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TOPICS IN ORDER:
Metabolic Syndrome
Web MD Report on Chiropractic
Infantile Colic
METABOLIC SYNDROME
Little-Known Syndrome Affects 50 Million
It's a dangerous health condition that affects a staggering 50 million people in North America. If you're diagnosed with it, your chances of developing coronary artery disease, stroke or diabetes greatly increases. The health community has been aware of the condition for over 20 years. However, there's a good chance you've never hard of it.
It has been called several names over the years, but most experts now refer to this health menace as metabolic syndrome. It's not a disease itself but a group of health conditions that can trigger disease. People with metabolic syndrome often have excess abdominal fat, high blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and elevated blood sugar. If you have some of these conditions, you may want to discuss them with your chiropractor.
The Role of Your Metabolism
To understand metabolic syndrome, you need to understand metabolism. Your body's metabolism is responsible for processing the nutrients you consume. It breaks down the nutrients into protein, carbohydrates and fats. Your body then uses the digested nutr4ients for normal body function, repair and energy. Hormones and some health conditions can affect metabolism.
So how does metabolic syndrome tie into your body's metabolic function? One of the most significant ties is the hormone insulin. When you consume carbohydrates containing sugar or starch, your body breaks it down and converts it to glucose. Insulin assists your body in regulating the amount of glucose in the blood.
But if you suffer from insulin resistance, your body keeps pumping more insulin to try and overcome the resistance. As a result, you get too much insulin and glucose. And this can cause a host of health problems. Your blood sugar spikes, boosting chances of developing diabetes. Fats and triglycerides in your blood get higher, which exposes you to heart problems. Blood pressure increases because your kidneys don't function correctly, leaving you vulnerable to strokes.
Who's Most at Risk for Metabolic Syndrome?
Genetics, diet and lifestyle are key players in this syndrome.
If you're of African, Pacific Islands, Hispanic, South Asian, or Aboriginal descent, you are at a greater risk of developing metabolic syndrome. Scientists suspect these ethnic groups develop insurin resistance more easily than others. However, genetics seem to play a smaller role in the rapid growth of metabolic syndrome than other factors.
Our North American lifestyle seems to be driving the escalation of the syndrome. We don't exercise enough. We eat large food portions. And we don't consume sufficient amounts of healthy food.
All these bad choices have led to our waistlines expanding significantly. Too much abdominal fat can be an indicator of metabolic syndrome. For men, this means a waise that is equal to or greater than 40 inches. For women it's equal to or greater than 35 inches. (These measurements may vary for some ethnic groups.)
As well as poor diet and lack of exercise, another important issue in this syndrome may be long term stress. UK researchers studied a large grouop of men and women, aged 35 to 55, over a 14 year period. The research revealed that those people exposed to chronic stress were twice as likely to develop metabolic syndrome compared to those who endured lower exposure to stress.
Treatment & Prevention Often One & the Same
While you may not be able to control your genetics, you can take other steps to lessen your risk of metabolic syndrome. A significant part in treating and preventing it is to make changes to your lifestyle.
In a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers examined 3,200 people with the pre-diabetic condition glucose intolerance. The group was divide4d into two. One group made no lifestyle changes. While the second group exercised 2.5 hours a week and consumed a low calorie, low fat diet. At the end of the three-year study, the group that changed their lifestyle with diet and exercise were 41% less likely to develop metabolic syndrome than the group that made no changes.
So you can see that adjusting your lifestyle can make a huge difference. Eat a diet with lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Consume foods rich in magnesium, which can lower the risk of metabolic disorder. Good sources of magnesium are halibut, almonds and spinach. Get adequate exercise. Even a daily 30 minute walk can bring you a bounty of health benefits!
Ask Dr. Newman or Dr. Mikulak for specific advice on exercise and making other positive lifestyle changes.
WEB MD REPORT ON CHIROPRACTIC
WebMD Report
Chiropractic Care May Reduce Surgeries, X-rays
Treating Back Pain Less Costly With Chiropractic Care
By Daniel DeNoon, WebMD Medical News
Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD, on Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Oct. 12, 2004 -- Chiropractic care cuts health care costs, a new study shows.
