Dynamic Warm Up

Controls and moves you into all 3 planes of motion. Here is a quick routine to try. Fell free to use a chair or the wall to hold yourself upright.

• Full squats with backward arm circles (10)
• Front to back leg swings (10 each side)
• Side to side leg swings (10 each side)
• Forward and backward hurdle steps (5 each side and in each direction)
• Side lunges (5 each side)
• Forward lunges (5 each side)
• Forward lunge with a twist (5 each side)
• High knee stretch (5 each side)
• Slow and controlled bum kicks (5 each side)
• Big Deep Breath

The Power of Touch

Caesarean Awareness Month had me thinking about the importance of touch, how important skin to skin contact is for newborns and human contact altogether.  As a chiropractor I respect and honour the value of touch.  It is through touch that I deliver an adjustment, connect with people and become part of the healing process.  It is one of the best parts of my job.

Skin to skin contact after birth is no longer a midwifery idea.  It is now practiced and encouraged by many doctors and in most hospitals around the world.  There are a multitude of studies over the last decade that have shown the benefit of this immediate human contact on newborns.  Effects include lowered blood pressure, stabilized body temperature, increased blood sugar levels, proper bacteria colonization and improved breast feeding latch.  For mothers, touch has been shown to decrease the amount and time of bleeding and increase after birth uterus contractions.

At just 8 weeks, touch is the first sense to develop in the womb.  It is also the last sense to leave us in old age and is, in my opinion, essential to the wellbeing of the human spirit.  Touch benefits people of all ages.  It can instantly boost oxytocin and serotonin levels, which heal feelings of loneliness, isolation and anger and touch elevates our mood and creates a feeling of happiness. From the time we are born, our family's touch shows us that we are loved and special.  Touch can reassure, relax and comfort.  It increases our immunity, reduces depression, anxiety, stress and physical pain and of course touch heals.

For more info on skin to skin contact check out:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12804473

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22592691

http://www.unicef.org.uk/BabyFriendly/News-and-Research/Research/Skin-to-skin-contact/Effect-of-skin-contact-on-breastfeeding-attachment-problems-A-randomised-controlled-study/

http://apps.who.int/rhl/archives/gpcom/en/index.html

Cerebral Palsy and Chiropractic

March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month - Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a disorder that affects muscle tone, movement and motor skills (the ability to move with strength and coordination). CP is usually caused by brain damage that occurs before or during a child's birth or during the first 3 to 5 years of a child's life. The brain damage that leads to cerebral palsy can also lead to other health issues, including vision, hearing and speech problems, and learning disabilities.
Regular chiropractic adjustments help individual living with CP to improve their body function and experience a fuller more active life. Several small studies have shown that regular chiropractic care is beneficial to infants, children and adults, relieving several symptoms (in some cases that surgery couldn’t help) of CP.  
More and more people suffering from CP and more parents of children with CP are seeking alternative methods for treatment and chiropractic is taking the lead in helping improve their quality of life. cerebralpalsy.org states “ Chiropractic intervention aims to improve the structural aspects of the body to clear the pathway for the brain to communicate with the nerves. This can result in improved strength, balance, flexibility and coordination skills, especially in the limbs.”  
Sadly, there is not yet a cure for cerebral palsy, but there are steps you can take to help prevent some forms of the disorder. If you are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant, check that any medications you are taking are safe for healthy fetus development and ensure you are eating a healthy diet. As many of my patients will tell you, regular chiropractic adjustments during your pregnancy, not only improve your mobility and comfort, but keeping your body properly aligned can make for a smoother and fast birth, therefor decreasing the possibility for severe birth traumas to your baby. Have baby checked by a pediatric chiropractor to ensure any traumas received during birth are quickly adjusted to safeguard baby’s healthy development. Make sure your baby is always properly strapped into an up to date care seat that is correctly installed to minimize any risks during a car accident.  
To learn more about Cerebral Palsy or to make a donation, please visit http://www.cpsc.ca/

What's The Deal on Dairy?

We all know the basics for a healthy diet, less sugar and more veggies, less processed foods and more whole foods, limit meat and add nuts and legumes. But what many people don’t know is that dairy should be limited or even eliminated altogether from your diet, and can we blame people for not knowing? We see commercials every day telling us the benefits of milk, the USDA just increased the amount of milk it recommends and even some doctors are still recommending milk to women as a preventative measure for osteoporosis. Now, I won’t get into the politics behind all this milk pushing, but I can tell you the facts that research has been telling us for some time now. 

