Healthy Life Newsletter, December 2017
Exercise: Back Pain’s Kryptonite?
Eight in 10 people experience back pain at some point in their lives, and according to a recent Gallup survey, the statistics are even more concerning, particularly if you include neck pain in the conversation. Per the survey, back and/or neck pain has been an “ongoing problem” (lasting five years or more) in more than half of people who visited a health care professional in the previous 12 months for one or both of those complaints.
Now here’s where it gets interesting. According to the same survey, nearly eight in 10 (78 percent) would rather try nondrug pain-relief options before using a prescription pain medication. (Chiropractic would be a great option, of course.) And to reduce pain intensity (or perhaps even prevent it from striking in the first place), here’s a simple strategy to combine with your periodic chiropractic wellness care: exercise.
Yes, research suggests people who exercise are less likely to develop low back pain – 33 percent likely, according to a review of 16 previously published studies published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Exercises that strengthen and stretch the lumbar (low back) and abdominal muscles, or strengthening and aerobic exercises combined, seem to do the trick, according to the lead study author. And it gets better: Back pain severity and resulting disability were also lower in patients who exercised.
Ready to stop back pain in its tracks, minimize its impact and/or get in great shape all at the same time? Talk to your chiropractor for more information about how regular spinal adjustments and specific exercises can help keep back pain where in belongs: far away from you.
Science Lesson: Why Chiropractic Can Relieve Your Low Back Pain
Doctors of chiropractic are known for treating low back pain – and preventing its recurrence – and recent research emphasizes the science underlying their effectiveness. A recent study suggests chiropractic care (spinal manipulation) can reduce LBP, but it also suggests chiropractic can increase spinal disc height.
Why is that important? Well, loss of intervertebral disc height is one of the traits of low back pain. Discs are the ligaments between the bony vertebrae that act as shock absorbers for the spine. As we get older, our discs have a tendency to get smaller, which can lead to all kinds of problems, including pain. Fortunately, as this study suggests, chiropractic can help.
That’s good to know no matter your age and the condition of your spine. Talk to your doctor of chiropractic for more information. A healthy spine means a healthy you!
Take the Sting Out of Sciatica
The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the body, beginning in the lower back and extending through the buttocks and down the entire leg. When the nerve is inflamed or compressed, you’ve got sciatica, characterized by mild to severe pain, burning, tingling, numbness and/or weakness.
Your chiropractor knows a great deal about sciatica, particularly because the nerve originates in the lower back, and herniated spinal discs account for the majority of sciatica cases. In fact, sciatica is a common reason for visiting a chiropractor. If you’re suffering from sciatica, your DC may perform chiropractic adjustments and related techniques to help resolve your pain.
In terms of future prevention once the pain is gone, exercise – specifically two low-level activities, walking and biking – may be suggested. Why? According to recent research, regular walking and/or biking reduces the risk of being hospitalized for sciatica by 33 percent, the same percentage risk increase attributable to obesity. While sciatica uncommonly leads to a hospital stay, it can persist if not treated properly and cause significant pain / disability.
The study did not find an association with other types of leisure-time physical activities, leading the researchers to speculate that walking / biking are specifically beneficial because they are low-level physical activities that don’t strain the low back.
Talk to your chiropractor about sciatica prevention and conservative chiropractic treatment – before you or someone you know is faced with chronic pain or even hospitalization.
Another Strike Against Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy?
Tylenol is probably the most well-known over-the-counter pain medication that contains acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol. It’s also one of the few pain-relieving OTC medications generally considered safe to take during pregnancy, as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) are discouraged, particularly during the third trimester.
We say “generally safe,” of course, because all medications have some risk of side effects. During pregnancy, those side effects can affect the mother and/or the child, depending on the medication. What’s more, increasing research suggests other safety concerns may be worth considering.
So, back to Tylenol / acetaminophen, which a recent study in Pediatrics suggests may not be that safe after all, particularly in terms of the impact it may have on the child. According to the study, expectant mothers who took acetaminophen long-term during pregnancy – not that hard to do, if you think about how often a woman may experience body, headache and other pain and turn to daily medication – were significantly more likely to have a child ultimately diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than mothers who did not take the medication.
While the study doesn’t prove acetaminophen use during pregnancy causes childhood ADHD, the association is eerily familiar to other associations between acetaminophen and childhood behavioral issues, delayed language skills and asthma revealed via research in recent years. It’s also concerning because nearly two in three pregnant women take acetaminophen, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It’s certainly enough to talk to your pediatrician about whether you should take the medication barring absolute necessity, such as maternal high fever or infection that could harm your unborn child. And for pregnancy-related aches and pains, why not skip the pain medication entirely and give drug-free pain-relief strategies, such as chiropractic care, a try? You’ll be happy you did.
Poor Sleep Is Bad for Your Waistline
If you think you’re getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis, you’re either fooling yourself or in an extremely small minority. That’s because increasingly, people are tossing and turning, waking up repeatedly, going to bed late and waking up early, or just plain waking up feeling tired, unrefreshed and unready to take on the next day because of a poor night’s sleep.
There are short- and long-term consequences of poor sleep, ranging from irritability and concentration lapses (short term) to cardiovascular disease (long term), but your weight and waistline also may suffer, according to research published in PLoS One, the peer-reviewed journal of the Public Library of Science.
In a recent study, adults were divided into three groups based on their average sleep duration: less than six hours nightly (5.88 hours), more than seven hours (7.26 hours), and more than eight hours (8.44 hours). If you got the most average sleep per night, your body-mass index (BMI) was about two points lower than if you got the least average sleep per night. Getting the most sleep, compared to the least, also corresponded with 1.6 inch smaller waistline, on average, compared to getting the least sleep.
Tips on how to increase your odds of getting a good night’s sleep, and talk to your doctor for more information.
Berries for Blood Pressure
High blood pressure (hypertension) essentially means blood flow through your arteries increases, which can lead to some serious problems over time: we’re talking arterial damage (increasing the risk of arteriosclerosis), coronary artery disease, heart attack or heart failure, kidney damage/failure, and stroke.
Not a pretty picture, but here’s an easy – and tasty – solution: eat berries! According to a recent study, eating at least one serving a day of blueberries and/or strawberries reduces your risk of high blood pressure by nearly 10 percent compared to eating no berries. Researchers postulate that the blood pressure benefits of berries are attributable to a compound called anthocyanin, a dietary flavonoid present in blueberries, strawberries and other berries.
This wasn’t a small study, by the way; it included 87,242 women who took part in the Nurses’ Health Study II, 46,672 women from the Nurses’ Health Study I, and 23,043 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up study, all of whom were tracked for 14 years to see who developed high blood pressure. And while there were some limitations, the study did account for other potential risk factors for high blood pressure including family history, body mass index, physical activity, and multiple other dietary factors That means it’s more likely the findings are applicable to the general population – that means you! So get your daily dose of berries as part of a healthy diet and active lifestyle - and feel confident that you’re making every effort to keep your blood pressure within normal limits and in so doing, keep your cardiovascular system in tip-top shape for a lifetime.
Nutritional yeast greatly reduces illness in kids –A study published in 2016 in the Journal of Nutritional and Food Sciences conducted at the Chang Ping Women and Children health Care Hospital, PR China, gave a placebo or 1/16 to 1/8 teaspoon of nutritional yeast to 174 children 1 to 4 years old ove a 12 week period. The kids receiving the yeast had less than half the number of illnesses (cold and flu) as the kids receiving the placebo, and the children receiving the yeast who did get sick were sick for an average of three days as opposed to nine days for the kids who were given the yeast.
Journal of Nutritional and Food Science 2016 6:4