LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Miscellaneous

HOW DOES HPA AXIS IN OUR BODY DEAL WITH STRESS? – (03-08-10)

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Salivary cortisol, serum lipids, and adiposity in patients with depressive and anxiety disorders

HPA axis refers to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and is how our bodies deal with stress. As a search term, “HPA axis” on PubMed brings about thousands upon thousands upon thousands of articles. This is a heavy focus of much research. But don’t expect your doctor to bring it up because we don’t have a medication to “treat” it. Sometimes it seems that we can’t learn about some aspect of medicine until there is a drug and a drug rep and drug commercials to do the work.

There is not surprise that this study finds alterations in cortisol levels and rhythms in patients with depression or anxiety. Medicating these conditions will not fix the HPA axis problem, and this will leave the patient at risk for things like heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

Read entire article here

WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND BY BIA VALUES? – (03-08-10)

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Association between intestinal tight junction permeability and whole-body electrical resistance in healthy individuals

Since we do body composition analysis via BIA in our office, this study was of particular interest. While many view BIA as just checking body composition, the reality is that there are other values derived that can give you a very interesting “peak” into just how healthy that person’s system is. So the fact that values on a BIA correlate with intestinal permeability fit right in with what we find in our own testing.

Read entire article here

RISK OF THYROID IN INDIVIDUALS WITH CELIAC DISEASE – (09-01-09)

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Risk of Thyroid Disease in Individuals with Celiac Disease

Again speaking to the disconnect between research and clinical practice, I have had more than my fair share of patients presenting with autoimmune thyroiditis and hypothyroidism that have gone to drastic lengths to manage their condition. Radioactive destruction, surgery, lifetime medication use. I do not believe I have had a single one alerted to the strong association between celiac disease and thyroid problems.

So, not only do we destroy a rather important gland in the process, we miss the opportunity to guide the patient in avoiding a condition that will shorten their lives, because untreated celiac disease increases all cause mortality. The problem is it that this link has been known in the medical literature for at least a decade.

Read entire article here

STUDY ON OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND RISK OF STROKE (08-24-09)

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Prospective Study on Occupational Stress and Risk of Stroke

We all know that stress isn’t good for us. We all have a tendency to stress the MOST about the things we have no control over. So..if we can’t control them, why stress? It’s killing us. Literally. The problem is that so many people seem to get completely caught up in a cycle of stress, with one stressful event giving way to the next event, in an seemingly endless cascade of stress.

Well, in this study we found a doubling of the risk of stroke in men who had the highest stress levels in their workplace.

Read entire article here

TRY CONSERVATIVE, NON-INVASIVE METHOD FIRST (02-23-09)

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The Relationship Between Repeated Epidural Steroid Injections and Subsequent Opioid Use and Lumbar Surgery

While the results of this study may have surprised the authors, as a practicing chiropractor I can tell you that it comes as no surprise. The authors evaluated within the VA system whether the use of epidural injections would reduce the use of opioid pain medication use and lumbar surgery. Well..they actually increased the frequency of patients being on medication and increased the likelihood that they would need surgery. This coincides with other research that epidurals do not have evidence of long term improvement.

As a chiropractor, I would look at two potential pathways. First, the culture surrounding the use of ESIs is one of outside intervention and fosters an attitude of helplessness in the patient–that the answer will come from outside help, not inside recovery. This attitude would lead to further interventions. Secondly, it is entirely possible that the sanctity of the spinal canal is intruded in this procedure, leading to some degree of localized inflammatory response and fibrotic healing, further confounding the initial presenting complaint.

The bottom line is that every possible conservative, non-invasive method should be tried first and the quick jump to interventions like ESIs will likely lead to a worse outcome.

Read entire article here

PREDICTING RELAPSE IN CROHN’S DISEASE – (05-25-09)

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Predicting relapse in Crohn’s disease: a biopsychosocial model

As with any disease, our stress levels and ability to cope with what life sends our way are integral in how well we perform. This study further confirms this strong association in Crohns disease, finding that those best able to deal with life’s stress had a much lower likelihood of remission. Interestingly, our perceived locus of health control (the idea that our health outcomes are under our own control) plays a large role in many disease states as well.

However, mainstream medicine fosters a dependency–frequently blaming genetics or just bad luck in a patient’s disease state. With no responsibility for getting ill, there is no responsibility for getting well. Since it’s not the patients responsibility, the locus of control lies with medicine and NOT the patient–leading to increased disease states. Kind of a viscous circle, huh?

Read entire article here

LINK BETWEEN OXIDATIVE STRESS BIOMARKERS, PLAX AND CVD – (05-18-09)

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Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 activity is associated with coronary artery disease and markers of oxidative stress

The Plax test is slowly gaining ground as a strong marker for CVD risk. This article further affirms this relationship and goes further, linking oxidative stress biomarkers, Plax and CVD, with almost 2.5 times the risk for CVD when both were present in the highest levels.

Read entire article here

CUTTING MORTALITY AND HOSPITALIZATIONS IN HEART FAILURE – (05-18-09)

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Omega-3 Fatty Acids, but Not Statin Therapy, Cuts Mortality and Hospitalizations in Heart Failure.

I think the title really states it all. Looking into the data, while not jaw dropping at preventing deaths, the data completely blows away the data on statins. Understand this…this study was done on DEATH, not heart attacks. Statins have not been shown to strongly affect death rates. To prevent even a single heart attack (NOT death) we have to treat in excess of 150 patients for 3 years.

In this study, treating 44 patients was needed for 3.9 years to prevent one DEATH. Then we consider that EFAs are beneficial for a large array of other conditions, are much safer and much cheaper. Again, I reiterate that I do not believe that the statin class of drugs should even exist, let alone generate over $20 billion / year in sales for one single drug company alone.

Read entire article here (note: link to this article may require access).