You may not have noticed, but about 15 years ago, milk ads stopped referencing bone health as a benefit. That’s because dozens of studies are showing the complete opposite, with countries that consume the most milk having the highest rates of osteoporosis. One of the largest and most recent meta-analysis (2010 Oct 14 - Epub) of cohort studies of over 500,000 men and women found no relationship between milk intake and hip fracture rate, the chief indicator used for studying osteoporosis. The basic science behind this reasoning is when we eat diets high in animal protein (milk included), our bodies become acidic and calcium is drawn from our bones to neutralize that acidic environment – cheese is particularly acidic. 

Recent scientific studies have suggested that dairy products may be linked to increased risk for prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and possibly for ovarian and breast cancers, with the strongest association to prostate cancer. In Harvard’s Physicians Health Study, including more than 20,000 male physicians, those who consumed more than two dairy servings daily had a 34% higher risk of developing prostate cancer than men who consumed little or no dairy products. 

Lucky for us, milk produced in Canada does not contain growth hormones and any cows given antibiotics are supposed to be removed from the milk production processed until cleared from their system. Also, all milk and cream imported to Canada cannot contain artificial growth hormones, except chocolate milk strangely enough. But, modified milk ingredients are not subject to this ban and milk from dairy cows that are full of hormones and antibiotics is often used in the production of Canadian dairy products, such as ice cream, yogurt and cheese, they have names like skim milk powder, milk protein concentrates, milk protein isolates, casein, caseinates and whey protein concentrates. 

Stay away from the low fat dairy or skim milk products, a 2011 Harvard study of 12,829 children showed that skim milk may make you fatter than whole milk. That wouldn't surprise farmers; when they want to fatten up a pig, they feed it skim milk. The reason? Milk sugar. When you remove the fat from milk, what's left is lactose or in other words, milk sugar. The end product is an unbalanced, sugary-like drink that leads to weight gain. 

You’ve seen the evidence, did some of your own research, and you’re ready to cut out dairy, but what should you be replacing it with? Well, did you know that kale contains more calcium per calorie than milk (90 grams per serving) and is also better absorbed by the body than dairy? Other plant-foods boosting calcium include: beans, nuts like almonds and seeds like sesame, broccoli, collards, whole-grains, and tofu. There are more dairy alternatives available to us now than ever before. Almond, rice, soy and coconut milks, yogurts and ice creams, and all with flavours well beyond the basics. 

Want more info? Check these out: 

Books: 
• The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, and his son Thomas M. Campbell II, a physician. 
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition, by Julieanna Hever 
• Diet For A Small Planet, by Frances Moore Lappe 

Documentaries: 
• Forks Over Knives (2011) 
• Food, Inc. (2008) 
• Food Matters (2008) 
• Vegucated (2011)

Chiropractic and Your Immune System

Did you know that regular chiropractic adjustments improve your immune system? The Immune system, like everything else in our body, is linked to our nervous system. Together our immune system and our nervous system must work together to create optimal responses for our body to adapt and heal.

Vertebral subluxations are misalignments of our spine. They create neural dysfunction altering the input and output of our nervous system. This causes our health to diminish. Chiropractic adjustments correct these spinal irregularities, relieving stress from our nervous system, allowing it to communicate freely with the rest of our body therefore boosting our immunity.

Multiple studies conducted over the past few decades have found chiropractic care to improve our immune system;

1. One study from National College of Chiropractic found that disease-fighting white blood cell counts were higher just 15 minutes after chiropractic adjustment of the spine.
2. Another study done out of New York's Preventive Medicine Institute found that people receiving regular chiropractic adjustments to have up to a 200% greater immune competence than the control group that did not receive chiropractic care.

Children’s immune systems will especially benefit from chiropractic adjustments. Minor traumas, from birth, to falls, to sitting in a desk all day at school, are all causing vertebral subluxations, leaving your child at risk for a wide range of health complications, including a lowered immune system.

So, next time you’re feeling under the weather, don’t cancel your appointment, come in and give your body that boost it needs to help fight off whatever’s getting you down.

