What counts in making a happy relationship is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility. - Daniel Goleman

Change is inevitable; growth is optional. - Unknown

· Your Spine: Discs, Nerves and Curves

· Words Of Wisdom

· Childhood Vaccination

· Breastfed Infants have 1/3 Hospitalizations

· Is Sleeping With Your Children (Co-Sleeping) Good For Them?

 Smallpox Not So Dangerous?

· Doctors Strike, Death Rates Drop

· Chiropractic and Spinal Research

· Humor

· References

Your Spine: Discs, Nerves and Curves

Chiropractic specializes in spinal health and it’s good to know a little about this amazing body part. The illustration on the left shows the lumbar (low back) spinal

bones or vertebrae. Between the bones are the discs (in blue) that help give your spine its curves and serve as shock absorbers so your bones don’t hit each other when you walk or sit. Nerves (in yellow) travel through your spine and exit through holes between the bones and go to your internal organs, joints, skin and down your legs. If your spine is distorted or misaligned, spinal stress can irritate or impinge your nerves and spinal cord causing pain, abnormal organ function and dis-ease, affecting your entire body. Spinal stress can also affect your discs causing tears, bulges, inflammation or herniation. The other illustration shows what a bulging disc in the lower back would look like.

Your chiropractor’s job is to correct spinal nerve stress (subluxations), using the art of the spinal adjustment. This releases stress on your nerves, discs, bones, muscles and internal organs, bringing normal curves to your spine, releasing old stress from muscles organs and glands and permitting more normal and healthy function.

What causes subluxations? The main cause of subluxations is stress: physical stress, emotional stress or chemical stress. If you (or your spouse or your children) are under more stress or if it’s been awhile since your last checkup, please stop by. It’s always better to correct problems now rather than wait until after your body has been malfunctioning (dis-eased) for a while. An adjustment can make a big difference. Why wait?

Words of Wisdom

Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold, the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul. - Democritus

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. - Helen Keller

Among generally healthy infants in developed nations, more than a tripling in severe respiratory tract illness resulting in hospitalizations was noted for infants who were not breastfed compared with those who were exclusively breastfed for four months. (1)

Is Sleeping With Your Children Good For Them?

Children love to sleep with their parents (co-sleeping). Is it a good idea? Does it make a difference? A recent study found that early co-sleepers were the most self-reliant preschoolers, getting dressed without help and entertaining themselves with a book or toy. They demonstrated the most independence with their peers and were more likely to initiate friendships and work out problems with playmates. (2)

A related study reveals that intensive parenting - holding and cuddling your baby and responding to their needs quickly - is good for them (surprise!). The benefits include positive stress-response patterns that last a lifetime. The study, done on baby and mother rats, indicates that there is a “window” of opportunity during the first years of human life when extra cuddling, holding and attentiveness seem to give the most benefit. (3)

There is a lot of debate over smallpox vaccination in the US. The smallpox vaccine is perhaps the most dangerous vaccine ever made and is estimated to kill and sicken many people who take it. However, with all the concern over smallpox it is interesting to note that smallpox was a dread, killing disease - as were measles, scarlet fever and other infectious diseases. But is it as dangerous today? Thomas Mack, MD of Keck School of Medicine, U of SoCal, L.A. led teams that investigated about 100 smallpox outbreaks. He argues that smallpox is overrated as a bio-terrorist weapon and is rather hard to catch; it doesn’t spread like wildfire and quarantine works very well. In a Pakistani outbreak no one caught smallpox while on a plane, train or bus - it is passed by droplets through saliva or direct contact with skin pustules. Dr Mack estimates that even a very successful smallpox attack will result in fewer than 20 cases, and 10 deaths, across the US, whereas 800 people would die from the vaccination. (4) Kent A. Sepkowitz, MD, Director of Infection Control at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on the possibility that terrorists will use smallpox says, "Remember Y2K. This is a comparable nonevent." (5) and in The Deadly Truth Gerald Grob writes, “Smallpox in Europe before the end of the 16^{th century existed in a relatively mild and non-lethal form….the disease killed fewer than 1% of its victims.” (6)}

Is it really worth risking one’s life with the shot?

