Financial Crisis

Every day lately, the news reminds us of the sad financial state many of the western world's countries are in.  Thankfully Canada's financial situation is still looking solid.  That's not something that's guaranteed to continue should our neighbours to the south and across the pond succumb to the weight of their debts.

As an individual looking at the massive amounts of money countries owe, including our own, I find the numbers incomprehensible.  I simply cannot even begin to visualize what those amounts of money really look like.  How big a stack of looney's is one hundred billion?  How many greenbacks in ten trillion?  And then I have to consider that these debts are debts of the people of the country.  The governments cannot be separated from the people.  The politicians may have done the spending, but they have been spending the money of the people.  So if it is our money as citizens we must assume some responsibility for this debt.  As I see  it we must do two things.  One is to hold governments responsible for how they spend OUR money and secondly is to be responsible ourselves in how we utilize government resources.  It's this second point on which I want to focus.  The sense of entitlement I see in news articles about the protesters to austerity programs in Europe saddens me.  The populous is bleeding the countries dry.  Governments cannot give support if they have nothing to give anymore that I as a individual can give support to others if I have nothing to give.

We are going to have to expect our governments to give us less if there is going to be financial stability.  The biggest single expenditure item in the budgets of Canadian governing bodies, and most western countries, is health care.  This is an area that we as individual citizens can have a significant impact.  How can you or I as individuals make a difference to the financial health of our country?

The first step is to take responsibility for our own health.  It's not up the the government or their paid helpers to keep us healthy.   The lifestyle choices we make should be ones that promote health not hinder it.  Do we choose nutritious food or junk food?  Do we choose to smoke or not?  Do we exercise or become couch potatoes?  The list of choices we face goes on.  Many of our lifestyle decisions will determine how big a burden we will be on the health care system.

The second thing is to choose cost effective health care options.  Nutritional supplements may look expensive as we pull out our wallets and pay for them.  Drugs are not cheap either.  The big cost savings with supplements is that they build the body up rather than tear it down.  Drugs on the other hand cause many side effects which often require the need for more drugs and more intervention which escalates the costs.  Whenever possible low tech, low cost diagnostics should be used.  Save the expensive procedures for serious, complicated situations.  Not every headache requires an MRI scan.  Chiropractic care is extremely low cost compared to medical care.  A patient can receive many years of chiropractic care for the cost of a low back surgery.  Every prevented surgery saves the health care system and the economy tens of thousands of dollars.

Certainly there may be times when we will need to have expensive interventions for the sake of our health.  But if we have made wise choices those occasions will be minimized.  If used judiciously by everyone the health care system will be healthy enough to meet our needs in times of crisis.  It is like we have put money into savings over time and can withdraw it in our time of need.  As individuals we can help our country's finances and improve the health care system by taking responsibility for our own health.  This is the kind of financial situation I can wrap my head around.  

Rakowski's Magnificent 7

While going through some notes of a lecture I attended by Houston, TX chiropractor Dr. Bob Rakowski, I was reminded of his Magnificent 7.  This is a list of things that if attended to will result in a healthier life.

1. EAT RIGHT - Consuming foods that build our bodies up and avoiding those that tear our bodies down.  Take supplements that supply nutrients that may be in short supply in a person's diet. 
2. DRINK RIGHT - Drinking water is the only way to keep properly hydrated.  This water needs to be uncontaminated.  Virtually all body functions require the body to have enough water.
3. THINK RIGHT - Without sufficient stimulation the neurons of the brain die.  The more the nerves fire, the more interconnected they become.  This means we must keep learning.
4. MOVE RIGHT - Exercise is necessary for both brain and body health.  People who exercise regularly are biologically younger than those who don't.
5. SLEEP RIGHT- Sleeping less than 6 hrs/night results in a 70% increase in dying!  Sleep restores the brain and the body.  A person should wake refresh if they sleep right.
6. POOP RIGHT - A daily, easy bowel movement is a sign of a well functioning digestive system.  Constipation on the other hand can be a sign of numerous health problem and may itself cause many health conditions, including mental health issues.
7. TALK RIGHT - Optimists have a 42% less risk of death than pessimists. 

Dr. Bob calls these magnificent because life is more magnificent if we get them right.  These are things to strive to get right everyday.  Begin today.  And then do them again tomorrow.  And the next day.  One day at a time; for the rest of your life.  May it be long and healthy.

