LifeCare Chiropractic

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DO YOU KNOW HOW TO PROTECT YOUR HEART?

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In case you haven’t heard, cardiovascular disease is magnificently preventable.  A handle of minor changes will send your risk plummeting; a full blown lifestyle overhaul will probably make it more likely that you’d get struck by lightning than die of a heart attack. 

Based on this particular study, the odds are that you have NOT heard that you can prevent heart disease.  They asked 1702 participants to identify 7 factors that the AHA feels contribute to heart disease.  These 7 components included health behaviors (not smoking, regular exercise, and healthy diet) and health factors (ideal body mass index, cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood glucose).  The least identified factors were exercise, fruit / veggie consumption and diabetes.  Seriously?  No one knew that exercise could lower your risk of heart disease?  Maybe the message that we can prevent heart disease is still remaining as a deep dark secret?  The proverbial pink elephant in the room?

The bottom line is that heart disease is very easy to avoid if you focus on some important concepts.  Exercise, stress management, increased intake of omega 3 fasts along with decreased intake of omega 6 fats, high phytonutrient / low calorie diet and targeted supplementation using things like Vitamin D and fish oils.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T10-52D0MR0-7&_user=10&_coverDate=05%2F15%2F2011&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=ca7e606600f41dafaee732d10d6ac1d6&searchtype=a

TRAMPOLINE DANGERS FOR KIDS

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We were all having a blast at a local trampoline “fun place” as Keegan (who is 5) calls it.  We’ve been to this type of place numerous times and always had fun and some good exercise.  However, this time I bounced a little too close to Keegan.  As the springs were unloading from my weight, he was coming down. 

You never want to hear your child crying in pain, especially not when the character is distinctive enough to ring that inner clinician warning bell.  A trip to urgent care for some plain films was in order.  I was hopeful it was just a serious sprain, but I think I knew better.  Being in the X-ray room when the technician brings the images up and seeing the glaring fracture over the proximal tibia was heart wrenching.  My little boy’s shinbone was broken, and although an accident, my role in the injury was prominent.

I ran the plain films by the local DACBR (Diplomate American Board of Chiropractic Radiology) and he confirmed the presence of what is known as a “trampoline fracture.”  He also reassured me that the outcomes were very good with simple casting.  Little risk to the growth plate and no need for surgery.

The next trip to the pediatric ortho left Keegan in a cast just short of his hip for 5 weeks.  Knowing how healthy he is and adding some extra C and D to the mix and his healing should be faster than normal.  But I can’t help feeling awful for him.  Playing rough is normal behavior for him, but this wasn’t a situation where he was about to jump off a structure high enough to have low oxygen tension–my role in his injury was critically.

I’m familiar with the risks of trampoline use.  I’ve always been careful there, but I was unaware how common this injury can be.  Hopefully this lesson can save another little 5 yr old some time in a cast.

HEARTBURN IN INFANTS?

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I remember the first time I had a patient come in and tell me that their pediatrician put their infant on Prilosec.  I had to clean the wax out of my ears and ask for clarification.  Yes–the latest abuse of the pharmaceutical companies had begun in earnest.  For me, our bodies digest and then do everything else.  It’s absolutely, positively essential for good health.  ANY interference with digestion is a very bad idea with long ranging consequences.  To use this class of drugs in an adult is bad enough–to push them on scared and concerned parents should be malpractice.

We have seen several studies finding that this class of drugs given to children is massively abused and completely ineffective at fixing the problem.  This study confirms this by looking at multiple studies.  Bottom line is that they have not been shown to be effective at reducing symptoms of heartburn (GERD) and there are NO safety studies.

So what do we do with an infant who may be having heartburn?  If nursing, change mom’s diet.  Get rid of common allergens like dairy.  Absolutely add probiotics.  If formula fed, switch to a hydrolyzed formula like Nutramagen or Alimentum.

When the older child has reflux, consider apple cider vinegar or digestive enzymes.  This is almost always a result of a stressed out child.  Help them NOW manage the stress in their lives.

Either way, please consider heavily, regardless of the age, the massive consequences of shutting down digestion.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/127/5/925

MONKEY EAT, MONKEY DO?

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It has become very clear that our children’s collective health is deteriorating.  Obesity, diabetes, liver problems and medication use are at levels that shock me.  I personally cannot understand the use of cholesterol lowering meds given to children by a pediatrician.  How do you give a drug to a population at incredibly low risk of a heart attack (the process of destroying our vascular health is a decades-long endeavor and medications that are taken 20 or 30 years before an “event” will never have the benefits outweigh the risks) in lieu of lifestyle changes?

But those changes HAVE to begin with the parents.  These kids pick up their bad behaviors from their parents.  Keegan, who is now 5, eats wild caught salmon, artichokes, olives, hummus and squash because he loves to steal them from my plate.  It’s all he’s seen and he thoroughly enjoys these foods.  The first time I heard him order a 1/2 water, 1/2 lemonade (which was our concession to allowing him something different to drink when we go out) I was pleasantly floored.  I had been quietly ordering this for months, but he had picked up on my queues.

Here we have yet another study that supports the fact that parents are not choosing the right lifestyles for themselves.  I know that parenthood can be challenging.  But that is NEVER an excuse to pull through the fast food drive thru instead of spending a little more time getting healthier fare for your children.  Our society is paying the prices for these choices.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/127/5/881