Doctors Strike, Death Rates Drop

Whenever (and wherever) there’s a doctor’s strike, death rates drop, often dramatically. This was seen in Bogata, Colombia and Los Angeles, CA but most recently in Israel. Hundreds of thousands of patient visits and tens of thousands of elective operations were cancelled. Doctors attended only emergencies. The Jerusalem Post reported that the number of funerals has fallen drastically. According to one funeral parlor manager the same thing occurred in 1983, during a similar doctor’s strike which lasted 4½ months. The only area of Israel which was found to not have a reduction in its death rate was the city of Netanya; all of the doctors at the only hospital in this city have a "no-strike" clause. (7) Commenting on the drop in death rates Robert Mendelsohn, MD said, “What we need is a perpetual doctor’s strike.” (8)

Chiropractic and Spinal Research

Chiropractic is not for diseases but for the whole person. Everyone with any health problem needs a spine free from subluxations. It might make all the difference. Feel free to forward these studies to others.

Chiropractic after neck surgery. This is the case of a 35-year-old female who had two neck surgeries to relieve chronic pain and spasms. Five years later she still suffered from these conditions. Her surgeon suggested a 3rd surgery but she decided on chiropractic instead. Within 30 days of her 1st chiropractic adjustment all her chronic pain and muscle spasms resolved. A follow-up 2 years later revealed no recurrences. (9)

Anxiety attacks after auto accident. This is the case of a 42-year-old female suffering from anxiety attacks and agoraphobia since an auto accident. She also had nightmares, insomnia, tachycardia, dizziness, memory loss, difficulty concentrating, peptic ulcer and urinary bladder urgency Chiropractic analysis revealed subluxations at C5-6, T5-6, and L5-S1. After two months of chiropractic care and counseling there was a sharp reduction in anxiety and no more agoraphobia, bladder urgency, insomnia and dizziness. After four months of more care there was complete relief from anxiety and ulcer symptoms. (10)

ADD and hyperactivity. This is the case of an 8-year-old boy diagnosed with ADD and hyperactivity. For three years (since kindergarten) he was on Ritalin™, Prozac™ and behavior modification. By his 2nd chiropractic adjustment he could sit still longer. After 3 weeks of care all medication was removed and after 6 weeks he showed noted improvement in cognitive skills, concentration, ability to control emotions and decreased aggressiveness. (11)

I owe the government $3,400 in taxes. So I sent them two hammers and a toilet seat. - Michael McShane

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.  - Mark Twain

A doctor says to a man, "If you want to improve your love life you need to get some exercise. Run 10 miles a day."
"Two weeks later, the man called the doctor.
The doctor says, "How is your love life since you have been running?"
"I don't know, I'm 140 miles away!"

Confusing Signs of Our Times:
Spotted in a toilet of a London office:  Toilet out of order. Please use floor below.

In a Laundromat:  Automatic washing machines: remove all your clothes when light goes out.

In a London department store:  Bargain basement upstairs

In an office:  Would the person who took the step ladder yesterday please bring it back or further steps will be taken.

In an office:  After tea break staff should empty the teapot and stand upside down on the draining board.

Outside a secondhand shop:  We exchange anything - bicycles, washing machines, etc. Why not bring your wife along and get a wonderful bargain?

Notice in health food shop window:  Closed due to illness

Spotted in a safari park:  Elephants please stay in your car

Seen during a conference:  For anyone who has children and doesn't know it, there is a day care on the first floor.

Message on a leaflet:  If you cannot read, this leaflet will tell you how to get lessons.

On a repair shop door:  We can repair anything. (Please knock hard on the door the bell doesn't work.)

Watson Chiropractic  503-697-7463

Thanks for being our patient. We really do appreciate you. Please stop by for a spinal checkup to keep your body and mind functioning at their best. Remember, even chiropractors go to chiropractors - we also get our spines checked so we can function at our best when we take care of you.

1. J of Pediatric and Adolescence Medicine. 2003;157:237-243.

2. Keller M. To co-sleep or not to co-sleep? Mothering Magazine. [Master’s thesis, Dept of Psychology and Social Behavior, U of CA, Irvine 2001.] Jan/Feb 2003;27. 3. Science. 1997;277:1859-1861.

4. Mack T. A different view of smallpox and vaccination. New England Journal of Medicine. 2003;348(5):460-463.

5. Medscape http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/446692.

6. Grob G. The Deadly Truth. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 2002;30.

7. British Medical Journal. 2000;320:1561.

8. Mendelsohn R. Confessions of a Medical Heretic. Chicago: Contemporary Books.1985.

9. Polkinghorn B & Colloca C. Chiropractic treatment of postsurgical neck syndrome utilizing mechanical force manually assisted short-lever spinal adjustments. JMPT. 2001;24(9).

10. Sullivan EC. The chiropractic management of anxiety: a case report. ACA J of Chiropractic. 1992; 29:29-34.