Dr Beecher’s July 2011 Monthly Chiropractic Newsletter

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“Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense” ~ Gertrude Stein

 

WARNING HEART PATIENTS: 

Should You Take These Popular

Over-The-Counter Pain Medications

After A Heart Attack?

Study Concludes – Heart patients who used common pain relievers called NSAIDs, even briefly, are at much higher risk of having a repeat heart attack or of dying than those who stay away from the drugs, which include such widely used over-the-counter medications as ibuprofen and naproxen

Plus…

  • Study shows the simple formula for kids’ academic success – and it is NOT spending more time in the classroom!
  • What type of exercise is best? Scientists say it’s good for your mind and body to “feel the burn.”
  • Research: Getting the wrong amount of sleep can age your brain by up to SEVEN YEARS!
  • A simple way to get better results from any weight loss program.
  • And the story that shows how local heroes create heroes!

 


 

 

H

ouston – Many visionary health care providers warned about it.  Most laughed it off. Now, the research is really piling up and the evidence is getting too strong to ignore.

Back in July 1998, The American Journal of Medicine reported, “Conservative calculations estimate that approximately 107,000 patients are hospitalized annually for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-related gastrointestinal (GI) complications and at least 16,500 NSAID-related deaths occur each year among arthritis patients alone. The figures of all NSAID users would be overwhelming, yet the scope of this problem is generally under-appreciated.”

From the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine: “If deaths from gastrointestinal toxic effects from NSAIDs were tabulated separately in the National Vital Statistics reports, these effects would constitute the 15th most common cause of death in the United States. Yet these toxic effects remain mainly a ‘silent epidemic,’ with many physicians and most patients unaware of the magnitude of the problem.
Furthermore, the mortality statistics do not include deaths ascribed to the use of over-the-counter NSAIDS.”

A New Study Warns

Heart Patients About NSAIDs

According to the Elsevier Global Medical News, “For patients with a history of myocardial infarction, any length of treatment with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs poses an unacceptably high risk for death or recurrent heart attacks, based on findings from a Danish study using hospital and pharmacy registry data and published online May 9 in Circulation.

            The risk elevation began during the first week of therapy and continued throughout the course of treatment, with some differences in the magnitude of risk between NSAIDs.”

The authors stressed the results of the study are not in line with the American Heart Association recommendations regarding NSAID treatment in patients with established cardiovascular disease “because we demonstrate that even short-term NSAID treatment is associated with increased cardiovascular risk in patients with prior MI,”

The article also stated, “Despite some limitations of the study, namely the observational design and the possible effects of information bias, and the need for randomized clinical studies… The accumulating evidence suggests that we must limit NSAID use to the absolute minimum in patients with established cardiovascular disease.”

You Are Probably Taking NSAIDs

And Do Not Even Know It

Estimates say that over 30 billion over the counter tablets and 70 million prescriptions are sold annually in the United States alone.
NSAIDs include Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Advil, and Motrin as well as prescription products like Celebrex, Daypro and more.

Is There A Better Pain Solution?

One of the principles of medicine is, “first do no harm.” In other words, make sure the treatment is not worse than the original problem.

That’s why, if at all possible, conservative natural options should always be looked into before more invasive and chemical treatments are used.

Chiropractic care has been helping patients relieve pain naturally, without the deadly side effects of NSAIDs since 1895.

As research and proof piles up – and so do the deaths – Chiropractic care becomes the intelligent, obvious choice.

Simple Formula For Kids’

Academic Success

Poor academic achievement has caused school systems to add more classroom time, in many cases, at the expense of physical education.

However, new research shows this may be hurting students’ performances.

A physical activity program that incorporated academic skills was instituted at a public school in Charleston, South Carolina. Students in grades 1-6 were scheduled for daily physical education. State standardized reading test scores were collected for both the academic year of program initiation and the following year.

The results showed statistically significant higher test scores for those students in the group with the physical activity program versus those without it at other schools in the same district.

What Type of Exercise Is BEST?

What type of exercise is best?  Well, that all depends on what results you are looking for.

For example, researchers studied 11 people who were asked to take part in two 20-minute long workouts; one moderately intensive and one highly intensive.

The participants’ moods were recorded before, during, and after the workouts.

       Results:  They found no mood improvements after moderate exercise.  However, participants in the group that did strenuous exercise claimed to feel more positive 20 minutes after the workout.

The strenuous workout got them breathing heavily and their muscles burning.

