Watson Chiropractic, September 2004 Newsletter

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Office Update

Recently, many of you have seen me limping around with a sore foot after having a piece of glass removed and 10 stitches placed in my foot. Well, I'm feeling much better now and my foot is nearly 100%. Another injury! I learn so much about you patients when I have a injury. Here's what I learned.

Dr. Peterson (my Podiatric surgeon) told me to stay non-weight bearing for 3 weeks. Well, I had the surgery on a Thursday. Nina cancelled Thursday's appointments (I apologize for any inconvenience) and I started seeing patients on Friday. One week later during my follow up visit I told Dr. Peterson I was staying off the foot. I did not want to get a lecture. So here's lesson number one: Some patients will do as they see fit and tell me what I want to hear.

The foot hurt bad. I've had some pretty good injuries/surgeries (ruptured spleen, broken rib, vasectomy, pericarditis, separated shoulder, numerous finger and foot fractures) and the foot was on the top of the list. When the lidocaine wore off I was hurting. I wanted to go for it and see if I could take the pain without using the Vicodin that was prescribed to me. When the foot started to wake up, I started squirming around and it just got worse and worse until I finally gave in and asked Nina to get me a couple Vicodin. Unfortunately, after a half hour I could feel no difference and took two more Vicodin. That took the edge off.

That night, I ended up sleeping in our back yard on the ground with Nina, Garrett, the cat, and the dog. We live on a hill so I slept with my head downhill and that elevated my foot nicely so I felt only a little throbbing. The meteor shower was that night, so it was really nice. Lesson number two. When someone complains of pain in their foot it's a top priority. I work on feet quite often. From now on I'll have more compassion when it comes to feet. Side note to self - Sleeping on the ground and watching a meteor shower with the family is really cool and should be done every year.

On day three post surgery, I was having some radiating and throbbing pain all the way up my leg into my hip. Nina took a class on essential oils several months back. She got out three essential oils and rubbed them into my foot and leg and I was 90 percent better immediately. Lesson number three: Essential oils work exceptionally well and I plan to learn more about them. We will stock some Oils on the shelf for patients in times of need.

There's nothing like a good ol' injury to understand you patients better.

Dr. Watson

Why is chiropractic so popular?

Based on a combination of ancient wisdom and modern scientific awareness chiropractic is only a little more than a century old, and yet it has become the most popular drug-free, natural healing art in the world today.
Chiropractors respect your body's healing ability and remove obstructions - vertebral subluxations - that block your natural energies and body wisdom from reaching and healing all your parts.
Everyone, from infancy to old age needs a body free of subluxations and chiropractors specialize in locating and correcting this spinal distortion. The result is a more connected you.

Chiropractic Questions and Answers

Who goes to the chiropractor?
With more patients going to holistic, non-medical healthcare providers than ever before (with chiropractors among the most popular) the question arises: what kind of person is leading this healthcare revolution?

Researchers find that those who go to chiropractors and other non-medical healthcare practitioners tend to be better educated, better informed and usually economically better off. (1)

We'd like to add that in our opinion our patients are better looking, tell funnier jokes and sing great too!

Your low back (lumbar spine)

Between your hips and your ribs is your lumbar spine. These spinal bones (lumbar vertebrae) are your largest, thickest and strongest of all. They better be - they have to support everything above them.
Between the vertebrae sit your discs. They function like shock absorbers between your vertebrae, separate them, connect them and give your lower back curve and height. They swell up when you sleep and thin a bit during the day. That's why you're tallest after you wake up and the shortest just before bedtime.
If the lumbar vertebrae are misaligned it can cause disc, nerve and joint pressure - and the result can be lack of energy, and hip, knee, leg and other pains. But more than pain may be involved - the nerves in your lower back can affect the function of your internal organs: intestines, sexual organs and organs of elimination and others. A healthy spine ensures they function properly. A good way to keep your spine aligned is to see your chiropractor. An extra good way to keep discs healthy is making sure you drink enough water. Lack of water causes the discs to dry up a bit and form little fissures (cracks). If the fissures become severe then the inside of the disc can bulge (protrude) and put pressure on your spinal nerves or spinal cord - a very painful condition. Anyone with a disc problem should see a chiropractor; spinal adjustments may result in a disc "bulge" lessening or disappearing. Clearly chiropractic should be investigated before back surgery is ever considered. (2)

Words of Wisdom

Great hearts steadily send forth the secret forces that incessantly draw great events.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention.
- Kahlil Gibran

If we have not found heaven within, it is a certainty we will not find it without.
- Henry Miller

Chiropractic and ear infections

More and more parents are bringing their children with ear infections to chiropractors. Studies such as this one show they are doing the right thing: 21 children (9 months to 9 years of age) with acute otitis media, red and bulging eardrums and a temperature of 100º F had a short course of chiropractic care.
The children were re-examined and 95% of the eardrums had returned to normal along with a decrease in average temperature to 98.6ºF. Before receiving the adjustments, the severity of the symptoms in the children was rated at an average of 7.524 on a 0-10 point scale. After receiving the adjustments, the severity of the symptoms had subsided to a mere 0.470 on the same 0-10 point scale. (3)

Did you know...

