose, and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren, but though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him, but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim.

Screwy pronunciations can mess up your mind! For example...If you have a rough cough, climbing can be tough when going through the bough on a tree!

Thanks

Bye, and thanks for reading this far down. Thanks for being our patient, and letting us scare (I mean care for) you. We really do appreciate you. Write with any questions. Want your friends to be sent a copy? Let us know and we’ll put them on our subscriber list.
PS. Are you coming to our office to have your body made whole while the little ghosts and goblins in your family remain at home? Remember, children need chiropractic care just as you do.

References
1. http://www.ochd.org/press/July/july25.htm
2. Lee I, Paffenbarger RS. Life is sweet: candy consumption and longevity. British Medical Journal. 1998;317:1683-1684.
3. Coulter I, Adams A, Coggan P et al. A comparative study of chiropractic and medical education. Alternative Therapies. 1998;4(5):64-75.
4. Science News. Sept. 21, 1991;140:182.
5. Mindell EL. Let’s Live. June 1994;6.
6. Science News. Feb 12, 1994.
7. Hunt JM. Upper cervical chiropractic care of a pediatric patient with asthma: a case study. J Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics. 2000;5(1).
8. Cases of the Week by Joe LeBarbera, DC, Syracuse, NY
9. Tuchin PJ, Pollard H, Bonello R. A randomized controlled trial of chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy for migraine. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. 2000;23(2):91-95.
10. Journal of Community Health. June 2001.