Healthy Life Newsletter, August 2019
Medicare Action Alert for Chiropractic Patients and Supporters!
If you’ve been watching the early Presidential race, you’ve heard about the proposals for expanding Medicare to Medicare For All. Whether or not that happens, the current version of Medicare covers but discriminates against chiropractic, and now there is a bi-partisan bill in Congress to change that!
Currently Medicare covers chiropractic adjustments for acute conditions, but unlike almost all other insurance does not cover all the other things chiropractors are licensed and trained to do, including examinations, x-rays, physical therapy, and rehabilitation. Please take just a minute to read the following alert from the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and use the link to send an email to your Congressperson. For extra credit, you can also call them and express your views. Thanks!!
–Dr. Mha Atma Khalsa
The Time for Medicare Parity Is NOW!
On Tuesday, July 9, Reps. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) and Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) introduced H.R. 3654, The Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act of 2019. This ACA-backed bipartisan legislation provides patient access to all Medicare-covered benefits allowable under a chiropractor’s state licensure. For doctors of chiropractic, the bill would fully recognize DCs as “physicians” in the Medicare program, acknowledging the level of education and care they provide and also bringing coverage of their services in line with how other physicians in the Medicare program are treated.
Success in the quest for Medicare modernization and parity in respect to chiropractic services is not possible without your support! Please take a moment today to visit the ACA Legislative Action Center and send a message to your federal representative urging them to co-sponsor HR. 3654.
H.R. 3654 is the result of many years of work by the ACA (American Chiropractic Association). Thank you for your vital support!
Read the following article on line
Drugs Not Recommended for Back Pain
By Dr. Craig Brue, D.C.
Medical Doctors now recommend chiropractic care
After reviewing 10 years of effectiveness studies related to prescription drugs for the treatment of back pain, the “Annals of Internal Medicine” has concluded that medication should not be given for the initial treatment of back pain. The 2017 study by the American College of Physicians has concluded that back pain is best treated with non-drug, alternative therapies, including chiropractic spinal adjustments.
The new medical study was especially critical of the use of opioids for the treatment of back pain because opioids are gateway drugs to addiction. Last year more than 15,000 people died from opioid usage. The study states that “we are advocating for trying the non-pharmacologic approach initially. Opioids, even for chronic pain, are prescribed more often than we would like to see.” The study also concluded that a placebo for back pain was just as effective as Tylenol.
Instead of drug therapy, the medical internists concluded that for acute and sub-acute back pain, the initial treatment should include chiropractic, physical therapy, heat/ice, massage, and acupuncture. The Academy stated that if a patient requests drugs, non-prescription drugs like aspirin, ibuprofen and naprosyn might provide some pain relief.
For those patients that are experiencing chronic, recurring back pain, the Academy of Physicians still recommended an initial conservative, non-drug approach, including chiropractic care, physical therapy and stress reduction. The basic conclusion of the study is that drugs are not an effective treatment for back pain.
What treatment does the Academy of Physicians recommend for back pain? The academy seems to have lumped together almost all alternative treatments that don’t include drug therapy: chiropractic, physical therapy, exercises, massage, heat/ice, acupuncture and cognitive behavior therapy.
However, if you take a care look at this group, there is only one professional in the alternative care group that specializes in the treatment of back and neck pain, a chiropractor. Doctors of chiropractic are also able to order or take x-rays to help make an accurate diagnosis of the cause of your back pain. Without an accurate diagnosis of your condition, you are unlikely to find an effective treatment plan to resolve your back pain.
What’s unique about the chiropractic profession? Doctor’s of chiropractic specialize in the treatment of back and neck pain with spinal adjustments. In a fraction of a second, a chiropractor can re-align vertebrae, and restore spinal function. Chiropractic care is the safest, the most conservative, the most effective, and the fastest way to relieve back and neck pain.
My advice: If you are experiencing chronic back or neck pain, put an excellent chiropractor on your health advisory team. You may have nothing to lose except the pain you are experiencing.
Dr. Craig Brue is an author, lecturer and chiropractic provider in SaddleBrooke.
Read the following article on line
WHO Says No to Drugs and Surgery in Back Pain Guidelines
by Sherry McAllister
Executive Vice President Foundation for Chiropractic Progress
Clinical guideline research commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) contends that healthcare providers should first recommend drug-free and non-surgical care to back pain patients.
In an article in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, “Care for low back pain: can health systems deliver?” researchers reviewed six sets of updated international guidelines for managing low back pain (LBP), pointing out that all recommend avoiding medication and surgery, if possible. They also stress that after educating patients about LBP and urging them to remain active, providers ought to consider recommending therapies such as spinal manipulation, most often performed by a doctor of chiropractic (DC), as well as massage and exercise. International guidelines also prioritize psychological and complementary therapies, such as stress reduction, yoga, acupuncture and tai chi, over medical and surgical interventions.
