Is Pain Your Obstacle to Fitness? Chiropractic Can Help

Are aches and pains getting in the way of your weight loss goals? Brenda Rooney, DC, whose office is located in Flanders is a doctor of chiropractic who can help. This fall, doctors of chiropractic across the country will highlight how they can help patients focus on getting past the roadblocks to fitness and better health during National Chiropractic Health Month. The theme for the 2010 observance is “Why Weight? Get Healthy!”

More than 60 percent of adults in the United States are either overweight or obese, according to CDC statistics, and obesity is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and some types of cancer. However, many people are unaware that even modest weight loss, such as 5 to 10 percent of a person’s total body weight, could improve blood pressure as well as blood cholesterol and blood sugars levels. That’s only 10 to 20 pounds for a person who weighs 200 pounds.

Yet losing weight can be a struggle, and many people wonder where to begin. The answer for some may be in the office of a doctor of chiropractic (DC). “Diet pills and extreme diets do not offer long-term solutions,” says Dr. Rick McMichael, president of the American Chiropractic Association (ACA). “Doctors of chiropractic, on the other hand, offer natural approaches such as exercise, diet and hands-on care to help keep you active and able to achieve your weight-loss goals in the short term, and also help you maintain your fitness level and thereby avoid some chronic conditions down the line.”

Consultation with a DC is particularly important when you consider that the effects of obesity on the musculoskeletal system—osteoarthritis, back pain, neck pain and joint pain—often cause overweight people to avoid physical activity and exercise when they need it most.

“If you’re carrying more weight than the load-bearing structures of your body—spine, legs, etc.—can handle, there’s going to be pain, loss of movement and degeneration in the joints,” adds Dr. Rooney. “Particularly if you’re carrying most of your weight in your abdomen, the low back and the spine will need to work harder to hold you upright. This adds extra stress and tension on your muscles, which in turn creates stiffness.”

Sponsored by ACA, National Chiropractic Health Month is held each October. The event helps raise public awareness of the benefits of chiropractic care and its natural, whole-person, patient-centered approach to health and wellness.

Brenda Rooney, DC is a graduate of the College of Chiropractic at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. She has been in private practice in Flanders, NJ for eight years. For more information about how Dr. Rooney can help you achieve better overall health and wellness, please contact her office, Optimal Family Chiropractic, LLC at 973-584-4888 or visit her website, www.optimalfamilychiropracticllc.com.

Obesity Causes Knees to Suffer

Obesity leads to a wide range of health problems including osteoarthritis, which can play havoc with your joints, especially the hips and knees.

A Canadian study examined the relationship between obesity and hip- or knee-replacement surgery, noting that 81% of joint replacement patients were classified as overweight or obese. Luckily, most knee problems can be avoided:

Assume a Healthier Weight. Carrying around that extra fat puts needless wear and tear on your joints and spinal discs, impairing proper function.

Strengthen Leg Muscles. Something as simple and inexpensive as walking or climbing stairs can do wonders to strengthen your knees.

Wear Supportive Shoes. When properly fitted, shoe orthotics help support the arches of your feet, giving your entire body a more stable platform.

Back Pain Facts and Statistics

Although chiropractors care for more than just back pain, many patients visit chiropractors looking for relief from this pervasive condition. In fact, 31 million Americans experience low-back pain at any given time.1

A few interesting facts about back pain:
· One-half of all working Americans admit to having back pain symptoms each year.2
· Back pain is one of the most common reasons for missed work. In fact, back pain is the second most common reason for visits to the doctor’s office, outnumbered only by upper-respiratory infections.
· Most cases of back pain are mechanical or non-organic—meaning they are not caused by
serious conditions, such as inflammatory arthritis, infection, fracture or cancer.
· Americans spend at least $50 billion each year on back pain—and that’s just for the more
easily identified costs.3
· Experts estimate that as many as 80% of the population will experience a back problem at
some time in our lives.4

What Causes Back Pain?
The back is a complicated structure of bones, joints, ligaments and muscles. You can sprain ligaments, strain muscles, rupture disks, and irritate joints, all of which can lead to back pain. While sports injuries, or accidents can cause back pain, sometimes the simplest of movements—for example, picking up a pencil from the floor— can have painful results. In addition, arthritis, poor posture, obesity, and psychological stress can cause or complicate back pain. Back pain can also directly result from disease of the internal organs, such as kidney stones, kidney infections, blood clots, or bone loss.

Manipulation as a Treatment for Back Problems
Used primarily by Doctors of Chiropractic (DCs) for the last century, manipulation has been largely ignored by most others in the health care community until recently. Now, with today's growing emphasis on treatment and cost effectiveness, manipulation is receiving more widespread attention.

Chiropractic spinal manipulation is a safe and effective spine pain treatment. It reduces pain, decreases medication, rapidly advances physical therapy, and requires very few passive forms of treatment, such as bed rest.5

In fact, after an extensive study of all currently available care for low back problems, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research—a federal government research organization—recommended that low back pain sufferers choose the most conservative care first. It recommended spinal manipulation as the only safe and effective, drugless form of initial professional treatment for acute low back problems in adults.6

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) urges you to make an informed choice about your back care. To learn more about how chiropractic manipulation may help you, contact a Doctor of Chiropractic in your area. Dr. Brenda Rooney, a member of the American Chiropractic Association, as well as a member of the Association of New Jersey Chiropractors (ANJC) recommends the following tips for back pain prevention in accordance with the ACA.

Tips to Prevent Back Pain:
· Maintain a healthy diet and weight.
· Remain active—under the supervision of your doctor of chiropractic.
· Avoid prolonged inactivity or bed rest.
· Warm up or stretch before exercising or other physical activities, such as gardening.
· Maintain proper posture.
· Wear comfortable, low-heeled shoes.
· Sleep on a mattress of medium firmness to minimize any curve in your spine.
· Lift with your knees, keep the object close to your body, and do not twist when lifting.
· Quit smoking. Smoking impairs blood flow, resulting in oxygen and nutrient deprivation to
spinal tissues.
· Work with your doctor of chiropractic to ensure that your computer workstation is
ergonomically correct.

References:
1. Jensen M, Brant-Zawadzki M, Obuchowski N, et al. Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Lumbar Spine in People Without Back Pain. N Engl J Med 1994; 331: 69-116.
2. Vallfors B. Acute, Subacute and Chronic Low Back Pain: Clinical Symptoms, Absenteeism and Working Environment. Scan J Rehab Med Suppl 1985; 11: 1-98.
3. This total represents only the more readily identifiable costs for medical care, workers compensation payments and time lost from work. It does not include costs associated with lost personal income due to acquired physical limitation resulting from a back problem and lost employer productivity due to employee medical absence. In Project Briefs: Back Pain Patient Outcomes Assessment Team (BOAT). In MEDTEP Update, Vol. 1 Issue 1, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Rockville, MD, Summer 1994.
4. In Vallfors B, previously cited.
5. Time to recognize value of chiropractic care? Science and patient satisfaction surveys cite usefulness of spinal manipulation. Orthopedics Today 2003 Feb; 23(2):14-15.
6. Bigos S, Bowyer O, Braen G, et al. Acute Low Back Problems in Adults. Clinical Practice Guideline No.14. AHCPR Publication No. 95-0642. Rockville, MD: Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, December, 1994.