More medical screenings, more problems

• You can get screened for anything in the name of early detection now days.  Does that mean you need the treatment?  If my cholesterol was high there is no way on God’s green earth I’d take the drugs.

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Why might sunblock decrease your vitamin D levels

• Why fortified “vitamin D” products can make you worse

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How an 85 year old former cardiac patient won 2 gold medals.

• He had small strokes, stents, and angioplasty and couldn‘t walk two blocks

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A secret cause of back pain

• If you have stress or fatigue you should read this.
• Also, if you want to test this let me know in the office.  It takes 2 minutes.

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Oxygen Therapy tricks

• If you are really sick, this is definitely needed

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96 year old wisdom

• Dr. Hinohara’s advice on how mysterious pain is.  Most doctors never know what is causing the pain, so have fun.  When you are having fun, you are full of energy and can forget it.

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I can see that in patients every week, January though March.   When patients go on vacations somewhere warm for a week, they forget all about problems at home and are having fun.  They never come back complaining of all the pain they had on vacation.   If you are stressed and especially if you have chronic pain here is a simple formula to get back on track.  Plan a trip somewhere relaxing, no kids, no work, and bring an inspiring book.

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As a side note,  I have used Bruce West’s heart protocols for years and I have a patient with very similar problems to the one in the examples above.  He is off almost all meds and feeling better than he has in years.  Nutrition and Standard Process supplements make all the difference.

.The joy of a kid running can inspire us all.  But first…

Imagine going to work in a cubical in a windowless office and day-dreaming about being a Park Ranger.  How about building houses in Siberia and dreaming of being an investment banker?  Not likely, but someone has to want to be an investment banker.  This kind of mental tug-o-war can affect your health.  Your creating an internal stress that shows up as restlessness, depression, or even lethargy.

How do you beat it?

This requires some intestinal fortitude.  You have to want to change then take the steps to get there.  If you want to be a Park Ranger, I’m sure you need to go to school, maybe intern, and probably be willing to move.  Take on the attitude that you must do it.  Your health can depend on it.

What if you don’t know?

This is likely the largest problem.  Many people know they want something different, but don’t yet know what.  The easiest thing to do is make a list of all the things you are good at.  There is a job in there.  Something will jump out at you.Now…Imagine sitting in your chair and not being able to get up.  How about lying on the ground freezing to death?  Maybe laying in bed not being unable to turn over.  I’ve seen all these people in the office over the past 12 years.  The names and faces change but they come in everyday.  I was thinking about these people because of a conversion I had this afternoon with a want-to-be patient.  He pop’s in to pick something up for his wife.  He makes the comment that his back is pretty stiff and sore and he feels like it could give out any moment.  This is how people wake up in bed unable to move.If you wait until the problem rears its ugly head, it’s too late.  I tried to explain to him that if you get adjusted now instead of waiting until your laying on the floor immobile you will save yourself a lot of money, time, and agony.  He left…

That reminds me of the one and only time I ever laughed at a patient.  Same deal as above, except he came back in 6 months later dragging his leg.  He left as well, because he didn’t want to spend the money and time to prevent it.  He did 6 months of medications and therapy and now was dragging his leg.  I wanted to prove a point so I took sympathy on him and had to work him hard to help him get better.

My point is… almost anything is fixable if you get to it in time and treat it right.  I

Sometimes you need grace from above, especially if you are a kid, but don’t ever give up.  Amazing things happen when you keep going.

“James is 4 1/2, he has always been behind in gross motor skills.  He started to walk at 19 months and has a very tight penguin waddley walk.  He has never been able to run, just do a fast waddle.  For him to get up from sitting or laying down he rolls to his side and slowly, VERY slowly gets up.  It always looked like a struggle for him to walk quickly or get up and down.  He struggles alot with stairs and his 20 month younger sibling was climbing stairs before him.  He still has a bunch of trouble climbing them when standing.  I had been trying to get him to tackle stairs by holding his hands, trying to get him to run or walk faster by holding his hands, and encouraging him to climb, dance ex… but improvements were little and very far apart.  He couldn’t run despite my efforts to help him. 

I brought him into see Dr Altman with me just to see if anything could be done.  I wasn’t very regular with bringing James, maybe once a month.  James was happy to go because he wanted to run fast!  I think it was on his fifth visit that things really moved!  Dr Altman was sure we would see a big differance this time.  When we went to Walmart he actually kept up with me instead of lagging behind.  When we got home I was making dinner for my wonderful husband and five beautiful children, like always the five were under my feet, wanting to all tell me what they wanted to eat.  To keep them occupied while cooking, I told James to race with the children up and down the hallway to show them how fast he was. 

I was expecting his quicker waddley walk that he normally did, but when I looked up, he was running, both feet off the ground at times run!  He finished shortly after his older brother and I couldn’t stop laughing while his older brother, Joshua, was stunned that “James was actually faster!”  James was so happy he kept running up and down the hallway!  The rest of the day he would pop up from sitting on the ground to get things my husband and I needed, at times even beating Joshua to it!  James has never “popped” up before! LOL!  He spend alot of time running that Monday!

 I’m looking forward to seeing more improvement and helping him to build muscle tone so soon he will move like other 4 year olds his age, but I’m praising the Lord for such a wonderful thing to see a 4 1/2 year old who couldn’t run and can now run!  God works in all things for the good of those who Love Him, and he has worked in James’ life!