The growing consensus that LBP management should not begin, or even involve, medications and surgery means patient care requires a multidisciplinary team effort. For example, a primary care physician would collaborate with a DC, a physical therapist or a psychologist, or all of the above to help reduce patients’ pain without potentially harmful medications such as opioids, which recent evidence shows are ineffective for managing long-term LBP.
Team-Based Care Works
Care for LBP that involves a multidisciplinary team, including DCs, has been shown to be very effective in managing the condition. For example, one of the most comprehensive studies involved nine medical facilities with on-site chiropractic care, including five hospitals and four clinics. The study included 135 stakeholders including DCs, other clinicians, support staff, administrators and patients. Researchers found chiropractic care was perceived to have high value among patients, medical providers and the administration. Patient satisfaction scores for chiropractic care were reported as being among the highest of all providers.
Another study of 750 active-duty U.S. military personnel at three sites across the country, found that those who received collaborative care that included chiropractic manipulation integrated with usual medical care reported more improvement in LBP intensity and disability compared with those who did not receive spinal manipulation.
Less Costly Options
DCs are also less costly members of the care team, according to data presented at a National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Workshop in December 2018. Findings presented by Optum, the health services subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, showed that a conservative care approach involving chiropractic care or physical therapy for LBP costs the insurer approximately $619 per episode, while primary care costs $728 and care from a specialist costs $1,728. The insurer expects it could save $230 million and reduce opioid prescribing by 26 percent over two years if half of their members would first pursue a conservative approach for their LBP.
These benefits align with the WHO’s research findings and recommendations, as well as the growing body of evidence on LBP management. The next step will likely be helping patients access conservative care methods through health-plan incentives such as lower co-pays and fewer benefit restrictions so they can experience long-term relief and improved mobility.
You can read this article (which I have abbreviated here) in full on line with references and a few pictures. I personally love naps–just 10 to 15 minutes (occasionally a bit longer) after lunch can totally change my day for the better….. –Dr. Mha Atma
Benefits of Napping
A 2009 study looked into the benefits of a mid-day nap for the purposes of learning and memory based on age, experience with napping, and timing and length of sleep. What they found is that once you get into the habit of napping, your naps become more beneficial and productive.
“Sleep inertia” (the groggy time before becoming fully alert after sleeping) is also less intense and of shorter duration as your body gets used to short naps. The length of the nap is also a significant factor in reaping the benefits: a 10-minute nap is more effective than a 30- or 90-minute sleep for quick rejuvenation. Sleeping longer than 10 minutes means that waking up is more difficult due to the deeper levels of sleep, reducing the benefits of the nap..
Another study on nap duration a year later found that “Naps can reduce sleepiness and improve cognitive performance. The benefits of brief (5-15 min) naps are almost immediate after the nap and last a limited period (1-3h). Longer naps (> 30 min) can produce impairment from sleep inertia for a short period after waking but then produce improved cognitive performance for a longer period (up to many hours). Other factors that affect the benefits from the nap are the circadian timing of the nap with early afternoon being the most favourable time…Those who regularly nap seem to show greater benefits than those who rarely nap.”
A long period of sleep (usually at night) is critical for overall health. Your body needs the rest while the brain goes about its housekeeping to rid the body of toxins and store memories. If you take a nap too late in the day and it prevents you from falling asleep or sleeping long enough at night, any benefits it may lend are offset.
Early afternoon seems to be the best time for a quick doze. Find a quiet, dark, cool place (put on a sleep mask if it helps) and allow yourself to relax and rest during the day to stay on top of your game.
New Study: The More You Hug Your Kids, the More Their Brains Develop
To borrow a phrase: love works in mysterious ways. We are born to love and, as it turns out, love and affection are necessary for both optimal positive emotional and physical development. And to be honest, nothing feels better than giving your loved one a warm embrace –or being on the receiving end.
Role of Oxytocin
Oxytocin is a hormone and neurotransmitter the hypothalamus produces and the pituitary gland secretes. Scientists first identified and observed it in 1906. Oxytocin is essential in the process of childbirth in mammals, stimulating uterine contractions and lactation. Later studies found its role a much deeper and far-reaching one that affects social interaction and bonding between people. Scientists call it “the love hormone“.
As Psychology Today explains “…As a facilitator of bonding among those who share similar characteristics, the hormone fosters distinctions between in-group and out-group members, and sets in motion favoritism toward in-group members and prejudice against those in out-groups. Ongoing research on the hormone is a potent reminder of the complexity of biological and psychological systems.“
This special hormone is present in both sexes, stimulating all aspects of the reproductive process, beginning with trust and sexual arousal. Oxytocin stimulates pleasure and reward centers and is the neurological basis for social bonding, especially with the people closest to you.