Nickolas Smith of Manchester Metropolitan University’s Department of Exercise and Sport Science, said: “These results have implications for the recommended intensity of exercise required to produce the ‘feel good factor’ often experienced following exercise.

“There are also implications regarding how people new to regular exercise should expect to feel during the exercise itself if they are to experience post-exercise mood benefits.”

Psychiatrists believe vigorous exercise triggers the release of endorphins. Endorphins are a type of neurotransmitter that helps fight pain.  This is also believed to be an explanation for “runner’s high.”

 

 

To all of our patients who wish to read our monthly newsletter and weekly health news updates online, we have 2 options.

 

You can go to BeecherChiropractic.com/blog

 

or

 

www.facebook.com/BeecherChiropractic

Inspirational Story Of The Month –

(Names And Details Have Been Changed To Protect Privacy)

 

Local Hero Creates Another Hero

 

20 Years Later, One Man’s Heroic Deed Inspires Another

 

There is an old story about researchers, kids and marshmallows.

In the story, researchers take a bunch of little kids and bring them into a room with one researcher and one marshmallow.

The marshmallow is placed in the middle of the table.  Just as things get started, the researcher gets a call.  He then tells the child that he has to leave the room for just a little bit. Then, he gives the kids two options…

The first is they can eat the marshmallow right now.  IF they do, that’s all they will get.  Or, they can wait until the researcher comes back. If they wait, they will get a whole bag.  The researcher walks out of the room and leaves the child and the marshmallow on the table.

Results?

Most of the kids immediately ate the marshmallow.  A small percentage waited until the researcher came back and got a whole bag.  Some of the kids who ate the marshmallow still wanted a whole bag and complained. But, that’s not the important part.  The important part is what happened many years later.

The researchers supposedly interviewed these kids when they were all grown up, and the results were quite telling. Basically, the kids in the group who ate the marshmallows right away were relatively unsuccessful both in their careers and financially, and they had many broken personal relationships. On the contrary, the adults from the group who did not eat the marshmallow had great careers, made more money, and had lasting personal relationships. It is theorized these results were due to a person’s ability to delay gratification.  In other words, the kids who had will power and were able to put off a small reward now for a larger one later were able to achieve much greater successes in all aspects of their lives.

That makes complete sense.  Sometimes these “gratifications” take a long time to materialize, which brings us to our hero story…

Kurt Beach is a police lieutenant who contracted Hepatitis C while trying to save the life of a baby 20 years ago.

A woman by the name of Teresa Janik heard his story and was emotionally moved. When she heard Lt. Beach needed a liver transplant, she came in and offered to be a donor. Tests showed she was not a match for Lt. Beach, but she was a match for a 12-year old girl who also needed a liver transplant. Teresa became a donor and gave part of her liver to the12 year old girl she never even met.

“You’re giving a part of your body to a stranger?” News Channel 3 asked. “Yeah,” Teresa said. “She could be my family member.” Teresa has lost one sister to breast cancer and another is fighting the disease right now. She says for years she’s watched strangers give platelets, blood, anything they could to possibly save lives. So, she couldn’t help but to try to save the little girl when the opportunity arose.  Teresa said, “This will cure her. If the liver takes and it grows within her, she will no longer have a liver problem.” The Good Samaritan who set out to save Lt. Beach’s life says she can’t wait for her hero to hear how his story inspired her. “I’m very excited for him to find out that his story has made this happen,” Teresa said. “I would have never sought out liver donation, didn’t know anything about it, and if I could donate two parts of [my liver], I would donate the other part to him.”

When Lt. Beach heard about what Teresa was doing he broke down in tears.  He had waited 20 years for that “gratification.”

We love helping our patients and their friends and relatives through their tough times and getting them feeling better!  We are here to help you stay feeling better and looking younger!  Don’t be a stranger.  You really can afford Chiropractic care! Don’t wait until you can no longer move!