The study comes from American Specialty Health Plans Inc. of San Diego. The company provides employers with health insurance coverage for complementary medicine, including chiropractic care and acupuncture.
The company compared four years of back pain claims from two groups: 700,000 health plan members with chiropractic care coverage and 1 million members with the same health plan without chiropractic care coverage. It's the largest study yet of how chiropractic care affects the cost of health care, notes study co-leader Douglas Metz, DC, chief health services officer at American Specialty Health.
"No matter how we perform the analysis -- whether we look at total costs to the health plan, at lower back pain care, at musculoskeletal care -- in each data set, the population covered for chiropractic had a lower overall cost to the health plan than the population without access to chiropractic benefits," Metz tells WebMD. "We believe this study is the first to show that chiropractic [care] can be a cost-effective treatment option for back pain."
Costs Down, Patient Satisfaction Up With Chiropractic Care
Compared with doctor-only health plans, the study found that:
- Chiropractic care cut the cost of treating back pain by 28%.
- Chiropractic care reduced hospitalizations among back pain patients by 41%.
- Chiropractic care reduced back surgeries by 32%.
- Chiropractic care reduced the cost of medical imaging, such as X-rays or MRIs, by 37%.
The report appears in the Oct. 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
Although the researchers did not look at patient satisfaction in this study, Metz says company studies show that 95% of chiropractic care patients are satisfied with the care they receive.
Patients often say they are satisfied with the chiropractic care they receive, says Scott Boden, MD, director of the Emory Orthopaedic and Spine Center in Atlanta.
"Chiropractic patients tend to be satisfied because of the hands-on attention they get," Boden tells WebMD. "But there are different schools of chiropractic and different kinds of chiropractors. There are some that make accurate medial diagnoses and give appropriate treatments, and there are those that treat less well-documented disorders with treatments that may not be of acceptable quality. There is a wide range of variation."
Doctors, too, vary in the quality of care they offer back pain patients, Boden says. Patients without chiropractic care coverage may first see general practitioners who may run up health care costs by prematurely sending patients off to get expensive tests and treatments.
"A disease like back pain can have a lot of variability in the ways medical professionals approach patient care," Boden says. "The best thing is to have an organized, integrated approach that uses state-of-the-art and cost-effective care. Many -- if not most -- primary care providers have little training in how to manage musculoskeletal disorders. That leads to some of the costs. If you were to match a chiropractic network against trained physicians instead of general medical practitioners, you might get different results."
Chiropractic Care Entering Mainstream
This may be the first study to offer concrete evidence that chiropractic care saves money. But businesses already are getting the message, says George DeVries, president and CEO of American Specialty Health.
"Since 1987, we have thousands if not tens of thousands of employer groups that offer chiropractic coverage as a supplemental insurance rider," DeVries tells WebMD. "These range from mom-and-pop groceries to top-10 businesses. The reason they continue to offer these plans is patient satisfaction and low cost."
Boden says his institution is opening a new facility that will offer patients integrated medical care that will include chiropractic care.
"We have everything under one roof. The finishing piece is going to be a complementary medicine center that will include chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, and probably nutrition," he says.
Even so, it would be a leap of faith to say that doctors and chiropractors always agree on the best way to treat back pain.
"We screened 50% of the chiropractors in the Atlanta area before we found two who were medically appropriate and similar in approach to how we deal with spine problems," Boden says.
But Metz maintains that chiropractic care offers quality treatment of back pain.
"The bottom line is that conservative management of back care is effectively performed by doctors of chiropractic," he says. "In cases where medical intervention is needed, chiropractors are schooled to make the appropriate referrals. It is a cost-effective option for back pain."
SOURCES: Legorreta, A.P. Archives of Internal Medicine, Oct. 11, 2004; vol 164: pp 1985-1992. Douglas Metz, DC, chief health services officer, American Specialty Health Plans, San Diego. George DeVries, president and CEO, American Specialty Health Plans, San Diego. Scott Boden, MD, professor of orthopaedics, Emory University School of Medicine; director, Emory Orthopaedic and Spine Center, Atlanta.