Well, Dr Altman, you may not be in Europe yet, but God has worked that delay for good!

God Bless!”

-Lisa Hagen

 I hope to bring you another great story about low backs, soon.

Early morning conversation with a patient about joint pain.

People often think that chiropractors must love a good ice storm, with all those people slipping and falling.  Well, that’s not the case.  It is actually very rare that people come in from falling on the ice, maybe 2x a year.

What does bring more people to the office than anything else is… rain.  Lately we have been getting more than our fair share of it.   One of my best weather predictors is a patient.  His joints are so bad that he can tell if the rain is coming 2 days early.

So what’s going on with those joints?

When rain comes to town we get a low pressure system.  There have been many theories tested about humidity, temperature, etc, and it boils down to pressure.  When there is less air pressure, the arthritis joint (meaning: joint inflammation) swells to add more pain to the surrounding tissues.

The most common form is Degenerative:

This is why 18 year old don’t complain about the weather.  Through out life your body takes it’s shares of trauma.  I’ve seen them as severe as snowmobile accidents, and serious car accidents to slipping on the ice or getting hit by your dog.

Injuries can even come from carrying kids, talking on the phone or writing long blog posts for patients at a computer.  These are called microtraumas.  Little stressors over time can build up and cause problems later.

As a chiropractor, I see degenerative joints every day.  Heck, mine started to degenerate when I was about 10.   Yes, you heard that right.  I had massive back pain at 20 years old and even at 20 years old I had bone spurs developing.  They were big enough to date back about 10 years.  Did I have pain back then, NO.    The injuries can start early (I played lots of sports) and pain only comes when there is enough damage.

As people get older those joints keep deteriorating and eventually there is so little space left that a simple change in air pressure causes them to hurt more.  So what do you do?

If you are younger than 50…get to the chiropractor regularly or move to Yuma, Arizona (sunniest place on earth)

Try and stop the progression before the damage is permanent.  The 2 major things that cause a joint to deteriorate are:

• Lack of water
• Lack of motion

Water is needed to keep the joint spaces slippery and quiet.   But the ringer is you need enough water coming in to satisfy you heart, lungs, brain, nervous system,  muscles, bones, etc.  Your joints are last on the list.  Good clean water is needed, and soda doesn’t count.

You could drink all that good water and it may not be doing your joints any good.  Huh?

The second half of the equation is MOTION.  The joints have to move to pump the water inside.  There are no blood vessels going inside, they would get crushed by the weight.  This is less evident in the extremities but very easily seen in the spine.   If one joint is injured the ones next door will pick up the extra work and you’ll never know.  A chiropractic adjustment is the only way to get individual damaged joints moving again.  People often ask how often they have to come.  Really, that depends on the individual and their needs and desires.

If you drive from New York to California,  when should you change the oil?  I’m active and tough on my body and I have a history of many injuries.  I like to feel great every day, and I personally feel the best getting adjusted every week.  That allows me to do what I want and still feel great.  Some people feel the best at 2 weeks, others feel the best at 4 weeks.  I even have a guy who only comes 2x a year.  But, he feels great.  It really depends on age, damage, time, and desires.

Between 50 and 65 there seems to be a grey zone.

Some people are really doing fantastic, others seem ready for the bone pile.  Once again, it all depends on how well you take care of yourself.  Aches and pains really start to ramp up in this age range.  It isn’t too late.  One of our patients with severe low back pain had almost no space between his last 2 vertebra.  I worked on him regularly for 3 months and he was pain-free and the best part was you could now see daylight between the bones on x-ray.  So his spine was repairing itself.

Over 65… and not using a chiropractor, you need to be thinking about trying to stop it from getting worse.

Many times there is 20-50 years of damage layered in here.  Plus, the body has compensated into new forms and muscle patterns.  You can see this when people are hunched over or bent to the side.

Often we can stop the progression with lots of regular work, but it becomes a matter of just helping people live a pain-free life.   This kind of deterioration feels the rain coming.   One other problem that this age range faces is a significant slowing down of healing.

My point is this, if you are feeling aches and pains, those are signs that there is trouble.  Even if it is only when the rain comes.  That is a good indicator that your joints need help.  So often the joints need to get adjusted and moving again.  Here is one of the secrets to growing old gracefully.   Joints that move properly don’t hurt.  When joints deteriorate and become stiffer they actually send pain signals to your brain.  How great would that be to get older and NOT take any pain pills!  Pain pills just hide the problems and let them get worse.  I’ve seen amazing things happen, so it is worth a shot to try.

Just in case you thought about waiting to take care of yourself, you can’t wait until you are 75 and aching all over to start preventing problems.  Too late… start when you are young.

• Get adjusted regularly… not just when you hurt.  That’s like exercising when you are 60 lbs. over weight.  It helps but not nearly as well.
• Drink water…not tap water, yuck!
• Exercise…anything helps.  I like H.I.T.
• Eat more raw foods…  Arthritis is often said to be a cooked food disease.  Comment on our site if you want it and I’ll send you his diet.  It isn’t on our website, yet.

Speaking of food:

Arthritis does have a strong nutritional component.  If you want the arthritis fix diet from Bruce West just leave a comment on our site.  If you are looking for supplements you can check out Bruce West’s End Your Joint Pain.

Jack gives you some sound advice on health, chiropractic, and exercise.

Jack can save your life with this video about eating better.

Kids with tremors