Did You Know?…

 

Powerful memory requires a healthy brain and the right nutrition. The brain uses tremendous amounts of energy and is the most metabolically active organ in the body– it never completely rests. As a result, it has one of the highest rates of free radical production. These free radicals begin to destroy the structure of the brain, its connections and the cells. Unless you replace those damaged parts with nutrients, brain function starts to fall off more and more over time. For example, Omega-3 fatty acids are replaced extremely rapidly. If you are deficient in this nutrient, your brain begins to change its structure very quickly and soon (only 2 weeks) loses its ability to properly function because one of its vital components is missing. Americans consume an average of 129 pounds of sugar a year; 57% of it comes from processed foods. For example, teenagers drink an equivalent of 54 teaspoons of sugar a day just from soda. Sugar consumption dramatically increases free radical generation in the brain. It produces cross-linking of the proteins in all cells which dramatically increases the damaging effect of these free radicals, making every cell in your body age much, much faster — particularly brain cells. In some extreme cases, it can even result in permanent brain damage. Lack of Vitamin B-1 in the diet causes memory failure and depression. Consumption of a lot of carbohydrates depletes Vitamin B-1. Vitamins C, D, E, K, A, B and carotenoids are all associated with brain function. Animal fat impairs the ability to learn and remember, but healthy fats, such as Omega-3, improve depression, memory retention and thinking. This is because the brain uses an enormous amount of fatty acids for its membranes. Aspartame, MSG, pesticides, and herbicides in food; aluminum in deodorants; fluoride in the water; and mercury in vaccines may play a major role in brain toxicity and brain function decline. Excessive toxicity destroys brain cells.

 

Tip Of The Month

A Simple Way To Get Better Results From Any Weight Loss Program.

 

Everyone wants to know the answer to this question: What’s the best way to lose weight? The problem with that age-old question is – there is no ONE correct answer because everyone’s body make-up, chemistry and genes are different.  In other words, we all react differently to different types of food. We also react differently to different types of exercise. That’s why losing weight and keeping it off can be so difficult.  It has also opened up the door for marketers to sell all kinds of junk that promises to get you skinny… just about overnight.

Here’s the real truth about weight loss – and it’s something many people simply do not want to hear…

To successfully lose weight, you must meticulously figure out what types of foods and exercise work with your body chemistry and type. Then, you must make a plan incorporating those foods and exercises… then… YOU MUST STICK TO THAT PLAN FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. There is no “quick fix” pill or wonder diets or miracle piece of workout equipment that will work.

That’s A Hard Pill For Most To Swallow

            But, there is a way to get better results for ANY eating or exercise program you do. Here is how: Researchers at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research instructed obese adults who participated in the study to follow a healthy diet, exercise regularly, and maintain a weight loss journal. While some were asked to maintain their weight loss journals six days a week, others updated it only once a week. The author of the study said those who maintained their journal regularly lost more weight compared to those who updated it only once a week. It is believed several reasons attributed to the success of the “journal” group. Two very important reasons are: accountability and the ability to really analyze what you are eating and doing physically. People are often surprised when they see in writing what they are doing. Perception is often very different from reality. So, if you want to increase the effect of any weight loss program you are on, try keeping a journal. But first, accept the fact that losing weight and staying in shape takes effort and time, and the results are a better looking and healthier you. Nothing is more important.

 

Remember, we’re always here, to help your body heal

and maintain the health you deserve.

 

This information should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice.  Any and all health care concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a healthcare professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.  We  cannot be held responsible for actions you may take without a thorough exam or appropriate referral. If you have any further concerns or questions, please call our office at 281-286-1300.

Dr. Beecher’s June 27th, 2011 Weekly Chiropractic Newsletter

For More Information, please download this week’s newsletter, here.

WEEKLY HEALTH NEWS UPDATE

Week of Monday,  June 27th, 2011

 

 

Mental Attitude: Peer Support Decreases Depression Symptoms. Peer support offers promise as an effective, low-cost tool for fighting depression. Programs where patients and volunteers share information were found to reduce symptoms of depression better than traditional care alone and were about as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy. Peer support has been found to decrease isolation, reduce stress, increase the sharing of health information and provide role models. General Hospital Psychiatry, February 2011

 

Health Alert: High Use Of Acetaminophen Linked To Blood Cancers. High use (4 or more times per week for four years or more) of acetominophen (Tylenol), a high-selling over-the-counter analgesic or non-steroidal anti- inflammatory drug (NSAID), is linked to a two-fold increased risk of certain blood cancers.