The brain rewards us for living with others. Oxytocin increases feelings of trust, which are intrinsic to all close personal relationships.
Read the rest of this article on line with references and pictures.
Rethinking the Causes of Osteoporosis
By Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD
It’s often suggested that the major causes of osteoporosis in women are low calcium intake and lower estrogen levels at menopause. A cross-cultural perspective, however, shows that this is not always true. People in many countries have lower calcium intakes than in the US, yet osteoporosis is less prevalent in these cultures. As an example, the Japanese calcium intake has only recently risen to 540 mg per day, much less than the US RDA for post-menopausal women of 1,200 mg per day. And yet the US hip fracture rate is twice that of Japan!
Anthropologists also have long noted that many native African populations exhibit very low fracture rates while consuming 300 mg of calcium a day. This low calcium intake was recently verified inanthropological study on Gambian women. In fact, overall research has shown that countries with the highest calcium intakes have the highest hip fracture rates.
The same holds true for estrogen. A decrease in estrogen at menopause is universal in women worldwide, but osteoporosis is not. Mayan women in Central America, Bantu women of Africa, and Japanese women all have lower estrogen levels than women of various ethnic groups in the United States, but they all experience many fewer fractures than American women. Also, the few years before menopause is a time of rapid bone loss for most women, yet a woman’s estrogen level at this time can be higher than during her reproductive years. So attributing osteoporosis to the natural decrease in estrogen at menopause is too simplistic.
But if neither calcium nor estrogen levels causes osteoporosis, what does?
The 5 Categories of Bone-Weakening Factors
The forces contributing to or directly causing osteoporosis are divided into five categories:
Dietary causes and nutrient inadequacies
Lifestyle factors
Medicines that cause osteoporosis
Medical procedures that cause osteoporosis
Diseases that cause osteoporosis
Read the rest of this important article.
Don’t Medicate Your Empathy Away
Taking acetaminophen (common brand name: Tylenol, but also found in a variety of multi-ingredient medications including Excedrin) may make you feel less pain (although it won’t address the cause of your pain), but it also may blunt your feelings in general, particularly empathy: the ability to feel or understand what another person is experiencing from their point of view, without the person having to tell you.
Empathy is an important quality because if you have it, it’s hard to be selfish. After all, it means you’re considering someone else’s experience, feelings, emotions, etc., not just your own. Someone else actually matters, and that’s always a good thing in our increasingly me-centered world.
In a recent study involving 114 college students, researchers showed positive scenarios (a man proposing to his girlfriend, a woman getting a raise at her job, a woman’s father coming to her music recital, etc.) to students after administering either 1,000 mg of acetaminophen or an inactive pill (placebo).
Students who took acetaminophen experienced less pleasure and empathetic feelings toward the hypothetical characters in the scenarios compared with students who did not take acetaminophen, assessed by various tools that measured perceived positivity, perceived pleasure, personal pleasure and “other-directed” empathetic feelings: the extent to which the participants felt sympathy, warmth, compassion, etc., based on the scenario viewed.
Published in Frontiers in Psychology , the study found that while acetaminophen use did not significantly reduce perceived positivity or perceived please, it did reduce personal pleasure and empathetic feelings compared to placebo.
So, is reducing your pain important enough to reduce your ability to feel or understand anyone else’s pain? We hope not, particularly when there are an abundance of nondrug methods available – such as chiropractic care – to combat back, neck, headache and various other types of pain. This also isn’t the first time acetaminophen has been associated with a negative health outcome (click here for a recent example), which makes drug-free pain relief all the more important to your overall health and wellness.
Your Cell Phone Drains Your Brain (Even When You’re Not Using It)
It makes sense that your cell phone can occupy your brain when you’re using it; but guess what? Its mere presence can also take a mental toll. According to a paper published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, even when a person is able to avoid the temptation to check their phone, the fact that the phone is there reduces the person’s available cognitive capacity.
In other words, on a cognitive level, some of your brain capacity remains focused on / distracted by your phone, even when you’re not using it. You may be avoiding / ignoring your phone on a conscious level, but it’s still occupying brain space. In fact, you may be thinking about the fact that you’re avoiding it, or how long you’ll avoid it before picking it up again to check “what you missed” while the two of you were separated.
The result? Potentially poorer performance on other tasks because your brain can only handle so much information at one time (cognitive capacity), according to researchers.
Considering how many people currently possess a smartphone (265 million in the U.S. as of 2019 – that’s almost everyone who could be considered even reasonably old enough to have one), how can we combat what the researchers call “brain drain” caused by phone presence?
It starts with consciously evolving from a Where is it? What am I missing out on? Could someone be trying to contact me? Who just posted something? mentality to a Yes, I have a phone, but I don’t need it right now mindset. It may take some time, and you may experience some withdrawal symptoms, but before you know it, your phone won’t be as front-and-center in your mind, consciously or unconsciously.