Physiology Therapy 1999; (22); 517-522
Disclaimer: Information contained in this Topic of the Week is for educational and general purposes only and is designed to assist you in making informed decisions about your health. Any information contained herein is not intended to substitute advice from your physician or other healthcare professional.
CHIROPRACTIC AND INFANTILE COLIC
Your chiropractor understands that when a child is inconsolable, it's not only the child who suffers. A colicky infant can easily affect the psychological, emothional and physical health of the entire family. This is why chiropractors urge parents to seek immediate care if the infant is exhibiting signs of colic.
According to medical literature, infantile colic is diagnosed by the rule of three: crying for more than three hours per day, for more than three days per week, and for longer than three weeks in a month for an infant who is well-fed and healthy.(1) Medical experts have yet to come to a consensus regarding the cause. One of the most common theories is that the infant is having digestive difficulties, including excessive gas or reflux. Mothers who breastfeed are recommended to avoid dairy products for a week to see if it helps reduce the symptoms of colic. (2)
Chiropractors, on the other hand suggest that we look to the spine. Natural childbirth can be traumatic for the immature human spine, with the neck and head experiencing a great degree of compression, rotation, extension and traction.
When treating an infant, your chiropractor examines the child's spine, locates areas that do not appear to be aligned and/or moving properly, and then applies gentle pressure to reestablish proper mechanics for the involved vertebrae. The result: happier babies, and happier parents!
Research supports the use of chiropractic care for babiers who are experiencing the symptoms of infantile colic. Often, only a few adjustments are needed to produce dramatic results. (3-6)
In one such case, a 7-week old infant presented with medically diagnosed colic that was persistent since birth. Symptoms included reflux and disturbed sleep. Vertebaral subuixation complex patterns were noted in the spine of the baby. In less than three weeks of treatment, this infant achieved complete resolution with chiropracic adjustments to the spine. (3)
In yet another study, 316 infants with moderate to severe colic (average 5.2 hours of crying per day) were treated, and their responses to care were reported by their mothers in a prospective survery. Ninety-four percent of the children showed a satisfactory response with an average of only three treatments within two weeks. One-fourth of these infants showed grat improvement after the first chiropractic adjustment! (7)
It's important to note here that none of the chiropractors delivering the care in these studies were claiming to be treating colic. They were adjusting the infants who were exhibiting colicky symptoms.
Next time you hear someone complaining about their baby's incessant crying, mention to them that chiropracic care may be able to help.
(1) Am Fam Physician: 2004 Aug 15; 70(4);735-40
(2) Hill, D et al. Effects of a Low-Allergen Maternal Diet on Colic Among Breastfed Infants: A Randomized, Controlled Trial. Pediatrics 2005; 116: e709-e715.
(3) Hipperson, AJ, Chiropractic Management of Infantile Colic. Clinical Chiropractic 2004; 7(4):180-188
(4) Van Loon, M. Colic With Projectile Vomiting: A Case Study. Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics 1998 Aug: 3(1):207-10
(5) Sheader, WE, Chiropractic management of an infant experiencing breastfeeding difficulties and colic: a case study. Journal of Clinical Chiropractic pediatrics, 1999: 4(1)
(6) Pluhar GR. Schobert PD. Vertebral subluxation and colic: a case study. Journal of Chiropractic Research and Clinical Investigation 1991: 7:75-76
(7) Klougart N. Nilsson N and Jacobsen J. Infantile colic treated by chiropractors. a prospective study of 316 cases. Journal of Manipulative Physiology Therapy 1989: 12(4): 281-288
(8) Wilberg JMM, Nordsteen J. Nilsson N. The short-term effect of spinal manipulation in the treatment of infantile colic: A rondomized controlled clinical trial with a blinded observer. Journal of Manipulation Physiology Therapy 1999; (22); 517-522
Disclaimer: Information contained in this Topic of the Week is for educational and general purposes only and is designed to assist you in making informed decisions about your health. Any information contained herein is not intended to substitute advice from your physician or other healthcare professional.
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