Journal of Clinical Oncology, May 2011

 

Diet: Chocolate Milk Wars! Some school districts have banned flavored milk, as it is seen as a part of the obesity epidemic. Florida is considering a statewide ban in schools. Other districts have sought a middle ground by replacing flavored milks containing high-fructose corn syrup with versions containing sugar, which some see as a more natural sweetener. On the flip side, the School Nutrition Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Dietetic Association, American Heart Association, and National Medical Association argue that the nutritional value of flavored low-fat or skim milk outweighs the harm of added sugar. Milk contains nine essential nutrients including calcium, vitamin D and protein. The Associated Press, May 2011

 

Exercise: Benefits of Exercise. Exercise helps you to more effectively manage stress, helps you to lose weight – especially fat weight, improves the functioning of your immune system, reduces your risk of getting heart disease, and reduces medical and healthcare expenses. Surgeon General

 

Chiropractic: Adjustments Increase Your Breathing Capacity? See for yourself. Before you get adjusted, take a few deep breaths. After your adjustment, try again. Now that you are breathing better, read up on how important oxygen uptake is for your overall health.

 

Wellness/Prevention: Body Fat Percentage: The Best Measurement Of Your Health Risks. Did you know that a large belly carries a risk for coronary artery disease comparable to smoking a pack of cigarettes daily or having high cholesterol? People with coronary artery disease and expanded waistlines are at more than twice the risk of dying, including those with a Body Mass Index in the normal range. Even more dangerous is the visceral fat that surrounds the internal organs. This internal fat actually makes up a large proportion of the waist measurement. Visceral fat is more metabolically active and can produce hormones and other substances that have a negative impact on your health, including increasing the risk of heart disease; high blood pressure; stroke; type 2 diabetes; metabolic syndrome; some types of cancer; and sleep apnea. Mayo Clinic, May 2011

 

Quote: “One can’t think well, love well or sleep well if one has not dined well.” ~ Virginia Woolf

This Weekly Health News Update is compliments of Dr. Ward Beecher and Beecher Chiropractic Clinic. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at 281-286-1300 or www.BeecherChiropractic.Com.

 

Dr. Beecher’s June 20th, 2011 Weekly Chiropractic Newsletter

For More Information, please download this week’s newsletter, here.

WEEKLY HEALTH NEWS UPDATE

Week of Monday,  June 20th, 2011

 

 

Mental Attitude: TV Viewing May Lead To Increased Obesity In Teens. In a study, adolescents who had watched more than two hours of TV a day were 36% fatter in later adolescence than those watching less TV. TV viewing may lead to increased risk of obesity because watching TV is associated with increased dietary intake. Journal of Sleep Research, February 2011

 

Health Alert: Alcohol Consumption And Computer Use? Teenagers who drink alcohol spend more time on their computers for recreational use, including social networking and downloading and listening to music, compared with their peers who don’t drink. Teenagers typically first experiment with alcohol at age 12 or 13. Family risk factors include lax parental supervision and poor communication, family conflicts, inconsistent or harsh discipline and a family history of alcohol or drug abuse. Weill Cornell Medical College, May 2011

 

Diet: Best Diets? Consumer Reports Health has ranked diets and Jenny Craig tops the list with 85 points, Slim Fast earned 63 points and Weight Watchers was third with 57 points. The scores were based on adherence to the 2010 US Dietary Guidelines and results of studies that analyzed the short and long term weight loss and dropout rates of seven popular diets. 92% of its participants stuck with the Jenny Craig program during the two-year study period and the dieters weighed an average of 8% less than when they began the program.

Journal of the American Medical Association, May 2011

 

Exercise: Skipping Exercise? You Might As Well Smoke! “Failure to exercise a minimum of 3 times per week for at least 30 minutes in duration each time is the equivalent of smoking one pack of cigarettes each day. What this means is that exercise is no longer just good for you, it is bad for you if you don’t exercise.”

Surgeon General’s Report

 

Chiropractic: Immunity? How About This Study! Researchers at the Sid E. Williams Research Center of Life Chiropractic University took a group of HIV positive patients and adjusted them over a six-month period. Patients who were adjusted had a 48% increase in their CD4 cells counts. CD4 cells are an important immune system component. The measurements were taken at an independent medical center, under medical supervision for the condition. The control group (patients who were not adjusted) did not demonstrate this dramatic increase in immune function but actually experienced a 7.96% decrease in CD4 cell counts over the same period of time. JMPT, 1991

 

Wellness/Prevention: Heart Patients And Painkillers. The use of Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) was associated with a 45% increased risk of death or recurrent heart attack within as little as one week of treatment. Circulation, May 2011

 

Quote: “We know a great deal more about the causes of disease than we do about the causes of health.”

~ M. Scott Peck

 

This Weekly Health News Update is compliments of Dr. Ward Beecher and Beecher Chiropractic Clinic. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at 281-286-1300 or www.BeecherChiropractic.Com.