Pain in the Neck

Do you suffer from a pain in the neck?  I'm not referring to your neighbour, child, spouse or parent (bad joke, forgive me), but to a physical pain in the upper part of your spine.  The pain may be an ache, a stab, a burn, a throb or a shock.  It can be an annoyance or debilitating.  Regardless of the nature of the symptoms you are experiencing, neck pain shouldn't be ignored.  Pain is your body's signal that something is wrong.  Ignoring the pain is like ignoring a warning light on the dash of your car.  Ignore either your body's signals or your car's signals and there can be long term consequences.  (It's okay to ignore other people who are being a pain in the neck).

There can be many causes of neck pain, some quite serious.  The most common cause is a vertebral subluxation.  This is a condition where the joints of the spine lose their proper motion and the nerves next to joints become irritated.  There is associated damage to the surrounding muscles and ligaments along with swelling.  The pain can be localized in the neck or can travel into the arms, upper back and chest.  Subluxations in the neck are a frequent cause of headaches.

Chiropractors are specifically trained to find vertebral subluxations and correct them with spinal adjustments.  We are the only profession with this specific training.  Should the neck pain be caused by something other that a subluxation, we are also trained to determine other problems.  If there is a more serious condition, that is beyond our expertise, we will refer you for appropriate care.

If vertebral subluxations are not corrected, they can lead to accelerated joint degeneration, muscle atrophy, chronic pain, loss of mobility, and nerve degeneration.  These are not things any of us want to experience.  At our office we use Activator Methods to correct subluxations.  This is a very specific and comfortable procedure which restores normal joint function allowing healing of all the associated tissues.  During correction pain is usually the first thing to disappear.  Getting rid of the pain in the neck is the starting point.  Rehabilitating the muscles, ligaments and nerves can take much longer.  We will assist you through the entire process if you desire.  At our office it is always the patient's choice on how they proceed with their chiropractic care.

Don't ignore neck pain, or any other pain.  Pain is your body's way of telling you to do something.

Auto Accidents

Summer, winter, spring, fall - there are auto accidents in every season.  The amount of damage done to occupants can be great even when little damage is done to the vehicle.  The human neck is particularly vulnerable in a motor vehicle accident but the low back, shoulders, jaw and knees are also commonly hurt.  When symptoms occur immediately, it can be a sign of significant injury, but often it can be several days before symptoms appear.  Even with a large amount of soft tissue damage, symptoms may not be severe initially.

To understand how damage occurs in an accident, basic physics needs to be considered.  The force from the mass of the impacting vehicles is transferred to the occupants who are of considerably less mass.  The result is a tremendous amount of stress on the soft tissues, particularly in the spine.  The head which weighs about the same as a 10 pin bowling ball is whipped backward, forward, or sideways depending on the location of the impact.  The term whiplash is used to describe these forceful, sudden motions.  The tissues of the neck are not nearly strong enough to withstand the forces from even a minor accident.  Damage is usually not limited to the neck.  The entire spine is usually affected and the extremities may be as well.

Because of the extensive damage, correcting the injuries can take a considerable length of time.  Chiropractic adjustments, low level laser therapy, therapeutic massage, nutritional supplementation, and exercise programs may all need to be employed to get proper healing of the injured tissues.  The sooner treatment can be started after the injuries occur, the better the results usually are.  Delayed or untreated injuries will heal with scar tissue which is less elastic and less functional than the original tissue.  This can result in accelerated degeneration and increased susceptibility to future injury.  Many chronic conditions can result from improperly treated whiplash injuries.  I can't tell you how many times patients have told me they wished they had looked after their injuries better following auto accidents that had occurred years earlier.  These people have come to realize too late that not properly rehabilitating the accident related spinal injuries has resulted in ongoing health issues.

In Alberta, only chiropractors and physiotherapists are authorized to establish treatment plans for injuries sustained in motor vehicle accidents.  This is because insurance companies recognize that physical treatment is far more effective than drug therapy or rest for the type of soft tissue injury incurred in auto accidents.  The insurance industry in conjunction with the government and health care providers has established a very streamlined system to assure accident victims received proper care.  All persons involved in an accident, regardless of who is at fault, are pre-approved to receive 10 or 21 treatments from recognized practitioners after assessment and recommendation by a chiropractor or physiotherapist.  Obviously I'm biased, but I think you should consult a chiropractor first.  I say this because we are the only profession specifically trained to find and adjust subtle spinal joint injuries called vertebral subluxations.  Unless the subluxations are corrected the spine cannot function properly.  Without a well functioning spine, a person cannot be healthy.

If you, or someone you know has been in a motor vehicle accident,  get your spine checked by a chiropractor as soon as possible.  The sooner treatment can begin the better the prognosis.