Sunscreen Red Flags

Sun protection is an important element of health, especially in these summer months. UV rays, specifically UVB rays, are agents involved with skin damage and skin cancer. But with companies loading up sun screen with harmful chemicals how can we ensure we are getting sun protection and nothing else? The Environmental Working Group's 2011 sunscreen guide can help you determine which sunscreens are unsafe. The group recommends just 20 percent of the 600-plus sport sunscreens it evaluated. For a product to score high marks, it needed to be free of potentially harmful chemicals. Here are the EWG’s 4 red flags for sunscreens. 

1. No Oxybenzone - Sixty-five percent of non-mineral sunscreens on the U.S. market contain oxybenzone. This chemical penetrates your skin in large amounts, potentially triggering allergic reactions. Oxybenzone is also a potential endocrine-disrupting chemical that can cause hormone disruption and cell damage.  This isn’t a chemical I want on myself, let alone my children.

2.  No Vitamin A (Retinyl Palmitate) - The sunscreen industry uses vitamin A in its formulations because it is an anti-oxidant that is thought to slow skin aging. However, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) study found that a form of vitamin A, retinyl palmitate, when used in sunscreen and exposed to sunlight may actually speed the development of skin lesions and tumors.  The EWG recommends that consumers avoid products containing vitamin A, retinyl palmitate and retinol. And it’s not justsunscreens to be aware of, Vitamin A, retinyl palmitate and retinol are found in skin lotions, lip sticks and lip sunscreens too.

3. Inadequate UVA Protection - The EWG analysis found that more than 60 percent of products reviewed provide inadequate UVA protection and are actually so ineffective that they would not be approved in the European market. There are two primary types of UV rays from sunlight that you need to be concerned with, the vitamin-D-producing UVB rays and the skin-damaging UVA light. Both UVA and UVB can cause tanning and burning, although UVB does so far more rapidly. UVA, however, penetrates your skin more deeply than UVB and may be a much more important factor in photoaging, wrinkles and skin cancers. Since UVA's are inherently more damaging and persistently high during all daylight hours, wearing a sunscreen that doesn't protect you from UVA is going to give you virtually no benefit and be detrimental to your overall health. So it's important to understand that if you're using sunscreen, you need to be certain you are actually getting UVA protection.

4. Too High SPF or in Spray Form - Higher SPF sunscreens (SPF 50+) are not intrinsically harmful, however there's evidence that the higher protection level gives people a misleading sense of security, encouraging them to stay in the sun longer than they should. In reality, research suggests that people using high-SPF sunscreens get the same or similar exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays as those using lower-SPF products. Spray-on sunscreens (or powders) were advised against because potentially toxic particles are released into the air, making them easy to breathe in. Which sunscreen is the safest?  After the analysis was complete, EWG concluded: "The best sunscreen is a hat and a shirt. No chemicals to absorb through the skin, no questions about whether they work." Cotton clothing provides about SPF 15. SPF (sun protection factor) 15 means it would take your skin 15 times longer to get red than if you were wearing no protection at all. 

Reference: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/06/06/do-you-know-which-sunscreen-products-to-avoid.aspx

Healthy Pregnancy Following Chiropractic Care in Ovarian Cancer Patient

 

A dramatic case study about a woman who had previously had ovarian cancer and was seeking help for infertility was published in the January 23, 2012, issue of the Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health. The study authors begin by noting that infertility is defined as one year of attempted conception without success. They also report that in 2002 there were approximately 7.3 million women who were considered infertile.

In this case, a 28-year-old woman went to the chiropractor seeking improvement in her overall health, and to increase her chances of becoming pregnant. When she first came to the chiropractor, the woman had a history of infertility for two years, and was suffering from lower back pain for the previous 3 months. Her history also included ovarian cancer nine years earlier requiring surgical removal of one ovary, leaving the other with only three-quarters function. Patient had also undergone standard medical treatment for infertility without any help.

After an examination and x-rays, it was determined that the woman had multiple areas of vertebral dysfunction, more commonly known as subluxation. To correct what the authors called vertebral imbalances, a series of adjustments were initiated. The results of the case study reported that after 14 chiropractic visits, the woman had announced that she had conceived. She subsequently carried a baby to full term and had a normal delivery.

In the discussion, the authors noted that infertility is becoming a growing issue in the United States. They also note that many couples are turning to non-medical forms of care due to the expense and unreliability of medical care. To offer an explanation of how chiropractic can help in cases of infertility, the authors stated, "Chiropractic care can improve the autonomic nervous system function of the body including the reproductive organs by reducing subluxations."