 

DR. BEECHER’S JUNE 13TH, 2011 WEEKLY CHIROPRACTIC NEWSLETTER

For More Information, please download this week’s newsletter, here.

WEEKLY HEALTH NEWS UPDATE

Week of Monday,  June 13th, 2011

 

 

Mental Attitude: Stress And Cellular Health. University of California San Francisco (UCSF) scientists report psychological stress leads to shorter telomeres – the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes that are a measure of cell age and thus, health. Their findings also suggest exercise may prevent this damage. They examined telomeres in leukocytes, or white blood cells, which defend the body against both infectious agents and cell damage. “Our findings suggest that traumatic and chronic stressful life events are associated with shortening of telomeres in cells of the immune system, but that physical activity may moderate this impact,” said co-author Jue Lin, PhD, associate research biochemist

in the laboratory of senior author and Nobel laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF. UCSF, April 2011

 

Health Alert: A Natural Therapy? An environment of pure oxygen at three-and-a-half times normal air pressure adds significantly to the effectiveness of artemisinin, a natural compound already shown to kill cancerous cells. In a new study, using artemisinin or high-pressure oxygen alone on a culture of human leukemia cells reduced the cancer cells’ growth by

15%. Using them in combination reduced the cells’ growth by 38%! Anticancer Research, April 2011

 

Diet: Skeletal Muscles Affected By Obesity. This new study shows obesity involves more than accumulating excess fat and carrying excess weight. During the development of obesity, skeletal muscles fail to adjust their molecular composition appropriately to the increasing body weight. Consequently, the muscles of obese mammals are not properly

‘tuned’ to the higher body weight they carry. This may explain why muscle strength and locomotion are impaired in obese humans and why it is difficult to lose excess weight. Journal of Experimental Biology, May 2011

 

Exercise: Benefits of Exercise. Exercise increases your level of muscle strength, improves athletic performance, can help relieve the pain of tension headaches, allows you to consume greater quantities of food (while still maintaining caloric balance) and helps you sleep easier (and better). Surgeon General

 

Chiropractic: Patients Are More Immune? The chiropractic immunology connection was strengthened in 1991 when Patricia Brennan, Ph.D. and other researchers found improved immune response following chiropractic treatment. Specifically, the study demonstrated the “phagocytic respiratory burst of polymorphnuclear neutrophils and monocytes were enhanced in adults [who] had been adjusted by chiropractors.” In other words, the cells that act like “Pac-Man”, eating and destroying bad cells, are enhanced through chiropractic care. Circulation, 1992

 

Wellness/Prevention: Breast Cancer Risk Lower Among Regular Coffee Drinkers. Women who drink coffee regularly have a significantly lower risk of developing antiestrogen-resistant estrogen-receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer. Breast cancer may be sub-divided into hormone-responsive (ER-positive) and non-hormone-responsive subtypes (ER-negative). They discovered regular coffee drinkers were less likely to develop breast cancer compared to women who either never or rarely drank coffee. Breast Cancer Research, May 2011

 

Quote: “A child miss-educated is a child lost.” ~ John F. Kennedy

This Weekly Health News Update is compliments of Dr. Ward Beecher and Beecher Chiropractic Clinic. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at 281-286-1300 or www.BeecherChiropractic.Com.

 

Dr. Beecher’s June 6th, 2011 Weekly Chiropractic Newsletter

For More Information, please download this week’s newsletter, here.

