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IN THIS ISSUE

 Head Posture

MRI for Low Back Pain
 Low Carb vs. Low Fat

 Aspirin Therapy

 Bovine Chiropractic

 Grill Brush Bristles

 Front Page News

INTERESTING LINKS

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The Paleo Diet

Food Politics

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July 2012

Welcome to our July Newsletter.  I hope you’re having a fun summer so far.  Take advantage of the weather and get outside.  Get to the beach or head for the mountains.  If the Mayans are right, this may be the last summer we’ll ever have.  So enjoy it!

BTW, my son informs me that the scheduled end of the Mayan calender might now be delayed by a couple of years or more.  Soma type of science/history bureaucratic mix up.  So don’t stop paying taxes, mortgages or other bills just yet.

Forward Head Posture

Forward head posture plays a crucial role in the stress on your upper back and neck.  For every inch your head moves forwards, it gains 10 pounds in weight, as far as the muscles in your upper back and neck are concerned, because they have to work that much harder to keep the head (chin) from dropping onto your chest.

This also forces the suboccipital muscles (they raise the chin) to remain in constant contraction, putting pressure on the 3 Suboccipital nerves.  This nerve compression may cause headaches at the base of the skull.  Pressure on the suboccipital nerves can also mimic sinus headaches. 

Persistent forward head posture (a.k.a “hyperkyphotic posture”) puts compressive loads upon the upper thoracic vertebra, and is also associated with the development of Upper Thoracic Hump, which can devolve into Dowager Hump when the vertebra develop compression fractures. 

It’s not uncommon to observe 2″ of anterior head placement in new patients.  Would you be surprised that your neck and shoulders hurt if you had a 20-pound watermelon hanging around your neck?  That’s what forward head posture can do to you.  Left uncorrected, FHP will continue to decline.  Chiropractic can be very corrective, especially along with corrective postural exercises.  Our specialty is in reversing the joint fixations (what we refer to as “subluxations”) and in re-invigorating the muscles that normally retract the head.

Chiro.org

MRI for Low Back Pain?

It has always been my policy to defer ordering an MRI for lower back pain.  Unfortunately the results too often pick up incidental changes that do not correlate with the clinical findings of the examination.  This can lead to unnecessary interventions. Typically I see this with disc herniation cases.  Here is a very good presentation that explains why MRI for low back pain should be less frequently ordered. Video

Low Carb Diet Burns More Calories

This recent study measured how many calories people burned daily when they were on three different diets.  The three diets were low fat, low glycemic index (similar to a Mediterranean diet) and low carb.  All subjects were given the same number of calories to ingest every day.  The researchers then measured how many calories each  burned every day.  They found that the low carb diet subjects burned about 300 more calories  per day than the low fat subjects.  Think of it as an engine that has a higher resting idle speed.  The low glycemic index dieters burned about 150 more calories than the low fat group.  The implications for those who are trying to maintain weight loss is worth further study.  Read more.

Re-Thinking Low Dose Aspirin Therapy

For years doctors have been recommending low dose aspirin to prevent heart attack and stroke.   These recommendations typically included healthy people as well.  I’ve always been concerned that the research did not show any benefit for people who did not have any prior heart disease.  In fact the early aspirin studies only showed a benefit in preventing a second heart attack for those who’ve already experienced one.

Here’s a new report on the risks associated with aspirin.  The conclusion is that healthy people taking daily aspirin may want to reconsider that decision.  As a researcher quoted in the article stated; “all the aspirin vs. placebo clinical trials showed that—no matter how low the aspirin dose—there were always more cases of brain or gastrointestinal bleeding in the study participants on aspirin.”  

Read more

Bovine Chiropractic 

Here’s an interesting report on dairy cows who get chiropractic adjustments, massage, and even waterbeds in an effort to increase milk production.
 

I’m not sure what to think, but I’m intrigued enough to want to observe a moo cow therapy session.  If anyone out there is getting their cows adjusted please let me know.   However I would prefer to stay as far away from the manure holding tanks as possible.  ChiroCows

If all this cow talk is making you hungry please read this report……

Beware Grill Brush Bristle Ingestion

This article has been making the news of late.  In recent years, internal injuries have been reported following unintentional ingestions of wire grill-cleaning brush bristles by both children and adults.  

It hit close to home on Father’s Day weekend here at chez Baker.  My son Luke bit into a piece of wire bristle along with his steak Saturday evening.  Fortunately he survived and was able buy me a new grill brush for Father’s Day.

Here’s the article with case reports:  CDC article

Front Page News

This is a cool website that shows the daily front page of over 800 newspapers worldwide.  Just drag your pointer over the map and click on any country, state or city. Today’s Front Page