Your brain uses 20% of your body's energy generating 25 watts of power during waking hours but accounts for only 2% of body weight. Amazingly, it uses so much energy and yet there are no muscles there! In addition, the messages within your brain travel at speeds of up to 250 mph!

How was chiropractic discovered?

In America in 1895, Dr. D.D. Palmer, a non-medical healer, in Davenport, Iowa was trying to help his deaf janitor Harvey Lillard, regain his hearing. Lillard had been involved in a small accident 18 years earlier where he felt something "give" in his back. Shortly after the accident his hearing nearly totally disappeared. Dr. Palmer examined the man's spine and found a misaligned vertebra. He placed the man on a bench, put his hands over the spine and gave a short, quick push. Shortly thereafter, after 18 years of deafness, Lillard could hear again!!

A Cure For Deafness?

Palmer was convinced he had discovered a cure for deafness. The next day, however, he gave a "hand treatment" (as he originally called his spinal adjustments) to a patient with heart trouble and the condition was relieved. People with all kinds of health problems started visiting Dr. Palmer. The treatments (spinal adjustments) seemed to affect all kinds of conditions! People reported being cured of stomach troubles, asthma, skin conditions, headaches, sciatica . . . D.D. Palmer became known far and wide as the discoverer of a powerful new drugless way of curing people. In time he founded a school - the world's first Chiropractic College. Palmer College of Chiropractic is the largest chiropracic college in the world. One third of all chiropractors have graduated from Palmer. I graduated from Palmer College with honors on October 14th, 1994.

45 Vaccines by Six Months of Age?

By the time children are 6 months old they are to be injected with 45 vaccines; at 18 months 64, and at 4-6 years at least 74!! (MMR is counted as 3, DTP as 3 etc.)
More and more parents and professionals are questioning the safety of injecting our children with bacterial and viral toxins and mercury (Yes, it's still in vaccines), formaldehyde (it's carcinogenic and crosses the blood-brain barrier into the brain), monkey, chicken and human fetal cells and many other bizarre chemicals.
Autism, learning disorders, allergies, asthma, dyslexia, ADD/ADHD, vision and hearing disorders, cancer and other diseases of the immune and neurological system are at record levels. More evidence is showing that childhood immunizations are causing this epidemic of once rare conditions.
No shots, no school? No way!!! To find exemptions in your state go to http://www.vaclib.org/pdf/exemption.htm or http://www.909shot.com/Issues/state%20exemptions.htm

Holistic Pediatric Association

The Holistic Pediatric Association, a new organization of chiropractors, medical doctors, naturopaths and other holistically-minded healers, would like to hear feedback from parents. Specifically, what aspects of well-child care are most important to you, especially your concerns that have not been addressed at well-baby visits by your practitioners in the past. Please go to http://www.hpakids.org, click on the Parent Forums button and then the community bulletin boards in the upper left corner. Enter your suggestions in the Preventive Care section. Your responses will help shape HPA policies.

Humor

Explanation of Life

On the first day God created the dog. God said, "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. I will give you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said, "That's too long to be barking. Give me ten years and I'll give you back the other ten." So God agreed.

On the second day God created the monkey. God said, "Entertain people, do monkey tricks, make them laugh. I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said, "How boring, monkey tricks for twenty years? I don't think so. Dog gave you back ten, so that's what I'll do too, okay?" And God agreed.

On the third day God created the cow. God said, "You must go to the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer. I will give you a life span of sixty years."

The cow said, "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. Let me have twenty and I'll give back the other forty." And God agreed again.

On the forth day God created man. God said, "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. I'll give you twenty years."

Man said, "What? Only twenty years! Tell you what, I'll take my twenty, and the forty the cow gave back and the ten the monkey gave back and the ten the dog gave back, that makes eighty, okay?" "Okay," said God, "You've got a deal."

So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play, and enjoy ourselves; for the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family; for the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren; and for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

Want copies of this newsletter for your friends? Stop by the office and we'll give you some hard copies or write to us and we'll add them to our mailing list. Please remember that everyone needs to be free from subluxations so bring your friends and loved ones for a spinal checkup.

See you next month. Don't forget to stop by for a spinal checkup and an adjustment (if needed). And bring in the family too - kids do better at school when they aren't subluxated (really!)

References
1. Eisenberg D, Davis RB, Ettner SL et al. Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990-1997. Results of a follow-up national survey. JAMA. Nov 11, 1998.
2. Ressel OJ. Disc regeneration: reversibility is possible in spinal osteoarthritis. ICA Review. March/April 1989;39-61.
3. Zhang JQ, Snyder BJ. Effect of the Toftness chiropractic adjustments for children with acute otitis media. JVSR. March 29, 2004;1-4.