WEEKLY HEALTH NEWS UPDATE Week of Monday, June 6th ,2011 Mental Attitude: Shorter Hours Please. If your workday averages 11 or more hours, you probably earn more than your 8-hour a day colleagues, but your risk of developing heart disease will be 67% higher! Researchers believe doctors should include data on a patient’s working hours when listing risk factors for heart disease (smoking, total body weight, diabetes and blood pressure). Annals of Internal Medicine, April 2011 Health Alert: Adverse Drug Reports Swell! In a new study of adverse events linked to medications-compiled by the FDA since 1969, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy revealed only 55% have been reported to the agency in the past decade! According to the FDA’s website, the agency’s Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) is “designed to support the FDA’s post-marketing safety surveillance program for all approved drug and therapeutic biologic products. The FDA uses AERS to monitor for new adverse events and medication errors that might occur with these marketed products.” In the past decade, 2.2 million events reported to AERS represented a 1.65-fold increase from the prior decade. Archives of Internal Medicine, April 2011 Diet: Divide Your Plate! When putting food on your plate, fill half of it with veggies or salad (but watch out for fatty dressings). One-quarter of the plate should have lean protein, such as fish, chicken or beef that’s been grilled, baked or poached. The last quarter of the plate should be a healthy starch — but don’t load it up with butter or oil. Family Features, April 2011 Exercise: Have Some Standards! Adults who adhered to the US Department of Health and Human Services’ 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines reduced their mortality risks. To meet the guidelines, do moderate-intensity aerobic exercise at least 150 minutes per week or vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise at least 75 minutes per week and perform strengthening exercises at least twice a week. Adults who met the guidelines had lower risks of dying by 27% among those without health conditions and 50% less in those with an illness. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, May 2011 Chiropractic: Some Nerve! Growing evidence suggests that immune function is regulated, in part, by the sympathetic nervous system. Simply put: the nervous system has a direct effect on the immune system due to the nerve supply to the important immune system organs. Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, 1974 Wellness/Prevention: Shedding Skin Helps? The flakes of skin we shed (at the rate of 500 million cells a day) actually reduce indoor air pollution. The flakes contain squalene, a skin oil that reduces indoor ozone levels roughly 2-15%. American Chemical Society, May 2011 Quote: “I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” ~ Jackie Robinson This Weekly Health News Update is compliments of Dr. Ward Beecher and Beecher Chiropractic Clinic. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at 281-286-1300 or www.BeecherChiropractic.Com.

Dr. Beecher’s May 30th, 2011 Weekly Chiropractic Newsletter

For More Information, please download this week’s newsletter, here.

WEEKLY HEALTH NEWS UPDATE Week of Monday, May 30th ,2011 Mental Attitude: Smile And Mean It! Customer-service workers who fake smile worsen their mood and withdraw from work, affecting their productivity. On the other hand, workers who smile as a result of cultivating positive thoughts – such as a tropical vacation or a child’s recital – improve their mood and withdraw less. Employers may think simply getting their employees to smile is good for the organization, but that’s not necessarily the case, smiling for the sake of smiling can lead to emotional exhaustion and withdrawal, and that’s bad for the organization. Academy of Management Journal, March 2011 Health Alert: A Hefty Price! People 70 pounds overweight will spend $30,000 extra in health care costs in their lifetime. Scientific American, March 2011 Diet: Why Do We Over Eat? Generational: “My parents taught me to clean my plate and not waste food.” Relational: “Feelings will be hurt if I don’t finish what they made me.” Economical: “This is such a good deal – more bang for my buck.” Convenience: “I’m in a rush and need it now.” Emotional: “Eating helps me feel better.” Loyola University Health System, February 2011 Exercise: Another Benefit of Exercise. According to David Nieman, director of Appalachian State University’s Human Performance Lab in Kannapolis, NC, “No pill or nutritional supplement has the power of near-daily moderate activity in lowering the number of sick days people take.” Wall Street Journal, January 2010 Chiropractic: The Power That Created The Body Heals The Body. This statement describes the chiropractic philosophy that the body is a self-healing organism. The body functions well on its own as long as there is no interference of function (muscular restriction of the joints, poor nutrition that decreases cellular function, mental stress, poor sleep habits, lack of exercise, etc). Wellness/Prevention: Healthy Lifestyles Help Healing. Joint replacement patients who improve their lifestyle and maintain a positive mindset prior to surgery are more likely to have better functional outcomes than those who do not. Multiple studies found that patients who smoke, misuse alcohol, fail to control blood sugar levels or simply have a poor attitude prior to undergoing total hip or knee replacement surgery can double their odds of post-operative complications. Risk factors for complications like advanced age and pre-existing heart or lung conditions are difficult or impossible to change prior to surgery, but smoking, alcohol abuse, high blood sugar levels and poor mental attitude are completely manageable by the patients themselves, which makes them an excellent target for prevention and intervention programs that are likely to improve outcomes. Current smokers had higher odds of pneumonia (53%), stroke (161%), site infections (41% ) and one-year mortality (63%) compared to non-smokers. Prior smokers were at higher odds of stroke (114%) and pneumonia (34%), compared with non-smokers. Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, February 2011 Quote: “A riot is the language of the unheard.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. This Weekly Health News Update is compliments of Dr. Ward Beecher and Beecher Chiropractic Clinic. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at 281-286-1300 or www.BeecherChiropractic.Com.